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Title: The Coevolution of Tasks and Technologies
As work changes, so does technology. The two coevolve as part of a work ecosystem. This paper suggests a way of plotting this coevolution by comparing the embeddings - high dimensional vector representations - of textual descriptions of tasks, occupations and technologies. Tight coupling between tasks and technologies - measured by the distances between vectors - are shown to be associated with high task importance. Moreover, tasks that are more prototypical in an occupation are more important. These conclusions were reached through an analysis of the 2020 data release of The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) from the U.S. Department of Labor on 967 occupations and 19,533 tasks. One occupation, journalism, is analyzed in depth, and conjectures are formed related to the ways technologies and tasks evolve through both design and exaptation.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2128906 2113906 1909803 1745463
PAR ID:
10334734
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Academy of Management Annual Meeting
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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