final paper

I decided to write my paper on Neil Postman's technopoly book. Through the research process, I had interviewed some of my friends on what technologies help them through their college experiences. Many of them told me about how easy it is to access many resources provided by the web and libraries. Some even gave me ideas about how the internet is a great way of finding information on almost anything. But this also prove Postman's point on which technologies have made students lazier due to the lack of responsibility on actually doing research like how people would used to do them, reading books and such. Since everything is so accessible, students lack the responsibility of actually going out and finding resources for their work.

midterm evaluation

For the group project, we decided to do stem cell wikipedia site to audit. We had six people in our group and there was about 80 resources on the page. We divided the sources into 6 parts and had each group members do about 15 sources to audit it. I got everyone to come together and made sure they looked at what we had to. Then I made sure everyone was posting on google doc to edit the information we had gathered through our research. A lot of the people were not doing their work when i was hassling them to post on google doc and such. As a group I would say we worked well together except for the fact that no one was really responding until last minute so it was a pain trying to write most of the project up. I think it is hard to rely on someone else for your grade because the professor doesn't really see who did what so grading will not be fair. I think solo project seems a lot more fair because the professor can actually see how much work was put into the work done.

Slade's Made to Break Part 3

In the third part of the book, Slade talks about the start of Windows and Macintosh. Bill Gates, inventor of Windows, got his idea from Macintosh. Many people did not know this but there was a lawsuit against Gates for stealing the idea from Macintosh. He was invited to a viewing of the new Mac OS system launching, in which he found the idea for his "Windows." It became the most widely used operating system across the globe. Gates has developed so many different versions of Windows such as Windows 95, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and the new Windows 7. Technology improves everyday and with that people have different expectations of what is new to come or what they already own. Cell phones is a prime example of that. The E-Waste, aka electronics waste, is a big problem right now. People change their cellphones so often that there are all these electronics devices being wasted. Burning it would create too much pollution to the air. But most people don't actually recycle or donate their old items.
There are pros and cons to technology growing. But with people's expectations of today's growth, many things become a waste. I find myself playing with a new droid because i was sick of having a blackberry. But i did not go through e-waste because my blackberry was actually broken when i switched. But the point is, do i really need a droid? I have plenty of old cellphones sitting in my room that I could have easily just activated and used, but technology has made me want something more recent and smart.

Slide's Made to Break Part 2

The second part of the book starts off talking about AM and FM radio frequency transmission, which i am very interested in because music is my passion. AM and FM transmission are two very different radio waves being sent through the air for broadcasting. Using AM frequencies allow the user to broadcast much further than FM. But at the same time, FM frequencies have a lot more clarity compare to AM. FM frequencies also allow more than 1 channel to be broadcast on it unlike AM. There are many different stations as we all know on the FM channel. When one travel from one state to another, one will notice that FM channels start to become weaker and lose signal and slowly transform into another station. Why is that? Because FM allows users to go on it and transmit their own stations. For example many iPod adapters in cars use FM transmission for close transmission.


Sometimes new inventions are made so that everyone could afford it. For example nylon, it was created to replace silk during World War II. Because Americans did not want to buy silk from Japan, nylon was created. And nowadays nylon is used in almost everything as opposed to silk. Silk has become a luxurious item because it is so expensive. But at the same time people still purchase silk because it is softer and nicer.

Slade’s Made to Break pgs 1-81

In the first section of "Made to Break" by Slade, he mentions obsolescence. Obsolescence is when an object is still in perfect working condition, but being abandoned. Obsolescence often occurs when a new technology comes out, updates, or outdated. Slade's idea is that many products in United States are made to be broken after a certain amount of time therefore consumers will be required to purchase a new product. This is because we live in a capitalist country. Perfect examples of this would be daily products such as a computer or a television set. After a certain amount of use, the computer always seems to be breaking. But without any viruses why is the computer starting to break? Same for the television, after a certain hours of watching, the screen starts burning out. The idea of obsolescence started out in GM, general motors, in 1927. Their idea is to create a annual model, but with a little additional luxury hoping that consumers will like it more than the previous models. A perfect example of this would be my car, BMW 528e 1988 model. The newer version is obviously a lot better than my car condition wise. But if you look at the inside, my car has a lot of the similar feature the newer model does. My car has power seats, power windows, air condition and heat, wind shield wipers... things that most cars have now, but it is just outdated. But obviously a 2010 BMW is very different than a 1988 BMW in every way possible.

