''Processed World'' was an anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian
magazine
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
focused on the oppressions and absurdities of office work, which, at the time the magazine began, was becoming automated. The magazine was founded by Chris Carlsson, Caitlin Manning, and Adam Cornford in 1981.
No new issues have been produced since 2005.
The print magazine was widely distributed to and read by office workers in
Downtown San Francisco
The Financial District is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States, that serves as its main central business district and had 372,829 jobs according to U.S. census tracts as of 2012–2016. It is home to the city's largest con ...
during the years the print magazine was published from 1981 to 1994.
[Carlsson, Chris]
"Processed World: A Political History,"
''Notes From Below'' (June 8, 2019). Originally from ''Logout'' #7. Retrieved June 17, 2019
Publication history
''Processed World'' began publication in April 1981 and was printed on an irregular basis, approximately quarterly to semi-annually until Winter 1992. There were 32 published printed issues.
There have subsequently been three more issues published on the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
— number 33 in 1995, and two more issues, one in 2000 and one in 2005. These last two issues are numbered 2.001 and 2.005. All of the issues of the magazine are now available online.
Themes
The magazine is about the absurdity and futility of modern employment practices in which a large number of
college-educated people are often forced to seek
temporary work
Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time-based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes ...
with no
employee benefits
Employee benefits and benefits in kind (especially in British English), also called fringe benefits, perquisites, or perks, include various types of non-wage compensation provided to an employee by an employer in addition to their normal wage o ...
. The magazine details the subversive attitudes and sense of humor required for workers to be able to get through the day when forced to perform dull, degrading and boring work as
wage slaves doing modern office work such as working as a
computer programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming.
The professional titles ''software developer'' and ''software engineer'' are used for jobs that require a progr ...
,
word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features.
Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current word ...
,
call center
A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...
operator,
data entry operator,
telemarketer
Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products, subscriptions or services, either over the phone or throu ...
or
file clerk.
Contributors
Writers that have had work published by the magazine include founder Carlsson, Manning, Chris Winks, Denis Hayes, Greg Williamson, Jim Swanson,
,
Adam Cornford
Adam Francis Cornford (born 26 February 1950) is a British poet, journalist, and essayist and a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin. From 1987 to 2008 he led the Poetics Program at New College of California in San Francisco, United States.
B ...
,
John Norton,
Jesse Drew
Jesse Drew is an American artist, author, media activist, and educator.
Biography
Jesse Drew was born at St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village, New York. He spent his early childhood in Queens, before the family moved to Hicksville, New Y ...
, and
Donna Kossy
Donna J. Kossy (born May 18, 1957) is an American writer, zine publisher, and online used book dealer based in Portland, Oregon. Specializing in the history of "forgotten, discredited and extreme ideas", which she calls "crackpotology and kookolo ...
and many more. The magazine featured
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...
s by artists such as
Tom Tomorrow
Dan Perkins (born April 5, 1961), better known by his pen name Tom Tomorrow, is an American editorial cartoonist. His weekly comic strip, '' This Modern World'', which comments on current events, appears regularly in more than 80 newspapers acros ...
,
Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie (born 1947) is an American comics artist and writer, known for her participation in the underground comix movement. She is also known for creating the controversial work ''Fresca Zizis'' and her contributions to '' Wimmen's Com ...
,
Ted Rall
Frederick Theodore Rall III (born August 26, 1963) is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cart ...
,
[Morley, Madeleine]
"1980s Mag Processed World Voiced Resistance to the Digitalization of the Workplace,"
''Eye on Design'' (January 23, 2018). Retrieved June 6, 2018. Jay Kinney
Jay Kinney (born 1950) is an American author, editor, and former underground cartoonist. Kinney has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the underground comix press of the 1970s and '80s.
Career
Kinney was a member, ...
, and
Paul Mavrides
Paul Mavrides (born 1952) is an American artist, best known for his critique-laden comics, cartoons, paintings, graphics, performances and writings that encompass a disturbing yet humorous catalog of the social ills and shortcomings of human civ ...
.
Many of the magazine's contributors, such as
Dan Perkins
Dan Perkins (born April 5, 1961), better known by his pen name Tom Tomorrow, is an American editorial cartoonist. His weekly comic strip, ''This Modern World'', which comments on current events, appears regularly in more than 80 newspapers across ...
, e.g. "Tom Tomorrow," adopted pseudonyms to avoid retribution from potential employers.
See also
*
Anarchism
Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
*
Temporary work
Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time-based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes ...
Further reading
*
*
*
*
* Elias, Robert
"Tom Tomorrow. (the Progressive Interview),"''The Progressive'' (March 2003).
*
References
{{Reflist
External links
Processed World at the Internet Archive a complete run of the issues is available except for issue 33.
Quarterly magazines published in the United States
Anarchist periodicals published in the United States
Defunct political magazines published in the United States
Irregularly published magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1981
Magazines disestablished in 2005
Magazines published in San Francisco
Zines
Anarchism in California