Tech in the News

Staying on top of the news is important these days. Especially in the tech world where one day your company is on top of the world and tomorrow your history. Here are a few of the best tech news sites out there:

http://techcrunch.com/

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/

http://www.wired.com/

For this post take a look at these sites and choose one article from one site about something that interests you and summarize it for our class. Talk a little about why you chose it as well. Please include a link to the article in your post.

Bringing Consciousness to our Tech Use

Distraction: noun

1. 1.

   a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.

   "the company found passenger travel a distraction from the main business of moving freight"

Consciousness: noun

1. the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings.
2. the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world.
3. the awareness or perception of something by a person.

Growing up in America today is to be a part of a society that is rapidly and constantly changing. The fact is you are surrounded by technology and information and spend a large portion of your time interacting with it. But what is it doing to your brain?

As we saw from the video in class, our brains are not wired for multi-tasking. Some tasks require more concentration than others. Some of us are better at doing a few things at once. Studies show that women are better multi-taskers than men because of all the responsibilities they genetically inherit through childbirth.

One of the biggest problems addressed in the video was that people are slower when switching between tasks. Meaning they are not concentrating on what they are doing and therefore do a poor job on the task at hand.

Specific Instructions:  For this post think about something you do that requires your full attention. Example: Homework. Then think about your habits with technology while trying to concentrate. Do you listen to music while doing homework? Is that bad? Do you respond to texts while doing homework? Go online and find evidence to support  your response. Please include the link to the site you use in your response. -5 points if you respond with no link. Do not copy other people's posts, ideas or links. You will get a 0 for plagiarizing. 

If you missed the video in class please watch the first 8:40 minutes of this documentary:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/

Take the test and see for yourself: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/07/technology/20100607-distraction-filtering-demo.html

What is Net Neutrality?

Many of you may or may not be aware of the fight that is currently going on in Washington over what is called Net Neutrality. What is it? Follow this link and read the post. http://theoatmeal.com/blog/net_neutrality The blogger has an obvious bias. What is at stake? Do you agree? Disagree? Why? What do you think is the right solution? Please research net neutrality and find a link to a resource that supports your argument.

Changing the Paradim

Sir Ken Robinson shared with us his problems and thoughts about the state of public education in the US. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Particularly, how a revolutionary idea like public education has devolved over time and perhaps become a symptom of what ails our society. 

Change is hard. Not only for an individual but imagine changing an entire school. What would you do if you were in charge? What changes would you implement to make education more meaningful to young people? What subjects would be valuable to what you want to do later in life? 

The Power of Images

Humans are visual beings. Pictures are said to be worth a thousand words. Artists and Cartoonists use images to convey meaning in powerful ways. Check out the following from a Polish Cartoonist. Pick one and that moves you and describe which one you chose. Then describe what it means to you.

http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/25-thoughtprovoking-pieces-from-a-prizewinning-polish-cartoonist/

Women in Technology

History is  written and hence distorted by those that are in power. Unfortunately the history of technology is no stranger to this notion. For instance, did you know that decades ago women were the early pioneers in computer programming: http://www.wnyc.org/story/the-forgotten-female-programmers-who-created-modern-tech/?utm_content=buffer45611&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

You are growing up in interesting times. There are more opportunities today for women than ever before. Problems still exist however, "In 2013, female full-time workers made only 78 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 22 percent. http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discrimination

One of the biggest problems most tech companies face is that they do not have diverse work environments. Very few women go into tech today and companies like Google and Microsoft want to know why. http://readwrite.com/2014/09/02/women-in-computer-science-why-so-few

Please read one of the three articles and discuss. What was the major point of the article? What field are you interested in studying? Are women represented equally? Do you think if more women knew of women's contributions to the history of the computer, the might be more inclined to want to study Computer Science?

You and Your Data

I'm sure by now you've heard the stories of people losing their jobs because of a Facebook post: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-fired-2011-5?op=1 The internet is chock full of information about how people are not thinking before they act when using technology.

But for our second post I thought I would bring up a more important point about data. What is going on with all this information that we share and post online? Are you aware of privacy settings on most of the social media sites you use? How is your personal information being used? Here's one way: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-opt-out-of-facebook-plan-to-sell-your-browser-data-2014-6

So for our blog: What's your thoughts on Facebook using your data to sell products? Are you cautious about your social media use? Any horror stories you want to share?

Inspiration

So as you begin your final year of high school I thought our first post would discuss inspiration. We watched Kelsey Juliana in class talk a little about her journey (you can see the rest here: http://billmoyers.com/episode/climate-change-next-generation/ ). Do you have a role model that inspires you? Kelsey's parent's had a big impact on her activism. What do you think was a key factor in their success? Tell us about one person in your life and how they influence you. 

Here's another example of inspiring: http://inhabitat.com/16-year-old-irish-girls-win-google-science-fair-2014-with-world-changing-crop-yield-breakthrough/ - 3, 16 year old girls from Ireland just won the Google Science fair competition!. 

Let's begin.

Welcome ladies to your Senior Year, our tech class and your class blog. This is your last year in high school! This is an exciting time for you as you begin your final push up the ladder of success. This is also a good time to set some goals. Challenge yourself to reach a little higher and explore subjects that you wish to rather than be told what subjects are important. So consider these questions for our first blog post and for yourself on this journey (because it is a journey you are on) are:

1. Why am I here? 
2. Where do I want to be next year? In 3 years? In 10 years? 

It is your future that you are working towards. What do you think the future has in store for you?