Download or read book What Technology Wants written by Kevin Kelly and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-09-27 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Inevitable— a sweeping vision of technology as a living force that can expand our individual potential In this provocative book, one of today's most respected thinkers turns the conversation about technology on its head by viewing technology as a natural system, an extension of biological evolution. By mapping the behavior of life, we paradoxically get a glimpse at where technology is headed-or "what it wants." Kevin Kelly offers a dozen trajectories in the coming decades for this near-living system. And as we align ourselves with technology's agenda, we can capture its colossal potential. This visionary and optimistic book explores how technology gives our lives greater meaning and is a must-read for anyone curious about the future.

Download or read book Using Information Technology written by Stacey C. Sawyer and published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin. This book was released on 1995-01-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Technology written by Eric Schatzberg and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-11-12 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In modern life, technology is everywhere. Yet as a concept, technology is a mess. In popular discourse, technology is little more than the latest digital innovations. Scholars do little better, offering up competing definitions that include everything from steelmaking to singing. In Technology: Critical History of a Concept, Eric Schatzberg explains why technology is so difficult to define by examining its three thousand year history, one shaped by persistent tensions between scholars and technical practitioners. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, scholars have tended to hold technicians in low esteem, defining technical practices as mere means toward ends defined by others. Technicians, in contrast, have repeatedly pushed back against this characterization, insisting on the dignity, creativity, and cultural worth of their work. ​The tension between scholars and technicians continued from Aristotle through Francis Bacon and into the nineteenth century. It was only in the twentieth century that modern meanings of technology arose: technology as the industrial arts, technology as applied science, and technology as technique. Schatzberg traces these three meanings to the present day, when discourse about technology has become pervasive, but confusion among the three principal meanings of technology remains common. He shows that only through a humanistic concept of technology can we understand the complex human choices embedded in our modern world.

Download or read book Smarter Than You Think written by Clive Thompson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-09-12 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revelatory and timely look at how technology boosts our cognitive abilities—making us smarter, more productive, and more creative than ever It’s undeniable—technology is changing the way we think. But is it for the better? Amid a chorus of doomsayers, Clive Thompson delivers a resounding “yes.” In Smarter Than You Think, Thompson shows that every technological innovation—from the written word to the printing press to the telegraph—has provoked the very same anxieties that plague us today. We panic that life will never be the same, that our attentions are eroding, that culture is being trivialized. But, as in the past, we adapt—learning to use the new and retaining what is good of the old. Smarter Than You Think embraces and extols this transformation, presenting an exciting vision of the present and the future.

Download or read book Managing Information Technology written by Francisco Castillo and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-15 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are two different, interdependent components of IT that are important to a CIO: strategy, which is long-term; and tactical and operational concerns, which are short-term. Based on this distinction and its repercussions, this book clearly separates strategy from day-to-day operations and projects from operations – the two most important functions of a CIO. It starts by discussing the ideal organization of an IT department and the rationale behind it, and then goes on to debate the most pressing need – managing operations. It also explains some best industry standards and their practical implementation, and discusses project management, again highlighting the differences between the methodologies used in projects and those used in operations. A special chapter is devoted to the cutover of projects into operations, a critical aspect seldom discussed in detail. Other chapters touch on the management of IT portfolios, project governance, as well as agile project methodology, how it differs from the waterfall methodology, and when it is convenient to apply each. Taking the fundamental principles of IT service management and best practices in project management, the book offers a single, seamless reference for IT managers and professionals. It is highly practical, explaining how to apply these principles based on the author’s extensive experience in industry.

Download or read book Biology Is Technology written by Robert H. Carlson and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-15 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the current state of biotechnology and the opportunities and dangers it may create.” —American Scientist Technology is a process and a body of knowledge as much as a collection of artifacts. Biology is no different—and we are just beginning to comprehend the challenges inherent in the next stage of biology as a human technology. It is this critical moment, with its wide-ranging implications, that Robert Carlson considers in Biology Is Technology. He offers a uniquely informed perspective on the endeavors that contribute to current progress in this area—the science of biological systems and the technology used to manipulate them. In a number of case studies, Carlson demonstrates that the development of new mathematical, computational, and laboratory tools will facilitate the engineering of biological artifacts—up to and including organisms and ecosystems. Exploring how this will happen, with reference to past technological advances, he explains how objects are constructed virtually, tested using sophisticated mathematical models, and finally constructed in the real world. Such rapid increases in the power, availability, and application of biotechnology raise obvious questions about who gets to use it, and to what end. Carlson’s thoughtful analysis offers rare insight into our choices about how to develop biological technologies and how these choices will determine the pace and effectiveness of innovation as a public good.

