Middle Tech: Software Work and the Culture of Good Enough
мај 2024. · Princeton University Press
Е-књига
224
Страница
family_home
Испуњава услове
info
О овој е-књизи
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.
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.
О аутору
Paula Bialski is associate professor of digital sociology at the University of St. Gallen in St. Gallen, Switzerland. She is the author of Becoming Intimately Mobile and a coauthor of Communication.
Оцените ову е-књигу
Јавите нам своје мишљење.
Информације о читању
Паметни телефони и таблети
Инсталирајте апликацију Google Play књиге за Android и iPad/iPhone. Аутоматски се синхронизује са налогом и омогућава вам да читате онлајн и офлајн где год да се налазите.
Лаптопови и рачунари
Можете да слушате аудио-књиге купљене на Google Play-у помоћу веб-прегледача на рачунару.
Е-читачи и други уређаји
Да бисте читали на уређајима које користе е-мастило, као што су Kobo е-читачи, треба да преузмете фајл и пренесете га на уређај. Пратите детаљна упутства из центра за помоћ да бисте пренели фајлове у подржане е-читаче.
