The Unabomber

Posted on September 18, 2011 by ajevne

“The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system. This has nothing to do with the political or social ideology that may pretend to guide the technological system. It is the fault of technology, because the system is guided not by ideology but by technical necessity….. modern technology is a unified system in which all parts are dependent on one another. You can’t get rid of the ‘bad’ parts of technology and retain only the ‘good’ parts.”
These are the words of Ted Kaczynski, more commonly known as the Unabomber. While he is obviously not normally viewed as a credible commentator on technology (or much else for that matter), his writings in his manifesto are extreme but not that much crazier than anyone elses. He clearly is in the technological determinist camp and was apparently was deeply influenced by Jacques Ellul’s writings on technology.
The question I would ask is does he have anything to teach us? Kevin Kelly, for one, argues that he does.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/entropik/2465746362/

References:
Kaczynski, T, (1995). The Unabombers Manifesto. Retrieved from http://cyber.eserver.org/unabom.txt

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Thoughts on Text

Posted on September 18, 2011 by ajevne

“The printed word (which is always separated from context) has been represented by Western thinkers as a more accurate representation of reality than the spoken word, which is dependent upon context and interpersonal accountability.”

This quote is from C.A. Bowers writing about technology and indigenous peoples. It is relevant in this context when we consider the meaning of the word “text” as it evolved through the Middle Ages and gained an authoritative quality that must mystify people in non-literate cultures. Bowers frames his discussion in the context of the marginalization of indigenous cultures but his point is broader than that.
Walter Ong observed this as well, in noting that the written word is “context-free” discourse, which cannot be directly challenged as can oral speech.
What is interesting currently, is the more dynamic texting and blogging formats we see now where text-based dialogue is much more fluid and interactive. Even in reporting and scholarly contexts, authors may be expected to respond to questions and challenges from readers. As a result, delivery of text picks up some real-time characteristics, which may change its standing.
I think we are already seeing a diminishment of the authority of “text” due to emerging technology. It will be interesting to see where this leads.

References:
Bowers, C.A. et al. (2000). “Native people and the challenge of computers: Reservation schools, individualism, and Consumerism,” American Indian 24(2), 182-199.
Ong, W. (1982). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the World. London: Routledge

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We are tools of our tools…

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Jim

My understanding of the word technology continues to expand and that is a good thing. Being asked to distinguish between text and technology through these postings has been a challenge. I think I said something to this effect about text, as well… At this point in time, my conception of technology is that it is the manner (i.e., medium) in which ideas or emotions or a state of being is communicated or constructed (and by manner I am invoking the broadest sense of the word, one that would, for example, also include not only how the tools were used but also the tools themselves).

The following video has been very influential to me and has helped expand my thinking about Web 2.0. I chose this video for this technology post because it demonstrates how developments in technology (i.e., affordances) influence the texts contained therein. In this case, it demonstrates how words, images, video and so forth on the computer screen, accessed via the web, is evolving. Specifically, it shows how content and form have been separated in the code of web pages. And, above all, it captures exactly what Thoreau said, as paraphrased by Postman (1992) on page 3, that we have become tools of our tools.


Video by Michael Wesch.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Going back to the example in my text post… the communicator is bound to a certain way of communicating based on his choice of medium. If he is using written words, say in the form of a poem, to describe a beautiful meadow, I will have to understand his meadow using these words. If he uses paint, brushes and paper to create an image of the meadow, I will understand his meadow using that image. But what if he is a terrible painter but a talented poet? Or… vice versa? The communication of his conception not only depends on the medium he chooses but also his competence using the medium. Additionally, my competence with the medium is also invoked in making sense of the communication I have received (this provides the rationalization behind curricula in which students are expected to create a variety of “media texts” with the assumption being that one can interpret and deconstruct texts better if one has had a number of experiences creating texts in various mediums… I think the assumption is valid).

I think the video above, by Michael Wesch, exemplifies a case in which the author of the text has chosen the best medium for his message about digital text. I have a difficult time trying to imagine a more effective medium he could have chosen to get his ideas across. I know I am risking hyperbole in saying that I think his video is as much akin to expressive virtuosity as is an accomplished concert pianist’s performance.

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My Definition of Technology

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Alvin

Technology is the constant development of products and processes by humans in an effort to improve upon existing conditions.

