Red Queens and Increasing Return

Red Queens and Increasing Return

My module four assignment was completed with almost no difficulty.  I have Netflix video on demand on my TV at home.  My television is a smart TV with the internet, Netflix, and other exciting technology benefits.  I used Netflix to rent Minority Report and watch it for the module four assignment.  The video on demand technology was used to complete the assignment in module four.  The increasing competition between DVDs and video on demand is a good example of a red queen because of the intense competition and improvements of the two products.  Looking at the history between the two forms of technology over the last several years both the DVD and video on demand have made some huge improvements and rapid developments to their products.  “It can be argued that users are the beneficiaries of Red Queen events. Without fierce competition, there would be little incentive for vendors to provide new feature sets for their software. The rapid-fire development of highly popular applications is aided by this kind of competition.” (Thornburg, 2008c).  Both the DVD and video on demand have made new features and created new ideas due to their direct competition with each other.  Since the release of video on demand there has been a fierce competition between this technology and the use of DVDs.  The video technology allows the users to access movies at home or on their computers anytime, anywhere for a monthly fee.  DVDs allow you to purchase the movie and watch it anytime you want without having to make a purchase.  They always seem to be trying to outduel each other in their competition.  DVDs have lowered prices for purchase to compete with the video on demand technology.  They have sharpened their image and quality and added special additions and new features.  In response to this competition video on demand has also lowered their prices to allow people to watch all of the movies they like for only a small monthly fee.  The technology has also changed where video on demand is available almost anywhere.  Video on demand can be found on TVs, phones, computers, and tablets.  You also have Red Box and other companies offering DVD rentals for low prices and easy access in public places.  I believe that the video on demand and DVD competition would be placed in the Enhancement area of McLuhan’s tetrad.  These forms of technology would be in the Enhancement area because the new technologies go hand in hand.  The video on demand technology is an improved version of the DVD technology.  The video on demand technology is an improved version of the DVD technology.  One is a cheaper more convienent version of the other one.  The new tool improves and enhances the DVD technology.  Video on demand makes the DVD technology better.  I think it will eventually make the DVD technology obsolete in the future.         

References

Thornburg, D. (2008c). Red Queens, butterflies, and strange attractors: Imperfect lenses into emergent technologies. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

The Disruptive Power of Second Life

The Disruptive Power of Second Life

There are many forms of disruptive technology.  New technologies in are development all over the world by various companies.  Eventually these new technologies will be released and cause older forms of technology to become obsolete.  Disruptive technologies are created for the same purposes and functions as existing technologies, but are created more efficiently causing the older forms of technology to become obsolete.  The older form of technology has been on the market forever then a newer, more advanced form of technology comes onto the market and changes everything we know about the technology making it obsolete.  Second Life is an online virtual world that was created so viewers can create avatars and interact with each other in a virtual world.  “Second Life is the best way to create technology in virtual worlds.  Virtual worlds allow us to reinvent ourselves and contain everything and anything we need to create our new ideas” (Rosedale, 2008).  Second Life is a disruptive technology for several reasons.  It provides viewers with a brand new form of technology that has the same functionality of existing technologies in social media, gaming, technology creation, and space exploration that functions more efficiently that other forms of technology on the market.  This would cause technologies such as War Craft, Twitter, Facebook, other social networking sites as well as technology production to become obsolete.  Second Life provides a virtual world where all of these functions can take place through the interaction of avatars.  If this type of virtual world technology keeps being developed it could eventually cause the internet to become obsolete.   I think that this new technology displaced the whole concept of virtual worlds and online gaming.  Everything that revolves around video gaming and virtual world gaming such as Warcraft will eventually become obsolete.  This type of technology could cause lectures and face to face teaching to eventually become obsolete.  As the Second Life technology is developed it could eventually cause social media sites and technology to become obsolete as well.  “Second Life provides viewers with the opportunities to explore virtual worlds, meet residents, socialize, participate in social and group activities, create and trade virtual property, and 3-D services that can be used to create new ideas.  It also provides viewers with opportunities to create and develop animations, objects, clothing, shapes, and gestures within the virtual world” (Rosedale, 2008).  I think that Second Life has several years left before it will eventually be replaced by an emerging technology.  Second Life is still emerging as a technology.  It has not been fully emerged as it is still making improvements and adjustments to the virtual world.  Ten to twenty years down the road someone will develop a better and more advanced form of technology that will eventually replace Second Life.  Second Life is still relatively new and developing so it will take longer for it to become obsolete.    Second Life provides a virtual world where viewers can socialize and interact with each other through the use of avatars.  They can communicate, form groups and exchange ideas freely.  Virtual worlds are not commonly used in the educational world.  It would be really difficult to find a school board or administration that would adopt this form of technology for use in the school.  Eventually virtual world technology could be used to replace online learning and face to face working in the classroom.   

