Work and Culture in Tech Ecosystems Winter 2022

  The pressure of “productivity” in today's digital age has become a growing trend in recent times. Media apps and platforms have become a forum for influence as popular content creators have shared their lifestyles and daily routines in aesthetically pleasing and idealized ways that imply a pressure for self-care and productivity. Similar to the arguments presented in Melissa Greggs book Counterproductive, influencer media content has increasingly moved towards the self help genre in which these “guru-style leaders assume the role of guide or donor in the quest to find greater productivity.” (Gregg, 2018, p.53) Most recently, this idea has taken shape in the form of a viral media trend labeled as “That Girl”. Described as a person who wakes up early, meditates, makes their bed, eats only healthy foods, journals daily, goes to the gym often, walks 10,000 steps a day, drinks 2L of water a day and naturally has their life together, the “That Girl” lifestyle has grown in popularity as...

  The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Sector Myths  by Mariana Mazzucato argues that the overall success of the United States economy is due to public, and government-funded investments in technology and innovation. Chapter 8 of the book is called Risks and Rewards from Rotten Apples to Symbiotic Ecosystems   and speaks about the relationship that the state has with risky investments in technology and innovation as well as the state’s initial investments and ties in/with Apple.  Mazzucato states that “risk-taking has been a collective endeavour while the returns have been much less collectively distributed” meaning is that the only return that the state sees for their risky investment is the indirect benefits in the form of higher tax receipts which ironically enough are a result of their initial investment.  The point that Mazzucato is trying to get at is that to the average person there seems to be lots of talk of an equal partnership betwee...

  In Adrian Daub’s book,   What Tach Calls Thinking  he examines the ideologies that exist within Silicon Valley. The first chapter of the book discusses how society specifically tech society has fetishized dropping out of Ivey League/elite universities and colleges in order to pursue their start-up to eventually become the next big CEO. He argues that this idea has become fetishized by society and allows the common individual to believe that dropping out of school to pursue your dreams is the way to do it because individuals such as Bill Gates did the same therefore the “if they can do why can’t I” mindset is created. This ideology creates a need or urgency to always be trying to find the next best thing and not to waste one’s time receiving an education however this fails to realize that Bill Gates was a part of the top one percent in which he received an abundance of help from others however this is not the case with the average individual. This is also an ideology tha...

 While reading the first few chapters of Wendy Liu's, she explained how silicon valley is a place where the only thing that matters is the results of the work you put in. Either it takes you 40,50,60 or 70 hours in a week, the only thing that anyone pays attention to is the end result. With this in mind, I thought about why people seem to love Silicon Valley and continue to want to get a job there. It is still considered the dream job location for loads of people. I came to the realization that our school system is geared in nearly the exact same way as Silicon Valley. At school, the only thing that really matters towards completing your degree is the grade that you get at the end of your course. The process to complete assignments and exams is often overlooked by professors and future employers, as they are only looking at your grade to determine how good of a student you are. Students spend different amounts of hours on their assignments and exams, but as long as they have the kn...

  Throughout the first year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed like the whole world had been put on lockdown with severe punishments being implemented to discourage people from going outdoors. However, the state of Florida is one of the locations that has been extremely soft on covid-19 regulations ever since the beginning of the pandemic. For that reason, large numbers of people have traveled and moved there in order to enjoy the weather and the relaxed covid rules. However, the location has become a huge draw for tech startups because a lot of people have seen how great of a place it is to live in. There are thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists, and founders living in that region. Tech startups can also find an increasing number of events where all these people group together looking for the next big thing. When analyzing how ecosystems are created during class and the readings, the actual weather and attraction of a location were never very big ...

  In the reading from David Stark titled "Heterarchy: The Organization of Dissonance" Stark discusses the concept of "research". In a basic explanation research is when one looks for a solution without knowing what the answer is. What I find interesting is how you can relate "research" as a term or concept with critical thinking.      John Dewey who was mentioned in the reading posed a scenario explaining what he meant with the term research and how it can vary in different scenarios.   1. Where someone looks for a solution to a problem but you may not know where or what your looking for. 2. Where someone looks for a solution knowing where the problem and potential answer is.      These two scenarios are very different and Dewey would even argue that the first one would be considered a "situation".      The argument I am getting at here is I believe critical thinking is involved in research or a "situation" and D...

