Final Post Monday, Dec 1 2008

            Overall I learned a lot more than I had expected in this class.  Technology inequality goes further into the reasons behind the inequalities, who it affects, how it affects them and why do these things happen, especially in our ideal democratic society.  To understand how inequalities work is very important.  Sometimes these inequalities need to be addressed and turned around, but at the same time, sometimes inequality is a good thing that helps us maintain a productive and safe society.  Determining the result of an inequality is hard, yet important.  The technologies will effect people in many ways as well as people will affect the technologies.  But whatever the outcome, in order for societies to maintain productiveness, they must embrace them in some way.  

Justice 494 made me look at things in a completely different way.  The importance of understanding why something is, especially when is effects our society so much.  

            Learning about other countries advances was also very informative.  To know why another country is doing well and to learn from them is very important.

            I very much enjoyed the class discussions; this was a very intriguing portion that really kept me participating.  At the beginning of the class I was very worried about blogging; I wasn’t sure how I would be perceived on-line.  I’ve come to find that I have really enjoyed it.  To make myself become opinionate about a topic is a great thing to do, even if it may seem like I just reiterate what was said in class.  Also I’m much more interested in my project idea than I ever though I would be!

Thanks so much for making this learning experience enjoyable!

 

 

 

 

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Education and Class Monday, Nov 24 2008

I think China’s use of placement tests was one of the most interesting factors discussed during last week’s lectures. It caught my attention because I am a horrible test taker and my education is not at all as extensive as the rumors predict China’s students are. If my whole carrier was based on a test, I can imagine out stressed I would be!

The other thing talked about last week that I found very interesting was from another student’s presentation. He talked about how the differences between those two socialist and communist countries, and our democratic one was the encouragement of our labor force compared to their. As Americans we are taught about the “American Dream” of owning property and having a family to provide for. This is different in other countries do to the regulation on number of children allotted per family. This also represents a great factor in inequality because families that can pay a high tax, can afford to have more that one child. It will be interesting to see in a few decades how this affects the class difference between the poor and the rich. Especially because the one who could afford to have another child would probably be able to afford to adequately educate them and their class would grow increasingly quicker than that of the lower classes.

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The Open University Monday, Nov 17 2008

One of the things that caught my attention during Thursday’s lecture was the use of open universities. In further research I really found that I am a huge supporter in this use of technological education because of it effects on communities.

The Open University (OU) is responsible for allowing those who cannot physically attend a traditional university because they are disabled, abroad, in prison, serving in the armed forces, or looking after family members to take a mixture of online and in-class learning systems. The OU uses a variety of methods for distance learning, including written and audio materials, the Internet, disc-based software and television programs on DVD. Prior schooling isn’t necessarily taken into account when at the beginning level of The OU. This way, even if you have been out of school for a very long time, or didn’t do well enough in grade school to continue on to a tradition university, advanced schooling is still available. Also if you feel that you are capable of being successful at The OU and don’t have much of an education, but do have a lot of job experience, this could be taken into account.

The OU also has some governmental support to continue running, which is a great way to improve your country’s knowledge.

This is a great way for societies to better themselves and avoid falling into the cycle of being uneducated. I think the United States would benefit from fallowing The OU’s example. It lets disadvantaged people have a chance at becoming advantaged.

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Election 2008 Sunday, Nov 9 2008

For the election I sent in my ballot a few weeks ago. I decided to do an early ballot because I’m from Sierra Vista, Arizona, which is a few hours drive away and I knew it would be very difficult to make it there on Election Day.

I watched the news diligently when I got home for school in the evening and already knew the Obama would win. I, the avid McCain supporter, felt shafted at first because of the extreme popularity of Obama, he would win over the well versed McCain, whom had more experience, and (to me) superior ideologies. I was crushed!

