Increase on Return and Red Queen

Module 5: This week’s Blog focuses on Increased on Return and Red Queen

This part of the Six Driving Forces that changes technology, Dr. Thornburg (2008c) addresses the phenomenon on what drives one technology above the others.  He mentions two forces 1) Increase on Return and 2) Red Queen that appears to be working collaboratively in making one technology supersede another.  For example, when deciding on how to watch a movie, I automatically turn to conventional DVD rentals from my local movie rental store.  Although I am aware of the convenience of streaming videos, a much stronger force called “habit” controls my behavior and convinces me to continue purchasing videos from rental stores.  With that said, I also prefer watching movies on 50 inch plasma screens versus 17 inch PC monitors.

Regardless of convenience, the driving force behind my decision to rent movies from a store is based on familiarity, habit, and personal preference.   It is these personal views that “Increases Returns” on some technology products causing them to become “Red Queen” over other known quality technology goods.  Red Queen and Increase on Return driving forces are parallel to each in impacting technological change in society.  While Increase on Return pushes one technology above all others, Red Queen allows all other technologies to maintain some popularity within the market place (Laureate, 2009).

On the other hand, McLuhan’s Tetrad on technologies sees video-on-demand as emerging while DVDs are fading out.  The emerging technology theory goes even further to explain that video-on-demand brings back the old dilemma about having enough data storage space on our PC.  Furthermore, the emergent video-on-demand rekindles the market on low-cost videos versus box-office price movies.   

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology: Increasing Returns [Video]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology: Red Queens [Video]. Baltimore, MD: Author    

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

Module 4 Disruptive Technology - Second Life

Disruptive 
A force to be reckoned with in a world that is technology driven is Disruptive Technology. It is a force that re-invents the wheel by literally changing our ideology and understanding of how technology works. Again, I like Christensen’s (2002) concept of Disruptive Technology in that even though current technology failed the unexpected technology that emerged changed the way we think about technology. Disruptive Technology is the driving force behind innovation, creativity, and “out of the box” concept. Dr. Thornburg (2009) calls it a “wild card” (podcast) that expectantly changes the way technology is used in meeting social desire and needs.

Philip Rosedale (2011) explained how his invention of Second Life was affected by Disruptive Technology phenomenon in his video Philip Rosedale on Second Life. Interestingly, Second Life had the capability of talking face-to-face with other avatars that Rosedale (2011) thought would catch on with Second Life residents but actually “flopped”. On the contrary, Rosedale (2011) did not expect his Second Life residents to latch on to was the concept of purchasing land and creating one’s own utopia.

In as much as Second Life was disruptive by unexpected forces, Second Life itself is a disruptive technology. Rosedale’s (2011) creation gave Star Trek or science fiction fans a venue to explore, investigate, and discover a new world that “no man have set feet on “ – literally humans have not set feet onto the grounds of Second Life just 3-D animated human like characters call Avatars. In essences, Second Life may have set up its own demise within the next 5 years. Residents will want more capabilities and functionality in the virtual world like replacing traditional classroom labs or demonstrations with virtual crime labs or tutoring services. Besides expanding learning in the virtual world, Second Life allows us to hone in on our abilities and work on social interaction with others around. The technology in Second Life offers virtual field trips to places we would otherwise never go, can’t afford to go, or too sick to attend.

References

Christensen, C. (2002). The innovation economy: How technology is transforming existing industries and creating new ones [Video]. Retrieved from http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/108.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology: Science Fiction. [Video].Baltimore, MD: Author.

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

Rhyme of History

Six Forces That Drive Emerging Technologies

Thornburg (2008a)

Module 3: This week’s Blog focuses on Rhyme of History

·       Rhyme Of History – Current technology is a product of past technology that was once regarded new and innovative. The affect or impact of new development rekindles the old technology. It is how technology is being used that rekindles technology (Thornburg, 2009).  The new technology is a repeat of past technology that still meeting the needs of humans.   With that said, a technology that reminds us of the Blackboard is the innovative Smart Board. The white Smart Board provides to its audience the ability to interact with objects on screen thus enhancing student learning.  However, it is the ability to write on the board that flash back to an era when the Blackboard was regarded innovative simply because teachers were able to share information to a group of student versus one student at a time. Thus the Smart Board is the Rhyme of history of the slated Blackboard. New technology came about by need. New technology came about by chance.  New technology is recognized as an impact to society many years after its inventor created it.

          References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

O’Connor, N. (2010). Bye Bye Blackboard. Shaker Life [Web Article]. Retrieved from

http://www.software-answers.com/News/News%20Documents/ShakerLife%20Magazine-Aug%202010-Bye%20Bye%20Blackboard.pdf

Thornburg, D. (2008a). An amazingly incomplete emerging technologies bibliography. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

 

Module 3: This week’s Blog focuses on Rhyme of History

·       Rhyme Of History – Current technology is a product of past technology that was once regarded new and innovative. The affect or impact of new development rekindles the old technology. It is how technology is being used that rekindles technology (Thornburg, 2009).  The new technology is a repeat of past technology that still meeting the needs of humans.   With that said, a technology that reminds us of the Blackboard is the innovative Smart Board. The white Smart Board provides to its audience the ability to interact with objects on screen thus enhancing student learning.  However, it is the ability to write on the board that flash back to an era when the Blackboard was regarded innovative simply because teachers were able to share information to a group of student versus one student at a time. Thus the Smart Board is the Rhyme of history of the slated Blackboard. New technology came about by need. New technology came about by chance.  New technology is recognized as an impact to society many years after its inventor created it.