Why Wiki Web? Critical Analysis 7-113

In Andrew Dalby's "The World and Wikipedia", Dalby talks about the people who contributed to Wikipedia, (Wikipedians) who invented Wikipedia, why it was invented, and the pros and cons of Wikipedia.Gaius Plinius Secundus, referred to as Pliny, spent everyday having books read to him while taking notes on them. But the problem with writing notes was that there are simply too much to be written down or to be kept updated. "He is the first known author to have used the word encyclopaedia, 'full circle of knowledge'" (pg 20). But soon encyclopedia enthusiasts moved everything to CD-ROMs. It was a good idea at the time, but the hassle of changing CDs to search for information was just not efficient. Wikipedia came from the idea of online encyclopedia. It all started with Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales with the initial idea of online encyclopedia. The name Wikipedia originated from the word "wikiwiki", which means fast and "pedia", from the end of encyclopedia. Larry Sanger soon thought of the idea of adding a software which enables users to "edit" the information freely on wikipedia. But the problem with that is people can put false information which leads to misinformation to the subject. In my experience, my friends used to make up words and put on wikipedia and it would be allowed and published. A lot of people will turn to wikipedia as the first source of information when encountering an unknown subject. To be honest, I do that as well. When I first come across a new subject, I will use wikipedia first to get a small knowledge of what is ahead. Many professors would not even take wikipedia into consideration of a source. But a lot of times wikipedia is very accurate and useful. “Ever more often, students find themselves using Wikipedia because their treat it as a teaching aid” (pg 104). Even though wikipedia is not the most reliable source, I believe wikipedia has its advantage because of the accessibility and convenience. But when using wikipedia, users must be careful and not be mislead but any false information. It is important for one to research further after using wikipedia to confirm the information to be correct.

Technopoly 2

In Neil Postman’s “Technopoly: the Surrender of our Culture to Technology,” he continues to discuss the danger of living with an abundance of readily accessible technologies. People relying on technologies cause them to lose the sense of responsibility. Postman sees computers as thinking machines. But because of the lack of full cognitive abilities, the computer is not as powerful as a human. A computer is allowed to have thoughts and the ability to think, but the thoughts do not belong to anyone or anything. People are blaming computers for the ideas and thoughts they come up with, instead of taking the blame for it themselves. When people say things like “the computer shows that” or “the computer says,” it shows the lack of responsibility of the person. When people use computers to do researches online, it is inaccurate and unreliable, which can lead to misinformation. Having technology in the tip of your finger could be a positive or negative depending on how you utilize it. The positive effect would be the convenience of being able to research for something quickly on the internet when needed. But the negative effect would be the lack of responsibility and reliable information. It creates laziness in people and making the computer a source which is not accurate.

Technopoly 1

In Technopoly: the Surrender of our Culture to Technology by Neil Postman, he discusses problems seen in today’s world such as technology controlling our culture and mind. Postman discusses three kinds of cultures: tool-using cultures, technocracies, technopolies. Tool-using culture employs technologies only to solve physical problems, as spears, cooking utensils, and water mills do, and to serve the symbolic world of religion, art, politics, and tradition. Postman characterizes technocracies as compelled by the “impulse to invent,” an ideology first advocated by Francis Bacon in the early 17^th Century. He believes that mankind could acquired knowledge about the natural world and uses it to improve their lifestyle. Technopoly is identified as the submission of all forms of cultural life to the sovereignty of technique and technology.

In the first stage of Postman’s book, science was feared and misunderstood. In the second stage of Postman’s book, the technocracy people still had doubts about technologies. But as technology progresses, machines started taking over. People were replaced by machines.  In the last stage of Postman’s book, technology balances out of good and bad. A positive from technology would be information accessed by school, media, and internet. But the negative from technology would be the willingness to search for information and research.

page 84-149

In the second part of the book “Computers: The Life Story of a Technology,” it goes more in depth of how computer eventually evolve into the modern day super computer. It all started with the third generation computers: microprocessors. Jack S. Kilby and Robert Noyce’s combined effort invented the first transistor. Commercial industries began to appreciate the value of integrated circuits when Kilby created the first electronic calculator using microchips in 1967.  Instead of having huge vacuum tubes and transistors, he invented the first hand held calculator with microchips.

