What Tech Calls Thinking Response Paper
For this assignment, you will draft a response paper comparing Adrian Daub’s What Tech Calls Thinking to the material we’ve covered in CCT355 this term.
Learning Outcomes (why are we doing this?)
As the final assignment for CCT355, this response paper is designed to support all of the learning outcomes for CCT355 as listed on the syllabus, with a focus on #4:
1. Understand and define foundational concepts, theories, and approaches to the study and promotion of innovation in big tech and management.
2. Analyze and assess these foundational concepts, theories, and approaches to innovation as they emerge from key business cases and thinkers who have defined 20th and 21st century management thinking and philosophy.
3. Evaluate the parameters of innovation in management and big tech, with particular attention paid to the role of the state in distributing risk and rewards of technological innovation.
4. Critically analyze how foundational concepts and theories in innovation have shaped big tech and management practices, especially as they relate to the ideological vision that founders, CEOs, and leadership forward.
5. Critically examine how innovation thinking has intersected with changing economic conditions, both in terms of productivity and consumer experience.
Assignment Goal & Deliverables (What are we doing?)
Goals:
· Examine Daub’s arguments and compare and contrast them against the assigned materials from the course, including Schumpeter, Christensen, Mazzucato, and Lepore.
· Demonstrate that you have achieved the above mentioned learning outcomes
Deliverables:
A paper that details and analyzes:
1. Daub’s arguments as presented
2. Daub’s arguments as they compare to (and perhaps contrast against) other thinkers we’ve examined in CCT355.
Guidelines (How do we do this?)
Step 1 – Read What Tech Calls Thinking
Take notes on Daub’s arguments. The book is organized around different metaphors that are often used in tech. Pay attention to how these metaphors work together to present Silicon Valley in a particular light.
Step 2 – Compare to other assigned materials
Once you finish the book, compare Daub’s findings and his analysis of each of these metaphors to the material covered in CCT355. Remember: these materials operate across different disciplines and registers. They don’t always “speak” the same language. However, they do speak to the same topics and concerns. Reviewing your notes on previous readings, begin to organize how Daub’s discussion compares or contrasts against other material. Ask yourself: where does Daub’s analysis help us see tech and innovation differently? What new light does his text shed on the topics of our class?
Step 3 – Draft Your Response
Once you’ve identified the connections and distinctions, begin to draft your response paper. It should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction should lay out what you consider to be the contrast/tensions/insights which Daub offers us when read against the rest of our material. The body should draw out specific examples. The conclusion can be summative.
Step 4 – Revise Your Response
Once you have completed your response outline, revise it into a formal response. Please be sure to revise your report for spelling, grammar, and sound paragraph structure.
Requirements (you must do the following)
· Your report must be written in full sentences and paragraphs.
· Your report must be double-spaced, Times New Roman, font size 12, and a maximum of 5-6 pages.
· Your report requires no sources beyond those we have read for CCT355.
· Your report must be fully cited and written by you. You may use any citation style, so long as it is consistent and the teaching assistants & I can easily find and review the sources you’re using.
