Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Andy Clark, Chapter 6
In chapter six one of the most interesting parts to me is how technology is adapting to us. I think it’s cool that technology is capable of creating way to get what a particular person wants faster. It’s great that they have come up with ways for computers and programs to associate word with other words. It’s almost in a sense like its learning. Another thing that I found interesting was web sites can re-route themselves in response to usage. It’s amazing that it can expand and contract the amount of users based on site popularity. Or even it can do the same based on the time of day. I also like the comparison to slugs saying that when we use cell phones and credit cards that it leaves behind a trail of information. It’s almost scary knowing that we can be tracked down by the trail of information our devices leave behind. It’s almost like wearing a tracking device because basically anything we do can and will be traced to where we are. It’s confusing to try to figure out how some of the technologies like adapting websites can help with learning capabilities. It was hard for me to relate the two together. For the most part chapter six gave great insight on what technology is capable of.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It seems like you got a lot out of the chapter. I agree it is a little scary to think how much we are being tracked with technology. Although, just because people can, doesn't mean they always will. All of us leave trails as to where we've been whether it's through credit cards or even your cell phone. But, I still think we're far off from just being tracked all the time. But it's still interesting to think that when we buy almost any technology these days we have to be aware that it connects with others. For instance, when I was an undergrad, we didn't have facebook but now it's almost as if people know you before even meeting you. In fact, I just heard a prof. telling me about a study that showed freshmen had the facebook on their phones in class so that they could find out if the other students were worth talking to!
As to how websites can learn...I don't remember exactly what Clark says but what I would say is that nowadays, when you keep going to a website it can learn about your tendencies or what interests you. This way you aren't faced with things that you don't care about. The site learns and adapts to you. As a result, we as people get better information than ever before because it's catered to what we care about.
Post a Comment