          References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

O’Connor, N. (2010). Bye Bye Blackboard. Shaker Life [Web Article]. Retrieved from

http://www.software-answers.com/News/News%20Documents/ShakerLife%20Magazine-Aug%202010-Bye%20Bye%20Blackboard.pdf

Thornburg, D. (2008a). An amazingly incomplete emerging technologies bibliography. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Second Life is a virtual 3-D social network that offers more than socialization. My approach to this emergent technology is to view it as robust educational tool.  This can be view as an extension to our current learning management system that presents educational curriculum in html platform.

Education in Second Life is an experience like to no other.  Second Life is robust with advance technology that simulate classrooms, labs, landscapes, and buildings cast in 3-D imaging gives the effect of a real world environment. The mirror image of the real world in Second Life enables participants or residents to immerse themselves in their surroundings. Kevin Harvey, who is assistant director for The Center for the Advancement of Distance Education at the University of Illinois in Chicago, commented (as cited in Girard, 2007) that Second Life is real to the human mind as evidence by electrical neurons eliciting all of our senses and emotions just like real world experience (para 9).  In essence, residents in Second Life share similar experience as their human counterparts but are able to participate in events, training, and learning without limitation like costs, mileage, and time.  The benefits of the educational learning environment in Second Life are the active engagement and collaboration in both synchronous and asynchronous time.  For example, residents in history class can fly to the great pyramids of Egypt to explore in-depth the inner cavities and visually capture the surrounding landscape of the desert from the top of the pyramid.  Better yet, residents can dive to the depth of the ocean to discover a whole new world of sea life, which would not be obtainable in a regular online class or traditional classroom environment (Linden Lab, 2011).

References

Girard, N. (2007). The E-Learning Adventure. [Web Article]. TechNewsWorld. Retrieved from http://www.technewsworld.com/story/59988.html

Linden Lab. (2011). Second Life Education: The Virtual Learning Advantage. Linden Research Inc. Retrieved from http://lecs-static-secondlife-com.s3.amazonaws.com/work/SL-Edu-Brochure-010411.pdf

Virtual Technology

Group discussion will focus on the emergent technology "Second Life".
View Second Life webpage at http://secondlife.com/whatis/index.php?sourceid=0912-wisl-affiliate&siteID=UO85MF6im_8-2LqasQmKHdWdA1n2w.OC5w
 
or watch the introduction video below.

VISIONS 2020: Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies

I am currently reading the research work by these great technology authors like Professors Chris Dede (Harvard Graduate School of Education) and Randy Pausch (Carnegie-Mellon University - Alice Software developer) and famous names like Bill Gates (Microsoft founder) on the future of education and technology.  The link below will introduce you to the future of educational technology. The readings are scenario based story-telling that captivates your imagination and stimulate ideas - enjoy.

The following reference was retrieved from the USDLA (United States Distance Learning Association) website (I just joined as a member at student rate $30.)

U.S. Department of Commerce, VISIONS 2020: Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies, Washington, D.C., 2002. Retrieved from http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS34165

No Boundaries - Futurist Technology

Identifying a specific technology that astounds us all beyond our belief is challenging as trends for the last decade has been nothing but innovative technology. The most prevalent change in technology that has offered positive social change is the phone system. Advanced technology has enable society to communicate freely beyond the confinements of our office and home.The phone system is one such technology that emerged at the turn of the century as an innovative tool.This advance and robust technology gave us the freedom to communicate miles away without having to leave our homes. Society  was captivated by the phones’ capability of transmitting sound over analogue data. Fast forward to the 21^st century and phones have become a multifaceted device enabling people to multitask.  What does this all mean to us as a society? Simple, advance technology allows us to be efficient and effective at work, at school, at home, and even on vacation (so we think).

The flip side to of being able to Skype, podcast, e-mail, attach documents, and receive data all on an application phone is information overload. Besides having to remember so many numbers and characters, we are expected to respond immediately to messages and have reports readily available within hours.  Communication is quickly filling up our "life meter” as our activity of daily living involves use of “apps” to complete tasks.  


What once met our social need to communicate rapidly has now bombarded us with too much information.  Society has set the bar at “high-altitude” (where dizziness is frequent due to lack of oxygen) expecting results immediately and quick fixes to long-term problems through voice mail and texting.  On the contrary, the benefits of advance phone technology is its ability to guide us to our destination via built in GPS system, quick rescue response, purchasing power i.e. shopping and listen to lecture captured classrooms. More so, thanks to wireless connection we can entertained  ourselves with video podcasts and games. App phones can be improved by technology that learns our behavior through usage and provide information that matches our needs, likes, and personality.    

Lynda Marshall
June 14, 2011
edited June 16, 2010