Bush’s Views on Technology

After reading the article “As We May Think” by Vannevar Bush dated 1945, I felt like he was truly predicting the technology to come. I decided to write this after I went to class because I was unclear about a lot of his ideas. I wanted to hear other people’s input and combined with my own ideas, write a blog.

I liked how Bush talked about the advancements of a camera. At times, I felt like he was talking about a polaroid camera and the future of a digital camera (Bush, 2-3). Although Bush did not have the vocabulary to put a name to these future advances, he definitely knew what he was talking about.

After reading the article, “Strategies for Reading Critically” by Axelrod and Cooper, I tried to use the annotating strategies to read Bush’s article as well as Tim Berners-Lee article, “The World Wide Web”. I felt like it actually helped me to understand the article more. Probably because it forced me to really read, think, and question what I was reading.

When I was reading the article about the “World Wide Web” did anyone else feel like it was a ton of jargon? I had so much trouble getting through the acronyms, which weren’t explained by the way, just to get the gist. Luckily, I have lived with the W3 and the internet for some time so I understand it without understanding the jargon.

Overall, I thought it was amazing to see how the technology has changed from 1945 to 1993 to 2007. And it is only going to continue to change. God only knows what is next to come.

~Meg

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Go Rutgers

I don’t know how everyone feels about sports or atleast college football but New Jersey was represented well last night.  Rutgers played number 2 ranked USF last night.  Rutgers played the upset role and ruined USF season in one game by a three point margin.   For what now is considered a dissapointing season for the Scarlet Knights they battled in a game where they needed to make a statement in the conference and the country.  Go Rutgers!! NJ PRIDE

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Technology…

In the article “As We May Think”  by Bush includes all the technologies of the time based towards warfare.  In this article he evaluates many different technologies used and being created.  The technologies he discusses are more common in our worlds today.  When he wrote this passage many of these leading ideas were just ideas.  The forsight to understand where technology was going is amazing.

Early in the passage Bush talks about science in relation to communication.  With technology our communication and understanding of communication processes are ever changing.  To adapt from morse code to a extensive language used in typing for computers and text messages sent in the blink of an eye.

The technology used is all based upon human development.  In this article Bush speaks about the human brain working through association.  He later goes on to say that man cannot duplicate the mental process artificially.  This is one part of his insight he might have never imagined.  In less than twenty years we will have those capabilites at our finger tips.  A computer that is actually smarter than us.

Technology is the future and will continue to develop as time moves on.  With the invention of more technology other technology is easily updated and changed.  New electronics are only new for about 8 to 10 months then something else trumps it.

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Critical Reading And As We May Think

Hey Guys,

Yesterday I issued a challenge to our group about our strategies for reading critically. I re-read “As We May Think” – this time making annotations on the pages as I was reading it. What this allowed me to do was to be more reflective on my own thought processes.

When I read this piece for the first time, I highlighted certain text that had a strong impact on me. There were perhaps five or six different passages that had this effect, but going back and making further annotations allowed me to be more critical of my own evaluations of this important reading. As I said earlier, we already do many of these critical reading strategies in our minds, but putting these strategies down on paper allows us to be more critical of our own evaluations of these readings.

I’ll bring the text of “As We May Think” with the annotations I made to class. Maybe it would be helpful for us to examine the strategies that we use to critically read these complex readings. If in the process we can help each other improve our critical reading skills that would be great.

Bye for now, Steven

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Foreseen Advancements

After reading “As We May Think” by Vannewar Bush I am astounded with this scientist’s  insight towards the future and technology.  At the time he wrote this article, technology was just beginning but no where near the magnitude we’ve reached today.  When I sit and try to look towards the future and how technology will advance, I can only build on what already exist now.  Yet Vannevar predicted advancements that were not even in our view much less our thoughts. For example, he discussed a machine he named “the memex” and the capacity he sees this machine possibly containing  He goes on to say “….is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records [CD’s], and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility.”  This machine he calls the “memex” is now our everyday computer.  Many of the advancements Vannewar discusses for instance photographs and how the “camera bound for the future” will have a walnut that will store the photocell and hundreds of photos.  This is now our digital camera. 

Vannewar had a gift of looking towards the future and envisioning the possibilities.  Many of these advancements he envisioned not only exist today but are the very fabric of our environment.   I only hope he lived long enough to see them become reality.

The other article “The World-Wide Web” was an expository on the internet.  If you are someone who wants to learn about the internet and its many features, this article is for you.  It went into great length about hypertext the advantages of having many different windows opened when researching a topic.    It also discussed the W3 and all of its many distinctions.  I think at the time this article was written, it provided useful information to individuals seeking some understanding with the World Wide Web and many of the features it provides.

Cheers

Lucinda

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consfused?

Im just a bit confused…I posted a post and it telling me that it was at 2:55 am on October 19. It is the 18th and it is only 11 pm. Just putting the heads up out there

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Anyone ever waitress?

Hey guys,

This has nothing to do with the readings, but I was wondering.. does anyone have any tips for waitressing at a wedding? I just got a 2nd job for a catering place and I start Saturday at 2pm. I am super nervous because I have never done any waitressing before. I also believe this is a sit down dinner which to my understanding is harder than a buffet.

So….. Any tips? (no pun intended)

~Meg

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Strategies for Reading Critically

I thought I would put a challenge out first this time and ask my fellow blogmates what type of annotating they are doing in their readings. For me – up until now – the only annotating I did was highlighting or underlining text.

That isn’t to say that I wasn’t summarizing, evaluating, questioning, challenging, judging, looking for patterns, synthesizing, contextualizing, etc., but this was all going on in my brain. Perhaps that is part of the problem about reading some of these assignments that we have been given. On the first paragraph of “Strategies for Reading Critically” they say that when we read a text critically we need to alternate between understanding and questioning. For me this is the key phrase because when I am reading very difficult text, my mind is trying to prioritize between understanding the text and questions that the text raises.

For me, if I am going to be successful in this major – and in my future career – I am going to have to break some old habits and begin to annotating what I read. I will attempt this new skill on Vannevar Bush’s “As We may Think.” I read it earlier, and although it’s easier to read than last sessions reading assignments, I think that it’s one of those pieces that really deserves a critical reading.

Well, let me know what you think. We are part of a learning ecology – and I think we can learn a lot from each other – more than we might possibly think. Comments, ideas, and suggestions are also welcome from outside our group as well. It’s a small world and you never know who can help you.

Thanks, Steven

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