Heirs Of All Knowledge

“Mend your speech a little,
Lest it may mar your fortune.”[1]
—Shakespeare

In the telecommunications industry's early years, before the widespread use of automatic dialing systems, the role of the switchboard operator was not just a job but a choreographed interaction between human and machine. In thinking through histories of technological labor, I spent April exploring the history of female switchboard operators on the United States’ east coast—particularly at the Bell Telephone Company from the 1910s to the 1940s. My interest in this topic has centered not only on the control exerted by the company but also on the spaces in which awareness and autonomy were able to exist for the operators, who were largely framed as components within a vast and meticulously tuned communication machine.

Bell's management of their operators—primarily young, middle-class white women selected for their specific demographic traits—was strategic and comprehensive. The working conditions and community cultures were superficially appealing and appeared to value and appreciate their staff. However, this was, in part, a tactic to attract and retain a specific type of worker deemed ideal for the company operations. The movements of these operators across the switchboards involved constant stretching and reaching, a physical toll that eventually necessitated the establishment of one of the first corporate medical departments in 1913. Any deviation to the established norms of the system—conceptualized as "noise" within the system by researcher Elinor Carmi[2]—was viewed as something that needed to be managed and corrected in order to maintain a seamless operational flow. There was also a fostering of self-regulation and mutual surveillance among operators through programs like "Hear Yourself as Others Hear You", which allowed operators to listen to and evaluate each other’s work.[3]

This control extended to their private time and internal mental lives. The company’s self-development program, "A Design for Living" developed by Dr. Theresa Boden, was introduced officially in 1939 as part of a comprehensive strategy to manage and optimize the lives of their female switchboard operators both at and outside of work. This program, lasting several weeks, was ostensibly designed to enrich the operators' lives, teaching them how to excel not just as employees but as models of societal ideals of womanhood. I managed to find a copy of the “A Design for Living” handbook, in a revised 1950 edition, whose topics include: conversation, better speech, reading, dress and grooming, etiquette, entertainment, home decoration, family and personal budgeting, travel and vacation planning, and hobbies. In-person classes taught by Group Leaders, and counseling services staffed by fellow operators, blurred the lines between support and surveillance. These programs were presented as perks of the job but fundamentally served the company's interest in maintaining a well-oiled and compliant workforce.

Both physical movement and speech were modulated through instruction and drills. In terms of speech, initially operators were scripted to ensure uniformity; however, after a dip in subscribers during the Great Depression and as competition with smaller companies using automatic dialing systems became stronger, there was a change in strategy. Operators were now encouraged to sound more personable and authentic, traits that automated systems could not replicate. This also led to the creation of the Information Service role, where operators transitioned to become sources of information and assistance. These information service operators were tasked with answering inquiries, providing phone numbers, and offering directory assistance, essentially acting as live, interactive databases. The slogan of Bell Telephone during this era (30s-50s) was “The Voice with a Smile”; operators were allowed personalities only insofar as these traits served the company's bottom line.

The physical tools and systems used for the job also began changing. Innovations like the introduction of updated switchboards and later, more sophisticated routing systems, were designed to reduce the physical strain and complexity of connecting calls. However, these enhancements came with increased expectations for productivity with operators expected to handle a higher volume of calls per shift while being monitored for speed and accuracy. These changes, alongside a lack of updated remuneration after World War II, contributed to the nationwide telephone strike in 1947, the largest walkout of women in U.S. history (using the clever slogan “The Voice with a Smile Will be Gone for A While”), which would lead Bell to accelerate its transition to automatic dialing systems. Interestingly, while the "A Design for Living" program had an element of unionization prevention by engaging the operators with continuous activities and providing a sense of fulfillment, it also inadvertently promoted solidarity among them. Encouraging the women to spend time together outside of work allowed them to forge stronger bonds and share personal experiences, which, in turn, strengthened their collective identity and camaraderie.

Bell maintained a labor-intensive approach longer than any other telecommunications company, demonstrating a clear preference for control over cost savings. The shift to automation only occurred when maintaining this control was no longer sustainable. Eventually the switchboards fell silent, signaling the end of an era for the women who had been pivotal to the growth of the industry. The dominance Bell once held over these operators became outdated, as did the detailed manuals, training protocols, and the methods of self-regulation, along with the mental and physical expertise the operators held. But this control had not disappeared; it had merely shifted to the mechanical parts of the machine the operators had once embodied.As we consider the shifting landscapes of labor and technology, we can see the legacy of female switchboard operators enduring in contemporary digital forms. Today's virtual assistants, such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, epitomize the fusion of automated technology with the personable nature historically attributed to female operators. These digital assistants perform a function akin to that of their human predecessors: they connect us to information and facilitate communication, yet they do so with the "smile" once mandated of switchboard operators, suggesting that even as technology advances, some societal expectations remain fixed. In this sense, the dialogue around labor and technology has evolved but the core issues remain: how do we value the human contribution within automated services, and what rights and protections are afforded to the unseen labor still present in these digital systems? As we increasingly incorporate technology into our daily lives, an awareness of these pasts could guide us towards a more equitable technological future.

Footnotes

1. A slight misquote of Shakespeare’s King Lear quoted in “A Design For Living” handbook, 1950, p25. The title of this essay is a modification of a chapter title from the same book.
2. This concept and much research on the topic is indebted to Elinor Carmi, particularly through her book “Media Distortions: Understanding the Power Behind Spam, Noise, and Other Deviant Media”, Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 2020
3. This system of control, including the incorporated element of “feedback” within the system, was a key influence on the creation of cybernetics.
* images by Camila Galaz including redrawn/reworked illustrations from “A Design For Living” handbook, 1950

Bibliography

• Birdsall, Carolyn & Carmi, Elinor. “Feminist avenues for listening in: amplifying silenced histories of media and communication.” Women's History Review, vol. 31, no.4, 2022
• Boden, Theresa, E. “A Design for Living.” Bell Telephone Magazine, Autumn, 1948.
• Boden, Theresa, E. A Design For Living: Program for Self-Development. American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1939, revised edition 1950.
• Boyer, Kate & England, Kim. “Gender, work and technology in the information workplace: from typewriters to ATMs.” Social & Cultural Geography, vol. 9, no. 3, 2006.
• Carmi, Elinor. “Taming Noisy Women.” Media History, 2015.
• Carmi, Elinor. Media Distortions: Understanding the Power Behind Spam, Noise, and Other Deviant Media. Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 2020.
• Lipartito, Kenneth. “When Women Were Switches: Technology, Work, and Gender in the Telephone Industry, 1890-1920.” The American Historical Review vol. 99, no. 4, 1994.
• New York Telephone Company. An Ideal Occupation for Young Women. Pamphlet, 191-.
• Prescott, Harold. M. “Towards a More Pleasing Service.” Bell Telephone Quarterly, April, 1940.
• Wyatt, Sally. “Feminism, Technology and the Information Society: Learning from the past, imagining the future.” Information, Communication & Society vol.11, no.1, 2008.