Computing Aliens. From Central Control to Migration Scenarios, 1960-1990
Data Centers. Edges of a Wired Nation.
Moritz Mähr 
Kijan Espahangizi
In this chapter, we shall use the example of Switzerland’s migration policy to explore how computers have reconfigured the administrative activities of the nation-state—and how, in turn, this has shaped the uses and materialities of computing within the administration. Part I will focus on major administrative automation projects of the 1960s and 1970s and the ways through which they propelled a massive centralization of data, services, and competencies. Part II then looks at the shift towards decentralized, situational uses of electronic data-processing tools in the 1980s and 1990s. We shall conclude with an outlook on more recent developments concerning the “digitization” of administration and its consequences for Switzerland’s migration policy.
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@inbook{mähr2020,
author = {Mähr, Moritz and Espahangizi, Kijan},
publisher = {Lars Müller Publishers},
title = {Computing {Aliens.} {From} {Central} {Control} to {Migration}
{Scenarios,} 1960-1990},
booktitle = {Data Centers. Edges of a Wired Nation.},
pages = {226–241},
date = {2020-10-29},
url = {https://moritzmaehr.ch/publications/mahr2020h.html},
langid = {en}
}