Learning Resources
Lesson
What is Technology?
The formal definition for technology is
- Technology is human innovation in action that involves the generation of knowledge and process to develop systems that solve problems and extend human capabilities...technology is how humans modify the world around them to meet their needs and wants or to solve practical problems (Foundation for the Atlantic Canada Technology Education Curriculum, 2001).
In simpler terms, technology is how we do things. It includes knowledge and skills, the resources we use (tools, materials, money and so on), and the processes and procedures we apply to do things. Writing, fixing your bike (and riding it), ironing your clothes, driving a car (or flying a plane), building a website, planning a big BBQ, and sharpening your skates are all technological activities.
The world of technology is the human-made world. Anything not naturally occurring in nature that exists in our world is a product of human technological activity. This includes clothes, buildings, toys, art, and music. Almost all plants grown by humans are modified in some way, either by genetic manipulation such as selective breeding, altering the growing environment (watering, adding fertilizers or pesticides), or processing after harvesting. Practically all food is a technological product produced with technological knowledge, resources, and processes.
Much of the general use of the word technology refers to computers and other electronic networked devices. It is these devices and the rapid changes they are bringing about that is the primary focus of public attention. Often that focus gets in the way of understanding the real issues, problems and opportunities.
This broader understanding of technology enables us to stop thinking of it as things (for example the latest computer or electronic gizmo), and enables us to start thinking of technology as a means of thinking/planning and doing things. Building the personal capability to think and act this way gives you a powerful way to deal with the world around you.
How is Technology Organized?
Technology can be organized in a number of ways. You could look how the tools and systems are used, how they are developed, who owns and controls them, government regulations affecting their use, resources used to develop and deploy them, or any of dozens of categories. We will look at a simple way to categorize technologies
- Informational systems such as those used for communications, management, and control
- Physical systems, such as those used for production, manufacturing, construction and exploration
- Biological systems, such as those used to improve human life, plants, or animals
Communications technologies are informational technologies. The primary purpose of communication technologies is to enable information to be effectively communicated from a sender to a receiver.
What is a Technological System?
A system is a collection of parts which can do something together that none of the parts could do independently. A TV remote control, for example, is made up of plastic buttons, a box with appropriate holes, electronic circuits with instructions for responding to button presses, an infrared transmitter, and batteries. Working as a system, the remote sends an instruction to the TV every time a button is pressed. Remove one part form the remote and it will not work.
Systems are made for a purpose (the above remote is made to control the TV). There is a simple model (below) which describes in very general terms how all systems work.
Figure Systems Model
Explanation
- Input is what you ask the system to do (for example turning a steering wheel is asking the car to move in that direction)
- Process is how the system does it (for example all the machinery and how it works to get the car to turn in the direction you wanted)
- Output is what the system does (for example turns in the direction you turned the steering wheel)
- Outcome is the consequence of what the system does (for example did you go where you wanted)
- Feedback is a means of adjusting the system if the outcome is not what you want. (for example, you turn the wheel more or less to adjust the amount of turn that the car makes)
Technology and Change
For most of human history technology changed very slowly. People used the same tools and resources in the same way, sometimes for centuries. The knowledge required remained fairly constant for long periods of time. All this began to change with the industrial revolution. The means of making things, the knowledge and skills required, and the things that got made all began to change. As time went on, the rate at which technologies changed began to increase. The rate of change is how long it takes for a particular way of doing things to change. This includes the methods, the tools and knowledge. Since the invention and widespread introduction of the computer, computer networks and the internet, the rate of technological change is increasing rapidly.
This increase in the rate of change means that people have to constantly learn new ways to do things, how to use new and more complex tools and systems, and in shorter periods of time. It is this ever increasing rate of change that causes most problems for people.
Technology and Communications
Communications, with the sole exception of normal face-to-face conversations between people, is technologically mediated. A very wide variety of technological devices, systems and methodologies are used. Communication technology extends the capabilities of human senses primarily through visual (sight) communications such as posters, drawings, art, video and multimedia and acoustical (sound) communication such as radio, speech, and television.
The rapid proliferation of ever newer and more innovative computer-based communications devices and systems gives people an often bewildering range of options. This course will explore some of those options.
Activity
Assigned activities
Part A
- Review the Overview for Unit 1 Project
- Complete Unit Project Part 1 Step 1
Part B
- Conduct a web search for definitions of technology
- Select several definitions, put them in document (Word, Notepad, ...) along with the web references, and save the document for later use in Unit Project Part 2
Test Yourself
There is no self test for this lesson.