Monday, November 9, 2015
TWIF Flattener #3 - Work Flow Software
Use one of the current events sources linked at http://svhs-hwc-spring-2016.blogspot.com/2015/11/approved-sources-for-twif-current.html to find a recent news article that relates to, supports, or refutes Friedman's assertion that work flow software was a "flattener." Your comment should include the title of the news article, a link to the article, and a summary of the article including an explanation of how the article relates to this point. Don't forget to check your rubric for evaluation criteria!
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Title: Palantir, a Silicon Valley Start-Up, Raises Another $880 Million
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Quentin Hardy
Source: The New York Times
Link: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/palantir-a-silicon-valley-start-up-raises-another-880-million/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Start-ups&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body\
Summary:
The article discusses the continued success of a Silicon Valley business called Palantir Technologies. Palantir produces data analysis software for governments and businesses. For example, Palantir finds patterns in data for intelligence agencies in the United States. Palantir also provides services for insurance, retail, entertainment, and energy companies. The article states that Palantir has over 2,000 worldwide employees and works for foreign governments. In addition, the article analyzes how the private Silicon Valley company triumphantly earned $880 million in its recent financing.
The article supports Thomas Friedman’s point that a revolution in workflow software is going to occur. Friedman predicts that “new products and services will surely emerge”. Palantir Technologies proves Friedman’s prediction correct. Palantir emerged from the workflow software revolution and now Palantir analyzes patterns in data for global companies and governments. Furthermore, Palantir demonstrates that a company that takes advantage of the workflow software revolution can be successful.
Title: Silicon Valley’s troubled unicorns
ReplyDeleteLink: http://theweek.com/articles/585937/silicon-valleys-troubled-unicorns
Summary/Explanation:
In contrast to the initial assumption that one makes when seeing the title of this article, unicorns are startups that are valued over one billion dollars. Unicorns are rapidly growing and are becoming more familiar names such as Uber and Dropbox. This piece also provides many insights from various on people on how they believe startups would overall affect people and the world.
This article relates to “The World is Flat” as they both discuss the boom of workflow software. One point that is made is that if the tech-startups were to crash, the effect would be negligible as they are so large to begin with. The article also mentions the dot com era which is talked about by Friedman in the fifth flattener which is outsourcing. In addition, the unicorns are said to be the “brethren” to this dot com era. Also, unicorn is just one of many examples of how technology programs are, “...going to lead to an explosion of experimentation and innovation” (Friedman).
Title: "Sharing, and Borrowing From, the Vacation Photo Album"
ReplyDeleteLink: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/technology/personaltech/sharing-and-borrowing-from-the-vacation-picture-album.html
Summary:
In this flattener, Friedman states that through the internet, communication is possible even without direct communication. He discusses how work flow software allows one or many people to share media around the world without directly being in presence. This article talks about the new technology that allows one to create an album online, so anyone who wants to see it can have access to it. With that idea, Apple developed the iCloud photo share. The pictures that are on your phone can be uploaded to the cloud and you can invite other people to view the album too just by adding their email address. This app is great because friends and family can like and comment on the pictures and can even contribute their own photos to the album. iCloud photo share is a great method for people around the world to collaborate with their photos. This is just another one of the many ways the world is being more interconnected through technology.
Title: World's best chef' Benoit Violier dies aged 44
ReplyDeleteLink: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35456685
Summary: In this article, a young, professional chef by the name of Benoit Violier passes away. He was an excellent chef who had big plans coming for him, but he decided to suddenly end his life. He was 44 years old when he died, and he came first in France's La Liste ranking of restaurants. Although everyone knew what was coming from him most of the time, nobody had expected this to happen. This compares to the third flattener of the world, the secretive integration of workflow software. Although the 3rd world flattener was not as traumatic as this horrific story, nobody saw it coming. The integration of workflow software was done secretly, and when it happened it became a world-known action, just like the death of Mr. Violier. There are suspicions that Benoit commited suicide because of the influence of his mentor's death. Philippe Rochat, his mentor, had passed away a few months earlier, and he was someone close go Mr. Voilier's heart. Just as he was influenced to react, so were the inventors of the workflow software. This was caused by the two previous flatteners of the world, the falling of the Berlin wall and the advancements in connectivity. Both the article and the story TWIF describe an impulsive and unexpected act that was triggered by previous actions of others.
Interesting connection
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