Technology's Law of Amplification and What It Means for Organizations
Over the years, the tech industry has made many promises to organizational customers — for example, that its products would improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase scale. More recently, the promises have extended to such things as improving teamwork and decision-making. While these promises have been realized in some contexts, they remain largely unmet in others. Is there a way to distinguish between realism and hype in computing? Technology’s “Law of Amplification” is a simple idea that captures digital technology’s impact. This talk will reveal how it explains a broad range of past and existing organizational phenomena, and how it suggests predictions for the future.
ICOS, or the Interdisciplinary Committee on Organizational Studies, has the single goal of enhancing the University of Michigan’s strength as a world center for interdisciplinary research and scholarship on organizations. We seek to enrich the intellectual environment of Ph.D. students and faculty interested in organization studies, by increasing the quality, breadth, depth and usefulness of organizational research.
All talks will be held in person (R0220 Ross building, lower level). Following each talk, recordings will be available on the speaker’s lecture page.
Kentaro Toyama is W. K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan School of Information, a fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, and author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. In previous lives, Kentaro taught at Ashesi University in Ghana and co-founded Microsoft Research India, where he did research on the application of information and communication technology to international development.