Technology is not an endless circuit of material things flowing out of inventions, tools, and laboratories into a life, it is the very fabric of the life we are living.

A study of any tool and the techniques we acquire to use them --thus technical understanding-- begins with as story.

Steam Engine above

Oliver Evan's invention "Oruktor Amphibolis," in Philadelphia, 1798.

Component sketch of a double acting steam engine

"It is a complex story that scientists are now constructing out of contributions (of many specialists)....The story hopes to explain how human beings came to have tools and the significance of that development. But there are many ways to explaining this."

Carroll Pursell, White Heat. p. 29.

Where are we going next?

• Week One: the story of Thamus

• Week Two: Pursell question and the story of Prometheus

• Week Three:

• Week Four:

Weeks

CORE:

Clarify | Organize | Reflect | Examine

Authors: a brief index of technology authorities and writers used, or quoted and foot noted on this web site.

Technology index landscape index words index map index photograph index

Dictionary | Vocabulary | Advanced Vocabulary | Words | fact vs fiction | Rare words | theme vs thesis | antonyms | dialectic | obscure words

Indexes: | Science | Population | Genetics | Global Warming | Nature | Darwin | Technology | Site Analysis | Brief | Cases

Clarify

Technology is any sufficient knowledge of materials necessary to assemble or put things together in order to achieve a desired outcome.

What do we mean specifically by technology?

How is technology defined exactly?

When were important past periods of technical changes ?

Web of tools, techniques and related inventions.

Defining technical complexes.

Nano technology and the coming revolution.

The necessary dialog to make anything work well.

How is it technology has three sides and not just two?

Tools and their relation to instruments, music and architecture.

How pervasive is the widespread influence of automated technology?

Overview

Clarify | Organize | Reflect | Examine

Where are we going next?

Organize

Pursell on the pervasiveness of organization.

How complicated is technology?

Three facets or aspects of tools.

Where do we find technological complexes?

How could tools be related to architecture and music?

What is the best way to conceptualize technical changes in the past?

When did key inventions occur?

Is time really a technological creation or technical illusion?

Richard Arkwright and textiles.

The steam revolution in mechanization.

Technology as art

What is the meaning we discover in technology?

Railways as a prototype in creating our automated reality.

Pursell's analytical methods.

Pursell on the pervasiveness of organization.

Clarify | Organize | Reflect | Examine

Where are we going next?

Reflect

Reflection, steps to thinking twice about first impressions.

Two Cultures.

Our beliefs about inventions.

What is essential to realize & know when analyzing technology?

What is the clash of values created by our constant reliance on technology?

How many different ways does technology influence people and society?

A nearly incomprehensible world we inhabit?

What are Kranzberg's Laws concerning technological change?

How does technology change ?

Why is technical change not an advance?

What sort of pervasive influence does contemporary technology display?

Reflection, steps to.

Clarify | Organize | Reflect | Examine

Where are we going next?

Examine & evaluate

Critics of technology.

Technology is not always the apparent material objects we use.

The measures of modernity in technology.

What is modern man searching for?

An historian of technology says it ain' t so.

Invisible aspects of technology.

Technology upsets the status quo & disturbs the existing order!

Technical confrontation with our own humanity.

The ongoing and coming technological revolutions.

Evaluating the evidence about automation.

The challenges of global climate chaos.

Population and the "technical fix."

When things break down!

Broken defenses

Robots and robotics: filling the surrogate spaces.

Irony of automation with respect to gender equity.

The challenges of modern automation

Clarify | Organize | Reflect | Examine

Where are we going next?

Basic information for the class.

Technology index landscape index words index map index photograph index

Critical links for all my courses Navigating this site.

My Schedule

Where to start with technology?

A complete synopsis or summary of the class on one site: view this.

Vocabulary one of many pages devoted to words you need to know.

Metaphors are crucial to use and interpret.

methods are the means we have to test our assumptions.

A new grammar for our experiences may be necessary to develop.

Time periods in the history of technology.

Material to consider if you want to do really well.

Tips to surviving in the course.

Interviews
Internet and research methods

Clarify | Organize | Reflect | Examine

When writing, 4 things to always consider | Writing Criteria: listed as a form for | Free writing

Dictionary | Vocabulary | Advanced Vocabulary | Words | fact vs fiction | Rare words | theme vs thesis | antonyms | dialectic | obscure words

Indexes: | Science | Population | Genetics | Global Warming | Nature | Darwin | Technology | Site Analysis | Brief | Cases

Drop by the office if you have questions or concerns.

Rollins College

1000 Holt Avenue.

Winter Park, Fl. 32751

Joseph Siry, Ph.D.

Where are we going next?

Foreign Press a sampling.

landscape index words index photograph index

American Academy for the Advancement of Science, AAAS: Atlas.

American Museum of Natural History (New York)

Boston Athenaeum

Inside the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA.

Smithsonian Institution: Washington D.C., science and technology page.

US Government on the web.

US Geological Survey, USGS.

University of California, Library.

University of Texas, Library.

National Public Radio, NPR.

New York Public Library.

Population Reference Bureau,

Research Facilities in Museums on the web.

Encyclopedia Britannica.

MET Office: Hadley Climate Centre in UK has recent press releases.

Environmental topics portal for the web.

US Census Bureau (decennial census data)

World Resources Institute, WRI

Guide to some reliable sites.

Search the Internet an easy way

	Weekly focus page
	Tulips as commercial investment tools?
	Tools of Toil: what to read.
	Tools are historical building blocks of technology.
Critics say that technology can be understood if tools have three facets.
Tools used in both Music and Architecture led to mechanization and automation.
Tools and the study of technology require us to reflect on the power of instruments,