Technology and Contemporary Life

Introduction -

   Assembling articles around the theme of 'Technology and Contemporary Life' is not especially difficult because practically everyone has something to say about this, particularly those of us who live and work in the privileged sectors of the 'developed world'. In this instance, the developed world, and its privileged sectors, is synonymous with almost all the advantages brought by technology. Put another way, without technology, all but the most romantic advantages are not available in the contemporary world. Most of the romantic advantages, claimed in the past, such as isolation, clean air, clean water and simple social values have given way to the onslaught of technology. Technology, and the pollution, congestion and public and private complexities with which it is complicit, .....

Buzzing down the on-ramps of the superhighway

Introduction -

    On-line shopping, banking, entertainment and travel reservations, educational courses - they're all just a click away. In the brave new digital world, everyone is said to have access to more information than ever before, which has led to what many call the democratisation of knowledge and information. Anyone, anywhere, can now get access to information as long as the user has a computer, modem, electricity and a phone line. Interactivity has broken the tyranny of the passive user (whether of magazines, books, or TV), as the cybernaut is now in charge of when and what is viewed and read. Connectivity has broken the tyranny of distance and time as instant electronic access to information and people located anywhere around the globe shrinks time and space.

Technological Utopias or Dystopias

Introduction -

    "Our most powerful 21st century technologies---robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech---are threatening to make humans an endangered species", or so begins an article published in Wired in April 2000. Bill Joy's "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" offers a frightening vision of where new technologies are taking us---a place where humans are not only irrelevant, but also inconvenient for the functioning of some imagined technofuture. Here, technology will control us, determining who we are, how we live our lives, and whether we live at all. Is this the only future we have? Or is there another way of understanding and engaging with technology?

Technology and the over 65s? Get a life

Introduction -

    Many people have been marginalised by the rapid rate of technological change during the past two decades. In all probability the majority of readers of Social Alternatives currently experience some level of stress as they struggle to keep up with technological developments that are affecting both their working and leisure lives. Most of us probably know of colleagues, or former colleagues in the work force, who have decided that the effort of adapting to technology-driven new work practices is not worth the angst, and have opted for early retirement.

rich/poor@countries.tech.com

Introduction -

   In this article we explore some of the comparative national impacts caused by education and technology.  We argue that the impacts are largely dependent on the affluence or poverty in the country.  We also question whether all contemporary technology is beneficial.  In particular, we challenge the contribution made by some of the materials on the Internet.

New Technologies: Culture and Education

Introduction -

    During a recent trip to Barcelona, I noticed a new enterprise in the urban landscape. All over the city, large Internet shops are opening with banks of 50-100 workstations offering access for as low as $1.50/ hour. At first glance, they are just macro versions of the Internet cafes opening in tourist destinations around the world to cater for the new generation of cyber-connected backpackers.

Ceremony and Cybrary: Digital Libraries and the Dialectic of Place and Space

Introduction -

    This article examines social, cultural and technological change in the systems and economies of educational information management.  Since the Sumerians first collected, organised and supervised administrative and religious records six millennia ago have been key physical depositories and cultural signifiers in the production and mediation of social capital and power through education.  To date, the textual, archival and discursive practises perpetuating libraries have remained transparent and exempt from inquiry.  My aim here is to remedy this hiatus by making the library itself the terrain and object of critical analysis and investigation.  The paper argues that ....

A Brave New World of Information

Introduction -

     For over seventy years science fiction authors have prognosticated about the impact of technology on society. These authors have had a remarkable degree of accuracy in describing some technologies, and even some social changes. H.G. Wells (1935), predicted the impact of technology on warfare at the turn of the century with remarkable accuracy. Aldous Huxley (1932) foresaw a Brave New World of bio-technology, teaching machines, and social engineering. More recently, Arthur C. Clarke accurately predicted the role of satellites in mass communication. Others have predicted the credit card, the cashless society, the subdermal i.d.'s, artificial organs, the hole in the ozone layer, and global climate change. Even Dick Tracey's wristwatch telephone is now available.

Information Technology in Schools: What's the Story?

Introduction -

       Recently it has been reported that IT (Information Technology) is poised to revolutionize education and schooling. Policy makers, IT industries, and media fuel the call for more and always newer technology in our schools. These purveyors often cite something called "training for competitiveness" as one of the principal goals for this drive. Children, so the reasoning goes, must become computer literate and knowledgeable with IT if they are to be competitive in the "new economy." What does making children computer literate mean?

Some Technological Impacts on our World

Introduction -

        Life revolves around the concept of time; in the present most of us are concerned about moving in the fast lane, joining the rat race, entering the express queue, eating fast food, jumping onto travelators or escalators, drinking espressos and even abbreviating words. It is the idea that technology is better if it is faster, so that everything is completed in two secs, two tics or in a jiffy. It is imperative that time on a task is minimised in the modern world. On a similar tangent the world has become smaller. You can go anywhere in a day, information is at your fingertips, cultures are intermixed and dispersed, people are flexibly nomadic and everything is manufactured to be portable. 

Information Nebula...

Introduction -

    I often wonder what life is coming to in a world where technology advances faster than we can purchase it. And I hate every second of it. I remember receiving my first e-mail and thinking, "Wow, I never have to speak to anyone ever again!" And I haven't ever since!! Needless to say, I have embraced a gluttonous and greedy electronic life. I have embraced it in its highest form, and in its lowest form. The latter, for the most part is my problem here.

Towards a comprehensive and proactive security policy

Introduction -

        Some have argued that we can never disinvent nuclear weapons and thus will have to live with them as long as civilization exists. But nobody has disinvented cannibalism either, we simply abhor it.  We must now learn to abhor equally the thought of incinerating entire cities with nuclear weapons.  The abolition of nuclear weapons with thorough verification is a totally realistic goal (we already have treaties banning biological and chemical weapons) and is necessary for human survival.

The Anti-WEF Protests and the Media

Introduction -

          This paper seeks to critically analyse the mainstream media's coverage of the anti-WEF protests outside of Melbourne's Crown Casino, September 11-13 2000, also known as S II. I have been motivated to write this paper by two factors. Firstly, as a participant in the demonstrations, I witnessed the huge disparity between what actually occurred at SII and what was reported to have occurred through the media. So, I write out of a sense of frustration. But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I think that there are insights into the nature of the mainstream news media which can be drawn out through an analysis of its coverage of this event. The framing of this event by the media provides an example of how journalistic practice combines with ideological assumptions to set the boundaries of debate and inquiry within the media which are class-biased in nature.