ABSTRACT
The Eameses' film The Information Machine: Man and the Data Processor, created for the 1958 Brussels Exposition, presented an entirely different image of IBM. In The Information Machine the Eameses demonstrated this concept with an orrery that aided thinking, illustrating how mechanical models visually corroborated mathematical calculations. Data processors were then introduced as tools specifically designed to address the magnitude of calculations required for increasingly large and complex problems. The Eameses' 1957 contribution led to significant shifts in IBM's public relations campaign. Prior to the Eameses' involvement, IBM's strategy was to closely link the company to the products it manufactured. The word 'think' had a very distinguished history at IBM, used as a corporate slogan ever since Thomas Watson Sr. joined the National Cash Register Company in 1914. Contributing toward the 'war of national performance', the Eameses conveyed IBM's internal corporate message to the international audience attending the 1964 New York World's Fair with the multiscreen film Think.
