Automating versus Informating

Automating and informating are not opposites or alternatives but co-occurring dynamics of the same technological event. Every technology that automates also informates to some degree—the computerized paper mill that eliminated hands-on digester operation simultaneously generated continuous data streams about production processes. The automating function reduces labor costs and is immediately measurable in quarterly results. The informating function creates potential for deeper understanding and requires institutional investment in training, organizational redesign, and authority redistribution whose returns operate on longer timescales. Zuboff's four-decade empirical finding: institutions systematically choose automating over informating because markets reward short-term cost reduction more reliably than long-term human development. The ratio between the two functions—how much automation, how much informating—is determined not by the technology but by institutional choice, and the choice is made continuously in budget allocations, hiring decisions, and organizational restructurings.