Crystal Clear

Technopoly is a state of culture and of the mind and “consists in the deification of technology, which means that the culture seeks its authorization in technology.” (p. 71, Technopoly)

Neil Postman calls us to examine technology, new and old; to look at why each is or was developed and to reflect on what has changed because of it. Too often, he says, new technologies are not critiqued because we believe any techological progress is good, necessary, and inevitable.

But what have we lost in the process? Much, says Postman. He mentions information overload so that unless one is an expert, there can hardly be a proper critique of ideas. With the information overload then comes a need for more control of information which leads to more and more bureaucracy. Medical diagnosis become trusting machines over observation and disregards mental or emotional states as factors in health. He mentions computers as furthering the reduction of humans to machines with yes or no responses. Even education, Postman argues, allows irrelevant technologies to change learning, such as IQ tests which do little to grade real intelligence but rather pick out those whose thought patterns follow a technological line of reasoning. He critiques polls and statistics for displacing the real issues or answers to real questions, especially in politics.

Interestingly, the World Wide Web gained its size and importance after this book was written. The Internet and the web creates other questions, specifically that we haven’t asked what the Internet meant or what it is changing and whether we should let it make those changes or not. Yet the Internet also has allowed for computers to connect people and create community, in opposition to reducing people to machines.

The picture Postman paints of a loss of culture and increase in bureaucracy without any thought to control the rapid changes technology forces is not very optimistic. He can only envision an education system that teaches history of all subjects, including technology, as a way to view the larger picture of the world, and the ascent of humanity in it, as a way to stop this slide. History of science and art and literature can help to see what has changed because of technology additions. Postman wants critical thinking teachers to help students think critically about the world.

But without a moral or religious framework how can we say something is right or wrong? Would Postman use the ascent of humanity to provide the moral backing for value statements?

The modern world with its dichotomy that splits science from religion is breaking down as we move further into post-modernity. I’m not convinced the ascent of humanity can bring about the cohesion that has been lost. Perhaps something more wholistic, with religion and science integrated could provide a balanced framework to dethrone technology.

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You may or may not have heard about DRM (Digital Rights Management). It has been in the news in various places affecting various areas. Most often it comes up as a concern to protect copyright and fight piracy. But is also came up when Sony secretly installed a rootkit in an attempt to protect content using DRM. It also came up talking about trusted computing and protecting your own information using an Adobe offering. If Adobe or another program vendor hold the keys to your files, are you really in control of your information?

There are many red flags and concerns about DRM, and also lots of conspiracy theories. But before we dismiss the entire issue as being blown out of proportion, I’d suggest some caution:

1. Computer chips are being made with DRM embedded in their construction, so this is something we will all encounter this at some point.
2. Educate yourself and read about DRM and other license agreements so that you know what you are agreeing to, especially if it is related to your own content. Sony got caught, so do not assume everyone has your best interest at heart.
3. Ask your IT manager to take care of your company’s data and not to allow the program vendor to do so. It is your information so make sure you have a choice.

This is enough of an issue that librarians are speaking out about their concerns regarding DRM.

Take time to be aware of the issues. Make sure that Digital Rights Management is not about taking rights away.

Update (April 10, 2006): Excellent article: The big DRM mistake

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I wrote a brief article for News Forge on a meeting in Hamilton last week. They took out some of the colour: I listed a bunch of jokes that were told, but the main message is there: “Votes trump money.”

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There is always more out there, isn’t there? I’ve been using Linux and Open Source products since 1998, and yet the number of Open Source projects continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Sourceforge lists over 100,000 projects (not all are active or usable) and Freshmeat has close to 40,000 (most are GPL). If there is a program you want, you’ll probably find it there, for your operating system, and it will most likely be free to use.

Lately, I’ve been hearing of other projects that used to be proprietary, and now are being open sourced. These are production ready, in use projects. For example:

• Silk, a collaboration tool by Akiva in the same arena as IBM’s Workforce or Microsoft’s Sharepoint. Read about their reasoning in this newsforge article.
• Autodesk released their MapServer Enterprise as open source. For more, read their press release.
• Xara X says it is the world’s fastest and the most versatile graphics software, and was recently open sources by Xara, a UK firm.
• (older release) Eclipse is a powerful integrated development environment (IDE) for software developers. It was released open source by IBM in 2001. Since then it has grown massively in features and use.

So with 140K of projects to sort through what do you do? How do you find out which ones to use?

If you have time, high speed Internet, and a computer for testing, try some out yourself. Look for reviews on how well it performs and the feature sets.

You can also try a consulting company to do the work for you and help you find what you need. Guided Vision is one of many that can help you with this.

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I have a cousin with Cerebral Palsy. She can’t walk or write, and is mostly blind. But, she’s finishing university, so she needs a computer.

The Open Document (ODF) “debate” going on in Massachusetts right now is centering on accessbility, namely that the programs that can write ODF (OpenOffice.org [OOo], KOffice, etc.) do not have all the features that are needed by those with various disabilities. Some of these features are OS dependent, so OOo on Windows might have a feature, but in Linux it would be missing, while others are program depenedent, so OOo might be lacking. See Peter Korn’s indepth analysis for more details.

This is an important issue for all of us. I don’t think twice about using my computer to read newspapers, write letters and papers, read and send email, make purchases online, instant message others, etc. But could I do that if I couldn’t see? What about if I couldn’t type?

How can Open Source offerings help? Many of them are already well on there way, from screen readers to visual aids to voice recognitions. But people with disabilities are the best way to test and ask for improvements, maybe even to help code! (See a mailing list on issues for those with visual impairments)

Developers need to incorporate these libraries and helps into the programs we write. On the web, our sites need to make sense when read by a screen reader, etc. No surprise, W3 already has guidelines, now we just have to follow them!

Two closing thoughts:

1. Many sites use an image that contains letters and numbers that have to be typed in to complete a transaction or log in (this is supposed to discourage script writers). What if you can’t see the screen? That letter / number information won’t be part of the code as that would defeat the purpose.

2. Microsoft is outspoken on behalf of those with disabilities to point out the shortcomings of ODF programs with respect to accessibility. Visual Studio, their flagship product to produce .NET and ASP web applications produces very inaccessible HTML code.

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I wrote a report on a recent Open Source Symposium I attended, and News Forge just posted it! Read my report.

They did some editing (of course) but on the whole I like it. It’s funny how after writing and editing something, by the time it gets posted, it seems not so exciting anymore.

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