
The Computer Revolution in Canada
Building National Technological Competence
John N. Vardalas(Author)
MIT Press
Published on 27. July 2001
Book
Hardback
424 pages
978-0-262-22064-4 (ISBN)
Description
The forces that shaped Canada's digital innovations in the postwar period.After World War II, other major industrialized nations responded to the technological and industrial hegemony of the United States by developing their own design and manufacturing competence in digital electronic technology. In this book John Vardalas describes the quest for such competence in Canada, exploring the significant contributions of the civilian sector but emphasizing the role of the Canadian military in shaping radical technological change. As he shows, Canada's determination to be an active participant in research and development work on advanced weapons systems, and in the testing of those weapons systems, was a cornerstone of Canadian technological development during the years 1945-1980.Vardalas presents case studies of such firms as Ferranti-Canada, Sperry Gyroscope of Canada, and Control Data of Canada. In contrast to the standard nationalist interpretation of Canadian subsidiaries of transnational corporations as passive agents, he shows them to have been remarkably innovative and explains how their aggressive programs to develop all-Canadian digital R&D and manufacturing capacities influenced technological development in the United States and in Great Britain.While underlining the unprecedented role of the military in the creation of peacetime scientific and technical skills, Vardalas also examines the role of government and university research programs, including Canada's first computerized systems for mail sorting and airline reservations. Overall, he presents a nuanced account of how national economic, political, and corporate forces influenced the content, extent, and direction of digital innovation in Canada.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass.
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
703 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-22064-4 (9780262220644)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
John N. Vardalas is Professeur accocié at the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST) at the Université du Québec in Montréal
Author
Editor
Senior Research FellowUniversity of Minnesota - Twin Cities
DirectorUniversity of Minnesota