Going into this course, I had no idea what to expect. Even with the syllabus, it told me nothing of what I would truly end up learning – and caring more about – in the course. Overall my course learning experience was incredibly valuable and intriguing. Seeing these topics under a more analytical and varied perspective was insightful and made me appreciate the topics even more.
I think my biggest takeaway from this class is how each trend in technology really inspired and blended into the next in unexpected ways, and how each impacted the world in a different way. For example, during the unit on radio, I learned that AM radios are slowly being phased out and even not include in some new cars. This at first seems like a relatively minor change, as more and more people are using Spotify and other internet radio providers for in-car entertainment and news, but AM radio is used in so many situations, notably emergencies, to convey info to people. And because so many people don’t own standalone radios, they have to rely on their cars for AM radio.
Additionally, each blog post was a thoughtful reflection and introspection of each unit. Each blog post prompt started as a basic question about the technology we reviewed, and ended with a far more in-depth understanding of the information we were presented. You could go on and on for hours about a subject, but being able to write about it, especially about a specific aspect not covered in class, and include your own perspective and ideas in that writing results in a more complex understanding of the content. Being asked about how x would apply in your own everyday experience (such as seeing how smart city tech would apply to Chico) creates a much better understanding of the overall impact of that technology, and how it could directly impact you over just seeing it in action.
The kickstart project was also an incredibly helpful aspect of the course. Taking one technology and formulating a product based on what we’ve learned is much more impactful. My group’s project took a technology that I personally have biases against, and formed a product that was genuinely (in my eyes) useful and fun without much ethical concern. Our product was an AI powered game enhancing product. It would take existing board games and create new ways to expand on the game, all without taking away the potential for the game companies themselves to expand on their game. The technology would be trained on existing materials and aim to expand rather than replace the source material. While it wasn’t extensively discussed during our design and development phase, I would like to believe that the product would be partnered with these games officially, and avoid the ethical dilemmas that many Ai systems have (getting permission to use the source material for the system).
It’s these sorts of lessons that I believe to be the most important that I learned. While learning about the technology itself (history, current applications, future iterations/applications) is important, realizing the real-life impact – policies and social issues, namely – is just as important, if not more important. It is through these trends that have taught me the most valuable information – how these technologies have a larger real-life impact beyond their initial applications and uses.
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