Initial thoughts on technology… it\u2019s an \u2018ology\u2019 \u2013 a science \u2013 but the word is used more as a catch-all category for the artefacts and techniques of human practicality .\u00a0 I\u2019ve come to think of it more as a force, sometimes even a wilful or wayward one \u2013 as when you are staring up the left nostril of an important deadline and your computer crashes.\u00a0 (Never let an electronic or mechanical device know when you\u2019re in a hurry.\u00a0 Whistle a tune.\u00a0 Look nonchalant.)<\/p>\n
One of the great drawbacks of our current relationship to technology (either as a science or as a category of objects) \u2013 which is also a reflection of various aspects of our social structure, economy, etc. \u2013 is the extent to which objects and systems are designed (and supported) by people who don\u2019t actually use<\/em> them.\u00a0 I think this contributes greatly to our increasing surrender to semi-functional or dysfunctional systems, technical or social, on the premise that \u201cthat\u2019s the way it is (or has to be)\u201d.\u00a0 The \u201csmall cog in a huge machine\u201d metaphor is increasingly applied to all areas of our lives, and the implication is not only that as individuals we are incomplete, uniform and replaceable, but that we cannot comprehend the scope and purpose of that of which we are a part.\u00a0 Bureaucracy is one of the results.\u00a0 And don\u2019t let me get started on bureaucracy.<\/p>\n About technology, the OED says its earlier meaning (from the early 17th<\/sup> C) was \u201cA discourse or treatise on an art or arts; the scientific study of the practical or industrial arts\u201d, and from just a little later, \u201cthe terminology of a particular art or subject; technical nomenclature\u201d.\u00a0 By the mid 19th<\/sup> C it was used to refer to \u201cpractical arts collectively\u201d.\u00a0 By the latter half of the 20th<\/sup> C it appears again in the context of study or discussion; \u201ctechnology assessment, the assessment of the effects on society of new technology\u201d. \u00a0(An interesting aside… technology has a homophone, tecnology<\/em> \u2013 the scientific study of children.\u00a0 Apparently the spellchecker here hasn’t heard of it.)<\/p>\n Grandma\u2019s 1927 Funk & Wagnall\u2019s has a very short entry on the word \u2013 \u201cThe science that treats of the industrial or useful arts, such as metallurgy, brewing, weaving, building, etc. . . . The nomenclature or terminology of an art or science.\u201d\u00a0 I like their notion of useful<\/em>.\u00a0 Note that texere<\/em> is to practice an art of interest to technology.\u00a0 (Lest you think F&W were Luddites, they also provide a highly detailed 1\/3 page graphic of the Hoe Double Octuple Newspaper Web Perfecting printing press, with the rest of the page devoted to an explanation of printing technology and a list of related terms.\u00a0 Text again!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Initial thoughts on technology… it\u2019s an \u2018ology\u2019 \u2013 a science \u2013 but the word is used more as a catch-all category for the artefacts and techniques of human practicality .\u00a0 I\u2019ve come to think of it more as a force, sometimes even a wilful or wayward one \u2013 as when you are staring up the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":926,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4972],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/926"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":608,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}