Some Summaries of Books that Relate to the New Information Technologies - Essay Example

Question 1 I tend to agree with Don Norman on the issue of breaking down the means to emotional appreciation. Norman argues that in order to assign values to something we need a affective component. We also require a cognitive component in order to assign meaning to something hence the need to break down the behavior and functionality of human beings in relation to good product design. Norman explains three aspects of product design in relation to human behavior. The first aspect is the visceral design, which aims at identifying whether we like the object, or not. This aspect looks at the affective responses such as emotions. Smell, sight, sound, feel, and many others can trigger these emotions. Behavioral design focuses mainly on the pleasure and effectiveness of use. For a customer, visceral response is jugged a product design as whether good or bad. A bad design is likely to lead customers to an escape syndrome. Good product will enhance productivity and hence more sales. Norman further explains that cognitive design deals with intellectualization and rationalization of choices [Don04]. The customers’ ability to understand a product in addition to pride of ownership, integration, and self-image of the product is enhanced by cognitive design. Norman asserts that affective reaction is cognitive driven which functions as a means of survival. Visceral design occurs naturally since they are genetically designed to occur hence unavoidable. A product designer considers this aspect in order to score highly in the current competitive market. If a product produces an odor it yields negative, affect which the emotions sense as dangerous. When a product matches the standards of the consumer, it produces a positive effect, which yields satisfaction to the consumer. The self-image of a product is most likely to yield pleasure to a consumer and hence the product will sell according to Norman. Balancing the three aspects of design is a major challenge to designers but if achieved, it provides satisfaction to consumers, which relates to high sales of the product. Question 2 iPod and philosophy contains 19 chapters which discusses the philosophy behind a digital iPod mobile device. The writer of this book critically discusses the effect of this devise on human relationships and their lives in general. I find chapter two and three very interesting. The two chapters discuss the changing trends and behavior of human beings with regard to iPods. The device has led to increased interconnection amongst people as the level of interaction is increasing in social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and many others. The device has played a major role in downplaying the sense of community. The traditional relationships are cut lose by this device and new communities are developed in the social sites. The device also affects both positively and negatively in relation to social skills. On the positive side, the device helps people in socializing hence improving their social skills. On the negative side, the device has deteriorated the language use. Varied forms of language develop in the social sites and this affects most of the young people who are attaching themselves to these sites. However, iPod has a great impact when it comes to race and relations. Racial interaction improves and increases with the level of interrelationship that exists in these sites. Many communities exist in these sites and many people tend to interact regardless of their race, tribe, or status. Wittkower is however concerned on the impact of this device on education [DEW08]. As already mentioned above, the device affects negatively in language use. The device also wastes a lot of student’s time since young people tend to spend most of their time there. In addition to this, the author I more concerned on the development of our memories. According to the writer, the device reduces our memory ability since most of the times people tend to refer to everything in the internet hence have lesser time for developing their cognitive skills. The author identifies the audio books, which can be found in the device. The author argues that audio books makes students lazy and plays a minimum role in improving their memory status. Reading books enhances visual memory and this enhances our memory. Question 3 Media plays a major role in enlightening people and bringing information closer to people regarding the happenings around the globe. Every nation respect and understand the importance of media and therefore spend millions of cash to ensure their progress in addition to ensuring that the freedom of media is respected. Practices and methods of creating television have been changing rapidly due to the rampant changes in technology. Methods of production have changed so much that it is difficult for viewers to notice the difference from one production to another. Dick Wolf a producer argues that entering the television and film industry now would result in much losses than the profits expected. His argument bases on the stiff competition the industry is currently facing and the rampant changes in technology that leaves most producers poor. The television and film industry is a sector booming with high rates of interests and profits made from sales from one country to another. Most of the countries that do not have enough resources for production of films and television programs end up paying huge chunks of money for these programs. Most of the media houses in the world engage in dirty businesses such as the sales of pornographic materials [Lia101]. Most of the producers attach themselves to affiliates who stream these programs to the customers in order to earn huge chunks of money. Most of the producers rush to join and hook up with the affiliate companies since they always end up making 100% gross margin by streaming different television programs and films. Various governments find it ideal to tax the media industry especially because it is involved in huge chunks of money. Some of this money is used in national broadcasting cooperation’s of different countries and this includes even the dirty money laundering that bemoans the media industry. Question 4 Fred Turner Steward Brand is a revolutionary who has turned the perception of a computer from a threat to a personal