I find generational gaps fascinating. I use email, my cell phone, and digital music on a daily basis, where my grandparents find many of these technologies very foreign to them. My grandma refuses to learn how to use email even though she is quite the talker on the phone, or my mom blames myself or my siblings when something goes wrong with the computer, because since we use it more we probably created the malfunction in the computer. My parents have used the internet for some practical purposes but for the most part still rely on paper or conventional methods before they turn to a computer. This makes me think of the various changes that will emerge in our generation.
As we marry have kids, will we be a past generation who is inept at the new technologies, having us at the mercy of our kids to teach us? Or will we be a generation that will keep up with the times? Since we have been so used to constant development and advancement in technology I wonder if we will be able to progress right along side the next generation because we are used to learning new Com Techs.
Obviously only time will tell, because Diffusion come into play, which generations will accept new technologies, or if our generation will continue to place the same importance on technology as we do today, ( what we will value in the future), or what our motivations will be in adapting in society. As I said only time will tell.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Technology Failing
In the past two weeks I have heard about more and more people speak of how slow their internet was, or their cell phone breaking or blackboard not working and this has turned into a feeling of frustration in their lives.
When technology fails it messes with our daily lives and makes us not only think about how much we may rely on technology but also we find other alternatives in completing our task. Now I was thinking about whether we are unhealthily dependent on technology or if has just simply become a method that we rely on just as we do in our ability to talk or hear. Email has become just about as effective as a phone call. Or where a hundred years ago when the writing letters was an important mode for communication, we would naturally get frustrated if the post services were down.
My theory for why we see technology as the bad guy is because technology has come into our lives very quickly and penetrated into many areas of our lives in both a good and bad manner. It diffused quickly and was first seen as a luxury and now it is becoming more and more of a necessity.
Unless it consumes us completely I have decided I am not that opposed to the way in which technology has diffused. And I think that we should acknowledge the realistic role it plays in our lives so that we can better examine it in the future...
How it affects our relationships- with God, family, friends.
How it affects our temperament.
how it affects society as a whole.
When technology fails it messes with our daily lives and makes us not only think about how much we may rely on technology but also we find other alternatives in completing our task. Now I was thinking about whether we are unhealthily dependent on technology or if has just simply become a method that we rely on just as we do in our ability to talk or hear. Email has become just about as effective as a phone call. Or where a hundred years ago when the writing letters was an important mode for communication, we would naturally get frustrated if the post services were down.
My theory for why we see technology as the bad guy is because technology has come into our lives very quickly and penetrated into many areas of our lives in both a good and bad manner. It diffused quickly and was first seen as a luxury and now it is becoming more and more of a necessity.
Unless it consumes us completely I have decided I am not that opposed to the way in which technology has diffused. And I think that we should acknowledge the realistic role it plays in our lives so that we can better examine it in the future...
How it affects our relationships- with God, family, friends.
How it affects our temperament.
how it affects society as a whole.
Effective Presentations
For the past few class periods we have sat through a number of various presentations and some obviously stood out above the rest as better presentations. A thought that I would like to process through this blog is what makes a great presentation and what makes another boring. I believe that technology has a role in this and can work for or against the presentors.
A pet peeve that I have developed is when the person goes up to the front and seems to have spent a decent amount of time preparing the information to present in a power point form and he or she simply read the information off of each slide. To me this is incredibly boring. I do not see why people see reading off of a power point as much different than reading their notes. Because the only difference in my opinion is that you can make the words move, the audience can see the notes and there may be a cool background. This is an example when technology has become a crutch in the art of presenting. The time taken to prepare the power point only brings out a boring slide show rather than a stimulating presentation. So I think that if a person chooses to use technology they should make an effort to spice it up a bit with interaction, inflection in their tone, better eye contact, the ability to move around, and not as much detail on the slide but providing that detail in explanation when presenting.
People are using technology out of convenience, because sometimes it does not require much creativity. And because the technology is between the presenter and his or her audience, a social distance is formed... where the notion that people can feel like they can approch the presenter is lost.
I frankly admired the people who got the audience involved, smiled, seemed to have fun up front... and unfortunately only and handful of my classmates come to mind. More information is not always better. Personality, simplicity and quality is more widely appreciated.
A pet peeve that I have developed is when the person goes up to the front and seems to have spent a decent amount of time preparing the information to present in a power point form and he or she simply read the information off of each slide. To me this is incredibly boring. I do not see why people see reading off of a power point as much different than reading their notes. Because the only difference in my opinion is that you can make the words move, the audience can see the notes and there may be a cool background. This is an example when technology has become a crutch in the art of presenting. The time taken to prepare the power point only brings out a boring slide show rather than a stimulating presentation. So I think that if a person chooses to use technology they should make an effort to spice it up a bit with interaction, inflection in their tone, better eye contact, the ability to move around, and not as much detail on the slide but providing that detail in explanation when presenting.
People are using technology out of convenience, because sometimes it does not require much creativity. And because the technology is between the presenter and his or her audience, a social distance is formed... where the notion that people can feel like they can approch the presenter is lost.
I frankly admired the people who got the audience involved, smiled, seemed to have fun up front... and unfortunately only and handful of my classmates come to mind. More information is not always better. Personality, simplicity and quality is more widely appreciated.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Technologies in the faith
Nooma Videos. These videos are considered wonderful teaching tools. Rob Bell, who is the pastor of Mars Hill Christian Church is the creator of these thought provoking messages via video. His ministry is all about being relavant and challenging people to seek God through truth and finding meaning in things again. However one of his teaching tools is the videos he has created.
