Hi Everyone -

I just wanted to take a few moments to thank all of you for a great learning experience! I will never be able to look at a robot again without thinking of all of you!  :-p  A special thank-you to Maha and Louise for treating us to such a feast!  I'm going to miss you, and I hope that our paths will cross again soon.  Wishing you all a happy holiday season! 


Theresa

Rehabilitation and Games
As some of you know, in my 'other' life (when I am not a student), I am an occupational therapist.  It has been awhile since I have worked clinically as most of my practice these days is centred around teaching the next generation of therapists! :-)  However, I do try to stay up to date with what is going on in terms of effective assessment and treatment for some of the types of patients/clients that I used to work with. 

When we have our discussions about whether technology is 'good' or 'bad' (I don't mean to over-simplify), I often find myself trying to think from the perspective of someone with a disability, or as a therapist trying to help that person recover, live, and function independently. Technology has so much to offer in these situations, yet at the same time it can also create a 'dependence' on the device(s), that may well defeat the very independence that is the goal.  

I wanted to start first by sharing some videos of the use of 'games' for treatment.  The first one gives a brief overview of how the Wii can be used to help engage patients in therapy:

 

If that short clip piqued your interest, you might also be interested in this clip about individuals who have had a stroke: 

 

The study they refer to is published in the journal Stroke (from the American Stroke Association) and was conducted at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.  Here is a link to the "official"abstract:

Video Games Good for stroke patients

And here is a link to the article in the Toronto Sun that explains it in lay terms:

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/04/07/17915391.html

There are lots of examples of games and other assistive technologies being used in rehabilitation.  I've been struggling with whether I should make this the topic of my presentation, but I don't want to bore you with too much information or 'therapy-talk'!! If you'd like to know more, then let me know and I'll post some additional information.  :-)

QR codes

I was inspired by Steph's November 6th blog to try to create my own QR code.  So here it is:

I hope it works!  Thanks Steph for the great tip.....although I wonder if I'm just getting caught-up in technique?  :-)

Audio Recording on Sunday morning

I'm going to try this again since Louise was having trouble with the first recording. Hopefully it will work this time!  It should be linking to the SoundCloud website, and then you will need to click on the play button to activate the track.

Audio Recording on Sunday morning

Audio Recording on Friday afternoon

Well there is nothing like a snowy Friday afternoon to learn something new! :-)

Here is my very first sound file post.  I hope it works! Click on the text....
Audio Recording on Friday afternoon

Long time no see...

I found this old digital drawing my daughter completed about 9 years ago.  I think it was one of the first times she had used the Paint program.  As we struggle with whether technology is 'good' for kids, it's nice to remember that they find ways to express themselves no matter what the medium. 

Anyway, I'm sending you this digital smile because we didn't get to see each other this week, and it seems like a long time since we've been together.  Have a great weekend. 

Back to Marshall McLuhan...

A friend of mine posted this video on her blog. Although it is centred around the messages women and girls receive from the media, there are lots of underlying references to McLuhan and the powerful men who control the media...
Warning - some of the language and pictures are explicit.
 
If any of you have the Oprah Winfrey Network network you can watch the full documentary on November 12, 2011.

Re-cycling E-waste 

I just can't get the images from the 60 minutes video out of my head. And I can't stop feeling guilty about all the 'e-stuff' that is piled-up in my husband's "man cave".  What are we going to do with it all?  He and I tend to have opposite philosophies when it comes to dealing with stuff we are no longer using.  He likes to hold onto things in case he finds a need for it one-day, while I prefer to just get rid of it!!  :-)

So I started looking for some specific solutions in case one day he feels like he can part with some of our old stuff. :-)

In case you haven't discovered it yet, it looks like the Government of Manitoba has set up an agency called Green Manitoba (http://www.mbgreen.ca/cim/1001C7_1T1T3T123T12T753T13T760.dhtm) and they run an e-waste round-up program.  They will accept the following: TVs, microwaves, computer monitors (CRT & flat-panel), laptops, desktops (CPU/hard drive, keyboards, mice & cables), desktop printers, DVD players, VCRs & stereos, phones, scanners, copiers & fax machines, & rechargeable batteries.    They operate 28 drop-off sites across Manitoba, although half of them are only open from May 1 - October 1.  Here is a link to the locations:
Green Manitoba Drop-off sites for e-waste