freedom that has brought lots of freedom in this emerging digital utopia. His major force towards attaining this dream was on the thought based on information being free. Brand in his revolutionary work has strived to interlink the information and technology by use of computer. He is acknowledged for forming a bible in form of a catalog. In addition to this, he later built a co-evolution quarterly and signal. Brand did not stop here but later went on to appear in the pages of wired which is termed as a propaganda organ of the digital age. His role in wired led to development of Siney Networks which made maps. With his perfect knowledge on computers, Brand helped the development of Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link (WELL). This is one of the first computer chat rooms to be developed. The site was so famous that it caught attention of Howard Rheingold who is also a dignitary and an ideologue when it comes to computing. Domestication of computer started with Turner. He also played a role in military research mostly through the airspace. Pilots and other cyber space users currently use his knowledge in airspace for protection and navigation. In 1972 article, Rolling Stone Brand introduces internet, which encouraged the emergence of microcomputers and computer networks, which he terms as tools of liberation. This development also fulfilled the long struggle for technological production and research. Edwin Black The history of computing cannot be complete without the story of International Business Machines and the German Adolf Hitler. IBM technology is the knowledge behind the Nazi genocide. Edwin Black plays an investigative role in IBM’s involvement with the Nazi regime [Edw01]. Conception of a computer began in 1880 with Herman Hollerith an employee who worked at a Census Bureau in US. After working for some time, he figured out a simple way in which information about people’s gender, nationality, and occupation could be stored in readable cards under standardized perforations. The cards were later to be stored and used as backup information for the census. In 1884, this prototype-counting machine was automated and used for conduction of the next census. Subsequent years saw development and progress of this machine named after his founder. Production of this machine increased massively and the company changed ownership from one person to the other and later landed on to the hand of German who now owned 90% of the company, which later changed its name to IBM. The company became involved with the Nazi regime when Watson the person who assumed the role of chief executive officer of the company immediately after the departure of the founding father. Watson offered to help the Nazi regime conduct its census after they developed difficulty in counting other ethnic groups such as the Jews and Gypsies. The Germans that enabled Watson to purchase land in Berlin and construct the first factory in Germany heavily funded conduction of the census in 1933. The census was encountering challenges due to the large numbers of slaves that Hitler was having in his country. German Jews faced a big problem immediately after the declaration by Hitler to protect German blood from the minority communities. Sexual intercourse with the minority groups was prohibited. IBM took advantage in this situation and developed cards that were used to monitor inmates. Every Nazi concentration camp used an IMB punch card that helped in checking the inmates. IBM improved their technology stepwise form identification, cataloging, and eventually selection in 1940 just before the World War II. The rate at which Hitler conducted his persecutions of the Jews puzzles many people. Black argues that the automization and cataloging of data by the IBM machines made identification and tracking of Jews very easy hence facilitating Hitler’s mission. The story of IMB and Holocaust is widely studied. Most historians wonder how Hitler identified the names and traced the history right from their ancestors to running of the railroads. IBM is also featured as having played deceitful roles in making huge profits from the Nazi government. From his investigations, Black argues that most of the IBM’s machines were never sold but leased with the aim of maintaining ownership and controlling the computing market. Isaacson, Walter Walter Isaacson is a renowned writer who is enjoying exclusive rights concerning the biography of Steve Jobs. Some of his previous biographies include the one of Albert Einstein. Walter takes us through the history of computing in relation to Steve Jobs contribution into the world of computing. Steve Jobs is widely remembered for his contribution at the Apple Incorporation. His namesake Steve Wozniak invented Apple I in 1976. After showing it to Jobs, the conclusion was to sell it [Wal11]. However, this idea did not materialize as the team of three later built an Apple computer in a garage which belonged to Jobs parents. In 1980, jobs created Apple Lisa a mouse driven with a graphical user interface. Later in 1984, Macintosh was introduced by Jobs to a very large audience. His temperament and characteristic made him resign from Apple after his counterpart Sculley managed to turn other staff and board members against Jobs. However, his dream in computing did not die as he quickly founded NeXT Incorporation. Jobs is quoted attributing that the duration out of apple made him more successful as he became more creative and inventive. Jobs NeXT station was technological with more strength on software development systems. NeXT company was able to revolutionized interpersonal computing and communications network. NeXT was later acquired by Apple Incorporation. Pixar a graphic company was also bought by Jobs in 1986. The company flourished by producing movies that hit in the box office. Most of NeXT technology found their way back to Apple in 1996 when Apple acquired NeXT. Jobs was back at Apple and immediately became the CEO. Jobs return to Apple led to significant sales. Amongst the developments was the Mac OS X. under the guidance of Jobs, the company produced iPod which led to massive sales due to digital iTunes music software. Jobs did not hesitate and introduced iPhones. References Don04: , (Norman, 2004), DEW08: , (Whittkower, 2008), Lia101: , (Evans, 2010), Edw01: , (Black, 2001), Wal11: , (Isaacson, 2011), Read More