Big Unicycle by soapbeard, on Flickr

Continued technological development results from humanity’s perpetual struggle to solve problems, and to meet needs and wants that are perceived to exist. In most cases, these problems, needs and wants are caused by, and build upon existing technologies, as humans strive towards ever improving conditions.

Technological developments build out of past work in the technological domain and are limited by the rules of the natural world, existing technologies upon which they are based, as well as tangible resources, such as materials and capital, and intangible resources, such as knowledge and time.

The nature of technology is such that continued development inevitably leads to more problems, needs and wants, and thus, a never ending cycle of efforts towards continued perceived solutions.

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Text could be… anything on flickr

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Jim

My understanding of the word text is continuously changing. Being asked to distinguish between text and technology through these postings has been a challenge. I could have picked any image on flickr to be representative of text. I picked the one below specifically because images like this have been under-represented so far yet are every bit as valid as any other. The competence of the creator of a text is often interpreted by an audience along with everything else. I chose this image for exactly that point–it is not a sophisticated or “accomplished” image… to adults. But my 6-year-old daughter said it was “really, really good” and wishes she could draw geese that well on the computer.

wotd095
Image by Jessica Lucia
This photo is Creative Commons licensed: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

At this point in my understanding, I think that text is, in its most flexible meaning, the content of someone’s ideas or emotions or state of being (i.e., the message). Additionally, I should also note that my current understanding of technology is that it is the manner in which ideas or emotions or a state of being is communicated (i.e., medium). By communication, I am meaning to use that word in a very broad way, one that includes the creation of physical objects (e.g., a poem) as well as intangible objects (e.g., musical harmonies). I am fully aware of a multitude of other ways of interpreting these terms and I could make an argument that they are, in some sense, synonymous. However, for the sake of this post, I will refrain from moving in that direction right now. I am also aware of how simplistic and, probably, banal my current understanding is; however, the parallels I am drawing between the “medium/message” and “text/technology” do represent my current thinking, their dullness notwithstanding.

For example, in the case of someone communicating something to me… If I were to somehow learn what someone else’s idea is, then one could conclude that some kind of communication has transpired. How successful I am in fully understanding another’s idea depends on many things. What choices did the communicator of the ideas make in the communication? That person had to choose some way of communicating. If you haven’t yet thought of Marshal McLuhan’s phrase “the medium is the message” I will invoke it now. Neil Postman also invokes it (1992) as well as several others. But Postman’s simplified “to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail” (p. 14) adage quite capability captures the essence of the issue. I will talk more about that point in the next post about technology.

So, in the case of the image above, I think it is interesting to realize that my mother could not create an image even close to the level of sophistication one sees in the image above. However, with the written word, she would be able to capture, quite satisfactorily to her, her feelings about her love for geese and that, her facility with words probably vastly outstrips that of the creator of the image above. The communicator will, most likely, choose the medium they wield the best, to get their message across most effectively. More about media in my technology post…

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Text

Posted on September 18, 2011 by kenbuis

“Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.” -Martin Heiddegger

Lyric Portrait 2nd Attempt by Chris Wicks

Text is the interface through which we explore our thoughts and describe our realities.  In this exploration we begin to shape our reality and develop a system of symbols to represent both sounds and greater archetypes in human society.  While text was created to share our thoughts and mental imagery, it also creates our reality.

In the artwork above, text creates the person and provides layers of meaning beyond the imagery created by the conglomeration of text.  This is a new style of digital art that provides the concept of text creating our reality.  Language indeed becomes the master and creates a reality through which we interact with each other, with knowledge and with our thoughts.  In the space of flows of cyberspace, this reality becomes even more apparent, as depicted in the artistic work above, since we communicate through social media in quick text strings which begin to combine to create a digital persona for us.  In this way we move between the digital and physical worlds through text, and thus, as Heidegger states above, language becomes the master and transforms our reality and imagery of our own selves.

If we are then constructed of text, or language (being labels, titles, nicknames, digital handles), then does the authority of our opinion come from the text we are created from, or from the essence of the individual striving to define oneself beyond the text that creates our reality?

