The Social Construction of Technology Discussion

Questions about Technology

Consider the following when you're reading (or in class):

• How would I define my/our culture?

• What constitutes cultural norms, values, ideologies?

• Is there any validity to the term "conventional wisdom"?

• What do the products I use say about the person I am in regard to my social place?

• What makes the Internet uniquely...
  American...
  Western...
  Global...
  Capitalist...
  Individualistic?

• What do nuclear weapons say about society?

As I said before, we must understand the impact science and technology has on our world. But to do that, we have to understand the social and cultural values that created sciences and technologies.

Envisioning 21st Century Work

Have you ever thought about telecommuting and virtual teams? What about Instant Messaging as a collaboration tool? I have funny story about that.

Have any of you thought about the ways in which you'll communicate in the future? How do you think collaboration will happen (and will it)? What's the importance of collaboration and good communication in science, technology, and industry.

Interface Design and Imagination in Technical Communication

According to several journal responses I've gotten over the years, there appears to be no place for imagination in technical communication. Apparently, facts are facts and they're unambiguous. Unfortunately, facts aren't just given; they're constructed and interpreted. One's perception or a group's adherence to "truth" (often called myth) can cause a person to misinterpret facts or misinterpret what is a fact.

Interfaces are perfect examples of hi-tech screw ups that rely on a user's mental model (an individual thought process or ways of viewing the world around him or her). A growing concern in design these days deals with usability. Instead of having the tech experts decide what goes into an interface, the firm brings in users to test products or documentation for products to determine if the interface or documents are effective. In other words, can users get from Point A to Point B without issue?

But then there are interfaces that lie.

Your Turn on Technology

For the next 10-15 minutes in groups of three or fewer, decide on a technology to contemplate and consider the rhetoric of that technology*. Discuss the following with the group:

(*Please avoid discussing mobile phones as your technology since we've talked about them already--branch out.)

• What are the social implications of its design or use? Is it gendered?

• Is it systemic (meaning, a product of the ever-present "system" aka the man, the culture, ideologies)?

• What does your technology say about the culture that created it?

Make a webpage that you then link to from your index.html page. Only one group member needs to host this, but each group member should have a link to this page from his or her index.html page. Time permitting, we'll talk about these in a larger class discussion.

Time permitting, we may go over a brief introduction of rhetoric.