T and T Monday Oct. 17, 2011

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/298738_10150332796348604_653088603_8062783_1834160727_n.jpg

Poll - Are you OK with having your web space visible by everyone else?

Presentation sign-up!!

Marks - things to consider

• test your stuff on different systems (where you are not logged in)
• do not use student last names
• make your credits clear and accessible
• Ads on your videos?
• How long is too long?

The Mystery of Engagement - video
Powerpoint Tips -

• YOU are the presentation - the slides are a guide
• max 12 words per slide - large text
• Dark background - light text (works in a light room better. No red on blue)
• Images are good - link them back to the source
• don’t read off the screen

Poll - How many class web spaces have you visited?

Technology Bias
Lanier - what works first is often what gets “locked-in” (eg MIDI, mp3). Some technologies are more ‘democratic’ than others - nuclear power is not because it requires big money and govt. Solar power can be because it can be locally installed and controlled.

Will fast facts be as good for our brains as fast food is for our bodies?

Albert Einstein quote - Not everything that counts can be measured. Not everything that can be measured counts.

William Kurelek's art and views on technology - does he distinguish between the technique and the machine? Some samples: (from the Our World Today) The Dream of Mayor Crombie, This is Our Nemiesis, He Gloats over Our Skepticism. And from the first gallery, The Tower of Babel and The Maas Maze. and from the 3rd section, Cross Section of Vinnitsia in the Ukraine.

Disney - The Sorcerer's Apprentice (calling on 'magic' which we cannot control because we can't see the end results).

Postman’s Five Ideas

1. The first idea is that all technological change is a trade-off. I like to call it a Faustian bargain. Technology giveth and technology taketh away. This means that for every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage.
2. the advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population.
3. Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas. These ideas are often hidden from our view because they are of a somewhat abstract nature.
4. Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. I can explain this best by an analogy. What happens if we place a drop of red dye into a beaker of clear water? Do we have clear water plus a spot of red dye? Obviously not.
5. I come now to the fifth and final idea, which is that media tend to become mythic. … What I am saying is that our enthusiasm for technology can turn into a form of idolatry and our belief in its beneficence can be a false absolute. The best way to view technology is as a strange intruder

More on the brain - Small
Half-way survey of TandT
Survey for A17
Survey for A15