Download or read book The Right Way to Select Technology written by Tony Byrne and published by Rosenfeld Media. This book was released on 2017-09-12 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do half of all technology projects fail? A major reason is that organizations often pick the wrong tools, leaving them digitally hamstrung from the start. This book offers a modern alternative to traditional waterfall approaches to selecting technology. You’ll learn a practical, adaptive process that relies on realistic storytelling and hands-on testing to get the best fit for your enterprise.

Download or read book The Technology Takers written by Jens P. Flanding and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2018-11-30 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Digital-era technologies lead organizations to become technology takers, the equivalent of economic 'price takers'.To be a technology taker is to assent to the behavior transforming benefits of modern technologies. This playbook offers technology takers tactics to manage change, create value, and exploit the digital era's strategic opportunities.

Download or read book Managing the Flow of Technology written by Thomas J. Allen and published by Mit Press. This book was released on 1984-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The original edition of this book summarized more than a decade of work oncommunications flow in science and engineering organizations, showing how human and organizationalsystems could be restructured to bring about improved productivity and better person-to-personcontact. While many studies have been done since then, few of them invalidate the generalconclusions and recommendations Allen offers. In a new preface he points out - new developments,noting areas that need some modification, elaboration, or extension, and directing readers to theappropriate journal articles where the findings, are reported.The first three chapters provide anoverview of the communication system in technology, present the author's research methods, anddescribe differences in the career paths and goals of engineers and scientists that cause specialproblems for organizations. The book then discusses how technological information is acquired by theR & D organization, shows how critical technical communication within the laboratory is for R& D performance, and originates the idea of the "gatekeeper," the person who links his or herorganization to the world at large. Concluding chapters take up the influence of formal and informalorganization and of architecture and office layouts on communication. Many of these ideas have beensuccessfully incorporated by architects and managers in the design of new R & D facilities andcomplexes.Thomas J. Allen is Professor of Organizational Psychology and Management at MIT's SloanSchool of Management.

Download or read book The Technology Trap written by Carl Benedikt Frey and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence, Carl Benedikt Frey offers a sweeping account of the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society's members. As the author shows, the Industrial Revolution created unprecedented wealth and prosperity over the long run, but the immediate consequences of mechanization were devastating for large swaths of the population.These trends broadly mirror those in our current age of automation. But, just as the Industrial Revolution eventually brought about extraordinary benefits for society, artificial intelligence systems have the potential to do the same. Benedikt Frey demonstrates that in the midst of another technological revolution, the lessons of the past can help us to more effectively face the present. --From publisher description.

Download or read book The Technology Fallacy written by Gerald C. Kane and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-08-23 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why an organization's response to digital disruption should focus on people and processes and not necessarily on technology. Digital technologies are disrupting organizations of every size and shape, leaving managers scrambling to find a technology fix that will help their organizations compete. This book offers managers and business leaders a guide for surviving digital disruptions—but it is not a book about technology. It is about the organizational changes required to harness the power of technology. The authors argue that digital disruption is primarily about people and that effective digital transformation involves changes to organizational dynamics and how work gets done. A focus only on selecting and implementing the right digital technologies is not likely to lead to success. The best way to respond to digital disruption is by changing the company culture to be more agile, risk tolerant, and experimental. The authors draw on four years of research, conducted in partnership with MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte, surveying more than 16,000 people and conducting interviews with managers at such companies as Walmart, Google, and Salesforce. They introduce the concept of digital maturity—the ability to take advantage of opportunities offered by the new technology—and address the specifics of digital transformation, including cultivating a digital environment, enabling intentional collaboration, and fostering an experimental mindset. Every organization needs to understand its “digital DNA” in order to stop “doing digital” and start “being digital.” Digital disruption won't end anytime soon; the average worker will probably experience numerous waves of disruption during the course of a career. The insights offered by The Technology Fallacy will hold true through them all. A book in the Management on the Cutting Edge series, published in cooperation with MIT Sloan Management Review.

Download or read book Technology and Society written by Andrew Ede and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-07 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celebrates the creativity of humanity by examining the history of technology as a strategy to solve real-world problems.

Download or read book Left to Our Own Devices written by Margaret E. Morris and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2024-05-21 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unexpected ways that individuals adapt technology to reclaim what matters to them, from working through conflict with smart lights to celebrating gender transition with selfies. We have been warned about the psychological perils of technology: distraction, difficulty empathizing, and loss of the ability (or desire) to carry on a conversation. But our devices and data are woven into our lives. We can't simply reject them. Instead, Margaret Morris argues, we need to adapt technology creatively to our needs and values. In Left to Our Own Devices, Morris offers examples of individuals applying technologies in unexpected ways—uses that go beyond those intended by developers and designers. Morris examines these kinds of personalized life hacks, chronicling the ways that people have adapted technology to strengthen social connection, enhance well-being, and affirm identity. Morris, a clinical psychologist and app creator, shows how people really use technology, drawing on interviews she has conducted as well as computer science and psychology research. She describes how a couple used smart lights to work through conflict; how a woman persuaded herself to eat healthier foods when her photographs of salads garnered “likes” on social media; how a trans woman celebrated her transition with selfies; and how, through augmented reality, a woman changed the way she saw her cancer and herself. These and the many other “off-label” adaptations described by Morris cast technology not just as a temptation that we struggle to resist but as a potential ally as we try to take care of ourselves and others. The stories Morris tells invite us to be more intentional and creative when left to our own devices.