In recent news Elon Musk has made multiple attempts to purchase the entirety of Twitter. Just a few weeks ago Elon Musk purchased 3 billion dollars worth of shares on Twitter making him the largest shareholder. But clearly this was not enough for Musk as he made his second attempt to buy Twitter.      What could be the cause for Musk wanted to be in full control of Twitter? He recently tweeted out that Twitter is the center spot where everyone in recent times get there news and information or at least the majority of people especially the younger generation. He also believes that there is too much censorship on Twitter and since it is the main place where people get their news it should not have much censoring of information. It is most likely that if Musk does end up getting control of Twitter it would be clear that he would try to reduce the censorship of information that big tech is known for allowing free speech in the platform.  Thi...

Within the reading from Alice Marwick titled "Silicon Valley and The Social Media Industry" I found it very interesting how she made the comparison that Silicon Valley does NOT produce social media yet utilizes some practice implemented in social media.      It is explained in the reading that Silicon Valley adopts the properties of social media through the means of user generated content, peer production market places collaboratively generated information, and datafication.      What I find interesting is why such practice are being utilized in tech start-ups in Silicon Valley and how come they are producing positive results yet they are still not producing or creating social media.  If anyone has any insight on why such practice are super useful or why they are achieving success please feel free to add a comment. 

  As discussed in the Entrepreneurial Subjects: Venturing from Alley to Valley by Alice Marwick regarding networking through online platforms “ everyone has a chance to stand out. Everyone has a chance to learn, improve, and build up their skills. Everyone has a chance to be a brand worthy of remark” (Marwick, 2017,p. 2028). However, since the switch to a virtual format due to the recent pandemic, this has changed the way Golden Hawks at Laurier are able to make connections, impressions, and “stand out”, as students are now just another tiny black box in a sea of boxes on a screen. For example, before the pandemic, students were able to attend lavish in person events filled with multiple booths and potential employers, where they were able to make meaningful face to face connections with various companies. Now, students click on a zoom event and are able to attend breakout rooms to make virtual connections.  As VP of Marketing at ECommerce Laurier and a graduating student, whe...

  As outlined in the reading regarding the revamping of downtown kitchener, “In 2004 the city set up a $110-million fund for an economic-development program financed through a 1.2 per cent property tax hike over a 10-year period. The university used $30-million out of the fund to help build a new pharmacy school in the downtown area. Other money went toward cleaning up industrial sites and transforming warehouses” (Dingman, 2015). Similar to Silicon Valley that “worked at improving education, building the information infrastructure, reducing traffic congestion through telecommuting and improving government operations” (Lee et al., 2000, p. 11) that attracted people to the area.  Downtown Kitchener is now home to many Tech Startups (ie. D2L), parks (Ie. Victoria Park), transportation centers (ie. GRT busses/train), restaurants (ie. 271 West), entertainment (ie. Goudies Lane) and condos (ie. Condo Culture).  Questions: After exploring The Downtown Kitchener website below t...

  As the course reading the author of You are Just Like Coca Cola outlines, “what makes personal branding such a compelling concept nowadays for people who believe that anyone can get a job if they use the right techniques” (Gershon, n.d, p.23).  In 2022, it is evident that personal branding is a prime element within the Instagram Influencer world, where individuals make themselves unique through the use of certain colors, logos, slogans, fonts, songs, events, sponsorships, collabs and aesthetics. Following this, the recent Coachella festival has attracted influencers from all around the world. For example, “Dutch influencer Rianne Meijer has 1.5 million followers on Instagram and has been documenting her trip to the festival, posting paid promotions with brands like Levi's and BMW” (Hosie, 2021). Also “Wellness influencer and actress Noel Elie, who has 102,000 followers, told the Post she's attending the festival as a guest of a fashion brand that pays $2,500 for three storie...

  Figure 1. Retrieved from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/modern-familys-danny-zuker-how-586267/ In a hostile takeover attempt, Elon Musk has become the largest shareholder of Twitter due to complaints about censorship and algorithms that censor free speech. There is been recent controversy surrounding companies like Tick Tok, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and not being true to the fundamentals it was built upon which is autonomy from government structures. Musk offered to buy the company and not due to wanting more money, but to protect these fundamental rights like free speech has become a concern in recent years on community-based platforms. In relation to the course reading by David Stark "The Organization Of Dissonance," Stark points out how internet companies, especially ones like google which created the function of search (and finding information regarding anything you want) are run by multiple power structures that govern the actions of the pla...

  Figure 1. Retrieved from Literary Hub article below Author Jonathan Crary brings up the point in his article that "The digital tools and services used by people everywhere are subordinated to the power of transnational corporations, intelligence agencies, criminal cartels, and a sociopathic billionaire elite" (Crary, 2022, p.1). Crary is arguing how the internet itself has been inseparable from capitalism and has produced the norm on a globalized scale. Whether it's the want for a new sports car or the idea of overnight success, the internet itself has artificially constructed a reality that only serves the elite. In relation to Jonathan Crary, the reading on MYLS concerning Peter Hall & David Soskice bring up the concept of varieties of capitalism approach regarding political economies. Hall & Soskice bring up the point that "the political economy is an environment comprised of actors who seek to advance their interests in a rational way in strategic inter...

