Affectability in educational technologies: A socio-technical perspective for design

Hayashi, Baranauskas (2013) states that digital artifacts have the potential for augmenting the interest of students and the quality of learning environments. However, it is still common to find technology being inserted in learning settings without a closer connection to the learners’ contemporary world. This statement was the result of the evaluation of the socio-technical project OLPC implemented in Brazil.

A socio-technical project is a type of project intended to social welfare, so that the profitability of the project is not only economic, but also the impact generated by the project in improving the social welfare in the group benefited or performing area. In the case reported by Hayashi, Baranauskas (2013), a positive impact in the teaching-learning community was expected from the inclusion of low cost personal laptops and using informal settings as local teaching strategies.

One of the challenges educational technology faces nowadays is to enrich the formal learning settings while maintaining a closer connection to the learners’ informal contemporary world. In this paper we brought to discussion the understanding of Information Systems’ formal, informal and technical layers of a framework, which may contribute to more holistic view of digital technology use in education. (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013)

Schools can use ICT to strengthen integration, curriculum and culture, and become an expanded, inclusive and integrated into other contexts of formal or informal training space. Mere use of a technological innovation is no guarantee of creating educational innovation, which emerges when the school and educators are free to connect ideas, new concepts and ways of doing education, they can go beyond the preset, go its walls, seek external partnerships and daring experimentation, reflection and change.

Children must not only own the laptop, but take them to their homes. In doing so, the whole family benefits. The project have shown unequivocally that parents become more involved in the education of their children and, very often, learn to use the laptops themselves. The role of the individual in society changes; It is a more productive role. The child is not the object of change but the agent of change.

ICT has played an important insight into educational systems. Its inclusion has been proposed to support the improvement in the quality of education, make it more relevant to the demands and requirements of the XXI century and to develop practices restarted teachers and students.

Some issues have hindered the integration of XO computers in the classroom, the teachers interviewed reported by institutional level relate to technical problems and immediate support (at the time the problem occurs), lack of training, lack of time, poor quality of computer components, improper maintenance and inappropriate hardware and educational software. 

The project conclusions found a positive effect of the OLPC program in terms of student motivation, increased teacher-student, and increased responsibility for attending school, opportunities for autonomy and independence interaction.

Considering the opportunities and limitations, a major concern remains the preparation of teachers, especially those related to the transition that should make using the computer for repetitive practices towards a more integrated approach to the school curriculum.

References

Hayashi, E. S., & Baranauskas, M. C. (2013). Affectability in educational technologies: A socio-technical perspective for design. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 57–68.

Scenario Planning

In organizations dealing with the uncertainty in one form or another, the strategies are based on forecasts of its own managers or, on the assumption that the past will be repeated. Often not considered or, at least, underestimate the radical or discontinuous changes that could greatly alter the structure of the sector. 

A simplified definition of scenario planning considers the scenario as the description of potential or possible future, including details of how to get there. However, in everyday language, a forecasting formulates a probable knowledge of a future event. In the language of business, it is usually understood as an early prognostic to estimate the value of a variable.

To analyze future scenarios are built, which are provisional and exploratory descriptions of a probable future. A scenario is a significant and detailed portrait of a plausible (approvable), permissible, recommended, consistent, future world. In it, you can clearly see and understand the problems, threats, and opportunities that such circumstances may occur. It is not a prediction or a specific forecast, is the description of events and trends that may occur. (Schmalbach, 2010).

Porter (1985) asserts that the purpose is to understand the combination of strategic decisions that will give maximum benefit, despite the uncertainties and challenges of the external environment. A scenario, in addition to plausibility, must have internal consistency, usefulness for decision-making and provide a description of the causal processes.

According to Selsky (2008), the scenarios are constructed from conjecture. They are hypothetical statements, and its role is to identify a range of options and probable situations. They are hypothesis based on diagnoses of forces shaping events and the possible linkages of these forces, which can be assigned probabilities.

Scenario planning is not interested in determining the probable date of an event, but the likely linkages between them. A scenario will not occur as anticipated, but suggests a probable sequence in order to sensitize those who must make decisions about what can happen.

