Middle Tech

Middle Tech PDF Author: Paula Bialski
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691257175
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Why software isn’t perfect, as seen through the stories of software developers at a run-of-the-mill tech company Contrary to much of the popular discourse, not all technology is seamless and awesome; some of it is simply “good enough.” In Middle Tech, Paula Bialski offers an ethnographic study of software developers at a non-flashy, non-start-up corporate tech company. Their stories reveal why software isn’t perfect and how developers communicate, care, and compromise to make software work—or at least work until the next update. Exploring the culture of good enoughness at a technology firm she calls “MiddleTech,” Bialski shows how doing good-enough work is a collectively negotiated resistance to the organizational ideology found in corporate software settings. The truth, Bialski reminds us, is that technology breaks due to human-related issues: staff cutbacks cause media platforms to crash, in-car GPS systems cause catastrophic incidents, and chatbots can be weird. Developers must often labor to patch and repair legacy systems rather than dream up killer apps. Bialski presents a less sensationalist, more empirical portrait of technology work than the frequently told Silicon Valley narratives of disruption and innovation. She finds that software engineers at MiddleTech regard technology as an ephemeral object that only needs to be good enough to function until its next iteration. As a result, they don’t feel much pressure to make it perfect. Through the deeply personal stories of people and their practices at MiddleTech, Bialski traces the ways that workers create and sustain a complex culture of good enoughness.

Middle Tech

Middle Tech PDF Author: Paula Bialski
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691257175
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book

Book Description
Why software isn’t perfect, as seen through the stories of software developers at a run-of-the-mill tech company Contrary to much of the popular discourse, not all technology is seamless and awesome; some of it is simply “good enough.” In Middle Tech, Paula Bialski offers an ethnographic study of software developers at a non-flashy, non-start-up corporate tech company. Their stories reveal why software isn’t perfect and how developers communicate, care, and compromise to make software work—or at least work until the next update. Exploring the culture of good enoughness at a technology firm she calls “MiddleTech,” Bialski shows how doing good-enough work is a collectively negotiated resistance to the organizational ideology found in corporate software settings. The truth, Bialski reminds us, is that technology breaks due to human-related issues: staff cutbacks cause media platforms to crash, in-car GPS systems cause catastrophic incidents, and chatbots can be weird. Developers must often labor to patch and repair legacy systems rather than dream up killer apps. Bialski presents a less sensationalist, more empirical portrait of technology work than the frequently told Silicon Valley narratives of disruption and innovation. She finds that software engineers at MiddleTech regard technology as an ephemeral object that only needs to be good enough to function until its next iteration. As a result, they don’t feel much pressure to make it perfect. Through the deeply personal stories of people and their practices at MiddleTech, Bialski traces the ways that workers create and sustain a complex culture of good enoughness.

Water Technology in the Middle Ages

Water Technology in the Middle Ages PDF Author: Roberta J. Magnusson
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 080186626X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Focusing attention on gravity-fed water-flow systems in medieval cities and monasteries, Water Technology in the Middle Ages: Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire challenges the view that hydraulic engineering died with the Romans and remained moribund until the Renaissance. Roberta Magnusson explores the systems' technologies -- how they worked, what uses the water served -- and also the social rifts that created struggles over access to this basic necessity. Mindful of theoretical questions about what hastens technological change and how society and technology mutually influence one another, the author supplies a thoughtful and instructive study. Archeological, historical, and literary evidence vividly depicts those who designed, constructed, and used medieval water systems and demonstrates a shift from a public-administrative to a private-innovative framework -- one that argues for the importance of local initiatives. "The following chapters attempt to chart a course between the Scylla and Charybdis of technological and social determinism. While writing them, I have tried to strike a balance between the technical and human aspects of medieval hydraulic systems, and to remember that beneath the welter of documents and diffusion patterns, configurations and components, ordinances and expenditures, lie the perceptions, the choices, and often the plain hard work of individual men and women." -- from the Preface

The Frontiers of Management

The Frontiers of Management PDF Author: Peter F. Drucker
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
ISBN: 142217087X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
Every decision executives make today shapes the future of their organization - as well as that of the communities and society in which the organization operates. How to make choices that lead to the best possible future for all stakeholders? Look beyond the immediate crisis of the day - to the long-term implications of your decisions and actions. In the thirty-five essays comprising The Frontiers of Management, classic management thinker and teacher Peter Drucker offers advice. Each selection in this compelling collection is as fresh and relevant today as it was when written in the 1980s. With every essay, Drucker teaches by example- deftly demonstrating how to put current events in their larger historical context, how to pick the right people for a given task, how to think through an acquisition. The book provides not only durable examples of a great thinker's writing but a set of ever more urgently needed lessons on how business leaders today can understand the context of their own daily decisions - and make the wisest possible choices for the future. Timely and vivid, The Frontiers of Management remains a practical guidebook packed with enduring wisdom.

Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education

Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education PDF Author: Canada. Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural education
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description


Emerging Issues And Trends In Innovation And Technology Management

Emerging Issues And Trends In Innovation And Technology Management PDF Author: Alexander Brem
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9811247730
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
This book is a compilation of papers published in International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management. The chapters in the book focus on recent developments in the field of innovation and technology management. Carefully selected on the basis of relevance, rigor and research, the chapters in the book take the readers through various emerging topics and trends in the field.Written in a simple and accessible manner, the chapters in this book will be of interest to academics, practitioners and general public interested in knowing about emerging trends in innovation and technology management.

The Industrial Worker in Ontario

The Industrial Worker in Ontario PDF Author: William Herbert Rutherford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Technical education
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description


Report of the Commissioners

Report of the Commissioners PDF Author: Canada. Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Wörterbuch der Datentechnik / Dictionary of Computing

Wörterbuch der Datentechnik / Dictionary of Computing PDF Author: Vittorio Ferretti
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
ISBN: 3642801315
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 1394

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Book Description
Der FERRETTI bietet mehr als eine Übersetzungshilfe für deutsche und englische Fachbegriffe. 92.000 Stichwörter mit Kurzdefinitionen und Synonymen machen diese aktuelle Teilausgabe des erfolgreichen "Wörterbuch der Elektronik, Datentechnik und Telekommunikation" zum einzigartig umfassenden Nachschlagewerk der gesamten Informatik. Die 44.000 deutschen und 48.000 englischen Einträge decken zusätzlich die Hauptbegriffe der angrenzenden Fachgebiete und des allgemeinen Sprachgebrauchs ab. Zu insgesamt 94 Fachgebieten lassen sich alle datentechnischen Fragen schnell und kompetent lösen - ein schier unerschöpflicher Fundus für jeden, der hier nachschlägt.

Catching Up and Falling Behind

Catching Up and Falling Behind PDF Author: David A Dyker
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 1783260793
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
In this collection of essays David A Dyker explores some of the most difficult and fascinating aspects of the process of transition from autocratic “real socialism” to a capitalism that is sometimes democratic, sometimes authoritarian. The stress is on the economic dimension of transformation, but the author sets the economic drama firmly within a political economy framework and a historical perspective. Trends in key economic variables are analysed against the background of the struggle between different social and political groups for power and command over resources. While the book pays due attention to topical issues like EU enlargement, the underlying perspective is a long-term one. Transition is viewed not as a set of once-and-for-all institutional changes or a process of short-term stabilisation, but as a historic opportunity to solve the inherited problem of poverty and underdevelopment in Central-East Europe and the former Soviet Union. The book ends with a critical assessment of how economics, as a discipline, has coped with the challenge of that historic opportunity. Contents:The Political Economy of TransitionTransition and the Global EconomyThe East European Countries and the European UnionTechnology and TransitionPatterns and ProspectsBy Way of Conclusion Readership: Social scientists with interest in transition countries; transition and East Europe specialists; public policy bodies and international aid communities; undergraduates who major in social science. Keywords:Nomenklatura Nationalism;Transition;Post-Socialist;Russian R&D;Former Soviet Union;Social Capability;Technology Absorption;EU Enlargement;Economic Development;Supply Networks;Central-East EuropeReviews:“Transition of the post-Communist states has become a primary area of research for a number of scholars, and David Dyker is one of the most experienced and productive author among them. His latest book proves this in a very clear way … the book of David Dyker is one of the best that was written on transition economies and it could be highly recommended to all who are interested in these issues of transition.”Dr Igor Yegorov National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine “This book attempts to interpret the economic and historical implications of transition within the framework of catching up industrialization, and this reviewer basically agrees with the auguments of the book. In sum it provides a basis for a detailed reconsideration of the concepts of catching up and social capability.”The Developing Economies

The School World

The School World PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description