Sample Final Questions

The following questions were written by the students of TEC154 and Sam Rebelsky. At least three of them will appear on the final examination, although they may be slightly modified.

1. Choose one of the technologies covered by a visiting faculty member. Then, analyze the usefulness of that technology by adopting the point of view of one of the authors in the Teich book.

2. Apply Norman's perspectives on usability to the cylindrical phonograph that Professor Vetter demonstrated in class.

3. Choose one of the technologies discussed in the stewardship presentations from which a great deal of ethical issues arise (i.e. nanotechnology, biotechnology) and list some important advantages and disadvantages. If you had the option of utilizing this technology in the near future, would you and why?

4. Sam has told us that we should consider audiences when designing and critiquing technologies. Who are the audiences for digital photography (or some other "stewardship topic") and what different design criteria might you choose for each audience?

5. How does digital photography relate to other forms of art such as painting? In what ways can an artist display his imagination and creativity with digital photography compared to painting? How has digital photography caused progress in art?

6. Name two of the cultural problems the introduction of the steel axe had on the Yur Yurant. Explain how these problems affected the Yur Yurant. Do you think it was a positive technology evolution?

7. In The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman identifies several elements of design which can make technologies more user friendly. Discuss three of these characteristics, giving for each a technology which meets or does not meeet the requirements outlined by Norman.

8. On Wednesday, Sam reiterated the point that Big T and little t is more of a spectrum then two categories. Rank the following in terms of this spectrum and give evidence of why the ranking you make satisfies the criteria for big T and little t. This is an opinion question, there is no right answer, but rankings must reflect consistency with criteria.

9. Do you think it is possible for a technology to exist in our society that has strictly positive effects or strictly negative effects, or does every technology inherently compromise something or someone? Use at least one example technology to defend your argument.

10. If a new technology were developed that promised to end world hunger at the cost of polluting the environment, would you support its implementation on a worldwide scale?

11. A design firm has requested that you take natural mapping and “knowledge in the head” into consideration in designing the ideal shopping cart. The cart must take the following into consideration: a. cart must be light enough to be pushed by small and/or not strong people. b. cart must make totaling the grocery bill easy. c. must be designed in such a way that children riding in it cannot tip it over. d. cart must not scratch or dent cars it hits in the parking lot.

12. The following is a list of statements taken from readings. For each, identify the most likely source (Teich, Petroski, Norman, other readings).

13. In Do artificats have politics?, Landgon Winner suggests that bridges on Long Island were purposefuly designed to keep out the lower classes. Relate those claims about bridge design to what you learned about bridge design from Professor Case and the accompanying readings.

14. A theme of this class was that there are cyclic influences between technology and society: Technology changes society, society changes technology. List as many examples of you can of this cycle that we have discussed this semester.

15. A theme of this class was that there are cyclic influences between technology and society: Technology changes society, society changes technology. Does this theme apply to (fill in a technology, such as the printing press)? Why or why not?

16. Which of the technologies we discussed this semester do you think Wendell Berry would buy? Why?