Download or read book Who Can You Trust written by Rachel Botsman and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you can't trust those in charge, who can you trust? From government to business, banks to media, trust in institutions is at an all-time low. But this isn't the age of distrust -- far from it. In this revolutionary book, world-renowned trust expert Rachel Botsman reveals that we are at the tipping point of one of the biggest social transformations in human history -- with fundamental consequences for everyone. A new world order is emerging: we might have lost faith in institutions and leaders, but millions of people rent their homes to total strangers, exchange digital currencies, or find themselves trusting a bot. This is the age of "distributed trust," a paradigm shift driven by innovative technologies that are rewriting the rules of an all-too-human relationship. If we are to benefit from this radical shift, we must understand the mechanics of how trust is built, managed, lost, and repaired in the digital age. In the first book to explain this new world, Botsman provides a detailed map of this uncharted landscape -- and explores what's next for humanity.

Download or read book Information Technology and Military Power written by Jon R. Lindsay and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-15 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Militaries with state-of-the-art information technology sometimes bog down in confusing conflicts. To understand why, it is important to understand the micro-foundations of military power in the information age, and this is exactly what Jon R. Lindsay's Information Technology and Military Power gives us. As Lindsay shows, digital systems now mediate almost every effort to gather, store, display, analyze, and communicate information in military organizations. He highlights how personnel now struggle with their own information systems as much as with the enemy. Throughout this foray into networked technology in military operations, we see how information practice—the ways in which practitioners use technology in actual operations—shapes the effectiveness of military performance. The quality of information practice depends on the interaction between strategic problems and organizational solutions. Information Technology and Military Power explores information practice through a series of detailed historical cases and ethnographic studies of military organizations at war. Lindsay explains why the US military, despite all its technological advantages, has struggled for so long in unconventional conflicts against weaker adversaries. This same perspective suggests that the US retains important advantages against advanced competitors like China that are less prepared to cope with the complexity of information systems in wartime. Lindsay argues convincingly that a better understanding of how personnel actually use technology can inform the design of command and control, improve the net assessment of military power, and promote reforms to improve military performance. Warfighting problems and technical solutions keep on changing, but information practice is always stuck in between.

Download or read book Designing Agentive Technology written by Christopher Noessel and published by Rosenfeld Media. This book was released on 2017-05-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advances in narrow artificial intelligence make possible agentive systems that do things directly for their users (like, say, an automatic pet feeder). They deliver on the promise of user-centered design, but present fresh challenges in understanding their unique promises and pitfalls. Designing Agentive Technology provides both a conceptual grounding and practical advice to unlock agentive technology’s massive potential.

Download or read book What Tech Calls Thinking written by Adrian Daub and published by FSG Originals. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "In Daub’s hands the founding concepts of Silicon Valley don’t make money; they fall apart." --The New York Times Book Review From FSGO x Logic: a Stanford professor's spirited dismantling of Silicon Valley's intellectual origins Adrian Daub’s What Tech Calls Thinking is a lively dismantling of the ideas that form the intellectual bedrock of Silicon Valley. Equally important to Silicon Valley’s world-altering innovation are the language and ideas it uses to explain and justify itself. And often, those fancy new ideas are simply old motifs playing dress-up in a hoodie. From the myth of dropping out to the war cry of “disruption,” Daub locates the Valley’s supposedly original, radical thinking in the ideas of Heidegger and Ayn Rand, the New Age Esalen Foundation in Big Sur, and American traditions from the tent revival to predestination. Written with verve and imagination, What Tech Calls Thinking is an intellectual refutation of Silicon Valley's ethos, pulling back the curtain on the self-aggrandizing myths the Valley tells about itself. FSG Originals × Logic dissects the way technology functions in everyday lives. The titans of Silicon Valley, for all their utopian imaginings, never really had our best interests at heart: recent threats to democracy, truth, privacy, and safety, as a result of tech’s reckless pursuit of progress, have shown as much. We present an alternate story, one that delights in capturing technology in all its contradictions and innovation, across borders and socioeconomic divisions, from history through the future, beyond platitudes and PR hype, and past doom and gloom. Our collaboration features four brief but provocative forays into the tech industry’s many worlds, and aspires to incite fresh conversations about technology focused on nuanced and accessible explorations of the emerging tools that reorganize and redefine life today.