Tag: academic

The Coles Warehouse Lockout Is a Front-Line Struggle in the Battle Over Automation

The Coles Warehouse Lockout Is a Front-Line Struggle in the Battle Over Automation

Australian supermarkets like Coles are on the front line of the latest wave of workplace automation, which is leading to job losses and site closures. The outcome of this battle will set an important precedent for other industries going through the same process. (Wikimedia Commons) On the morning of November 18, 350 Coles warehouse workers in Smeaton Grange, New South Wales began a rolling twenty-four-hour strike. Within hours, the supermarket giant responded by locking them out for a period of three months. At time of writing, the battle has lasted for over a month.

The lockout revolves around an automated […]

Will Smart Machines Kill Jobs or Create Better Ones?

An attendant stands next to a CloudMinds Technology Inc. XR-1 commercial humanoid service robot at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. The conference runs through Aug. 31. In one vision of the not-too-distant future, robots handle half of all work tasks, leaving legions of humans unemployed and insecure. In another scenario, those same technologies revolutionize rather than reduce opportunities for people, creating jobs that have yet to be imagined. Such are the stakes as a new wave of automation reshapes the workplace, accelerated by the pandemic.

Advances in artificial intelligence, or the […]

Books Reviewed in 2020

Books Reviewed in 2020

2020 was a terrible year for the world. 2020 was a great year for books.

Here are the books that I reviewed for IHE, along with a couple that I co-authored.

Would love to hear (in a letter to the editor, or an e-mail, or a tweet, or a TikTok, or whatever) if we read any of the same books in 2020. See you all in 2021. Learning Innovation and the Future of Higher Education by Joshua Kim and Edward Maloney The Low-Density University: 15 Scenarios for Higher Education by Edward Maloney and Joshua KimForeword to ‘Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to […]

Hospitality professionals balance robots and human touch for post-COVID-19 era

Hospitality professionals balance robots and human touch for post-COVID-19 era

A robotic hotel concierge at work — Photo: Cornell "We’re at the cutting edge of technology that, as kids, we laughed about and that is now becoming our reality," said David Sherwyn , John and Melissa Ceriale Professor of Hospitality Human Resources and a professor of law, when he led a panel of experts in a discussion about automation and customer service in October. The webinar, Robots in the Hospitality Industry: Adopting new technologies while maintaining the human touch , was hosted by eCornell and the Cornell Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor and Employment Relations (CIHLER) in the School […]

Webinar: Humans – Plus Machines – Key to Secure Workforce

Webinar: Humans – Plus Machines – Key to Secure Workforce

By L. C. Leach III

The answer was a simple ‘No’ to this question: In the future, will humans be replaced in the manufacturing workplace by machines?

The question was the intended subject of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce’s webinar Oct. 22.But guest consultant David Clayton, executive director for Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville, explained to an online audience of about 30 that the future of manufacturing in the Upstate will continue to involve both machines and humans.“Automation, robotics, or even artificial intelligence and thinking machines is about precision,” Clayton said. “BMW, for example has hired […]

Barata and Co: Are the robots coming for our jobs?

Barata and Co: Are the robots coming for our jobs?

A security robot is seen at a booth during Huawei Connect in Shanghai, China, Sept. 23, 2020. Are the robots coming for our jobs? For years, that’s been the fear. Experts have warned that automation and artificial intelligence will disrupt the labour market. While some predict that new technologies will create as many new jobs as they displace — at least for those with the right kinds of skills — others see growing and persistent unemployment.

Rather than polishing our own crystal ball, we asked Canadian workers about their experiences with technological change. On the whole, these experiences are more […]

Automated Harvest Is Coming. What Will it Mean for Farmworkers and Rural Communities?

Automated Harvest Is Coming. What Will it Mean for Farmworkers and Rural Communities?

The pandemic is making robots more appealing to farmers and investors. But advocates say not everyone is likely to benefit equally from the shift.

It’s a misty morning near Salinas, California and the TX harvester—a lightweight, driverless tractor covered in canvas—is picking strawberries. Like a dot-matrix printer moving along a page, the harvester’s robotic hands move back and forth along the beds, scanning for signs of red. When it identifies a ripe berry, it dives down, gently plucks it from the plant, and places it in a crate.

At the same time, a crew of about two dozen farmworkers […]

Working With Robots in a Post-Pandemic World

Working With Robots in a Post-Pandemic World

Whether you turn to news outlets, tech magazines, or academic sources for insight, you’re likely to hear that the COVID-19 pandemic is going to drive massive growth in automation, especially via robots. 1 The arguments in favor of this view seem reasonable: Main Street might look dead, but companies that provide shippable goods have been facing double, triple, or even 10 times their previous demand. Robots, the thinking goes, should be able to reliably do that repetitive physical work when many workers aren’t safely able or willing to set foot in the building. What’s more, access to the technology […]

Visualizing Data: How Data Insights Could Be About To Change

Visualizing Data: How Data Insights Could Be About To Change

Gartner recently noted a shift away from data dashboard. Is this a trend that will continue? As businesses collect vast quantities of information from their customers and commercial partners, how can this data be visualized for insights? Is the data dashboard now not fit for purpose

According to Gartner ’s top 10 data and analytical trends of 2020, the use of analytics dashboards will decline being replaced by automated data stories over the next three-to-five years. Is visualizing data about to radically change?

The dashboard has been a cornerstone of data analytics for decades. Is this about to change, as AI […]

149m Digital Skill Jobs Required to Transform Economies by 2025’

Given the unprecedented impact that COVID-19 pandemic has had on organisations and industries, which has compelled industries globally, Nigeria inclusive, Microsoft has said about 149 million new digital skill jobs are required in the next five years to accelerate global transformation.

Speaking at a virtual roundtable event, it hosted recently to discuss how the rampant digital transformation accelerated by COVID-19 has impacted skills demand, the Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Akin Banuso, noted that COVID-19 had dramatically accelerated the pace of digital transformation and as a result, digital skills are required immediately.

According to Banuso; “Our recent research study shows that […]