What is Silicon Valley?

Silicon Valley could be a useful comparative to a theatre model because it is a community that is incredibly successful in the world of business, simply because it is a society of creative people in terms of Richard Florida's Creative Class. Richard Florida is author of two best-sellers, The Rise of the Creative Class and Who's Your City, which are examinations of how creativity is reshaping the global economy. Silicon Valleyis one of Florida's favorite examples for a prime creative city and it is made up of very highly educated and motivated people, much like the theatre communities who are using technology to further enhance their sales by targeting younger audiences.

I talked to the theatre manager at Lyric Stage Co. in Boston and she informed me the internet was their best weapon to combat falling income. By posting seasons and discounts on Facebook, their student ticket sales increased!

Silicon Valley is an area in south San Francisco's Bay Area. It is the leading economic center and Richard Florida constantly refers to Silicon Valley as a model to live by. Its name comes from the silicon chip manufacturers who concentrated their semiconductors and engineering complexes there. The industry in Silicon Valley began with electronics in radio, television, and military electronics. Stanford University is very well-connected to Silicon Valley and many engineers have internships, are paid to do research, and will get a job in some section of the high-tech businesses or Defense Department.

William Hewlett and David Packard were graduates of Stanford and started their Hewlett-Packard industry in Silicon Valley. Other leading software and internet companies are based in Silicon Valley as well such as EBAY and google and Apple.

Here is Silicon Valley's home page.

One of the links on the front page is "tweets" from soldiers in Afghanistan. These posts are sent out to the world before media announces it formally. The U.S. Military also uses YouTube and Facebook.