Audiovisual Internet

While browsing for some new topics I ran into quite a few articles about the internet.  One of those that really caught my eye was concerning Dreamworks, and their idea of animating the internet.   Now, when I first read about that, I thought, how on earth are they going to manage that? It seems like such a grand scaled idea, one that would take a major remodeling of the way we use the internet.

It may be that my thoughts were too complicated, which often happens, or that they were... no, I'm just going to go with they were too complicated.  The plan that Dreamworks has, at least how they explained it, seemed very simple, or on a smaller scale than I had imagined.  The fact that text makes things like this blog, email, and other communications so simple and easy will make them very hard to replace.  Dreamworks says that they have their sights set more on social media than a complete reworking of the internet as we know it.  Focusing on making given graphics better, and possibly enhancing the way Youtube works are some theories as to what this technology will be used for.

As a kinesthetic learner, I fully support audiovisual learning and interactions, especially since I'm pretty sure there will never be a day when I can physically handle all of the aspects of the internet.  Given that this project, though  fairly far along, is still in the testing stages, I am very curious to see how it turns out, and what effect it will have on our everyday lives.  Will everything become video?  Will online-shopping become more interactive?  Is this the first step towards the holographic communications we see in and movies such as Star Wars?  Personally, I think that would be kind of awesome, but we'll see where we go from here.

Activism and the Internet

Recently there have been a lot of political upheaval, riots, demonstrations and the like all over the world.  Some of these events are still attracting followers, people who have hear about the even online or from friends.  As this brief article points out, being so connected on the web has allowed us to communicate in ways we never would have dreamed of before.

The internet is putting more power into the hands of the people, but in a very unique way.  People are able to communicate faster, come together quicker, and start movements like no one has seen.  However, and correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't heard about a single real-world problem that effects hundreds or thousands of people being solved on the internet.

People no longer have to really stand up for a cause to support it.  If they hear about something that they like or agree with they can just tweet about it, or post something on Facebook, and that will spread the word.  This access makes it a lot easier or the general population to get the ball rolling about an issue, but it hasn't seemed to make any difference in bringing these issues to a close.  This being said, I'm wondering if it is such an improvement to be able to be so involved in activism through a virtual world, ie. the internet.

Must Everything Be a Touch Screen?

Research is being done to make any surface a touch screen.  This is a big advancement in technology today, seeing that so much of current technology is dependent on the touch screen.  Being able to make any surface one that can be used for the communication that comes with touch screen technology would greatly increase the amount of virtual contact that we can have with one another.

While I personally don't see why it would be an improvement to be able to make my shirt a touch screen, I do recognize that this technology would release us from the limits of a physical, stationary type of screen.  We can make the world around us can be digital like we have never imagined, and all it takes is a couple of wires.  That is, it takes a couple of wires at this point.  The research teams are working on making this technology small enough to fit in a chip.  This technology is in the beginning stages, or at least, this application for the technology is in its beginning stages.

Instant Gratification vs Education

Today's society, at least in the United States, is based on instant gratification.  Everything we search for, we expect to be right at our finger tips.  Spending an extended amount of time on one project or problem, or an extended process is considered to be a waste of time and energy.

How then does education fit into this picture?  Getting a good education is a process, and a lengthy one at that.

Given those qualifications, one would think that we would have found a substitute for it, one that takes less time and is therefore more efficient.  However, because there is no instant education, I think the lesson in that is that not everything must be instantaneous.  Sometimes the variable that determines whether something is of quality or not is time.  Being quite familiar with procrastination, I can speak towards this as being true.  The quality of the work I do is much better when I start early and take my time.  Most people will say the same thing. Some, of course, will argue the opposite, saying that they work better under pressure.  Being the child of two teacher, believe me, it is obvious when an assignment has been saved for the last minute versus one that has been worked on and edited and then edited again.  The difference shows in the quality.

Education is a similar situation.  It is simply not possible to learn everything that you need to know in one go.  Learning takes practice.  Yes it is possible to know how to do something without really knowing it.  Being able to apply the things that you have learned is what is going to matter in the long run.  Living in a society where education is one of the few things that does not come instantly brings up the question of the quality of our education.  People aren't willing to spend the time, and therefore are not able to go as in depth as a good education requires.