I think that there are pros and cons to using video. Pros is that it can be distributed to a large array of people all over the world communicating the message of Jesus Christ, it can add special effects that may keep the attention of contemporary audiences better than a speaker could. Cons is that he is not right there with us... it could be seen as impersonal, it could be seen as just a money maker or as acting. I think that the older generation may feel a greater social distance between the speaker and themselves than perhaps the newer generations. Some may feel a lack of personal interaction which can be perfectly understandable. However is the technology getting in the way of the speaker or is it aiding the speaker to communicate I would argue it aids the speaker in the case of Ron bell. It does give me a sense to want to see him in person, thinking that his biblical teaching would perhaps be more profound in person than on video.
After all this I think we still desire face to face communication above all.
I think that there are pros and cons to using video. Pros is that it can be distributed to a large array of people all over the world communicating the message of Jesus Christ, it can add special effects that may keep the attention of contemporary audiences better than a speaker could. Cons is that he is not right there with us... it could be seen as impersonal, it could be seen as just a money maker or as acting. I think that the older generation may feel a greater social distance between the speaker and themselves than perhaps the newer generations. Some may feel a lack of personal interaction which can be perfectly understandable. However is the technology getting in the way of the speaker or is it aiding the speaker to communicate I would argue it aids the speaker in the case of Ron bell. It does give me a sense to want to see him in person, thinking that his biblical teaching would perhaps be more profound in person than on video.
After all this I think we still desire face to face communication above all.
Handwriting...
The test that we took in class on Thursday is a very explicit example of the handwritten fading out and the typed form of communication becoming more prevelant. I feel like this trend will become more and more popular in the next few years and very quickly as well. I have heard many people comment on liking typing rather than writing things out by hand. I think there are many reasons for this.
1. Some people like the neatness and professionalism of typing better than something that is hand written
2. Some are just more fluent in thought and word when typing.
3. It takes less time.
THere are two theories that come to mind here and that is the FAST fast fast of Sochay's immutable laws ... typing is faster why not just type? Why take the time to personally write a note with a pen or email it?
Secondly people may have spent the time to hand write their work. People may have spent the time to think things through while writing it out. However people are replacing that time with the time it takes to type (less time) and adding other activities. Still spending the same amount of time just differently. (Relative Consistency)
1. Some people like the neatness and professionalism of typing better than something that is hand written
2. Some are just more fluent in thought and word when typing.
3. It takes less time.
THere are two theories that come to mind here and that is the FAST fast fast of Sochay's immutable laws ... typing is faster why not just type? Why take the time to personally write a note with a pen or email it?
Secondly people may have spent the time to hand write their work. People may have spent the time to think things through while writing it out. However people are replacing that time with the time it takes to type (less time) and adding other activities. Still spending the same amount of time just differently. (Relative Consistency)
Why haven't we heard?
The first time I heard about the "big Digital TV" switch was in class this week. My question is why have we not heard about this information that will surely change the face of Television forever? Television is the way that many messages are sent, whether it be about new products, communicating cultural characteristics in our society, or important news that is vital to our understanding? With that said why has the FCA hesitated to educate Americans about D TV? I have few thoughts on this.
Well as we mentioned in class the timing has been really off. It is proven that an effective Communication Technology is one that comes out when society is ready for it. Digital TV has been around for a few years but has been far too expensive for anyone to buy... so how can people be knowledgeable about DTV when it is seen as an outlandishly priced electronic. Slowly the price has been declining and which is paving the way for a DTV or HD-TV to be the household standard.
Another thought is that with the postmodern view and lifestyle becoming more widely excepted the value of image has increased. One of the selling factors of HD TV is image clarity. Image has been the way we see reality- "seeing is believing" was THE advertising slogan for Disney when they were marketing the Blue Ray HD -dvds. So as word has faded out, better image quality has become a priority.
With these two movements now in place and the foundational knowledge about DTV, the campaigns will most likely become more common, that is my prediction at least. And People rememeber what is right in front of them, not things that was advertised years before hand.
Well as we mentioned in class the timing has been really off. It is proven that an effective Communication Technology is one that comes out when society is ready for it. Digital TV has been around for a few years but has been far too expensive for anyone to buy... so how can people be knowledgeable about DTV when it is seen as an outlandishly priced electronic. Slowly the price has been declining and which is paving the way for a DTV or HD-TV to be the household standard.
Another thought is that with the postmodern view and lifestyle becoming more widely excepted the value of image has increased. One of the selling factors of HD TV is image clarity. Image has been the way we see reality- "seeing is believing" was THE advertising slogan for Disney when they were marketing the Blue Ray HD -dvds. So as word has faded out, better image quality has become a priority.
With these two movements now in place and the foundational knowledge about DTV, the campaigns will most likely become more common, that is my prediction at least. And People rememeber what is right in front of them, not things that was advertised years before hand.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Journal 1
REBELLING AGAINST VIRTUAL LECTURES. Using a video or even the discussion board was not a very positive experience. Because I tend to be an optimist, I did not mind going through these methods of learning because I see the value in using Communication Technology but I think it did multiple negative things.
First of all with the video there was a definite gap created between the instructor and the class. We could see him as impersonal, and frankly irresponsible not willing to interact with us. He could not have answered any questions.
The discussion board gave us no visual and could have been very selective to certain types of learning. Personally I do not think that our culture has enough value in the Technology way of communicating and values face to face conversation and interact much more. The negative theories all come into play here. We are feeling more and more distant (at this point) when technology is valued more than face to face interaction.
First of all with the video there was a definite gap created between the instructor and the class. We could see him as impersonal, and frankly irresponsible not willing to interact with us. He could not have answered any questions.
The discussion board gave us no visual and could have been very selective to certain types of learning. Personally I do not think that our culture has enough value in the Technology way of communicating and values face to face conversation and interact much more. The negative theories all come into play here. We are feeling more and more distant (at this point) when technology is valued more than face to face interaction.
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