SESSION 24 | TECHNOLOGY IMPACT ON INDIVIDUALS

Today we will explore whether or not the expansion of personal technologies have been an unquestioned benefit to our personal productivity.

Watch this TED talk and ask yourself who the speaker is.

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Read to prepare yourselves for session 24

1. Ubiquitous Computing Up Close, The Economist, 08 Oct 2011
2. Schumpeter: Slaves to the Smartphone, The Economist, 10 Mar 2012
3. Buttonwood: Net Gains and Losses, The Economist, 17 Apr 2013
4. Technology and Society: Here Comes Anyware, The Economist, 08 Oct 2011

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You don't have to watch this unless you wish to, but it might come up in conversation

is technology making us stupid?

do we lack the ability to memorize information, a skill we needed before information was so readily available to us?

does it matter? if it's true, is it worth the increase in speed and (perhaps) the increase in quality of our work?

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things we'll talk about

how have improvements in information technology improved our personal productivity?

plan to separate into your teams to work on an in-class assignment

1. list, in as much detail as possible, the steps you all take to write a research paper when you have access to the Internet and your personal laptops
2. then list, in as much detail as possible, the steps you all would have to take to write a research paper when you do not have access either to the Internet or to any computer
3. estimate the difference in the amount of time it would take you all to accomplish both tasks

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