Obsolete Technology Presentation Pre-Assignment Submission

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Obsolete Technology Presentation Pre-Assignment Submission The invention of the transistor is a revolutionary moment. Quite literally, transistors changed the way we live. As they emerged, howe... ver, another technology - the vacuum tube - was largely displaced. That’s really the way of things: when the new, better, more economical thing comes into play, the older thing becomes obsolete. Obsolescence, however, is not instantaneous. Even with a new technology like the transistor, the movement from discovery to development to manufacture can take years - if not decades - and even then there may be particular tasks the new technology does not handle as well as the old tech. Further, there is nostalgia and sentimentality that will see both people and institutions holding onto a technology well past its prime. Building off this story of obsolescence, your will be doing some research to identify an “obsolete” technology that you might want to investigate more fully for your first unit assignment. You’ll be turning in the following into D2L: 1. A one to two-page brief on an obsolete technology you would be interested in learning more about. The brief should include the following: a. The name of the technology and an image of that technology (you can find an image on a search engine). b. What did this technology do? What problem did it help solve? c. As close as you can figure, when was this technology invented? d. Who (person or company) invented that technology? There may be technologies where you cannot identify this. It’s ok to say “I have not yet found who the inventor is, but here are the places I’ve looked.” e. What is your experience with this older technology? f. What was the technology eventually replaced by and when? g. What is your experience with the newer technology? Below are some suggestions for how to choose a technology to research: 1. DON’T choose something like iPhone 4 vs the iPhone 5. Those are just different versions and the iPhone 4 is not obsolete, just older. 2. DO choose something like the overhead projector vs the video projector (you cannot use this example: pick something else). The movement from overheads to video projectors represents a real innovation and two very different technologies. 3. DON’T choose something like “donkeys pulling plows to tractors.” First and foremost, there are a LOT of steps between those two things. Second, you’re not going to be able to talk about who invented donkeys. 4. DO choose something like cassette tapes vs CDs (you CAN use this example). Again, they are different types of technology, but they solve related problems and they are close enough together in time for you to actually do some good comparison. Important note: The purpose of this assignment is to get you ready to work on your unit assignment. Doing it well will make the rest of the assignment much easier! You will submit this document to the D2L drop box. [Show More]

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