  Figure 1. Retrieved From CNBC article link below. In Melissa Gregg's Counterproductive Book, Gregg talks about challenging the corporate interest to that of the collective. Collective being the social world and challenging the ways in how we can increase productivity by doing what's best for the corporate leaders, but corporate leaders looking out for those who serve them. Gregg states that  “we urgently need political visions that celebrate practices of selflessness and care to challenge the embedded egotism of enterprise-serving job norms and pervasive industry myopia” (Gregg, 2018, p.133). Gregg is essentially arguing mindfulness practices help workers find purpose and repair that importance in believing in what one does and will do for the self. However, the focus on transhumanism ultimately strips people of this as Silicon Valley and its tech giant leaders like Musk think brain implants can help resolve these emotional issues and can help amplify the human condition in ...

 On the surface, the tech industry's health and environmental risks appear to be unrelated to how we use devices in our daily lives. Computers and cellphones, which rely on semiconductors and microchips to function, have become so ubiquitous that it's easy to overlook the challenges associated with their manufacture. However, the electronics business is as much about chemistry as it is about computing. In this sentiment, something was left behind by the rich industrial history of Silicon Valley... pollution. It turns out that this ideal oasis of business harmony stands on the ground that has been a Superfund site since 1989, a designation which is given by the Environmental Protection Agency to some of the country's most contaminated or polluted soil. Thousands of tonnes of toxins have been removed since then, but the site is continuously being cleaned up. https://qz.com/1017181/silicon-valley-pollution-there-are-more-superfund-sites-in-santa-clara-than-any-other-us-county/

With 50% of its residents born beyond the borders of Canada, Toronto is undoubtedly an international metropolis. Because of its colleges, corporate offices, and worker-friendly immigration laws, Toronto is becoming a digital magnet for start-ups similar to Silicon Valley. Miami and Austin have both been dubbed the "new Silicon Valley," with residents able to work from the pool or the beach.  However, evidence reveals that Toronto has them beat. According to The New York Times, Toronto is growing faster than both cities and is currently North America's third-largest tech powerhouse, after New York and Silicon Valley. Is this wave of talent a fad or a competitive advantage entrenched into Canadian immigration policy? YouTube Is Toronto The Next Silicon Valley?

 The narrative of how Kalanick led the fastest-growing business in history, taking on established taxi companies in San Fran, California, and throughout the world, is told in Super Pumped: the Battle for Uber. It's an intriguing depiction of a man who is charismatic and annoying, brilliant and insane, heroic and villainous. It's a view into a tech world where the boundary between invention and devastation is blurry, and CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are known for destroying things quickly and without care for who gets injured. Kalanick was good at articulating the logic and philosophy behind why everything turned out, but he lacked compassion for the individuals who were actually affected a majority of the time. He's a guy who lives in a mythical world, so he can't connect on an emotional level to someone who's hurting, or relate with someone who's feeling low at the moment.  The show to me represents the callousness of some individuals and depicts th...

  Super Pumped: The Battle For Uber is a new show that came out for Showtime Networks that currently has one seasons, but has been approved for a second, and is about one of Silicon Valley's most successful, but also most destructive startups, Uber. The show is centred around Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick and his relationship with mentors, employees, confidantes and his attitude that the only thing that matters is his companies success. In addition to that, the shows displays a lot of controversial moments that happened during the rise of Uber which ultimately led to Travis Kalanick being ousted from his own company by his board. The show has a star studded cast with Joseph-Levitt Gordon portraying Travis Kalanick, Kyle Chandler as Kalanick's mentor Bill Gurley, and Uma Thurman as Adrianna Huffington. This series goes over the ups and downs of one of the most popular companies in our world today and gives an inside look at the people running it behind the scenes.  Do you use...

 Intellijoint Surgical is a Kitchener based company that is one of Canada's leading medical device startups with over 15000 surgeons using their product in the U.S, Australia and even Japan. However, they have been based in Kitchener since 2015, they haven't ever made a sale within Canada until very recently. This is mostly because of budget issues in the Canadian health system. If Canada were to make some kind of changes with their Health plans, Canadians can have a mutually beneficial arrangement with Intellijoint for some top tier medical technology. Do you think other tech startups have similar problems with selling their products to their own countries and having more business from other countries?