1. what did you find (articulate the answers in your own words)

1.1. interesting about the article?


I thought the examples he used to illustrate these specialized, reliable, transparent technologies were good. It’s true that we don’t really think about the “waternet.” We don’t “use the indoor plumbing” the way we “use the internet,” we just wash our hands or flush a toilet..


1.2. not interesting about the article?


It’s psuedoscientific veneer; his wrong graphs and fake equations..


2. what do you consider the main message of the article?


Specialized tools and specialized people are more useful than generalists. More effort needs to be spent creating new special-purpose tools and specialized interfaces rather than engineering new applications for general purpose computers.


3. Please comment on the following claim: “Despite the increasing reliance on technology in our society, in my view, the key to designing a different future is to focus less on technology and engineering, and far more on the humanities and the design arts.”


It might be read to say that technology is seducing us away the things that enable us to design a different future.


3.1. agree / disagree?


hmm. Agree, I s’pose.


3.2. which are the personal consequences which you draw from this statement?


Every day from now on I plan to focus less on technology and engineering, and far more on the humanities and the design arts.


3.3. are the educational programs you are involved addressing this claim?


Certainly. In this class we have already been exposed to several systems designed with the problem domain and a great deal of knowledge from “the humanities and design arts” first in mind.


4. Please comment on the following claim: “Given the much discussed constraints on human ability, how can we expect an individual to maintain the requisite specialist knowledge in their technological discipline, while at the same time have the needed competence in industrial design, sociology, anthropology, psychology, etc., which this essay implies are required to do one’s job?”



There is so much specific knowledge in each of countless domains that no one could ever master more than a tiny fraction of it. Being a generalist today doesn’t mean the same thing it did during the renaissance.


4.1. agree / disagree?


It’s a question.


4.2. which are the personal consequences which you draw from this statement?


I wonder how my specialist technological computer science degree and my more general sociology degree could have been more integrated.


4.3. are the educational programs you are involved addressing this claim?


Yes. I have a mix of CS classes and general interest classes right now.


5. Do you feel that the “Design, Learning, and Collaboration” course addresses these two claims?


Yes. see 3.3.