After the invention of the handheld calculator, technology was growing so fast that every eighteen months microprocessors and memory chips would double in power. Due to the small size in microprocessors, mini computers were soon releasing into the market. Although they were not as powerful as what had became known as mainframes, they were usually used for small number of tasks, rather than as a general-purpose business data process computer.

Besides the birth of mini computers, the software industry bloomed as well. IBM was copying software created by other people, therefore forcing them to patent software. Also user agreements were created to protect users from giving software to friends and families. There would be a three year contract lease and renew required for each user. But with all software created, BASIC was one of the most important software. It was basically a way to tell the computer to operate if certain scenario happened. The commands such as PRINT, NEXT, GOTO, READ, and IF THEN showed the computer what to do in certain situations.

With all the new invention and technology improving, the first personal computer has finally arrived, ALTAIR 8800. The Altair 8800 microcomputer was based on the 8-bit Intel 8080 microprocessor and contained only 256 bytes of memory. Shortly after the first personal computer was invented, Microsoft was programmed. Using BASIC, Microsoft was able to link programs together creating a foundation for computers. Apple was also created around the same time, being the competitor of Microsoft. IBM took Microsoft and created its first personal computer. Shortly, there were clones of IBM in the market. PC became widely used in the world. Software and games were created for personal uses at home, not just at work anymore.

With the technology advancing, computers were soon connected together through network such as telephones. Network allowed people to communicate in an instant from telephone ports, and eventually cable. Wireless connections were also made. The Internet was made into the world wide connection. Websites such as .com, .net, .edu, .gov, .mil, and .org were domains to many websites. Eventually computers were the main component of the everyday life. Everybody now has a computer. Computers were used for everything, even to blog for this class.

page 1-83

In the first reading assignment from “Computers: The Life Story of a Technology,” there were many links to early invention that help develop technologies today. Without the early invention, many of the things will not exist today. The beginning of the reading introduced a lot of the earlier discoveries which help improve a lot of the new inventions; mathematics being one of the most important inventions.  With Roman numerical numbers invented and spread around the world, date and time were easily recorded for documentary purposes. Although mathematics is one of the simplest operation, it is the root to many things.

John Vincent Atanasoff, was frustrated with calculating long mathematics equation by hands, therefore he decided to invent a computer to do so. Even old calculators would take weeks to solve a long equation. With funding from various corporations, John was able to invent the first computer in which he was showered with awards after the 1970s.

Although the first computer was very convenient, there were some flaws to it: excess heat, bulky size, and penchant for failure.  John Bardeen and Walter H. Brattain, from Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, invented the point-contact transistor, made out of germanium, a semiconductor material, in 1947. A transistor is basically a smaller and more efficient version of the first computer.

From the second generation computer comes the third, integrated circuits, was the new and improved microprocessors. The only problem with these was that they were very small in size; therefore it was very difficult for people to wire them with magnifying glasses.  But with these new microprocessors built, computers slowly became a necessity in the every day’s life.  Eventually super computers were invented, which were able to process many tasks at once without overloading. The software industry bloomed fast, and everybody started to adapt to the life with computers.

Internet Usage

Hi my name is Jeffrey, I am currently a senior at Rutgers University. Over the past 2 to 3 days, I have found myself going on the same websites. Generally google, youtube, sakai, my.rutgers, facebook, and some forums that i check religiously. Sakai and My.Rutgers are sites that I check every day because I have assignments or readings to do. I also check my email everyday because that is my main source of communication to the outside world whom does not have my cell phone number. Facebook is definitely the number 1 website which I log on to everyday just to waste time. Nobody can truly say, I don’t use facebook, because if you don’t have facebook, you are basically an outcast in society and disconnected from the world. Everybody is into the facebook scene in college, stalking people, which is kind of weird but I'm pretty sure everybody is doing it haha. Facebook has become one of the biggest social network page on the internet. It is amazing how a website can become the main source of socializing in just a couple of years. I go on forums to check on new technologies coming out for music and such. People sign on religiously like me, to make sure that they have the most advance piece of equipment. Since technology is changing so fast, it is impossible to keep up to date. Even computer shopping has become a hassle for me since computers upgrade every 6 months or so. Technology has advanced so much in the past few years. I am really curious to see what will be the new hype.