I did a little further digging and it appears that Green Manitoba then sends 'our' e-waste to the Global Electric Electronics Processing (GEEP) company (see http://www.geepinc.com/Default.aspx).  Check out the page with the videos.  The CBC video is a 'Canadian-version' of the 60-minutes feature and includes a tour of the GEEP plant. Although it all looks quite legitimate, I find it hard to trust after seeing the company-featured in the 60-minutes documentary.  They seemed legit too....  However, it does appear that GEEP has attained international standards certification for 1) quality, 2) environmental, and just last week, for 3) health and safety management systems.  So maybe one bad company doesn't make them all bad! I guess we'll just have to keep watching and asking questions.   
  

Here's one other local option for old computers run by a colleague:

The Inner City Kids' Computer Club, a project coordinated by staff at the Bannatyne campus at the U of Manitoba, has an ongoing need for used, surplus PCs. The club operates as an after-school activity at several sites, and one site in particular could use donated Windows-based PCs. IRCOM (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba) would like to give computers to families in their apartment complex for children to do computer club projects as well as school homework.  Any donated computers should be in working order and not more than four or five years old. For more information or to donate a personal computer, please contact Dennis Bayomi, Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at Dennis_Bayomi@umanitoba.ca 

Interesting videos

I've come across a few interesting resources that I thought you might enjoy if you need a break from reading and writing.  

I also want to learn how to embed a video in a blog post so it will be new learning for me at the same time! 

I came across this video at The 21st Century Teacher website.  

I was also intrigued with some of the videos I found by Ray Kurzweil.  He explains the concept of singularity and speaks candidly about some of the pros and cons of technology:

 

 

 

Let me know what you think!

Latkoff:
 His ideas about conceptual metaphors are really interesting.  So many of his examples rang true.  How often have I thought about my problems as a 'one-time' puzzle to work-through, solve and put aside?  How much healthier would the chemical metaphor be?  Could I really switch to this way of thinking, or are these metaphors so deeply ingrained that they are forever part of my worldview?  I'm going to try hard for the next little while to shift my metaphor and see how it goes....


I also started wondering about how difficult it would be for someone from another culture to understand our North American metaphors.  Surely these hidden conceptual ideas are some of the most difficult to learn and understand when adapting to a new environment/country.  If we (Canadians) aren't even aware of how much these metaphors impact our thinking then how can we teach them to others?  Or should we?  Some of my most interesting conversations have come from individuals from other cultures who ask questions about these deeply-rooted metaphors making me much more aware of my own assumptions and thinking.  And I have to admit, sometimes I'm embarrassed at how narrow and American-centric it really is... I hope I will always have the opportunity to interact with other people who will make me question What is 'truth"? 

Mander:

I was struck by his idea that we are "substituting mediated experiences for direct experience".  It's amazing to me that In the Absence of the Sacred was published in 1991, just as online personnas and experiences were starting to emerge.  Think of what has happened since then...Wii, Kinect, Sims, Second Life, (not to mention all the online dating) etc. etc.  I think he was envisioning a future in much the same way that McLuhan was, but he seems to emphasize more of the psychological and cultural impacts of this 'hollowing-out' of society. His more recent predictions about a global 'mono-culture' are being validated everyday as we see McDonald's, KFC's and the Gap popping up all over the world.  Particularly troubling is their infiltration into very different societies in Asia, Africa and India, often replacing long-standing local values and ethnic food with a new appetite for American culture.   What will be lost??? I think this is what I really appreciate about Mander - his respect for indigenous peoples.  While other authors we have read have warned us about the dangers of technology, Mander takes this further by offering concrete suggestions about alternative ways of looking at the world we want to create and returning to the values of native peoples.  Turkle's current research supports many of Mander's earlier 'warnings' and predictions.  Perhaps the "Occupy Wall Street" grass roots movement is a response to some of Mander's concerns about corporations and globalization.

