MAC 325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Digital Native, Qwerty, Path Dependence
26 Jun 2018
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Week 3-2 Boyd Intro and Chapter 7: It’s Complicated, The Social Lives Networked Teens
Class 2/15/18
● How do we critique an artifact
○ The ways in which they embody or support certain forms of power and authority
● Why does being able to critique technology matter?
○ Technological choices built into sites and apps encourage certain ways of
communicating
○ Even if you don’t use a certain type of technology it can still affect you
■ Ex: the tomato harvesting machine
● Path dependence
○ Past events exert continuing influences
○ One technology breeds another
■ Ex: QWERTY keyboard was created to be inefficient because of the
typewriter but we still use it today
○ Adopted/non-adopted technologies
○ Successful does not equal best
● The Networked Self
○ Cycle of discourse for new technologies
■ Utopists
● Technology will surmount some long-standing problem
■ Dystopists
● Technology will give in to some long-standing problem
■ Both utopists and dystopists are technological determinists
■ Realists
● Go beyond is technology good or bad
○ Normalcy
■ When a technology becomes so commonplace we don’t even think about
it
● Ex: Refrigerator
● It’s Complicated (Boyd)
○ Looks at social media use among teens
○ Why do we blame social problems on new technologies?
■ It is an easy narrative to create
● Networked Publics
○ Public: an accessible space where people can gather and share ideas freely
○ Networked publics: place where people can gather freely online
○ “Cool” spaces change
○ The internet is a social space
● Teen tendencies
○ Teenagers struggle between autonomy and family, period of transition
○ They want a sense of self and place
○ The smartphone itself is not what compels them, it’s the friendships
○ Social media helps them engage in autonomous connection
Document Summary
Week 3-2 boyd intro and chapter 7: it"s complicated, the social lives networked teens. The ways in which they embody or support certain forms of power and authority. Technological choices built into sites and apps encourage certain ways of communicating. Even if you don"t use a certain type of technology it can still affect you. Ex: qwerty keyboard was created to be inefficient because of the typewriter but we still use it today. Technology will give in to some long-standing problem. Both utopists and dystopists are technological determinists. Go beyond is technology good or bad. When a technology becomes so commonplace we don"t even think about it. Looks at social media use among teens. It is an easy narrative to create. Public: an accessible space where people can gather and share ideas freely. Networked publics: place where people can gather freely online. Teenagers struggle between autonomy and family, period of transition. They want a sense of self and place.
