Definition/Metaphor of Technology
I. Definition/Metaphor of Technology
I like Muffolleto’s (1994) discussion of technology ‘as a way of acting’. I believe that it is more so now as man has become even more integrated with technology. Donna Harraway’s (1991) discusses the concept of cyborgs, which talks of this seamless integration of man with computers/machines/technology. Technology as a way of acting means not only the use of technology but also the thinking patterns associated with and/or influenced by its use. I believe that both these constructs are more prevalent now.
If we look at Lorenzo Simpson’s definition of technology as ‘the constellation of knowledge, processes, skills and products whose aim is to control and transform’ (1995:16) and Arnold Pacey’s concept of technology as entailing ‘ordered systems that involve people and organizations, living things and machines’ (1983:6) in light of Harraway’s concept of cyborgs and Muffoletto’s thought of technology as ‘a way of acting’ then concepts of technology can be considered as a way of thinking and performing with tools and systems and the design and performance of processes and systems according to the influences and affordances of these tools.
References
Harraway, Donna (1991b) ‘A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technoogy, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century’ in Harraway, Donna Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: the Reinvention of Nature London: Free Association Books
Kozma, R. (2003). Technology, innovation, and educational change: A global perspective, (A report of the Second Information Technology in Education Study, Module 2). Eugene, OR: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, ISTE Publications.
Muffoletto, R. (1994). Technology and restructuring education: Constructing a context. Educational Technology, 34(2), 24-28.
Pacey, Arnold (1983) The Culture of Technology London: Basil Blackwell
Simpson, Lorenzo C. (1995) Technology and the Conversations of Modernity New York: Routledge