Technology Is The New Literacy: Today I’m going to do something I haven’t ever done before – I’m going to recommend you read a blog posting on another blog! Renee Tougas lives in rural Quebec with her family and is a resourceful homeschooler and blogger. She has written a blog posting titled “Technology is the New Literacy” in which she makes a number of very valid points regarding technology; however, my two favorite points are that A. technology is a tool and that B. technology, or digital literacy if you like, is indeed the new literacy. If you’re going to school or are in the work force today and even if you’re retired I too truly believe that you need to be technological literate to be truly able to communicate with others and learn new things. And I could get up on my proverbial soap-box on this subject but instead I’ll just suggest that you read Renee’s article in which she offers practical examples of using technology as a learning tool and which you can access via the following link:
http://fimby.tougas.net/technology-new-literacy
More Thoughts On Wearable Technology: The tech site Gigaom offers a neat article today titled “With wearable tech like Google Glass, human behavior is now a design problem” which discusses how the advent of wearable technology like Google Glass internet connecting glasses and the Jawbone Up and Nike Fuelband wristbands may change how humans behave and act. If we consider that technology is a tool we can see that it is our personal responsibility to gauge how much technology and what kind to use in our daily lives because any tool can be misused. However, imagine having a wrist band that contains a health computer that is so sophisticated it can tell you what you should be eating for any health condition there is – or simply if you wish to reach a healthier weight or a wristband that can scan the area around you and alert you to any possible dangers like ice on a sidewalk. And moving away from wearables for a moment consider self-driving cars like the Google Car – when that technology is perfected and enters the mainstream – and that time is coming in the very near future – it will allow anyone who is disabled and can’t drive a car but can get around to have a car and not have to drive! So if someone is blind due to macular degeneration or partial paralyzed due to an accident or battle injury that person will be able to get into a self-driving car and simply tell it to take them to the grocery store, the local mall or restaurant of their choice. So technology is indeed a tool that can be misused – for example, if you sit in front of a computer all day long and social network with others and/or play online games – I think you’re rather forgetting to live here in the real world – but even so wearable technology and self-driving cars are worth looking forward too because they will indeed change our lives.
And without further ado here is a link to the Gigaom article:
http://gigaom.com/2013/06/15/with-wearable-tech-like-google-glass-human-behavior-is-now-a-design-problem/
Have a great day!
Linda R.
References
Madden, Sean, (2013, June 15). With wearable tech like Google Glass, human behavior is now a design problem. Gigaom. Online. Accessed June 18, 2013.
http://gigaom.com/2013/06/15/with-wearable-tech-like-google-glass-human-behavior-is-now-a-design-problem/
Tougas, Renee. (2013, June 18). Technology is the New Literacy. Fimby. Online. Accessed June 18, 2013. http://fimby.tougas.net/technology-new-literacy
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 