In hindsight, I know that this was ridiculous. Maybe the person I didn’t want to become the Presidential Elect, did, but he was now going to be my President. I’ve come to the conclusion that I know he may not do what I think is right for the economy, but he was going to improve it somehow. Many of the things that he proposes to do are not in my best interest, but I know that the overall out come MUST be better than that of the current circumstances. Any sort of improvement in needed at this point in time!

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Millenials Sunday, Nov 9 2008

Technology in education is and always will be an evolving area. I was very interested in the exploration of generational changes. It is important to monitor the types of technology used in education according to what best accommodates the current generation.

I did find, though, the description of my generation, Generation Y, or Millennials (1981-2001), to be a little displeasing at first. In further understanding I found that though the characteristics may seem to be faults, they can also be flipped into being good qualities. For examples the fact that we have many choices is a pleasantry that has given us many advantages. The use of computers gives us access to unlimited information.

I saw that one of our characteristics was that we detest busy work and learn by doing. At first I thought well, who doesn’t hate busy work and does this make us lazy? I decided that the answer was definitely no. Later in the list of descriptions it said that we are hyper-structured and over scheduled, so of course this is relevant to the fact that we are already a very busy generation and “busy work” means considerably more work than that which we already do, which is an extreme amount. Our goals were listed as striving for fame and fortune. Though I don’t agree with the fame part, I definitely strive for good fortune, and this is a very good quality that I think all of us should possess.

To improve our lives was the goal of our parents and thus is a goal of our own. Though all the description may have be received negatively, many of them instill qualities that encourage us to maintain and improve on our lives.

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Computer Education Monopoly Monday, Nov 3 2008

J.W. Smith seemed much invested in his ideas, but I felt that they may be lacking in reality. The main bone that I had to pick with him was his investment into the idea of computer education. This idea was that there is much wasted money in the “educational monopoly”. He believed that if the educational system could transfer over to being computer based, money would be saved and more would have the availability of education. Though I believe that later to be true, I don’t think money would really be saved.

I have witnessed charter schools that have developed the idea of all on computer education, but I have never seen this to be a benefit to the student. A lack of social skills arises and the ability to function in a work and benefit society evaporates. Also, many working parents use the public school system as a daycare system. The more time a student spends out of a school environment, the more free time the person has for unsupervised activity, which could cause more of a community’s social disadvantage.

I believe that the money saved form the school system elimination would eventually evolve into being money spent on programs to help students function in a social and work environment properly.

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Nuclear Technology Monday, Oct 27 2008

Nuclear Technology is such a controversial topic. On one had there is nuclear energy technology and on the other nuclear weapon technology, and these both need equal and thorough examination.

Nuclear energy technology gets a bad reputation for its title and for it safety. Its title is very frightening. Much of this fear is due to media and gossip. Science fiction movies are based on nuclear energy plants getting out of control and hurting mankind. I think the majority of this is taken by the public as fiction, but it dose alert a subconscious thought of the fear of the unknown. Knowledge on the topic of nuclear energy is very biased and often skewing of reality. Because the majority of society’s education on the topic is scarce, we become very naive and ignorant causing us to draw uninformed conclusions. The only solution to this problem is to make information more available and unbiased.

Nuclear weapon technology is also a fear of many citizens. We’ve been fed for a long time propaganda about how the world could be involved in another war that would lead to the use of nuclear weapon usage and of the damage it could cause. We’ve used the knowledge of the technology as a way to make friends and enemies.

My honest opinion on the subject is that the United Sates is one of the world’s leading powers and in order to stay at this ranking, the use and knowledge of these technologies’ capabilities are important to explore.

Yes, I agree that it is dangerous, but there is no reason to believe in “fairness” of society. I was once told that a fair fight is never a smart fight. To think that the idea of ending the experimentation of these technologies would benefit us, is ridiculous. Though there may be treaties and bills that promise the discontinuation of nuclear experimentation, we will never reach a point where this will be a completely honest affair. These new technologies must be explored in order for us to rejuvenate and expand our power.

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Utilitarianism Monday, Oct 6 2008

Utilitarianism was originally explained as “the greatest good for the greatest number”, but eventually the “greatest number” has become more problematic.

