Comments on: Thomas (2007) http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/amyw/2013/02/13/thomas-2007/ part of the MSc in E-learning at the University of Edinburgh Thu, 23 May 2013 06:05:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Giraf87 http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/amyw/2013/02/13/thomas-2007/#comment-188 Giraf87 Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:15:56 +0000 http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/amyw/?p=124#comment-188 This is an interesting contradiction, as you mention ' as though technology has no connection to human life' - it seems to me quite the opposite: human civilisation is all about technology.The word, going back to its Greek roots, tekhnologia 'systematic treatment', from tekhnē 'art, craft' + -logia means something that makes 'practical' and our lives are embedded by it, for centuries. Maybe our fear is more relating to our fear of 'change' or the 'unknown', not technology as such. But also, digital technology is less tactile (immaterial) compared to the understanding of technology in previous times where everything was mechanical, nuts and bolts you can see... Now perhaps there is a fear of what you cannot see. And that accompanied by language such as 'password', 'firewall', 'hacking', 'virus'...words that have negative connotations... Modernism had this idealist view of how technology would sort out the world, indeed utopian expectations, soon followed by dystopian views (1984) and then entered post-modernism which de-constructed everything that was built so carefully in previous times. No wonder the human element is erased.... This is an interesting contradiction, as you mention ‘ as though technology has no connection to human life’ – it seems to me quite the opposite: human civilisation is all about technology.The word, going back to its Greek roots, tekhnologia ‘systematic treatment’, from tekhnē ‘art, craft’ + -logia means something that makes ‘practical’ and our lives are embedded by it, for centuries. Maybe our fear is more relating to our fear of ‘change’ or the ‘unknown’, not technology as such.

But also, digital technology is less tactile (immaterial) compared to the understanding of technology in previous times where everything was mechanical, nuts and bolts you can see… Now perhaps there is a fear of what you cannot see. And that accompanied by language such as ‘password’, ‘firewall’, ‘hacking’, ‘virus’…words that have negative connotations…

Modernism had this idealist view of how technology would sort out the world, indeed utopian expectations, soon followed by dystopian views (1984) and then entered post-modernism which de-constructed everything that was built so carefully in previous times. No wonder the human element is erased….

]]> By: Amy Woodgate http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/amyw/2013/02/13/thomas-2007/#comment-185 Amy Woodgate Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:45:17 +0000 http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/amyw/?p=124#comment-185 Stiegler suggests we often fear technological developments because we distance the 'human' element from them - as though technology has no connection to human life. When instead the two are interconnected and it is for this reason that our ability to communicate through mixed mediums (e.g. images, text, spoken stories etc - transliteracy) is so natural. Do you think there is merit in this view? It would be nice to know what others think! :) Stiegler suggests we often fear technological developments because we distance the ‘human’ element from them – as though technology has no connection to human life. When instead the two are interconnected and it is for this reason that our ability to communicate through mixed mediums (e.g. images, text, spoken stories etc – transliteracy) is so natural.

Do you think there is merit in this view? It would be nice to know what others think! :)

]]> By: Saqib Ali http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/amyw/2013/02/13/thomas-2007/#comment-184 Saqib Ali Thu, 14 Feb 2013 03:40:09 +0000 http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/amyw/?p=124#comment-184 translate please (to easy english)...... translate please (to easy english)……

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