Address the Digital Divide

“William Gibson, the name who invented the term ‘cyberspace’, has said, ‘The future arrived. It just wasn’t equally distributed” (Soloway, n.d.). As a leader in educational technology, my response to this quote is to help make emerging technologies valuable to others by keeping a global perspective in mind and trying to understand different cultures well enough to help people incorporate new ideas about technological access into their culture (Thornburg, 2009). Having only ever lived in the United State of America, I have an enormous learning curve to begin understanding different cultures in other areas of the world. However, I am aware of the inequities and digital divide right here in the United States among different geographic areas of the country, as well as dramatic differences within a single town. I want to understand what technologies are appropriate and realistic in a particular culture while maintaining gender, cultural, and socioeconomic sensitivity.

The first and most important step in addressing these differences in technological access is financial support and education. According to Dr. Soloway, (n.d) the way to address the issue of leveling the playing field and eliminating the digital divide is to put a cell phone with Internet access in the entire community’s hands for everyone to communicate with each other and to create a climate of acceptance in which people not only have dreams but can actually experience these dreams as reality in their lifetime. I completely agree that the cell phone is the future emerging technology globally and it is the single technology device that can close the digital divide in a way no other technology can.

Reference:
Soloway, E. (n.d.) The digital divide: leveling the playing field [Podcast]. Retrieve from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/14936/CRS-WUEDUC8812-3730077/EDUC_8848_PK_Transcript.pdf

Thornburg, D. (2009). Diversity and Globalism. Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from
http:/sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199715&Survey=1&47=5828341&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Red Queens and Increasing Returns

When I decided to use the movie Total Recall for Module 4 assignment, I didn’t have to go far to it. Total Recall, based on Phillip K. Dick‘s book, is a part of my home collection of videos and one that I have watch many times.

The current competition between DVDs and video on demand is a example of increasing returns as describe, by Dr. Thornburg where “two innovations hit the market at about the same time and by chance, one technology gets locked in and drives the other to extinction, in a nonlinear process” (Thornburg, 2009). According to Chris Anders from Wired Magazine, Reed Hastings the founder of Netflix saw an “inflection point” at the moment when home theater units started becoming popular with the DVD hitting critical mass and saw an amazing opportunity (Anderson, 2004). At this point in time, neither the DVD nor video on demand has locked in, so let the game continue!

Last summer I visited Navada, and I learned to appreciate “the art of playing the tables in the Casino of Technology…and above all, the rewards go to the player who are first to make sense of the new games looming out of the technological fog and make adaptations to what is coming” (Arthur, 1996). Therefore, as I think about the four criteria of McLuhan’ tetrad, DVDs and video on demand are currently on the “Enhances” quadrant, because both of these technologies have enhanced the quality of life for many families to allow more time spent together at home, and I am not sure what will replace them yet as predicted in the “Reverse” quadrant (McLuhan, 1988).

References:
Anderson, C. (2004). Tech’s long tail [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/chris_anderson_of_wired_on_tech_s_long_tail.html

Arthur, W.B. (1996). Increasing returns and the new world of business. Harvard Business Review, 74 (4), 100-109.

McLuhan, M., & McLuhan, E. (1988). Laws of media: The new science. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Red Queens Image. Retrieve from http://www.proteusadvisor.com/uploaded_images/Red-Queen-733517.jpg.

Thornburg, D. D. (2009). Increasing returns and red queens. Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn? CourseID=4199715&Survey=1&7=5797856&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Disruptive Power of Second Life

Does Second Life have the power to be a disruptive technology by creating a virtual world that allows us to reinvent ourselves and be anyone or anything we want to be? We are social creatures and the experience of creating; consuming and exploring information in the virtual world is inherently a social behavior that many people want to experience (Rosedale, 2008). Second Life allows you to be creative; you can test ideas before implementing them in real life.

As an elementary media specialist I do not see Second Life as a disruptive technology yet, mostly because it is prohibited from student use, not to say that it could be allowed someday soon. One research article I found only explored using Second Life in a secondary school setting enacting role playing while simulating negotiation skills based on globalization issues (Ho, 2010). Elementary age student could benefit from virtual role playing as well; but they are not commonly use in school settings. Virtual worlds outside of school like Tootsville appear to be more widely used for younger students.

