Module 6

As an educational technologist the objective I have at this time is to spread the message of digital technology being here to stay. People need to understand the fact that digital technology will continue to diffuse and satuate our everyday lives. Using technology to educate others on its uses and how it is serving man is very important to being a productive citizen in the 21st Century. Do my best to make new technology accessible to everyone.

References

Soloway, E. (2009). The Digital Divide; Leveling the Playing Field; Laureate Educational Inc.

Module 5 post- Red Queens

In this module we reviewed two of the six forces that drives the emergence of a technology. The two forces are increasing returns and red queens. Increasing returns is when two technologies emerge at around the same time and one drives the other to extinction. Red queens is when there is a competition between technologies and one is left behind. In an earlier module we discussed science fiction as a force that drives emerging technology and I bought a DVD from a video rental store that is closing its entire chain in this state. I see this as being the red queen effect because there is video on demand servers such as netflix, cable and home disk operators that offer video on demand.

The implications of this can be traced back to the video tape having an effect on how we view movies at home to the DVD making the video tape obsolete to video on demand having an affect on DVD rentals and causing video stores to go out of business. We no longer have to drive to a video rental store because we can now have them delivered to our homes or order them into our living rooms. Movies are being released to the viewing public from theaters much quicker now and many individuals are able to wait a couple of months for the release of movies; ticket sales are decreasing but the price of tickets are on the increase. There is much to take into consideration when we look at how society is and will be impacted by emerging technologies. " Look around you and you will see the "Red Queen Effect" is happening in many places: it's part of the business landscape, new technology development and arms races" (von Oech 2007).

References
Thornburg, D. (2009). Emerging and Future Technologies; Laureate Education Inc.
von Oech, R. (2007). Created Think; The Red Queen Effect, retrieved from; http://blogcreativethink.com/2007/03theredqueene.html

Disruptive Technology-Second Life

Second Life is a disruptive technology in that it is a virtual world where things we imagine in the real world and things we cannot imagine will be made possible (Nuthall 2008). Second Life will enable our avators in the virtual world do things that at this moment cannot be accomplished in the real world. Distance teaching and learning has been affected in many ways by virtual worlds. Second Life is one of the earliest of the virtual world applications and this has given rise to other virtual world applications.

Virtual worlds can be used for teaching and learning by individuals around the globe regardless of time and location. Multiple segments of the business world and the education community have been utilizing virtual worlds. Field trips to locations around the world from the classroom or home are made possible through virtual worlds. Disruptive technologies never move society straight from one point to another but there is chaos in between. With the development of so many virtual world applications, the quest would be to make them as real-life as possible. The company that will be able to enhance the animation to make the characters more life like will take the virtual world to new heights.

References
Nuthall, K. (2008). University World News; US: A disruptive technology arrives; retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20080117162121373
Second Life Work: Education (2009). retrieved from; http://education.secondlife.com/whysl/
Thornburg. D (2009). Disruptive Technologies; Laureate Education Inc. video podcast

Rhymes of History

Rhyme of History-Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are rhymes of history in that they predate computers (Wikipedia, 2010). Virtual worlds will rekindle trips to exotic destinations without the cost and time of the journey. The learners being enabled to interact with the virtual world and have the sense of being a part of worlds will give them a realistic view of the content.

When Kevin Kelly gave his lecture on “the next 5000 days of the web”; found at: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/
kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html , it was mentioned how computer technology has moved from embodiment which was computer to computer to restructure which is page to page to what he calls “one machine” which is data to data and the fourth step of transparency which is a virtual computer world where everything known will be on the world wide web or cyberspace.

More and more educators are beginning to see how virtual worlds can be a valuable teaching tool. Educators may want to teach students about the vegetation in different climate zones and the class can take a trip to the different zones without actually leaving the classroom or home. Students could build engines and even perform medical procedures in virtual worlds. Data in cyberspace will be our virtual world of information that we depend on.

Reference

Kelly, K. (2007, December). The next 5,000 days of the Web [Speech]. Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved from; http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/
kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html

Thornburg, D. (2009). Emerging and Future Technology, Rhymes of History; Laureate Education Inc. video

Wikipedia (2010). Virtual Worlds retrieved from; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world#History

Smartphone Module 2

A smart phone enhances productivity and enables new ways of conducting business beyond the confines of the office. Data once reserved for offices is now on a much smaller, mobile and convenient device.

Netbooks is the next step

Retrieves and Rekindle

Interest in web mail services

SMART and iPhones and the like may make desktops or even laptops obsolete.

Tetrad Model

• Enhancements: What does this technology do that is new?
  
• Obsolescence/Obsolete: What does this technology replace?
  
• Retrieval/rekindles: What does this technology bring to mind (or retrieve) from the past?
  
• Reversal/Demise: What might replace this technology in the future, or what might it cause to occur?
  

Enhances Allows for new ways of conducting business outside of the confines of the office. Business can be conducted on a mobile device.	Obsoletes Has the potential to make desktops or even laptops obsolete.
Rekindles Interest in web mail services and multi-tasking capabilities	Reverses Netbooks may be the next step of this technology

References

Ganapati, P. (2008). The Next Netbook Trend: Cellphone-Like Contract Deals; Gadget Lab; retrieved from: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/12/next-time-you-s/

Silicon.com (2006). Analysis: What is a smartphone? retrieved from;
http://www.silicon.com/technology/mobile/2006/02/13/analysis-what-is-a-smartphone-3915639

Thornburg, D. D., (2008). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media.Lake Barrington Il: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Junctionless Transistor

Tyndall National Institute creates first junctionless transistor.

This will be an emerging technology that will be able to replace standard transistors that are now in use. If this junctionless transistor truely work; it will be a revolution in electronic devices. This transistor uses nanotechnology to create it and if Moore's Law is to remain constant thru 2015; the invention of this device will extend Moore's Law well beyond 2015. Electronic devices will be cheaper because without junctions in the transistors the electronic devices will be cheaper to develop and they will become smaller and hold more information. The implications on the world will mean more people will be able to afford electronics. School systems will be able to divert more funds to other areas of their concern. Space explorers will be able to travel farther because they may not need to carry a very heavy load in their explorations.

It is the floppy disk in my workplace that has been replaced by other storage devices. The floppy disk was arkward to worh with, though it served a purpose when first introduced. The disk were very easily damaged and one could lose data. The floppy disk are portable storage that were replaced by other portable devices such as USB storage devices and CD's, DVD's. Computers also have internal storage data bases and software applications that serve the same purpose. These other devices that replaced the floppy disk are smaller and stores more data. This meant more room could be used for other devices in the workplace.

It was pointed out to me by one of my group mates that I may have misunderstood the blog assignment so I added the floppy disk to my blog.

Reference
Brandon, A. (2010). Tyndall National Institute creates first junctionless transistor; gizmag. retrieved from; http://www.gizmag.com/tyndall-national-institute-first-junctionless-transistor/14531/

Welcome to the Obsolete Technology Website, Retrieved from; http://oldcomputers.net/