Technologies

You will select a technology by identifying your top three choices on this form in class.

Telephony Cell phones, skype, etc.

Television HDTV, digital TV, cable, etc.

Digital video YouTube, podcasts, streaming, etc.

Radio Satellite, digital, internet, etc.

Film Movies, DVDs, streaming, online, etc.

PDAs iPhone, Blackberry, etc.

Music iPods, downloads, etc.

Computers Apple, PCs, laptops, desktops, etc.

Internet general ISPs, servers, broadband, etc.

Software Microsoft, LINUX, UNIX, Apple, open source, etc.

Internet: News Magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc.

Internet: Social networks MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

Internet: Video games WoW, TSO, Second Life, etc.

Troublemakers Griefers, P2P, pirate radio, hackers, warez, phishing, identity theft, etc.

Select a Technology

How do I select a technology?

First, take a look at the list of technologies to choose from. Is there anything there that you've always wanted to understand better? Is there one that you use a lot but never really thought about? You should pick something that you'd be interested to talk about. Within that technology, you'll then pick a specific focus - an aspect of it that you want to concentrate on.

Do I have to be an expert to pick something?

Definitely not! You should have some familiarity with the technology you choose, but you don't need to know everything. You don't want to pick something you've never used before, but it doesn't have to be something you use every day, either. The best selection is something you would like to learn more about, and that you think matters in society.

What's the difference among all those internet ones?

If you pick "Internet general" you'll be focusing on the internet overall: access, internet service providers, its development and history, infrastructure, and bandwidth. The other internet categories refer to the online technologies themselves: social networks is about how things like Facebook or LinkedIn work in society; video games is about game function, issues, social interaction, software, etc.; news runs the gamut from online newspapers and magazines to blogs and even Wikipedia.

What does "pick a focus" mean, if I already picked a technology?

Each technology, when you really start to study it, involves a lot of aspects and issues. Even though "Telephony " is more specific than "Communication Technologies", within "Telephony" you'll need to pick a specific topic or issue to focus on. For example, in previous years a group selected text messaging as the focus within telephony. Other examples of a focus include news blogs within "Internet: News" or open source software within "Software". Select a focus that offers some interesting issues, problems, questions, or controversies. Think about what you might want to say, the arguments you want to make, and talk with your group about how you can develop a related set of ideas. Your focus should be broad enough to accommodate all the perspectives, but narrow enough to make it easy to identify what you need to address.

What technology is "Troublemakers"?

This category looks across technologies to focus on the "bad kids" of new technologies: hackers who break into banks; phishing that scams you out of your credit information; "griefers" in video games who disrupt people's play; spam that fills your mailbox. You can even look at things like pirate radio, underground music, illegal software and music sites, and black market film distribution. Although it's not a single technology, it's a crucial context to what we will explore in the course.