Kenneth Buis

 

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Technology

Posted on September 18, 2011 by kenbuis

“We ask [ of the computer ] not just about where we stand in nature, but about where we stand in the world of artefact. We search for a link between who we are and what we have made, between who we are and what we might create, between who we are and what, through our intimacy with our own creations, we might become.”
― Sherry Turkle

Technology provides another level of interaction with the world around us and enables us to create tools or artefacts that provide greater insights into who we are.  However, the losses and gains attached to the agenda of technology are profound.  In attempting to express ourselves and learn more of our identity, our place in the network society and our connections to each other, we produce an interconnected world through technology that both connects us digitally and disconnects us physically.  In this search for who we are and what we might create, this Sherry Turkle quote provides the great contradictions of intimacy with our own creations.

In order for us to connect to technology, and move through technology to a greater understanding of ourselves and our world environment, we connect emotionally to our digital world and digital reality.  Thus the human-machine interface becomes more effective and affecting since it translates our reality into something that is both more and less tangible, and our identity and reality becomes a paradoxical relationship between the physical, ephemeral, digital and space of flows.

Technology then moves past the original concept of Techne, since it becomes its own autonomous force, moving past human rationality into machine rationality which is stripped of emotion, ruled by logical algorithms and is founded on the agenda of its creators.  We in turn apply our emotional connection back to technology in an attempt to relate or attach ourselves to the creation, which in turn enables us to bypass the creative act associated with techne.  Hence we arrive at the contradictory state of using technology to connect to others, our world and understanding, with the possibility of the removal of space, time and the physical.

Kenneth Buis

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Text as Technology

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Doug Connery

Text as the written word is a technology to capture orality. Ong describes text as technology on page 8 without really saying it in a couple of places. First he describes the world of sound as the natural habitat of language: “Written texts all have to be related somehow directly or indirectly, to the world of sound, the natural habitat of language, to yield their meanings”. In a second passage, he describes the relationship between oral expression and writing: “Oral Expression can exist and mostly has existed without any writing at all, writing never without orality.

orality

The image above captures these thoughts of Ong for me. The other interesting message in this image is, with books, anyone can be a story teller and practice orality by reading out load to an audience of at least one. Whether it be to a large number of people at a book launch or author reading or the attentive and intimate moments when a parent reads to their child. This led me to search the Internet and You Tube to see if I could find a reading or a video of my sons favourite book “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown. It was easy to find and here it is:

“In the great green room …..”

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKqV9uuXa0Y]

“Good night noises, everywhere.”

It would be interesting to hear your accounts of reading Goodnight moon, either as a child or an adult.

Ong, W. (1982). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the World. London: Routledge.
Brown, M. W. (1947) Goodnight Moon. USA: Harper and Row.

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Defining Technology

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Sian Osborne

Technology is a difficult concept to describe because it belongs to so many realms. As I see it, technology is analogous to “system”. It supports culture by making a task deemed important by a culture easier. I have included a picture of an old typewriter keyboard. It is the keyboard that I learned to type on. (It was an antique even then!) Certainly the typewriter made writing easier, making letters in a standard way so that the skill of the writer as a printer became less important. It also allowed for an increase in speed. When you think of chiseling out a message on a clay tablet or stone, to writing on papyrus with ink, to the typewriter and now to sleek computer keyboards, it is possible to see how technology made advancements to make the process of writing easier for people. Furthermore, it evolved because communication was deemed important by society throughout history.

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Defining Text

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Sian Osborne

Text in the broadest sense is any of the various forms in which writing exists. I see text as anything that communicates ideas visually. These could be pictographs, cuneiform, hieroglyphics, print, or calligraphy. Text is the visual representation of all languages where symbols are used to convey meaning.

I chose this picture of the Rosetta Stone because it was an enigma to scholars right up to the early 20th Century. This stone displays three separate languages conveying the same message. In the background, it is possible to see books, representing growth in the technology to convey written material from stone to paper.

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Defining Text: The Rosetta Stone

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Alvin
The Rosetta Stone

Source: Wikipedia.org ©Hans Hillewaert / CC-BY-SA-3.0

To add to our ongoing dialogue regarding text, this image of the Rosetta Stone is representative to me of the meaning of text as we have been defining it over the past two weeks, and it also puts into context the power of written symbol systems. Ultimately, text is nothing without the ability to interpret and make meaning from it.

