Week Two

The Future of the Information Technology

--> Film 1: A Day Made of Glass 2. (5:58)
 

Education is seen much more interactive, easier to access and more comfortable for students in the sense of leaving their heavy backpacks behind.  They would only need a tablet.  It would be great to have small groups in class with the right technology for every students to be able to play with it!

--> Film 2: Productivity Future Vision (6:17)

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Both of the films have a utopian vision of the future in education.  There would be more time to explore, to go outside the classroom.  There would be more hands on doing projects. Teachers would have to be really involved in the use of smart boards, technology in general.  There could be more time for projects in the classroom.  From this point of view it would be a utopian vision since everything looks perfect.  Students are engaged.  The teacher’s presentation looks appealing to the students. The teacher herself look so confident with what she is presenting and the tool she is using.

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Film 3: Sight (7:50) Watch on Vimeo

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The ending of this video is opened since it is up to the girl to accept to stay or to leave.  That means to join the game of the badges.  Everything you do will have a reward.  That looks interesting, especially if we apply this to teaching.  Our students want to be rewarded.  They love to know what the prizes are for a specific given activity.  But, this video the focus is the social part of a human being.  It is hard for me to see that even the man needs to use technology to make friends???  Would she join her new friend’s idea? I think that depends on how she defines a friend. 

The previous 2 videos the social aspect was more related to what I am used to: you make friends when you are at school.  You make friends by chance, not controlled by a specific program.

--> Film 4: Charlie 13 (14:20) 

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From my point of view Charlie represents a hopeful future in the sense that Charlie represents personal autonomy.  He wants to experience a different life.  There must be options in the future.  Some people may get tired of technology while other would get deep into it.  It also shows at the same time the impact in society. Since we belong to a specific society.  The question is going to be what is acceptable and what would not.  At the end it is really a reflection of our present society.  Many of us grew up without any technology.  Maybe just a radio and a TV, the computer came a little late.  But I had been forced to search about technology, how to use it. Why to use it.  I still struggle with texting.  I am used to make phone calls or face-to-face conversations. Can technology help parents and teachers to manage a difficult age as the teenagers to make correct choices?  Technology is not always the correct means to solve this case.  It is more of moral values, the relationship between parents and children.

The other aspect is how controlled we want to be?  Charlie wanted to adventure, to see what is beyond the traditional.  Is that wrong?

 

--> Film 5: Plurality (14:14)

        

Popular Cultures

This film is another utopian case of technology. Two people can communicate through magic bags! They can even exchange objects!  But the magic does not last much since one of bags is torn.  Somehow the characters manage to meet each other at the end of the story.  Although the bag was torn, they overcame that barrier.  Technology did not domain over them.

 

This film was a bit noisy for me.  There were combinations of sounds of nature and technology.  Who copies whom? I think that the idea of technology here was the man's willingness to imitate nature, in this case the birds.  They can fly; oversea all what is happening from the sky.  The man has to create machines to try to feel the same experiences. For me was interesting the part where the bird takes a piece of cable for his nest. For him it was a tool for his nest, for humans it was the way to get connected and work.  No cables, no work!

 

This film was the scariest of all since it was to see a society growing in 'technology' that looks more like trash.  

--> The old creation is followed by a new technology.  The environment was just polluted, dark.  There is only one shot of a man that is just controlled by technology.  The similarity with Benito is that every old technology becomes trash.  It is all piled.  But to see floating trash is not appealing at all. It is really scary! In both cases there is technological determinism. -->