Technology and Society

Williams raised the question "Did we form technology or did it form us?" This question raises many other questions about technology and society. I think that society is constantly demanding more from technology. For example, it is not necessary to have a cell phone that also can be substituted as a camera or a computer. The issue is that society wants a cell phone that can do multiple things so they develop and change technology so that they can get what they want. Technology wouldn't continue to develop if there wasn't someone to try to develop it.
Society has the urge to continue growing and developing. There is a high demand for technology to do more and more for us. Referring to a previous post of mine, the new I-Pad is a prime example of how there is a demand for technology to do more and more. The good thing is that with the technology that we have today, we can do way more than we every thought that we could. I think this is a good thing but some people believe that it is a bad thing. I think that being able to multi-task by using technology has helped people more than it has hurt them.
A recent article that I found on MSNBC.com has stated that technology is pulling people away from their real world and having them live in a fantasy and internet-centered world. There are multiple examples of people being in a public place or with a loved one and completely zoned out on their smartphones. Experts say that many divorce counselors keep hearing the same complaint, "My loved one is never here mentally just physically." This complaint is because of the overuse of the smartphones. I think that problem isn't the phones but it is the people that are using them. Many people have these phones but don't feel as if they have to be on it at all times. The phones are meant for making life easier, people just have to make sure that they use them correctly.

Ashton Kutcher Tweets to Fans While in Russia

Ashton Kutcher who is an actor and now a new web-savvy activist reported that he will be "crowd sourcing" questions about the Kremlin's push to develop a Russian Silicon Valley to his Twitter fans. Ashton is part of a U.S. delegation of technology and social media group. He arrived in Moscow as part of the White House's efforts to improve ties with Russia. Ashton said that he will translate the Russian voice to the American audience. Ashton wants to help the Kremlin to advance their technology by building their own high-tech center. The Kremlin announced that it would develop its own Silicon Valley to hep modernize Russia's economy, which is highly dependent on energy exports. During this visit the delegation will try to urge Russian government, students, and businessmen to utilize social media and innovative technologies to overcome problems such as human trafficking and corruption.
This article is relevant to our New Media class because actor Ashton Kutcher is using Twitter (a social networking site) to share the progress on this project in Russia. In my Education class we were talking about how young adults today do not read the newspaper daily to catch up on happenings around the world. Most young adults rely on the Internet or the television to tell them what is happening. Sites such as Twitter have become a way that these young adults get their information. Ashton Kutcher is playing to this theory by helping more people know and understand what is going on with the progress in Russia.

History of Technology According to McClulen

In class today the professor covered the history of technology according to McClulen. This lecture was interesting because it covered the different types of technology and media that were present throughout time. The invention of the printing press was the first thing that really started to make the printing faster and more efficient. It helped to cut down on labor time and it was able to be altered and changed so that it could print more than one book. The one thing that I found extremely interesting in the lecture was the talk of how technology and media change the way that one thinks and sees the world. This idea is holds true because of the way that my parents think and see the world vs. the way that I do for example. My parents are not very computer savvy and they would never think to use the computer for some things that I would jump right on the computer for. I taught my mom how to use the computer for looking up directions, recipes, etc. She said that she thought the internet was only good for e-mails and facebook. I laughed because I knew that there were so many things that would be helpful to my mother that she could find on the internet.

Happenings

In class the professor decided to do an activity with us by having everyone pick a word. This word could be anything as long as the person next to you didn't have a word that started with that same letter. Then the class was told to go one-by-one and say our word aloud. The class was really confused but followed directions. Then the directions were to say the words louder and faster and even louder and even faster. It was fun to watch the expressions and reactions of the students in the class because it was easy to see that they were uncomfortable and confused but continued to take part in the activity. It wasn't until after that the professor told us that what we had taken part in was considered a happening. A happening is a type of art form that is socially and theoretically associated. The activity was fun because it was a different way to teach the class what a happening is. In the lecture following the students were told about the art form. The most interesting thing that I found in the lecture that directly was demonstrated in our activity was the idea of mastery. The idea that people are afraid to share their art in case they were rejected. This was demonstrated when students in the class were nervous to say their word aloud. Some students felt that they hadn't chosen a good word. It is funny because there weren't any words that were better than others, all the students were told was to pick any word. I really liked this lesson because I think that it was explained well and the activity helped to further the student's understand of a happening.

I found an example of Happening art on the internet.

Last week Apple released the new I-Pad. The I-Pad according to Kyle Aevermann in a CNN Tech interview is an oversized I-Phone or I-Touch. The new device does do all of the same things that the I-Touch does but it is said to be bigger and better. The argument that has been brought up is that the I-Pad is unnecessary. Some argue however that the I-Pad can be the improvement that the web is looking for. The I-Pad is capable of doing many things that a normal computer may not do but there are some flaws in the device. The I-Pad does not support Adobe Flashdrive. Adobe is something that makes websites with pop-ups, movement, and such to work. Without this function it is hard to claim that the I-Pad can improve the web. The convenience of the device definitely makes the web more accessible at times but overall it has taken multiple devices and put them into one with a higher price tag. Is the I-Pad really something that is a necessity?

memex

In 1945 scientist Vannevar Bush published an article As We May Think, which proposed the idea of the Memex. The Memex is a technological machine that would be able to organize and sort physical documents. The Memex would be able to find actual documents when needed and then through association would be able to call upon other documents that relate. This idea that Bush proposed is very similar to the modern day internet but in all actuality it is better, smarter. The computer/internet works through identification which is actually not as affective as the Memex which would've worked my association. Association is the way that the human's brain works which would make more sense for the internet to work that way. The Memex sounds like it would be such a good idea for somebody in technology to build upon. If the internet was reworked so it worked through association then technology would be so advanced. The irony of this is that Vannevar Bush came up with this very sophisticated idea in 1945 and today in the year 2010 we are still trying to reach this level of technology.

Week 1

In class we were shown the video, A Vision of Student's Today. This video showed a breakdown of how a college student spends their day. The average college student lives more than a 24 hour day. The video shows examples of things that students do throughout the day that take up a significant amount of their day. Some examples of what the students spend time doing during the day were the computer, eating, sleeping, watching television, and school work. The students admit to doing these things simultaneously.
People today try to do so many things at once that they spread themselves thin. They have to do multiple things at one time so that everything they need to do gets done on time. Some say that technology can fix these problems but then again technology can cause these problems as well. I enjoyed this video because I think that all of the things that the students say in the video are true and I can relate to them. I showed my friends in my dorm this video because I thought that it was important for them to see the truth too.