In reading and listening to some of Mander's ideas, I had a new appreciation for why I enjoy camping with my family.  The opportunity to be 'cut-off' from technology and to enjoy and appreciate nature is a fantastic experience.  The simple joy of setting-up a shelter/tent, collecting firewood, preparing and cooking a meal together and a whole evening of sitting around the campfire talking.   I do feel connected back to the earth in some way when we participate in these activities, although I don't pretend to imply that the limited (and comfortable) ways we interact with the earth are similar to the ways of native peoples. So why don't we do it more often? 

Worried and more than a little scared...

Yep.  This is how I feel after reading the first 50 pages of Turkle's book.  At this point I'm not even sure that I want to keep reading it, or to finish it.  It's like one of those scary movies where you know awful things are going to happen in the end and you have a horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach.  Do you sit and watch/read and wait for it to happen, even though you know it is going to be bad?  Or do you close the book and stick your head in the ground and hope it will all go away?  

I'm also experiencing this book on two levels.  The first is as a mother who sees her teenage kids and their behaviours and habits reflected and written about on the pages of the book.  This is very scary.  (Side note - it is also very weird that her daughter is also named Rebecca and Turkle's daughter is basically the same age - I think I'm over-identifying!)  I worry about how much technology has already impacted my kids' lives and what impact it will have on their relationships with others and themselves.  Is it OK for me to aquiese to their preference to texting just so I can keep the lines of communication open, or should I be trying to call them more?  Am I settling for the lowest common denominator in order to maintain communication?  The second level of concern is as a member of society.  Is this the kind of communication I want with people in the future?   I'm starting to get tired of listening to people talk (loudly) on their cell phones,  the lack of eye contact, the constant interference of a smart phone and the retreat from interacting with others.  Maybe I'm getting old, but I'm not sure I like it, even though I love new technology...can we find a way to have both?  


As I ponder these larger issues, I think I'm going to be more mindful of ensuring that my son's Ipod is not on the table at dinner, and that my daughter is not doing other things on her computer while she is Skyping with us from her new university in Florida....  Small changes but maybe a few steps toward what Turkle is proposing...

Ellul -

I'm intrigued with his idea of 'technique' as an ever-increasing efficiency and the separation of technology from technique.  In seeking to understand some of his perspective, I see 'technique' as modernization and industrialization; the social changes that provide the context for the specific technologies.  Based on our previous discussions, I think we might all agree with Ellul's assertion that Technique is an agent of social change.

I really enjoyed watching the video interview.  I found him to be a very thoughtful man and I was impressed that he didn't want to have any 'disciples', he wanted people to think for themselves.  Perhaps this was a way of keeping some of his ideas at a broader and more conceptual level, although I suppose come critics might think that his inability/unwillingness to provide more specific elements of 'what to do', was a weakness in his philosophy.  Personally I think it takes a lot of discipline to let people decide for themselves, and he was living out the elements of what he believed.  

I found myself reflecting a lot on my own actions and emotions in relation to technology.  I have to 'fess - up' to a certain amount of personal happiness/satisfaction at having started to use Twitter.  Why? Well two reasons.  One I am enjoying the little 'chunks' of info that come my way.  I can very rapidly peruse a large variety of information that is of interest to me.  They are like little appetizers that I can either decide to eat or not.  I have actually discovered some interesting things through the people/organizations I am following so far.  I am also becoming more discriminating about WHO I am following so I don't get too over-whelmed with information.  I can definitely relate to his idea that information breeds more information.  It is so easy to just keep clicking and lose track of time!  Second I enjoy feeling like I am 'in the know" with regard to the technology.  Even though I haven't mastered it, I know more than most people my age and there is a strange (and sad) satisfaction in that fact! :-)

I think his ideas about sacrificing some of the qualitative aspects of life "as every area of life is subordinated to technical efficiency" are very true.  We have discussed some of these same ideas in our class.

