I really enjoyed our guest speaker's presentation in the last class session. Dr. Ellen Wagner is an engaging, dynamic, and forward-thinking woman.
Two things she brought up, haptics and ubiquitous access (and subsequently smart buildings / products), are subjects that I have thought a lot about in relation to world- and community-changing technologies. I believe that these two things combined will have a significant impact on our future lives. it will change our assumptions and the assumptions of future generations. But we don't have to feel that they are things that are coming down the pike. In fact, these concepts are not totally new or revolutionary. When I think of ubiquity of access to information, I try to remind myself of books, newspapers, and magazines -- even while out in the woods camping, I still had my book to read if I wanted to. I try to think of how televisions and telephones saturated the market to the extent that some homes even had several of these items. Or of the thermostat keeping the temperature in a building within a certain range. Even of automatically opening doors.
While the concepts may not be revolutionary, their implementation certainly is. It allows us to do magic (or what would appear to be magic if we were time travelers from the past). Hmmm...
NEWSFLASH: My favorite blog, information aesthetics, just posted about Sixth Sense. Here's a four-minute video. Imagine the implications! This is soooo cool, and it's very much what Dr. Wagner was discussing in class about Web 3.o (3D).
Oh, speaking of automatically opening doors, I have to share something that happened to me once in Las Vegas. I learned that casinos are designed to always turn the customer back to the slot machines and tables. On this particular day I was determined to see the outdoors -- to see sunlight. Somehow I couldn't find my way out of the place (but it was so easy to come in!). Finally, I found the door! In my excitement, I raced to the door and was stopped by the glass. I backed up and went toward the door. Nothing happened. Obviously it was broken. So I went to the other door and it, too, was broken. Aaaargh! I couldn't get out of the casino!
Just then, I saw some people heading into the casino. They walked up to the door and pushed it. It wasn't broken; it was manual.
Finally, I'd like to share this link with you. It's an interactive map of future forces affecting education: http://www.kwfdn.org/map/map.aspx. It's really interesting and they invite participants to add to it.
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Interesting post Alex, and definitely an interesting video! I like the insta-reviews of books as you browse, but I wonder...are we getting too close to a social echo chamber? On the one hand, we can say that we have access to millions of minds all giving their opinions on something.
ReplyDeleteBut...
It's an average opinion. Does that make it right? If we base our decisions on the average of interpretations, then do our decisions become average? Sometimes I wonder if too much information stifles the random chance connection with a thing that may "average out" to be undesirable, but under the right circumstances, with the right audience, can trigger an epiphany.
That's so funny. I just posted a comment on Lance's blog (http://lnakitec830.blogspot.com/2009/02/fourth-week-219.html) about the enlarging echo chamber. We need to wait for him to approve the comment, though, and it's late at night. And here I am doing exactly what I was talking about!
ReplyDeleteWe are so on the same page on this one!
Thank you for the link. This is the best time for those who have gene for innovation. We have to think ahead to design learning environment that is content rich, not just using dazzling gadgets. Darn it, I just ordered Kindle.
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