The Victorian Internet: The Evolution of Technology
"Similarly, television was expected to improve education, reduce social isolation, and enhance democracy. Nuclear power was supposed to usher in an age of plenty where electricity would be "too cheap to meter." The optimistic claims now being made about the Internet are merely the most recent examples in a tradition of technological utopianism that goes back to the first transatlantic telegraph cables, 150 years ago." (Standage, 1998, p.211)
The Victorian Internet is an interesting account of the history of telegraph and all the people involved in its creation. The book also tells a parallel story of how science, politics and society have played their roles in the development of telegraph. I learned that since the beginning of time, people have been obsessed with speeding up the communication process. Today we have so many ways to share information to a big audience with one-click. Along with the evolution of the communication technology is the hope that life will be better. But time and time again, we find that no single technology can solve all of our problems. On the contrary, new issues arise with the creation of modern technologies.
My takeaways: technology is constantly evolving, the advancement of technology precedes the side effects, people are in constant pursuit of finding solutions to current problems. With these in mind, as an educator my focus should first be on understanding my learners, and only then utilizing technology to facilitate learning. I believe it is important to establish ones personal mission statement and educational goals so as not to be sidetracked with the constant technological advancement.
My takeaways: technology is constantly evolving, the advancement of technology precedes the side effects, people are in constant pursuit of finding solutions to current problems. With these in mind, as an educator my focus should first be on understanding my learners, and only then utilizing technology to facilitate learning. I believe it is important to establish ones personal mission statement and educational goals so as not to be sidetracked with the constant technological advancement.
I agree with so much technology that we as educators can get sidetracked/overwhelmed. I believe technology can be a useful tool, but it's not a babysitter to create busy work.
ReplyDeleteI love your starting quote, which sums up the whole point of the book as well as many of our generalizations from class: we expect tech to solve all our problems, but we cannot know are are often ill-equipped to deal with the side effects.
ReplyDeleteYour last point about educational goals feeds into our affordance analysis process from Topic 6. We need to know our goals before we can select and incorporate tools. How can we select the best tools without getting sidetracked by every new bell and whistle out there?
You brought up a great point that we're obsessed with speeding up the communication process; in fact, I think society wants to speed up a lot of things. I was speaking to one of my co-workers this week, and he said something that aligns with your reflection: soon, the technology will be growing rapidly and that our brains don't; therefore, it'll be hard to keep up with all of the change. Isn't that an interesting perspective?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college, our campus instant messenger program sent every keystroke in real time. Yes, communication was fast, but the other person could see word choices, mistakes, and thought processes. I don't know that the speed was worth it!
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