Activity Log:
July 25: Read download, visited some sites, waiting to be added to class.
July 27: Posted to blog, late.
Future of Technology
I think Dr. Newberry has been drinking the Kool Aid, and if so cheers!! As a lover of science fiction I too can see the similarities between what was conceived decades ago and how technology turned out now. It seems that we can think of innovative uses and designs for technology before we have the capabilities to create it and that a lot of our ideas are stolen from Star Trek, boy I can’t wait for a transporter. Decades ago nano technology was nothing but a pipe dream, now it allows for microprocessors and other infinitesimally small components.
I have seen new advances in technology that is on par with what SciFi writers can come up with. At the EdTech conference in March (or was it April?) I saw the use of holograms used to project a keyboard on a flat service and I also saw a pair of gloves that were used to type and maneuver around the Internet on a whiteboard, pretty cool. However the cost makes it prohibitive for most and I am also not sure how much smaller things can, or should get. As for it being a good thing to have technology easily available and smaller gadgets maybe we should consider how it can be used. For example I was recently at the de Young Museum in San Francisco visiting the King Tut exhibit, where we were told no photography of any kind. What I did see was a man pull out his iPhone and discreetly take a picture of the sarcophagus, pretty ingenious, I couldn’t take out my camera that discreetly. He than was able to upload it to his e-mail and send it to his brother, how do I know this? The man is my brother-in-law. Maybe not the best use of this technology.
What I have noticed the most from my experience and observations is that technology has become more of an outlet for entertainment purposes or in the case of my brother-in-law a convenient way to circumvent the rules. Most technology will be driven not by educational or other related reasons but for the ravenous consumer with disposable income and a desire to have entertainment available at a moments notice. How else would we get soaps available at work if we don’t have access, I cannot envision life without knowing when Caleb will wake up to find out that he secretly fathered his own brothers cousin and that his evil twin has married his high school sweetheart and run his business into the ground all while living in Antarctica (I just made this up and even I can see that I have a talent writing soap operas).
