Assignment
Imagine the dynamics of an emerging technology.
First, pick a current emerging high technology trend (innovation, invention, or gadget) that would utilize some new application of knowledge or scientific discovery. Then discuss, using your own opinion, what the ultimate uses of that technology might be? How will the impact of that technology affect civilization and life as we know it? What differences will it make? How might the evolution of that technology change social, political, and economic conditions? What beneficial effects or harmful effects will result? Look into the future and imagine the changes that might result from the use of that new technology.
This assignment is in the Short Essay Format. Be sure to include reasons and facts as required to support your answer, but also make sure that you incorporate your opinion. Total length of this assignment needs to be a minimum of 2 full pages; maximum of 4 pages. Use MS Word or its equivalent and convert to Adobe Acrobat (pdf) and submit it via Canvas.
Background:
The "computer revolution" is here. The changes these machines are bringing to society are profound, if not revolutionary. Moreover, like many previous revolutions, the computer revolution is happening very quickly. The computer as defined today did not exist in 1950. Before World War II, the word computer meant a human being who worked at a desk with a calculating machine, or something built by a physics professor to solve a particular problem, used once or twice, and then retired to a basement storeroom. Modern computers -- machines that do a wide variety of things, many having little to do with mathematics or physics -- emerged after World War II from the work of a dozen or so individuals in England, Germany, and the United States. The "revolution," however one may define it, began only when their work became better known and appreciated.
These perceptions, which lay behind the widely held belief that computers would never find more than a limited (though important) market in the industrialized world, came mainly from looking at the new invention strictly in the context of what it was replacing: calculating machines and their human operators. That context was what limited the pioneers' vision.
Whenever a new technology is born, few see its ultimate place in society. The inventors of radio did not foresee its use for broadcasting entertainment, sports, and news; they saw it as a telegraph without wires. The early builders of automobiles did not see an age of "automobiles"; they saw a "horseless carriage." Likewise, the computer's inventors perceived its role in future society in terms of the functions it was specifically replacing in contemporary society. The predictions that they made about potential applications for the new invention had to come from the context of "computing" that they knew. Though they recognized the electronic computer's novelty, they did not see how it would permit operations fundamentally different from those performed by human computers.
Formatting:
Text Size: All of the text in this assignment needs to be set in 12-point size. Please resist the temptation to mix and match point sizes. If you doubt your applications intentions, just select all of your text and insure that it is in 12-point size.
Double Spacing: For this class select all of your text and set it for double spacing. This includes the name block, title and body of your work. This allows space for marking up or making notes while I am reviewing what you have written.
Margins: One-inch margins mean one (1") on all sides. The only text that ends up on the outside of the one-inch margin is the page number.
Name Block: Place the name block in the upper right corner of the page. In this class, the name block should only be on the first page. Put your name first, then the class title and then the date.
Title: All assignments have a title. Place the title just below the name block. The title for thisassignment is "Project 2". You may add the technology you selected to the title, i.e. "Project 2 - The Tractor Beam"
Spelling/Grammar Checking: Remember to do your spelling and grammar checking before turning in your assignments. When doing the spelling/grammar checking keep in mind that some words such as mush and must, woods and words, or there and their, will not be caught by either check. To correct these problems, you will need to proofread your work. I proofread a hardcopy as my last step.
Paragraphs: The first word of the first sentence in a paragraph needs to be indented. At the end of a paragraph, do notinsert an extra blank line. The indentation serves as the visual clue that there is a new paragraph.
Page Numbers: Any homework that has more than one page, needs to have page numbers on it. Please place your page numbers on the bottom of the page. In MS Word, use the footer selection and place the page number in the bottomcenter or at the bottom right of the page.
Short Essay Format
Short essay format is a format that requires at least two paragraphs for each answer. Please remember that a paragraph is not just one, two, or three sentences in length.