Finally, the scenarios are, therefore, situations that have not happened yet but have a certain probability of occurrence. And it is not impossible to occur, the business, the organization must be prepared for it. Otherwise, you may be surprised by the future.

References

Porter, M. (1985). Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance. The free Press, New York.

Selsky, J. (2008). Business Planning for Turbulent Times: New Methods for Applying Scenarios. Cromwell Press.

Schmalbach, J. (2010). Scenario Planning: Review of concepts and methodological proposals

Precision Farming

I found very interesting the video from Kumar (2015) about the use of robots for Precision Farming. Over time the machines increasingly perform activities and works traditionally done by human beings, and agriculture is no exception. Precision agriculture is an initiative using UAVs to 'scan' plots in order to improve the genetic performance of what you sow.

With growing demands on the world’s food supply chain, it’s crucial to maximize agriculture resources in a sustainable manner. Currently, precision agriculture technologies are used by larger companies as it requires a robust IT infrastructure and resources to do the monitoring. (IBM Research, n.d.)

Given the limitations of satellites to deliver high-resolution images, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones, may be a viable low-cost alternative to monitor agricultural areas, as these are equipped with small multifunctional sensors, supplemented by autonomous navigation systems, and can facilitate frequent monitoring of parameters and variables of interest crop.

However, there are some barriers and forces preventing the expansion and adoption of such technologies. For example, in countries like the US are limitations imposed by some agencies.  Part of the problems is that the police or private or public companies are authorized for the use of drones, this dispassion may violate established privacy laws.

In any case I think that the horizon for agricultural purposes will be seeing more clear because in principle, when it comes to agriculture the operating environment of the drone is not that problematic when it comes to privacy.

 Precision agriculture will bring many benefits on agricultural production, profitable for farmers who decide to acquire new computer skills to enjoy the benefits that this technology brings. Another negative force or disadvantage will be associated with the high cost and training required, which will leave out some producers. On the other hand, management of genetics in food will have to side with the ethical and philosophical field to study and prevent its abuse.

Always, before a technological innovation there is resistance to change, particularly in sectors with less intellectual preparation, such as farmers. Precision Agriculture is an even greater disadvantage in this respect and that did not emerge as a need for small farmers, but were transnational producers of agricultural machinery who is interested on imposing the new technology on the market.

References

IBM Research. (n.d.).Precision agriculture Using predictive weather analytics to feed future generation. Retrieved from http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/precision_agriculture.shtml

Kumar, V. (April, 2015). The Future of Flying Robots. [ Video File ] Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_the_future_of_flying_robots

Wearable computing

The new user interface proposals are aimed at finding those that adapt to the ways of human communication, rather than lead the effort by the user in learning. Following this concept efforts devoted to the study of the so-called Wearable Computing, where you try to achieve the concept of user-machine acting as a single entity. The main argument against such scenario does not allow the interaction with the user in an intuitive and natural way, it is the person who must adapt to this form of communication that still is not comparable with spoken language or gestures commonly used.  (Starner, 2011)

For example a head band that sensors brain waves to detect vehicle driver’s tiredness. The technology is able to monitors brain activity and warns drivers that they are becoming fatigued in advance of it becoming dangerous, giving users more time to do the one thing that helps: stop and take a break. Tired drivers pose a risk to both themselves and those around them, and we've seen different types of technology that aim to keep groggy drivers alert. In theory at least, allow drivers to get off the road before they become a safety hazard. Drowsy driving is the second major cause of fatal accidents in USA roads.

Wearable devices have been getting a lot of attention lately, and many vendors. Until recently, wearable computing devices have garnered the most attention from the fitness and medical worlds, but markets are shifting as users start to adopt this new trend. Experts predict that if wearable technology is really going to take off with consumers, one of the most important factors developers will need to consider is aesthetics. In other words, these new gadgets will need to either blend inconspicuously with an outfit or they will need to look good without drawing too much attention. In addition, security features for data transmission, storage and processing needs to be reinforced.  Estimated time to massive adoption 7-12 years.

