Summary of a Blog

Social Change has been the topic of our blog during this term. We have discussed new technologies such as robots and flying cars. We have discussed legal issues such as copyright laws and codes of conduct for the internet.
The main idea we have tried to present was how every aspect of society and our lives has been affected and will continue to be affected by the technology changes that are occuring constantly.
Our jobs, health, recreations, education and families are all being changed by technology. Some changes have definitely been good, such as the open and abundance of information being made available. The same technologies that make this information available, also can be abused such as copyright violations. The abuse does not make the technology bad as some would have you believe, the abuser is the one who needs to be addressed, and will eventually as newer technologies fix the loopholes opened by the original technology.
New technology will have both good and bad features for society and society will continue to demand new technolgies. It is an eternal spiral.
Social change is the issue of many blogs. One of the more ineresting ones I have read is http://blogs.oneindia.in/showblog.php?blogid=10147&catid=46&action=2
You might like to check it out.

My Technology Equation

Personal Computers + Internet + World Wide Web + People = Infinite opportunities for social outlets, connections, dangers, and living in fantasy worlds…
I began thinking about this heavily over the weekend because I have a friend that met someone over the internet and how not more than a decade ago, this would have been impossible. Add Avatar to the equation and one truly can become anything imaginable. Add mental illness and your life may be in danger if you trust the wrong people. Throw children into the mix and hope that you can block, as well as protect them from as much harm as possible. I asked my colleague what he thought about technologies impact on socialization and here is what he had to say:

“Through the smoke and bustle of a crowded bar, a pair of eyes lock. And so begins a chain of behaviors that has evolved over thousands of years. There are an infinite number of potential outcomes to the chain. Some chains are short, some chains light. Some chains inflict pain, and other lead nowhere. Nevertheless, sometimes, the chain ends in a lock.
Or that’s how it was.
Now, the process might begin, proceed and end, not like a chain, but like a spider’s web. Sometimes, the spider weaves a veil worn to live out a secrets or fantasies. Sometimes the web hides a deeper danger than even a poisonous spider. And, while it is not as strong as a chain, sometimes the web binds two blossoming flowers. The spider has entered new territory and sees no boundaries.
Web based social networking, in all of its forms, has both positive and negative potential. Like all things, when done in moderation, it is can be useful. But, whether it is viewed as a positive or negative, it must be seen as a real change from the traditional way things are done.
It has taken what was once the most physical of experiences and removed the physical boundaries (or at least delayed them). For instance, your social network is no longer bound by space and time. You may chat with a teenage girl from some province in Mongolia or by way of simulations programs; you could just as easily chat with her great ancestor Genghis Khan. Reality/Veracity need not play a factor in the relationships you build. While this may not be different from the physical world, it is much easier in the ether of the internet.
I would be glad to write more on the subject but someone is messaging me.”

And so here is yet another example of how technology has effected our social behaviors...Down time at work + class assignments + internet access = fun, wasted man hours, possible unemployment, and many other unknowns...

Assistive Technology Expands Horizons

Since the early 1950's persons with disabilities have gained community integration through civil rights movements with the most notable being the American Disabilities Act (ADA). In addition to great strides toward social acceptance of such individuals, assistive technology has significantly increased their opportunities toward quality of life and "normalization." Imagine the power given to someone that has been nonverbal their entire life who is afforded a voice, a means of communicating their needs, through the use of a technological device that speaks for them when prompted by pushing buttons or in the instance of Christopher Reeve, blowing through a tube!

An article posted on http://www.futureofchildren.org/usrdoc/vol10no2Art5.pdf discusses the dramatic impact that assistive technology and adaptive equipment has on educational opportunities for children with special needs (emotional, speech or language impairments, specific learning disabilities, etc.). Technology has made it possible for these children to learn in the classroom alongside traditional students. The most shocking detail, in my opinion, from this report is that approximately 1 out of 6 students in 2000 could not fully participate in classroom activities due to their disability. The Centers for Disease Control recently announced that, “the number of children living with autism is even higher than previously thought. According to the latest and most comprehensive study, as many as one in 150 children in the United States have an autism spectrum disorder.” (www.BarberInstitute.org)

Technology has not only “flattened the world,” it has also made what was once deemed impossible for many a dream come true!