The Rosetta Stone was the key in humanity’s ability to decode and interpret ancient Egyptian forms of writing. The three forms of writing on the stone from top to bottom are ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian Demotic script and ancient Greek. Scholars used their existing understanding of the ancient Greek language in the early 1800s to decode the two forms of Egyptian writing that appear, enabling a wider capacity to engage in the text systems used by ancient Egyptians, and in turn, our ability to learn more about ancient Egyptian society. More detailed information about the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum, where it is currently situated is available here.

The importance of the actual text, available here in English is almost irrelevant in comparison to the value this artifact had in unlocking the ability of scholars to understand wider ancient Egyptian society. Not only does the Rosetta Stone represent how valuable written symbol systems can be, but also how having the ability to decode the various language systems used by societies is a fundamental part of engaging with them and their ideas, whether it be an ancient or modern society.

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Technology Conflict

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Dennis Pratt

Technology Is Not Technology

 

As I was scrolling through Flickr this image caught my eye so I clicked on it. The quote then really caught my attention, especially coming from Sir Ken Robinson. I have tried to do a little research to see the context the quote was given, as we have discussed a different view of technology. I decided to look into it a little bit more and found that he did give the quote at the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference in 2010 but I could not find the transcript or video to give me the context. It looks like Robinson took the quote from from Alan Kay who said, “Technology is anything that was invented after (or wasn’t around when) you were born.” (Wikiquote.org)

It seems as thought there is a great difference in the definition of technology as we have discussed in this class. Some believe that technology is any tool that helps you accomplish a task, whereas others believe it is the newest and greatest inventions available to man.

Encyclopedia Britannica quotes technology as “the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life or, as it is sometimes phrased, to the change and manipulation of the human environment.” This definition refutes the quote given by Robinson and Kay, who are both exceptional educators. I am still interested to know the context and meaning behind their claims.

Any insights are welcome. Still confused!

Dennis

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Technology can’t be an alibi for bad teaching

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Gordana Jugo

One of my favourite quotes is Tony Bates’ statement on the relationship between technology and teaching: “Good teaching may overcome a poor choice of technology but technology will never save bad teaching.” (source: http://www.tonybates.ca/)

Bridget quoted Vincent Jansen’s definition of technology: “Technology is a tool which leverages our capacity of neuronal stimulation…“. I would say that technology can help us to enhance our abilities, but it can’t create our abilities. I think this idea is behind Bates’ quote.

Additionally, every technology has its benefits and costs as stated by O’Donnell. In other words „every technology is both a burden and a blessing; not either-or, but this-and-that“ (Postman, 1992). Every educator needs to be familiar with both benefits and costs in order to use the right technology effectively. I suppose the Bates’ quote means that informed educator can compensate costs but whatever benefits a particular technology may bring it is worthless if it is not accompanied with good teaching.

Resources
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Vintage Books.

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……from the director of technology

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Bridget

“Technology is a tool which leverages our capacity of neuronal stimulation connecting fragments into meaningful knowledge.It enables our brain to work faster and more efficiently.Technology augments our natural learning pathways causing greater frequency of stimulation’s over a broader neuronal network.”
Vincent Jansen, Director of Information Services, Lower Canada College

This quote is from the technology director at the school where I work. We are a 750 student technologically advanced k-12 school in Montreal.

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Today

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Danielle

Today

Outside my window,
a new dawn I can see
and only I can divine,
the kind of day it will be.

It can be thrilling and bold,
eventful and daring,
or daunting and cold,
grim and uncaring.

My own state of mind
is the limiting key,
for I am the person
I let myself be.

I can be thoughtful and friendly
to all whom I see,
or be selfish and careless
and think only of me.

I can savor my goals
and to reach for the sun,
or gripe and complain
and be useful to none.

I can be patient with those
whom may not comprehend,
or mock and deride them
and be prone to offend.

But I have faith in myself,
and can strive for a way,
to cherish each moment
and master each day.

By: W Wayne Norris

I chose this poem as it is an ultimate text for me. I read and re-read this poem growing up, sometimes reciting it to myself on a bad day. Ong (1982) talks about the finality of text and how we take what is printed to be true. Text is our interpretation and the impact we let that text have on us. The simple series of connected symbols on a page could transform my mood, demonstrating the power of text.