The biggest issue is the fact that the rich become richer and the poor get poorer. The percentile gap between the two groups grows larger, yet more inequality exists to a more major extreme. Though it is shown that the poorer groups do increase in overall happiness, it is still not satisfactory because the poorer group has more to overcome to help close or lessen this gap. The poor do increase and become a little more wealthy, but not at the same rate as do the rich. This may cause more satisfaction for the rich, which is Utilitarianism’s most promising point, but the poor seem to drop further behind in the overall race.

Deontological ethics are contrasted by the use of utilitarianism. Disregarding the overall consequences of performing an act, when determining its moral worth, proves the point of the previous week’s discussion of how the morality of an artifact may later be changed because of new found uses. The new uses of course being the enlarged contrast between the rich and the poor. Other belated affects of utilitarianism include that of virtue ethics, or the main focuses on character (of that of the public), and varieties of consequentialism, according to which the consequences for the individual agent are taken to matter more than any other result

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Risk: Society’s call Monday, Sep 22 2008

With every new technology, come more problems. Technology has needs, those needs have problems. As we find, new innovative technologies that help us with our day to day lives, we need to live with the grantee that those technologies will always have downfalls no matter what.

“Modern Technology’s Problems and Promises” by Patrick Mooney explains that “The question of whether modern technological development has been beneficial or detrimental to human beings is perhaps the most pressing question that faces our society. If technology is harmful, then we need to minimize or eliminate the danger.” Patrick Mooney goes on to explain how important it is to realize what problems may occur with new technologies, and if they out weigh those posed by not developing technologies.

As we consider typical technologies explained during this week’s class such as cars and their dependency on oil, or other technologies like MySpace and it’s attraction of sexual predators and online purchases and its risks of identity theft we must pause to determine whether the use of these artifacts are worth our risk. Some just aren’t. The use of Windows Vista has been a complete marketing disaster due to the fact that its problems have out weighed its usefulness. Aluminum paint on cribs causing Alzheimer’s disease is now a household joke. Society’s moral and value system now makes the judgment call and as our society grows and develops, our technologies do with it.

We are the ones who decide if the risks are worth taking. Sweet ‘n’ low would go out of business if we stopped buying it because it might give us cancer, but as for me, I like sweet tea.

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Rhetorical Closure and the Redefinition of the Problem Sunday, Sep 14 2008

Social Construction of technology is a theory arguing that technology does not determine human action, but that rather, human action shapes technology. One interesting fact that I encountered was that when studying the problems and conflicts of the technology that the technology changes to solve these issues. The way that these issues are solved is through the more regularly used term, closure.

As the technology develops, such as the bicycle, there are many problems to include convince and cost. The particular issue touched on in class was that the use could not be expanded for women due to the cultural restrictions of the time. In order for society to find closure to these problems, they had several solutions. They could just ignore the fact that they were losing the women consumers, they could alter the technology to convenience women, or they could change the cultural restrictions. Of course we know that they chose the most later after trying the first two.

The two types of closure are that which Wiebe E. Bijker explains in “Of bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs” are called the Rhetorical closure and the Redefinition of the problem type of closure. The Rhetorical closure explains that when a social group finds that a problem is solved, the need to alter the technology diminishes. It explains that this is usually a result of advertising. If an add tells the society that it is acceptable for women to ride bikes as do men, than the social group is convinced that this is okay.

The Redefinition of the problem theory explains that even though something may be incontinent, if it finds a solution to a problem, than it is then accepted. For example, bikes today may be a slow way of traveling, maybe it is inconvenient to find a place to lock up your bike, or maybe it is just plain tiring to use a bike as your mode of transpiration. But, if gas prices are too high for you to drive to your destination, or if you live in an area where it would take you more time to get somewhere driving, you chose to find that the inconveniences of riding the bike are outnumbered by the inconveniences of not riding your bike. Hence, your problem is solved by taking the lesser of the two inconveniences.

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