One problem that wearable technology suffers is that, as the name denotes, it must be wearable. This in turn means that there's only so much space on which to put wearable devices, and even then, not all the space will be engaged. Wearable tech as a whole is still essentially in its earliest days, and taking many of its critical elements and going beyond that is really only to be expected. To successfully pull off this new technology, computer engineers, developers and programmers will need to expand their knowledge into specialties outside of IT. (Human Anatomy, Psychology and Sociology).

According to Statista.com by 2018, it is estimated that the market for wearable technology will be worth some 12.6 billion U.S. dollars.

References

Statista (2013). Facts and statistics on Wearable Technology. Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/topics/1556/wearable-technology/

Starner. T. ( 2011). The challenges of wearable computing. Retrieved from http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/p/magazine/published-part1.pdf

Predictions of the past on today’s media

Now times have changed. The digital revolution has meant that many of the great paradigms of communication are seen altered. The internet brought new media and a new way to access information. And although we can discuss everything related to the different business models needed to survive in this new scenario, once again, the problem is a result of new trends and habits. The following predictions have shaped what is now known as a digital press.

Kids watch the comics section of a faxpaper
being printed on a home receiver 

RCA Radial newspapers in 1930. In the early thirties, the radio was the worst enemy of newspapers seeking prevent broadcasters from transmitting news. Some radio stations, particularly WOR in New York, put into operation the news service called Transradio News, prompting the newspaper owners to make synergy with radio and experienced a new technology called Radio Facsimile either to deliver newspapers through radio waves. The idea was that unused frequencies of the radio spectrum could be concession to bring in the evenings, a newspaper through the "facsimile radio." These "Radio-fax-newspaper" could be printed at home while everyone was asleep, and find it ready to read upon waking without getting your hands dirty with ink. (Novak, 2015).

Philco-Ford Printer newspapers in 1967. Recently a chapter of the "XXI Century" hosted by Walter Cronkite entitled "At Home in 2001" which was originally broadcast on March 12, 1967, was broadcast on Discovery Channel. The program led to viewers of the late sixties to the futuristic world of 2001 in which the news would be sent via satellite and could be printed at home, at the touch of a button. The console offering a summary of news from around the world broadcast satellite (On April 6, 1965, was put into orbit the "Early Bird", the first commercial communications satellite) and pressing a button was enough to get a hard copy of the newspaper. (Schneider, n.d)

Los Angeles Times Magazine printed in LaserJet, 1988. The copy of April 3, 1988, issued by Los Angeles Times Magazine was devoted to what might be the city of Los Angeles in 2013. The prediction included much of what could be expected of futurism eighties: fingerprint verification at ATMs and access to public buildings, computers in classrooms, "smart" phones and home robots. As for predictions about the future of newspapers included electronic delivery to a personal computer, copies of newspapers. The idea was that the family received the newspaper on the computer only with the information of particular interest and news about your neighborhood; the computer would be programmed to print on a laser machine while the family sleeps. (Laser printers were invented in 1969). (LA Times, 1988).

Newspapers in a tablet, 1994. Still the internet was used with external modems that require a dedicated telephone line, when in 1994 the company Knight Rider, who until 2006 was a recognized media corporation specializing in newspapers and the Internet, provided a video showing what would be a daily tablet. The video can be watched online using this link. (Information Design Lab, 1995).
The traditional mass print media used to offer companies the ability to reach important audiences, but these, now increasingly fragmented and shrinking, along with increasingly more competitive metrics are pushing companies to focus their efforts on digital media. The print media has been lost, and there seems to be a trend that will change.

References

Information Design Lab. (1995). The Tablet newspaper: a vision of the future. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_QyktOw0JM

LATimes. (1988). Techno comforts and urban stress in 2013. Retrieved from http://documents.latimes.com/la-2013/

Novak, M. (2015). Fax papers: A Lost 1930s Technology That Delivered Newspapers via Radio. Retrieved from http://gizmodo.com/faxpapers-the-lost-dream-of-delivering-newspapers-thro-1682383694

Schneider, J. (n.d). The Newspaper of the Air:  Early Experiments with Radio Facsimile. Retrieved from http://www.theradiohistorian.org/Radiofax/newspaper_of_the_air1.htm