Overall I feel like this class fits with "Ellul's aim ...to help people understand and preserve a sense of criticism vis-à-vis technical civilization."  I think these readings and our discussions are helping me become more critical about my own use of technology and the larger societal influences that impact my decisions.   

 

Is our perspective skewed? 

We've been having lots of discussions lately about how technology is taking over the world and whether this is a good thing (or not) and all the shades of grey in between.  I was doing some reading for one of my other courses and came across some information that made me think that perhaps technology is not as dominant as we think.  

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, in September 2007, only about 71% of the U.S. population used the Internet at least occasionally, and only 67% had Internet service in their homes.   Moreover, only 47% of the U.S. population had a high-speed connection at home; 23% used dial-up, and the remaining 29% did not have Internet access (Horrigan & Smith, 2007). (Dillman, Smyth & Christian, 2009, p. 44). 

Granted this information is a little out-dated, and technology is growing at an incredible rate, but this passage reminded me that we are coming at the study of this phenomenon from a position of privilege.  Middle-class, Canadian people who have the opportunity for higher education and the money to afford to buy access to many of these technologies.  Very humbling. 

Reference:

Dillman, D.A., Smyth, J. D.  & Christian, L. M.  (2009).  Internet, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method.  Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Interesting videos

Apparently there were people other than McLuhan who predicted a 'wired future'.  Check out this clip from the 1967 film 1999 A.D.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpq5ZmANp0k&feature=related

A few other interesting videos I found on some facts & figures and the impact of social media:

Social Media 2011 - updated version (note there is a factual error in this video - but most of it is quite good!)

Social Media Revolution

Heidegger

Heidegger...hmm.  An interesting and controversial man; very difficult to understand. 

To begin, I think I need to try to 'bracket' my biases.  I have to admit that I am having difficulty separating Heidegger's ideas from the man himself.  According to the sources I read, he had an affair with more than one of his students.  This drastically changed my opinion of him as a man/husband/ member of the academy.   And then I discovered that he was a member of the Nazi party and he actively enacted many of the party policies, seemingly without protest.  This included participating in the persecution of many of the Jewish professors at the University where he was rector in 1933/34.  In fact, it appears that he was instrumental in the 'ousting' of a Jewish math professor who would later go on to be awarded the Nobel prize. Perhaps some of the most disturbing acts were against his former mentor - Hussel.  Although he was in a position as rector to support and advocate for Hussel, instead Heidegger chose to perpetuate the discrimination of his mentor at the University, and to eliminate the dedication to him in the fourth edition of his book, because he was Jewish. These appalling acts, and his lack of public atonement for any of his actions throughout the rest of his life have left me troubled. Ethically I have trouble separating his actions from his intellect. But since this isn't a class in politics and ethics, I will try now to turn my attention to his thoughts on technology. 

Was Heidegger trying to tell us that we need to spend more time thinking about our existence?  And just....being?...  To think without the intent of dominating? ... That technology might distract us from this pursuit of the 'meaning' of life?  I also see warnings in his writings...  that technology can manipulate how we see things (i.e. a way of revealing), and that we must always be vigilant of how this influences the way we perceive the world.  He also seems to be warning us about our need to 'master' the world.  In particular I was struck by the section in his essay when he talked about a time in ancient Greece when 'art' was the highest form of knowing.  I wonder what the world would be like today if that was still our lens to the 'truth'?  Have we created a mechanical/technological future that is moving away from spiritualism or other ways of understanding/being? In one of the audio clips (Heidegger - Part 5) they mention the 'demonic' nature of modern technology.  They seem to posit that modern technology is the antithesis of 'God' and that we are trying to become God, particularly with new biotechnologies. 

In Heidegger's writings I see critique of the positivist paradigm that dominates modern science, technology and medicine.  I think he is arguing for other ways of knowing and understanding the world.  This fits with his strong early mentorship by Hussel, one of the foremost proponents of phenomenology or understanding the 'essence' of an experience.  I think Heidegger in his own right is arguing for another paradigm, more qualitative in it's approach to understanding our world and our place within it.  

My head hurts!  I'm looking forward to our discussions and hopefully a little bit of clarity.

Well I think this is going to be an interesting learning journey!