Wednesday, June 4, 2014
TWIF Flattener #10 - The Steroids
Use one of the current events sources linked at http://svhs-hwc-fall2014.blogspot.com/2014/06/approved-sources-for-twif-current.html to find a recent news article that relates to, supports, or refutes Friedman's assertion that the steroids were "flatteners." Your comment should include the title of the news article, a link to the article, and a summary of the article including an explanation of how the article relates to this point. Don't forget to check your rubric for evaluation criteria!
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http://www.bbc.com/news/health-28272809
ReplyDeleteCould The Future Hospital Be In The Home?
This article describes the possible future of healthcare from the home. Smartphones now have the ability to monitor heart rates and pulse rates. Patients that have to frequently visit the hospital for checks, such as patients with heart failure, can Skype with their doctors instead of physically showing up to the hospital for a check up. This new healthcare option is a result of the wireless and video conferencing steroids that Friedman introduced. As Friedman suggested, these steroids have enabled connection from anywhere to anywhere, which allows much faster and much more efficient communication between patients and doctors. This article shows how the wireless technology and video conferencing ideas have developed over the years to become a valuable asset to the healthcare industry. So, this article supports Friedman’s points about the development of the flatteners and steroids.
“Washington Starts Hunt for a ‘Model City’ for Wireless Experimentation” by Nancy Scola
ReplyDeleteThe Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/07/22/washington-starts-hunt-for-a-model-city-for-wireless-experimentation/
In The World Is Flat, Friedman explains that wirelessness is the most important steroid. It allows technology and computers to move everywhere that people go, and this steroid has the most impact on the other flatteners. However, Friedman also states that Japan and many other countries have much better wireless networks than the U.S. This article discusses how the U.S. government plans to increase the wireless connectivity of the country. Currently, the government uses almost half of the radio spectrum, but some federal agencies are looking for a way to allow the rest of the country to use these radio waves, increasing wireless connectivity. After testing this idea on naval bases and in the countryside, these agencies are now looking for a city to test on, since the two previous locations did not correctly demonstrate how most of the country would use these radio waves. Cities like Chicago are being considered for this test, although this technology may not become widespread for decades. If this radio spectrum can be used to its full potential, the U.S. can develop even more wireless technology. This article relates to the book because the article discusses how U.S. plans to increase the country’s wireless connectivity, which will help the country catch up to Japan.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Creating an Ever-Flexible Center for Tech Innovation" by: Avi Wolfman-Arent
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/education/creating-an-ever-flexible-center-for-tech-innovation.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A16%22%7D&gwh=8458B59FFCE96CD48DE679ED4ED4192B&gwt=pay
At the end of chapter 2 in The World is Flat, Friedman discusses the 'Steroids'; the technologies that turbocharged all the other flattening forces. He describes video-conferencing as one of the steroids, and I was wondering what the future held in store for video-conferencing. Although there is no way of telling the future in terms of what sort of role video-conferencing will play in society, we can look at what type of video-conferencing systems are being designed to go in state-of-art college campuses. Cornell University, for example, has designs to build a technology enhanced campus that will allow the students to be as creative and productive as possible. " One room has three different videoconferencing systems, setting up a sort of natural selection based on whichever gets the most use. A device called the BeamPro — best described as remote-controlled Segway meets videoconferencing — allows professors to roam the campus hallways virtually even if in reality they are halfway around the world" (Wolfman-Arent).
“How Selfies Became a Global Phenomenon” by Elizabeth Day
ReplyDeleteFrom the Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/14/how-selfies-became-a-global-phenomenon
This article tells about the history of the selfie, which is “the self-portrait of the digital age.” Some major points covered are technological advancements such as the digital camera and front-facing phone camera that made selfies possible, reasons why people feel the need to share selfies, and unintended negative effects of posting selfies online. The article discusses selfies as a means for revenge, self-expression, confidence boosting, pornography, entrepreneurship, and taking control.
The article relates to Friedman’s tenth flattener, the steroids. The steroids are a group of several technological advances, such as file sharing, videoconferencing, and wireless technology, that strengthen and enhance themselves and other flatteners. He emphasizes the power of wireless devices such as cell phones, which have the potential to be both helpful and detrimental. For example, he writes, “…your Internet-enabled camera phone is not just a camera; it is also a copy machine, with worldwide distribution potential” (197).
Selfies are a modern example of digital steroids because they amplify other forms of communication, such as social media and file sharing. Furthermore, selfies have driven more technological improvements to be innovated; for example, I learned that the rise of selfies’ popularity has impelled phone makers to enhance the quality of front-facing cameras. Moreover, I inferred that more pictures on a user’s camera roll lead to the need for more Gigabytes of phone storage. Selfies are also powerful because they are wireless, and hence can be brought anywhere. When people upload selfies of themselves on vacation, this is a new type of file sharing that enables people all over the world to view their picture. Additionally, the article mentions that selfies have brought celebrities and average people closer together by allowing them to get “a real glimpse into the lives of the rich and famous.” This is an example of the selfie’s flattening power, because it puts everyone on a more equal level to each other. In conclusion, whatever the use of a particular selfie, it is a steroid because it turbo-charges other technologies to make the world even flatter and more connected.
"The New Digital Divide"
ReplyDeleteBy: Susan P. Crawford
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/opinion/sunday/internet-access-and-the-new-divide.html?pagewanted=all&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22%7D
This article explains how much wireless online connection we had at that point, although this connection is not very reliable and is not available in as many places as we would like. It also explains how our wireless connection is not even close to how well wireless connection works in other countries such as Japan. In chapter 2 of the World is Flat, Friedman talks about how the last flattener is steroids, or what runs the countries, and how wireless connection is a steroid. In the beginning of this part he explains how amazed he was at how much more connection and how many places there was connection while he was in Japan. Also Friedman explained his theory that in 8 years or less we, the United States, would have more connection than Japan had back then, but after 6 years, when this article was published, the United States is not even close to having more wireless connection than Japan. I believe that Friedman's theory on wireless connection is wrong.
Is the Player Nervous? Just Ask His Shirt
ReplyDeleteAt U.S. Open, Ralph Lauren to Introduce Wearable Technology
By Ruth la Ferla
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/fashion/at-us-open-ralph-lauren-to-introduce-wearable-technology.html?ref=technology&_r=0
In this section, the sixth steroid Friedman talks about is new wireless technology. In this article I found, the new wireless technology is an athletic shirt you wear that can display your heart rate and breathing patterns. This is definitely flattening the world, or at least the sport fields, because now everyone watching the game has access to see into your own personal heart beats. This could be a competitive advantage, for example, if your opponent’s heart rate and breathing pattern spikes up, it shows you that he is nervous.If his breathing pattern seems labored, he is probably wearing down. The shirts could add dramatic effect to the game and more people might want to attend or watch the game, thereby increasing sales of tickets or sport merchandise. For now, the shirts are just being tested out on a select few willing players, but who knows when every athlete will wear one? This could be either a positive or negative effect from world flattening, and only time will tell.