Dictionaries usually define technology as “The application of science, especially to industrial or commercial objectives”. Many historians, researchers and scientists have spent years trying to define and come up with an exact and complete definition of technology. As Kevin Kelly stated, the word technology is relatively new, as it was first used in 1829. Since that year, many definitions have been emerging. For Alan Kay, an American computer scientist, technology is anything invented after you were born. On the other hand, for Kevin Kelly, technology is anything useful invented by a mind. Even though most people don’t realize it technology is everywhere, and I am going to relate how it has been an important part of my life.
I grew up back in Caracas, Venezuela where the course of my life was delineated mainly by one thing, school. Several instants of my life show how teaching methods evolved throughout the years. I recall that in pre-school, classes consisted in playing with play-dough, and doing drawings. In middle school these were replaced by spelling bees and math. At this point chalkboards were the main teaching method. A couple of years later we started to do presentations in cardstock with drawings using markers, this is just an example of the evolution of technology. Through these examples it can be appreciated how the means by which one common objective is accomplished change throughout the time. Now presentations aids were not only restricted to a chalkboard, but also was extended to a more creative form through cardstocks, which actually are examples of technology.
Everyone has different types of technology that have been important in their lives, by Kevin Kelly’s concept of technology, clothing is also a significant example of technology. Skirts, shirts, pants, shoes, are all products of the creation of men with the purpose of facilitating people’s lives. Malcolm Gladwell portrays in his text named “Coolhunt” the story of Dee dee Gordon, a “cool hunter,” who started working in a converse store and ended having her own shop. She truly understood how to mark new tendencies, and deciding what is “in” and what is “out” meant.
The author starts by making the following statement: “Who decides what’s cool? Certain kids in certain places, and only the cool hunters know who they are”. There is generally a tendency of acting and dressing one way, but there is always that person who breaks that rule by being him or herself. This is the main idea of technology. Those who think “out side the box” are responsible for marking new tendencies. Probably, when stating these ideas names as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mahatma Gandhi, come to mind; but actually everyone defines new tendencies in their own environment, these are just examples of a few who decided to nail down those new ideas.
The text written by Malcolm Gladwell describes new tendencies, mainly in the northern American environment. But these tendencies change from culture to culture, and from time to time, as they are defined by people’s new ideas. Globalization has been erasing these differences, unifying tendencies across the entire world. Today, the idea of life, tendencies and technology is evolving with time, actually they have always been evolving.
Halfway through Middle School in 2003 there was a general strike in my country, therefore we didn’t have school for approximately three months. This was the first time I saw significant progress regarding technology in my school. During these months homework was sent on a daily basis through the Internet. This was practical and very handy, but took the importance of one-to-one teaching. I remember how my questions weren’t answered by anyone. When there was a confusing assignment, there was nothing to do about it. At that moment, teaching methods portrayed that negative part of technology, which is depriving us gently from the essence of humanity. I had a computer but I lost my social connection.
This idea of technology depriving us from human experience was highlighted by Rosalinda Williams in “Once more to the mountain”, where she relates the story of her brother and her, repeating a trip to the Bernese Alps in homage to their parents. They come to realize how different the place has become after several years. They were able to witness the effects of evolution, as well as the positive and negative consequences of it.
Half a century later, technology has provided more facilitations. Now the trip was more comfortable. The hotel was really improved, and the mountains had additional forms of transportation. Before, they were just products of nature, but now they were products of nature adapted by humanity for convenience. But the place lost a great part of its value. As the author wrote “Nowadays a vacation trip to the European heartland for an American family has become routine.” This has made us realize that there is a negative side to technology. Even though we are taught that technology was made to ease our lives, it is also taking with it that fresh, natural, plain, aspect of life. What I mean is that, a trip that was once exciting because it was hard to do, is now as easy as taking a bus to a shopping center.
Even though, I have not been able to appreciate the evolution of one place or community throughout the time, I still have been able to appreciate the evolution of technology from one culture to another. My arrival this summer to Georgia Tech has seen the most drastic change ever in my life. It is here that I have understood how technology defines and changes from culture to culture. For me, regarding technology, Atlanta is a window to the future. Things that I am able to see here will probably appear in Venezuela in a couple of years. Venezuelan upper class schools are now enhanced with video beams and laptops in class; while in the States there are response cards, videoconference classes, web pages for assignments and syllabi, eBooks and smart board. Globalization has made us understand different cultures and how every piece of technology is important in someone’s life. Being able to watch a TV show on your laptop might be important to some, for me, teaching methods and their impact are.
As “coolhunting” states, there is a moment where a tendency is stated and defined, by an individual or a group. Then, globalization is responsible for spreading it throughout the world. And finally as it is portrayed in the story by Rosalinda Williams, this tendency changes after a couple of years have passed. I have been able to witness part of this process through the last couple of years.
Technology has its positive and negative aspects. Though the general strike of 2003 demonstrated the negative side of teaching methods, I still believe that the positive side is stronger than the negative. New devices have improved the ability to learn, by providing new tools. Previously a class consisted of a lecture in a classroom with a chalkboard and a book; now a class consists on a multimedia and diverse form of teaching, which includes not only what can be learned in a classroom, but out of it too.
Coming from a developing nation into an industrialized one, has made me realize that globalization is accelerating the process of integration between different cultures, and one of the main forces driving this process is continuous technological development.
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