So, I'll start off with a couple comments on Thursday's class...
While the opening slides in the deck were quite engaging, demonstrating how better systems and technology are needed to solve the problems of the world (yes, I'm purposely being over-dramatic), it was also a little over-simplified. Specifically, the comment about the empty containers (slide #10) is misleading, because it implies that these empty containers and wasted money are due to a lack of "systems, operations, [and] enterprises" (slide #8). The reality, of course, is much more complicated than a computer system that doesn't work -- it has to do with a trade deficit and foreign policy, i.e., that we're importing a heck of lot more than we're exporting. THAT's why we're shipping all these empty containers around. Maybe we need to get someone in China or India to design a better logistics software for that....
On another note, I think it's neat to see how material from my various classes overlap. I know that I'm not the only one in the room who was picturing Mark Bergen down on one knee when we were talking about customers and value.
There's also a lot of overlap at the moment with my PA 5590 class -- Arts, Cities and Economic Development with Ann Markusen of the Humph. My current reading (Bill Ivey's Arts, Inc.) for that class is all about how technology completely changed the arts scene in America, with the advent of recordings and photographs (not to mention the printing press many years earlier). These technological advances meant that there was a distinction between arts "participation" and "enjoyment," i.e., you didn't actually have to PRODUCE the art yourself -- you could read a book, look at a photograph of the Mona Lisa, watch a recording of a play or the broadcast of an opera, or listen to the recording of a symphony. One thing that I found especially interesting was that how the invention of photography paved the way for modern visual art. Arts no longer felt the need to be accurately representative -- a photo could do that -- so they were free to explore more abstract shapes and textures.
Hm. Maybe technology isn't quite as scary as I thought. But I think I'll still reserve judgement...
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I study vicariously through you. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteJoan - I'd be more than happy to send you a couple used textbooks...
ReplyDeleteOh, no, you're doing just fine. I'm getting a whole new education behind the scenes in the world of higher ed!
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