Thursday, January 20, 2011

Digital Law Pgs. 26-28

Pg. 26, Essential Questions.

"Are students using technology the way it was intended?"   My question...what was the original intention of technology?  I realize this is may be a vague question, but, one worth discussing.  My thoughts - was there really an end-goal in mind when the personal computer first became available to the general public, and, then to education?

6 comments:

  1. Huh, technology was intended to make us more efficient. Internet to enable communication during the Cold War - if one section blown up, the rest could carry on functioning. Pretty sure that the end goal for Gates and Jobs was to make money.

    I think that we will reach our end goals when teachers accept that "it has always been done that way" is no longer the only way.

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  2. I am not sure there ever was an end game with the original intent of technology, it has only been a better, quicker, more power strategy. Likewise, I don't believe that the laws governing technology will ever keep pace with the advances made. Ironically, the desire to utilize technology for public assistance has only caused more problems (e.g. public records released for all to view). It is a brave new world and we have to embrace it.

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  3. Interesting when I think about the question you posed I guess I thought digital technology was developed for use by scientific, military, and research institutions. I assumed, obviously incorrectly, that it was to calculate large numbers, share research between high institutions of learning and well the military has their fingers in everything they can for new and better ways to create mass destruction. I think technology was presented to the commercial market as making our lives easier but I don’t see it that way, if anything it forces me to spend more time preparing because no technology stands alone; it is only as good as I set it up and implement it. So back to the original question… If my suppositions have any hue of accuracy then the legal implications would be intellectual property rights and security. Possibly not really an issue between these communities. However as the technology expanded out, newer communities were not really in on or informed about the ‘norms’ and ‘etiquette” i.e. professional courtesies that came with this new technology. This would create a need for legal guidelines. Further, I will go back to what I said in the last post, technology comes so fast we aren’t even sure what its capacity is before the next version is released. It is like the nuclear bomb or cloning, we develop items and perceiver to perfect them before we evaluate implications good or bad and I think we do the same thing with technology. Release time of items out weights any predisposition to the rigors of possible outcomes or guidelines.

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  4. My guess is some geeky scientist guys were messing around, intending to mess around, and discovered stuff. Then the dudes with money were like, "how can we profit from this?"
    This is speculation.
    Julie makes a good point also.

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  5. Julie, are you suggesting we think before we act?

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  6. I think technology has actually far surpassed anything that anyone could have imagined it could do...but we still seem to be terrified of it in schools. While we have so many issues with safety there are still opportunities that are wasted with technology in education simply because teachers aren't trained or educated themselves.

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