CS 400k Tech Ecoystems

I found an interesting article online the other day regarding the negative effects that Artificial Intelligence (AI) may have on the workforce in the future. As Kirkwood explains, “AI could potentially disrupt every industry. All companies could require AI-related occupations by 2030, and it may become highly competitive to retain talent…” This quote in particular made me reflect upon theoretical concepts that we have analyzed throughout the course – particularly, relating to Boltanski and Chiapello’s concept of the “projective city.” This article seems to take a distinct approach to the effects that advancements in technology will pose for the greater workforce. In the concept of the ‘projective city,’ workers become more flexible to shifting between different projects and teams in order to curate a strong networked portfolio. However, Kirkwood notes that a ‘projective city’ style workforce in which technologies infiltrate and take over multiple industries, could create a...

As Jasanoff states, the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries refers to the way in which “scientific and technological visions enter into the assemblages of materiality, meaning, and morality that constitute robust forms of social life” (2015). The sociotechnical imaginary thus functions as a vision into a desirable future in which there is a shared understanding of social life, encouraging social progress. Facebook acts as an illustration of a sociotechnical imaginary as it has become one of the most popular platforms for people to connect and maintain social bonds with others. This is ultimately the main function of Facebook as Zuckerberg explains that the service was meant to facilitate helping people connect and learn more. Zuckerberg envisioned Facebook as a utopia for its aim to foster ‘connections.’ Further, his idea of “connection” operates as a socio-technical imaginary because it promotes the flourishing of building personal relationships through a technolog...

Alice Marwick identifies social media as an industry that heavily influences Silicon Valley innovation, more specifically the effects and techniques of emulating Silicon Valley.  'Accelerators,' owned and operated by TechStars, executes workshops around the world to teach local to-be entrepreneurs.  The idea is to bring together engineers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and education institutions in one ecosystem in an attempt at building networks and start-up ventures (322).  To continue the theme of 'Tech for Good,' Forbes provides an article to present TechStar's London celebration of its 90-day program.  South Korea, India, Ukraine, and the United States are noted as contributors to this accelerator.  The success of this particular weekend was emphasized by the three headline ventures that were created. Pesky Fish is transforming fish supply chains,  UK fish can transfer as many as five wholesalers before it reaches the client, Pesky Fish is al...

Raine and Wellman use the term atom and bit worker to describe the two styles of jobs that can be found within a network society. They identifying through examples of how bit workers cannot do the work of atom workers as they require two different types of skill sets (Raine & Wellman, 2012). The example used in the text is directed to the constructing of the Boeing 787 and how it ended up being a nightmare in terms of building it. From the plane production being distributed to various companies, and those companies distributing their work further, the Boeing 787 had vast suppliers that ranged from 9 countries (Raine & Wellman, 2012). The work was networked so far that when trying to build the airplane there were parts either missing or that did not fit, and assembly instruction were in different languages. I find these faults interesting as the Boeing company still experiences countless issues, and recently had two crashes within the last year. There has been a history of crash...

Zuckerberg has every incentive to limit criticism of Facebook. The website has grown to a size that even he could not have imagined, and now affects the way information is consumed and controlled. It now operates as a “socio-technical imaginary” (Jasonoff, Taplin) because it has aligned ideologies and virtues and connected them with the way we interact with technology- as Marshall mcluhan states ‘The Medium is the Message’- in other words, the technology itself is just as important as the message. Facebook is the medium for the new world of information.  Algorithms shape the way we see information, and the way we interact with this information (through comments, shares and likes) directly effect if we see more or less of related information. For example, a Conservative who ‘likes’ conservative posts will see more conservative posts, creating an echo-chamber situation. Similarly, a Liberal who ‘likes’ Liberal posts will see more Liberal posts. The algorithm is designed to keep us...

The term the projective city coined by Boltanski and Chipello is used to describe a city that is founded on mediating activities in order to create networks to derive and maintain contact as well as enhance individuals’ connections (Boltanski & Chipello, 2005). Therefore, from understanding the role of a projective city, the argument made by Mallon can be seen as indicative to this term as it argues how the Waterloo Region Tech Sector is a testbed for new ideas in order to tackle the change in work environments (Pedro, 2019). It is indicative of a projective city because of the way the city fosters and encourages technological change in the ways individual’s work and by housing businesses that attract and keep talented employees. In addition, when Mallon states how “we don’t earn a living, we learn a living” demonstrates how Waterloo is a projective city as it attempts to use a community approach that will make Waterloo a sample area to see if this type of work environment will b...

Sheila Jasanoff introduces her idea of socio-technical imaginaries as products of coproduction in science, technology and desired visions of our future (19).   A shared understanding of social life and social order are essential to and foundational of socio-technical imaginaries.  In context, a socio-technical imaginary occupies the space located between idealistic social/political imageries and the networks that allow STS authors to explain our reality.  In other words, socio-technical imaginaries are under constant distress because of two groups: the dreams looking to advance and the reality holders looking to maintain the social order of things.  In terms of Zuckerberg's attempts at explaining this, he symbolically acknowledges both sides of the argument and puts himself on the side of the dreamer.  Zuckerberg states he is focused on helping people connect to friends, family, and community, in a perfect world he would be able to accomplish this for free ...