ITEMInformation Transmission Evolution MapA visual history of human information
Organisation

United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau contributed to Punched-card control and data entry, Electromechanical tabulation. The Census Bureau credits the system with changing large-scale data processing, while surviving equipment shows a workflow of punching, reading, sorting and counting.

Type
governmental or standards institution
Known for
Punched-card control and data entry, Electromechanical tabulation
Historical role

What the organisation contributed

The Census Bureau credits the system with changing large-scale data processing, while surviving equipment shows a workflow of punching, reading, sorting and counting. The Census Bureau adopted it for the 1890 census.

Why it mattered

Externalises repeatable instructions and structured records in a portable machine-readable form. Automates sorting, counting and summarising large structured record collections.

Connected topics

Where this fits in ITEM

Punched-card control and data entryElectromechanical tabulation
Evidence

Sources and further reading

  1. 1890 Census

    United States Census Bureau · 1890

    Open source ↗

  2. From tally marks to modern computers

    United States Census Bureau

    Open source ↗

  3. Hollerith Machine

    United States Census Bureau

    Open source ↗

  4. Tabulation did not turn society into data. Institutions did that first, and the machines made the transformation scalable

    Open source ↗