In the 1950's, the emphasis of American industry  shifted  from

          manufacturing  goods  to  servicing   goods.    It   is  no  mere

          coincidence  that the first commercially available computer  came

          into being at the same time.   Indeed,  the  UNIVAC-I  (built  in

          1951) is to the "information  age"  what Ely Whitney's cotton gin

          was to the Industrial  Revolution,  in  terms  of  expanding  the

          capabilities  of  mankind.   It  can  be  seen that just as  "the

          Industrial Revolution freed the  human  race  from the land...the

                                                               1
          computer revolution promises to free the human mind".

            Since  they  were invented in 1951,  computers  have  undergone

          incredible improvements in storage capacity,  calculation  speed,


          ----------

          1. W.M. Mathews, Monster or Messiah?  The  Computer's  Impact  on
                           ________________________________________________
          Society.  Jackson, Miss.: University  Press of Mississippi, 1980,
          ________
          p.  25.













          space  requirements,  and cost.  However, scientists  still  have

          many   discoveries   and  developments  to  make.    The   future

          possibilities are mind-boggling,  to  say the least.  Even today,

          applications of computers in society are found in everyday  life.

          These applications can be seen as being either direct or indirect

          applications.

            To the average person, perhaps the most obvious, or direct uses

          of computers in today's society involve their widespread  use  in

          everyday tasks.  This  has  been  made  possible  by  the  recent

          progress in the feasibility of actual application in  the area of

          source data automation "which  allow  data  to  be  collected  in
          source data automation

                                   2
          computer-readable  form".   These include magnetic-ink  character

          and optical readers which are now in widespread use.

            Bank   transations,   computerized   checkout   counters,   and

          standardized tests are just a few aspects of  everyday life which

          are directly  handled  with  the aid of computers.  An example of

          this  computerization  in  everyday   bank  transactions  is  the

          magnetic-ink  character recognition (MICR) devices which are  now

          used to process checks.  These  devices  can read and sort checks

                                              3
          at the rate of 750 to 1500 a minute.

            Bar-code readers and the Universal Product Code (UPC)  are  two
            Bar-code readers         Universal Product Code (UPC)

          types of source-data automation which are now commonly  found  in


          ----------

          2.  S.L.  Mandell & G.M. Hopper,  Understanding  Computers.   St.
                                            _________________________
          Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Co., 1984, p.  59.

          3. S.L. Mandell & G.M. Hopper, p.  59.













          stores of  all  kinds.   Bar-code readers are used in credit card

          verifications and point-of-sale  situations.   The  UPC now marks

          most items which are sold in supermarkets and is made up  of  ten

          vertical bars which have such information  as  the  name  of  the

          manufacturer,  and  the identity of the item.  In both  types  of

          codes, the data is encoded by the  width  of  each  bar  and  the

          distance between each bar.

            Another  application  of   computers   in   modern  society  is

          encountered mostly by the younger generation since they have been

          exposed to standardized tests throughout  their  lives.   All  of

          these multiple-choice tests (from the  SAT's  to the ACT's to the

          GMAT's