Second Life has many social benefits for Second Life and other virtual worlds allowing experiences that are rarely possible or impossible in every facet of life. The social implications of virtual worlds in education provide opportunities for field trips that would never be possible for students to visit in reality and also in the medical field opportunities for people with physical disabilities to participate in activities they never thought they would experience (Krueger, 2008).

References

Ho, C.M.L. (2010). What’s in a question? The case of students’ enactment in the second life virtual world. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 4(2), 151-176.

Krueger, A. (2008). Innovation in Second Life [Video]. http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2008/10/second-life.html

Rosedale, P. (2008). Second Life. [Video] Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html

Second Life Image: Retrived from http://www.freebase.com/view/en/second_life

Module 3- Rhymes of History

Interactive white boards are an example of a technology that represents a rhyme of history. SMART Boards rekindle from the past the need to display information for an entire classroom of students to see at one time, rather than the teacher having to write something on each individual students' slates or chalkboards, capturing lost teaching time, as did the inventor of the first chalkboard, James Pillans, a school headmaster in Scotland in the mid-1800’s (http://www.ehow.com/). How ironic is it that today, the teacher still only has to write something once on the SMART Board, but with other emerging technologies such as the interactive response system (clickers), iPods and iPads, it can also be shared individually with each student on a personal technology device just as the original student slates or chalkboards were used. I would also like to emphasize as Dr. Thornburg pointed out in his vodcast, “It’s not the technology, but the affect of the technology, that is rekindled," possibly coming full-circle.


References:
http://www.ehow.com/about_6458935_slate-chalkboards.html

http://www.smarttech.com/

http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199715&Survey=1&47=5486705&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_days_of_the_web.html

Digital Camera

Sony released the Sony Mavica in August, 1981 as the first commercial electronic digital camera (digicamhistory.com, 2010).

Enhances- the digital camera allows you to view images instantly on the camera. You can also connect the camera to other devices such as a LCD project and television to view the images without having to print the images.

Obsoletes- The digital camera has replaced the need for film such as 35 mm, and 120 or 220 film in analog electronic camera along with various types of Polaroid (instant print) film (learning photography.net 2010).

Reverses- The digital camera may be replaced in the future by eye glasses and/or contact lenses, or implanted as part of our bodies.

Retrieves- We use the digital camera to preserve memories as well as visual records of history.

References:
http://www.digicamhistory.com/1980_1983.html
http://learning-photography.net/film_negatives/different-type-of-film

From World Book to Wikipedia
Do you remember the 22 volume book set of World Book or Encyclopedia Britannica? Most students today have never looked in paper book encyclopedia because of a current technology that emerged in 2001. Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia that anyone can add to or edit is shaping how many of our students are learning news facts and information. It has become one of the most popular online resources- statistics put Wikipedia as the eighth most-visited Internet site in the United States (Educes, 2010.)

The biggest problem or challenge that has been associated with Wikipedia is the reliability and quality of content due to the openly editable information. This was a much bigger issue when Wikipedia was first launched, but is more reliable today, depending on the subject. In a recent study by CNET News, Wikipedia was found to be just as accurate as and more up to date with current events than Encyclopedia Britannica (CNET News, 20100.

The societal need that Wikipedia meets is the ability for anyone to share their depth of knowledge and interest on any particular subject matter and for everyone to learn from each other. The greatest benefits are the up to date and always changing of information that makes it a great source for students to start with when doing research. I allow my students to use Wikipedia as one source of reference, but they must always find a second source that confirms that information.

The only thing that would make this technology better would be to develop a more sophisticated check of all information that is posted for accuracy with all viewpoints presented, leaving biases aside; however, the volunteer editors do an incredible job of monitoring the ever changing content.

References:
http://www.educause.edu?ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutWikip/161666
http://news.cnet.com/Study-Wikipedia-as-accurate-as Britannica/2100-1038_3-5997332.html

Graphic:
http://himaarmenia.files.wordpress.com/2009/08wikipedia-logo.jpg