References

Rosedale, P. (2008). Philip Rosedale on Second Life [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html

Rhymes of History

Rhymes of History

There are many examples of technology that are prime examples of rhymes of history.  These forms of technology help bring back memories and ideas from the past.  Technologies being developed that are considered rhymes of history bring back memories and ideas from the past.  “The development of a new technology will impact or rekindle something from the distant past.  The affect of this new technology is enkindled.  The rhymes of history force will always meet a deep human need with a new technology” (Laureate Education, 2009c).  Cameras and other forms of recording technology have had a major impact on history.  Cameras are an excellent example of technology that rhymes of history.  The camera has a long and interesting path spanning from 1837 all the way to the digital cameras of 2014.  (http://www.technewsdaily.com/390-digital-camera-history-the-evolution-of-the-camera.html­)  The camera rekindles the idea of seeing things through your eyes and the power of observation.  The human eye has a limited field of vision, where only certain objects can be seen.  The camera has a similar field of vision leading up to modern times where new cameras have been developed that have a wider field of vision.  One of the main functions of the camera is to record everything that the camera sees.  The earliest forms of the camera dating back before time could not record data just have a form of vision.  The idea that cameras rekindle from the past is people’s desire to record history and significant events from the past.  Travelling back in time to ancient civilizations people recorded images and people by observing them visually and then drawing or painting the likeness on a wall or building.  The Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians would record history, events, and people by observing their likeness and then painting them on the walls, buildings, and art of the time period.  Arts during the French Revolution and the Renaissance Era would have models pose for them and then paint their pictures using paintings and drawings.  People were observing visuals and then recording and creating their images through drawing and paintings.  Cameras visually observe what is in front of them and then record an image or event for the person taking the picture.     

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009c). Thornburg, D. Rhymes of history.  [Video webcast]. Baltimore. MD

Video Conferencing Tetrad

        

Video conferencing provides users with the opportunity to talk to someone else face to face in any other part of the world.  It provides the user with the feeling that the person they are talking to is in the room with them.  This technology provides the users with the opportunity to communicate with each other and look the other person in the eye.  It provides users with an inexpensive opportunity for its users to see and communicate with each other without draining their pockets of their hard earned money.  Video technology can also be beneficial to family members who have loved ones serving in the armed forces.  Through the use of video conferencing allows these families to communicate with each other and see each other all of the time.  It helps to see the person as well as hearing their voice when you are talking to them.  Video conferencing replaces letters, e-mails, recordings, landline telephones, and instant messaging services.  They do not require calling plans or charge you long distance rates for talking to people.  Long distance calls, letters, and e-mail will be replaced because the technology allows people to talk face to face.  This technology takes away the need for phones or any form of written communication.  Video conferencing allows people to face each other and talk as if they were sitting in the same room together.  It eliminates the need for any form of voice or written communication between people in different parts of the world.  Everything can be done electronically through the use of microphones and cameras.  This technology retrieves the old phone conferencing and group calling tools.  It also replaces group messaging and e-mail messaging tools that people can use to communicate.  This technology also replaces VHS video recordings that people would record and send to one another.  Video conferencing technology will be replaced by a more advanced form of communication technology.  This new technology will make it possible for people to visually communicate with each other from their phones, tvs, watches and other forms of technology.  I also think advanced forms of travel will make this technology for communication no longer necessary.  The technology will become more advanced and new devices will make this technology obsolete.         

Current Technology that Shapes Education

Current Technology that Shapes Education

“The constantly changing landscape of educational technology can be thought of as a series of transitions from older tools to newer ones – although some of the newer tools had their genesis years ago and are just now coming into mainstream awareness” (Thornburg, 2009).  Innovations in technology are constantly shaping today’s modern society.  Some of these technologies are so advanced that they are quickly changing our everyday lives by revolutionizing the way we are used to doing things.  These technologies help shape our society on a daily basis, but also create many problems that require immediate attention.  It seems like every school year there is a new form of technology that is changing and outdating older forms of technology in the educational world.  Document camera and Promethean boards are becoming more and more popular across the country.  They have been extremely popular in schools with teachers using them as instructional aides in the classroom. 

Despite their success in my school and in other schools there are also many challenges and problems associated with document cameras and Promethean boards.  One of the first issues is that they are expensive and not easily available to schools that need them.  Our school had to use Title 1 money in order to purchase them for some of the teachers.  “One of the benefits of using free software when possible, is that it frees up scarce money to purchase those educational titles for which there are only proprietary solutions” (Thornburg, 2009).  Another issue is the functional problems that the Promethean boards sometimes have because they are always crashing or switching off.  Many times the boards are shipped out to the schools and are missing pieces or parts that should have been included with the board, but were left out of the package by mistake.  There are also instances where the board will shut off automatically without being prompted too.  However, in this case the pros outweigh the cons and the Promethean board would be beneficial for any classroom.

     

Promethean boards and document cameras can also be extremely beneficial to any classroom across all content areas.  Studies have proven that Promethean boards and document cameras can be the most beneficial in ELA, ELL, Mathematics, and Foreign Languages.  Elementary school teachers can use them in their literacy lessons and help students how to learn to read.  ELA and ELL classes can use the boards for constant repetition and vocabulary practice.  Promethean boards provide students with hands on experiences and personally involve them in the learning process.  They can display almost any type of learning technology and provide students with the ability to psychically get out of their seats and participate in the lesson. 

One of the best ways to improve this technology is to make it more available to teachers in need.  The more teachers that are given access to this technology the better the results will be based on human response.  The manufacturers can ask and receive input from the teachers on what the issues and bugs are as well as what needs to be replaced.  Then the companies can make the necessary repairs and adjustments on the new products to avoid further issues.  Most of the issues with the board are fixable issues that can be resolved when a new version of the technology is released. 

Links

http://www.techlearning.com/from-the-classroom/0015/the-document-camera-advancing-classroom-visual-technology/45399

http://www.njea.org/news-and-publications/njea-review/december-2011/document-cameras-in-the-classroom

References:

Thornburg, D. D. (2009a). Current trends in educational technology. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.