It was not until some point in my twenties that I found out my dad wrote it. Which of course made the poem way cooler for me. He is a gifted writer and storyteller, though denies it.

Ong, Walter. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.

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Technology – a handy tool

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Jasmeet Virk

Technology Is Not Always Innovative

Technology is the means – a tool – to help us achieve our goals. But I think we gradually get so used to technology and we do not even think of it as innovation. It becomes a part of everyday. That is what happened to text. It was an innovative technology that became such an essential part of our existence. All useful technologies end up this way I think. We don’t even think of them as technologies any more.

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Text Can Save Life

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Gordana Jugo

St Petersburg

Photo: St Petersburg by Steve White2008

When I started to think what short passage that sheds light on the meaning of text I might use I remembered the sign I read many years ago in St Petersburg. The sign located at the Nevsky Prospekt (one of the city’s most famous streets) reads “Citizens! During artillery bombardment this side of the street is especially dangerous”. The sign was put there during the 900-day siege of the city in the World War II in which many people died due to starvation and bombardment. I think this text is an ultimate example of language as a communication tool – the message it conveys could literary save humans lives.

Another issue related to this text is its material shape. It is written in Russian and in Cyrillic. For me these attributes are inseparable from its meaning. This is an example of how text can be understood as technology because it requires specific skills (language and alphabet) that are applied to creation of an artefact (text).

Generally speaking, not only creator of a text needs to have specific skills. Readers also need to have specific skills – they need to know alphabet and to understand language. (Reading and writing are separate skills. For example, according to Wikipedia, at the end of the 18th century, the ability to read in Sweden was close to 100%, but many Swedes, especially women, could not write. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy)

I translated this text to English and wrote it in the Latin alphabet because I assumed that you don’t understand Russian and can’t read Cyrillic. Here we come to another meaning of a word text (according to Oxford English Dictionary Online) – the words in the original language, as opposed to a translation.

One of the points mentioned in the course learning materials is that in order to understand technologies they should be placed in a specific context. This text has complex historical and cultural connotations and it gets its full meaning only if readers are familiar with that context. That’s the reason I outlined it for you.

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Text: Nesting Dolls

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Bridget

Matryoshka transparent

I have never really given much thought to the definition of text. I found the following definition to be interesting.

“Text is an ordered hierarchy of content objects.” which is a definition that has been around since the 1980’s and has been associated with text processing. This made me think of the nesting dolls shown above. The more we write, the more we create layers of information which nest inside each other. Thinks of a great novel where layer after layer is added and then shed away the opportune, moment keeping the suspense alive.

Reference
Ide,Hockey eds.(1993) “Refining our Notion of What Text Really Is: The Problem of Overlapping Hierarchies.” Research in Humanities Computing, Oxford University Press

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It is up to us.

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Danielle

“Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing… you are talking about the Internet, you are talking about cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn’t affect two-thirds of the people of the world.”

Jimmy Carter – 39th President of the United States of America

This quote reminded me of the point Neil Postman (1992) makes that the benefits of technology are not evenly distributed – that there are winners (us rich folk) and losers (the other two-thirds of the world, many of whom are living in absolute poverty…and could care less about Smartboards).

Thus, technology is defined by how we use it. Alone, technologies are simply masses, some more complicated than others. Our use defines these technologies as tools that educate, bore, kill, cure, entertain, sicken, protect, liven, assist, earn, create, nourish, express, enrich, mass produce, save, etc… It is up to us.

Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Vintage Books.

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Text Moves Nations

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Dennis Pratt

After attending Paul Brandt’s benefit concert for Slave Lake last night last night, knowing I had this assignment to do, I could not help but think about the power of music. The mix of lyrics and music has great power to change people’s hearts and minds. I think of Christmas music and how it changes moods. Religious music draws some people closer to God. Love songs bring couples closer together. I think you get the picture.

I chose to post a famous song that most would recognize as a song of significance. Although recorded many years ago it still has great power, especially to those who know the singers and the history. Text accompanied by music can deliver the most powerful of messages.

Enjoy a little music history.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2W4-0qUdHY&feature=related]

USA for AFRICA sings WE ARE THE WORLD

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