Assignment 1C - Evaluate

1C is due on Monday, September 18th at 10 AM

Learnings:

  • Thinking critically about technology

Assignment

  • You will work in pairs or by yourself (find a partner to work with if you can).

  • Look at your collective list of technologies (the ones you prioritized in 1B) and combine them into one longer list, with no more than 10 items. Be sure at least three are not mobile or web.

  • Create a new google doc/google sheet for this assignment.

  • Be sure to label it with your names (1C: First name, Last name; First name, Last name).

  • Be sure to set the sharing permissions to “anyone with the link can edit” and be sure to put it into the homework folder HERE

  • Someone designed and developed this technology for a reason. Why do you think they came up with the technology? Think broadly about it. For example, motion detectors for lights can help save energy by turning off the lights when people aren’t in the room. They can also be used for security. They also could help guide your way in the dark (no need to find a light switch). For all your chosen technologies, write down as many reasons why the technology might have been created?

  • Even technology created for a good purpose, can have unintended undesirable consequences. For example, we have all been in the position when the lights go out in a room and we need to wave our arms around to get them back on. Another could be an over-reliance on the sensor for turning off the lights, which can create bad habits for people who expect lights to “turn themselves off”. Cal Newport talks about how email was widely adopted to help offices run more efficiently by eliminating inter-office memos and fax machines. The unintended consequence is the extreme number of emails workers need to look at and send, making concentrated work more difficult and creating cognitive stress. For all your chosen technologies, write down as many unintended unwanted consequences that you can think of for each.

  • As a team, choose one technology (preferably not mobile or web). Write down what the problem was that the inventors/designers were trying to solve.

  • How would you go about testing whether they succeeded? Do your best to design a simple experiment to test whether the current technology is BETTER than the one that was there before, or that it accomplishes the goals you have identified. We will go into greater detail on experiment design later in the class. This is just meant to give you a chance to think about how you might test a given design/invention. For example, on the motion sensor, if your problem was that people just don’t turn off the light if there is a light switch, you could:

    • have a set of participants

    • survey each participant about how they feel about light switches and motion sensors (using a likert scale of 1-5).

    • then ask each participant to work lab that has a light switch easily marked by the door.

    • ask them to work for 10 minutes and then leave the room.

    • observe each participant to see how many turn the light off with the switch and how many rely on the motion sensor and make note of the results.

    • survey each participant to see if they noticed the light switch and ask them why they used or didn’t use it.

    • run the numbers to see if there is a significant difference between the number of people who use the switch and those who don’t (note to students: you do not need to make note of your analysis method).

Turning in the Homework

  • 1C is due on Monday, September 18th at 10 AM

  • Turn in your document HERE, in folder 1A of the class Google Drive