Obsolete & Emerging Technologies at River Springs Charter School

PART 1 (15 min)
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PART 2 - Future Speculations (6 min)

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Addressing the Global Digital Divide

Retrieved from
http://wiki.uiowa.edu/display/edtech/Page+2+-+Who+is+affected+by+Digital+Divide


As a leader in educational technology, what can you do to help make emerging technologies valuable to others, while maintaining gender, cultural, and socioeconomic sensitivity?

One can see from the global illustration that Africa, Asia, and South America are behind other continents in technology. We also have a digital divide in the US. In 2002, only 9% of families with the income of 30,000s had access to the internet where students could complete homework assignments. According to a Dr. David Thornburg 2009 vodcast, there is only 25% penetration of computers in US.

The key to successful implementation of technology and closing the digital gap has to be training, application guidance (instruction), and technical support. According to Soloway (2009), the newer the technology, the greater the support that is needed, which can be very costly and is usually not provided in the educational environment. A classic example is Linux, a free operating system that is not well supported and therefore, not well adapted either.

Globally, introducing technologies into cultures with little technology requires sensitivity and planning upfront to evaluate best applications of the technology for that culture and to provide necessary training. Even if one has good intentions, ignoring cultural issues can be detrimental to the progress of an area.

Soloway (2009) also makes the point in his audio cast that the cell phone may be the key to leveling the playing field, with billions of cell phones in use and the cost constantly going down.

It becomes a viscous cycle when economics makes advances in technology prohibitive, as illustrated by the following diagram (retrieved from http://mccartermobile-21cq.blogspot.com/2010/06/digital-divide.html)

Red Queens and Increasing Returns

• When you decided to obtain a DVD for your science fiction assignment in Module 4, where did you go to find a movie based on a Philip K. Dick book? Did you rent or purchase a DVD, or did you view it digitally on your computer using Netflix or a similar vendor of video on demand?

Netflix does not have Minority Report with Instant Viewing privileges (yet) so I could have ordered it for delivery from Netflix (takes about 2-3 days) or I would have rented it at a Red Box for $1. However, I chose Minority Report because it is one of my favorites and I had already purchased a DVD copy when it was released in 2002.

• Is the current competition between DVDs and video on demand an example of increasing returns or Red Queens? Justify your response with sound reasoning and specific examples.

At first I thought video on demand was passing DVDs and eventually making them obsolete. However, the price is still higher for video on demand that it is for Netflix or for Red Box rental of DVDs. The video on demand (home.vod.com) that was posted online offered a 1000 minutes subscription for $86. That equates to about 9 videos averaging $10 each. I can rent the DVD at Red Box for $1 each. So now I am thinking they are Red Queens until video streaming becomes less costly or free. If that happens, then these would not be considered to be equivalent technologies that are constantly being updated, and DVDs would be replaced by video on demand, which meets the 4 main criteria (Anderson, 2004 TedTalk) as the price comes down, market share increases, displaces DVDs, and is becoming ubiquitous. As economics favors the free or less costly video on demand, we would see increasing returns to the exclusion or obsolescence of DVDs. It would be the case of a cheaper product. The DVDs will be left behind and replaced. Moore’s law predicts this will probably happen in the near future as technology exponentially grows.
Here is the link to the Anderson 2004 TedTalk:http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/chris_anderson_of_wired_on_tech_s_long_tail.html


• Where do you think DVDs and video on demand are on the four criteria of McLuhan’s tetrad?

Video on Demand may eventually replace and make obsolete DVDs (if it becomes ubiquitous and the price goes close to free) which replaced and made obsolete the VHS.