Work and Culture in Tech Ecosystems Winter 2022

Source: Forbes.com Silicon Valley is known for the idea of disruptive technology. With companies like Apple, Palantir, Meta and thousands of other companies competing all in the same geological region, there is no technology that has disrupted markets and has redefined the meaning of innovation like cryptocurrency. In an article posted by JCCS News, CEO of Microstrategy Michael Saylor states that "Bitcoin is the most disruptive technology of our lifetime." The article is arguing how with the internet as the digitization of information, what is stopping bitcoin and thousands of other cryptocurrencies from being the digitization of currency? The following article can be found here: https://www.jccscpa.com/bitcoin-part-i-a-disruptive-technology-thats-here-to-stay/#:~:text=Often%20referred%20to%20as%20%E2%80%9Cdigital,proponent%20and%20CEO%20of%20Microstrategy. With the invention of cryptocurrency, Forbes also posted an article that directly relates to how much of a disruption th...

After doing my readings and presentation on Silicon Valley's history and their modern day society it's hard to believe that other technology industrial districts can compete. After googling around the web most people also believe that their is a very likely chance that Silicon Valley will be number one for a very very long time.  But, I found something interesting from an article I would like to share.  The Next Silicon Valley is... - by Nikhil Basu Trivedi (substack.com) This article discusses how there can't be another Silicon Valley geographically but the regions mindset and culture can be found elsewhere.  This is an interesting thought as I personally believed Waterloo or even the Toronto area in respect could potentially be the next Silicon Valley. This article brought to light how Waterloo as an example has the mindset of innovation and technological development and even entrepreneurial tendency's too.  Question: So in a quick question I would like to ask if y...

Source: Canada Post https://ipolitics.ca/2021/09/29/canada-post-ending-electronic-service-in-december-2022/ Recently I received an email reminding me of Canada Post's e-post service shutting down and I never knew such a thing even existed. After doing some research, I discovered that the e-post service is similar to Gmail and Outlook, but dedicated for Canadians and Canadian businesses. While it launched in 1999, three years after the launch of Hotmail and many years before the creation of Gmail, the service has been unable to compete with other tech services and is now being discontinued.  This event reminds me of the concept of creative destruction where tech continuously innovates regardless of what may be lost along the way. Well known examples can be newspapers, where the invention of cellphones and the Internet have pretty much decimated the purchase of newspapers, and the taxi service where Uber has made an entire industry of taxi unions disappear. While the Canada Post e-po...

  Source: UNESCO What is the future for the creative industries for not just Ontario but around the world as well? As we are slowly recovering from the pandemic and downturn of the economy, what sorts of changes can we expect out of the creative industry? https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377863 A study undertaken by UNESCO in 2021 sought to discover the damages to the creative industries that were caused by the pandemic. They discovered “large job losses in the cultural and creative industries. These decreases ranged from a high of a 55% decline in the Philippines, to a 13% fall in New Zealand.” (UNESCO, 2021, p. 21) In the reading “Ontario in the Creative Age” we learned that implementation and progression of creativity in Ontario’s economy will be necessary for future growth. While the reading points to examples of weaknesses in pursuit of these changes, the recent events of the pandemic surely will cause an even greater issue moving forward. It seems at this point tha...

  As stated by Melissa Gregg “digital platforms offer a system for interchangeable tasks and a simulated management function that offsets the need to identify work limits” ( Gregg, 2018, p.5). This contributes to the household being a workplace through the utility of digital platforms and assistants such as  Alexa, Google Home, Uber Eats Delivery or Instacart Delivery, where we are able to keep our routine, tasks and "progress predictable, even when the workday isn’t” ( Gregg, 2018, p.5). Due to how while working from home, these productive technological advances act as the efficient housewife that runs the household, by completing chores, responsibilities, tasks and routines. In class examples that were talked about included a security system app and Google Home, where both were able to simply and conveniently provide information and complete tasks.  Relating to outside examples, below is a Samsung Smart things commercial, which highlights how Samsung has become the tech...