When looking at education in America in particular, I believe that part of our problem is the instant gratification around us.  We expect to be taught something once and then fully understand and be able to apply it, and that is not the case.  Learning and having knowledge, or wisdom even, is a process, and is one that requires trial and error before mastery can be accomplished.

Computers in Schools

I just want to start this by saying that I have thought the use of technology, particularly technology with screens, in school has been part of the reason that we are finding education in the United States to be going down hill.

Let me clarify.  I do not think that computers are a bad thing, that they should be done away with.  But I do believe the idea that a program on a computer can teach a child to read or write better than a human teacher there in the room with them is crazy.  It appears that I am not the only one to think this way.  In fact some of the world's top computer scientists send their children to a school without computers.  This is the Waldorf School, located in, yes, Silicon Valley, the home of some of the greatest computing advancements of all time.  Alan Eagle, who works in executive communications at Google, is quoted at saying, "If I worked at Miramax and made good, artsy, rated R movies, I wouldn't want my kids to see them until they were 17."  He says this to make the point that everything has a time and a place, computing technology included.  I am inclined to agree with him.  School systems are trying to integrate computers earlier and earlier in education and I really don't think they are seeing the results that they were hoping for.

Technology is a wonderful thing and should be taken advantage of, it should not be used as a crutch, which is what we are making it by creating a dependence on it among rising students in the United States.  Call me old fashioned, but I believe a key step in getting US education back on track is to take computers out of early education.  They are not really needed, and mold kids with shorter attention spans and less cognitive thinking skills.

I have experience the difference that this makes first hand.  This past summer I was working running some camps in Alabama and in North Carolina.  Though the kids in Alabama come from a very poor area and have not had the opportunities that many of the kids in North Carolina have had, they were much better to have at camp.  I was talking about this with another staff member (who happens to be graduating with a degree in education this year) and we decided that the fact that these kids were not able to play video games all the time and did not need constant input as a result were what made the difference.  The kids in Alabama we could give a basketball and they would be happy to play all afternoon (not that we did that, since it was a camp to work on sports skills and not a babysitting service), but the kids in North Carolina had significantly shorter attention spans.  As soon as they completed an activity, whether they were good at it or not, they were ready to move on to the next thing.  Which meant many a late night searching for filler games for the next day.

Having this experience only solidified my thoughts about computers and similar technology being used in school.  Especially those for early education.

"A Master of One's Own Stuff"

Recently one of my assignments was to read "Shop Class as Soul Craft".  While reading this book I realized just how much we as a society are dependent upon our technology and yet we don't fully understand most of the technology that we use.  In fact, I would say that we very rarely understand the technology that we take for granted.

My printer has been refusing to pick up paper recently and I was getting very frustrated with it.  I had tried everything that the printer's software said to do.  I probably cleaned that machine four times.  Finally I gave up and turned the thing around to open it up and try to figure out what it is that was wrong with my printer.  This makes it sound like a great adventure, which I guess in away it was, even though there wasn't anything seriously wrong with printer.

This experience just kind of struck home with what we have been reading, because I was worried that if I got into the printer then I wouldn't be able to fix it, or if I had to take it very much apart I wouldn't be able o put it back together.

Taking this from Matthew Crawford, the author of "Shop Class as Soul Craft" I have found that I agree with his idea that everyone should learn a trade.  As I say that, I must clarify that I am not a master of any trade myself, I am simply advocating that it is a good idea to have a skill in a field that deals with the concrete rather than the abstract.

Are we so dependent on oil?

Renmatix is a company that has recognized, like many of us, that our dependence on oil is not good for us economically, nor is it good for the environment.  In order to try and fix this, they are opening a research center in Pennsylvania to complete the development of a process they have found that turns agricultural waste into fuel for automobile fuel and other useful chemicals.

This process breaks down the chemicals in the waste, some of these chemicals are useful in the development of fuels such as cellulose.  To extract these chemicals Renmatix is simply using water at extremely high pressures and temperatures.  This process does the equivalent of the work that some microorganisms are capable of in converting the waste into ethanol.  This process is much more sound economically than using corn to produce ethanol because it prevents having to reallocate supplies from the production of food.

If this process is proven to be more effective and more efficient than producing gasoline or other forms of fuel then it would greatly decrease the amount of harmful chemicals released in the air and will put to good use some of the waste that currently has no other use.