TEC154 2010S, Class 25: Feminist Perspectives

Overview:
* Administrative Stuff
  * About the grading of the midsemester exam
  * About the summary grades
  * Email feedback on questions.  Is it helpful?
  * "The Paper"
* Background
  * What is a feminist approach?
  * How do the authors define technology?
  * What are the authors' primary theses?
* Open discussion.

Admin:
* Reading for Wednesday: Dawe's "Desperately Seeking Simplicity".
* EC for today's Disability Studies movie: Read Me Differently 
  (7 p.m. in ARH 302).
  * There's also a talk by the filmmaker, Sarah Entine '94, at 4:15 in JRC 101.
* EC for Tuesday's Disability Studies/CS talk: 
  A real grand challenge: Designing technologies for college students with disabilities
  (4:30 in Noyce 3821)
* EC for Wednesday's Disability Studies talk: 
  Does this Device Make Me Look Handicapped? 
  (4:15 in JRC 101).
* EC for Thursday's CS Extra: Teaching with Clickers 
  (4:30 in Science 3821).
* No EC for Tuesday's Campus Planning meeting.  But hear what they're
  thinking about doing to your campus.
* EC for Friday's Drag Show
  * But please drink responsibly

* Administrative Stuff
  * About the grading of the midsemester exam
    Short questions graded out of 5 points
    Long questions
    * Five main issues
      * Thesis: Interesting, clear, ... (10)
      * Grammar (5)
      * Outline (5)
      * Structure of the argument / Flow / Interesting (10)
      * Sources (20)
    * Grade on an A-F scale
    * Convert to percentages generously
      A: 100
      B: 90
      C: 80
      D: 70
      F: 60
      X: 20
  * About the summary grades
    Readings: 20%
    Participation: 10%
    Midsem: 20%
    --
    Paper + Presentation: 20%
    Final: 20%
    Edit: 10%
  * "The Paper"
  * Email feedback on questions.  Is it helpful?
---

"There is thus set up a tension between the need to control technology 
and our wish to preserve our values, which leads some people to conclude
that technology is inherently inimical to human values."

Here, Mesthene is talking about the dichotomy between the concept of
"laissez innover" and government regulation of technology.  He says that 
the tension that emerges between government control and the intrinsic
democratic values of "freedom", etc. often leads people to assume that
because it needs to be controlled, it must be bad for us.  The implications
of this are that technology cannot be used to the fullest potential and
is misunderstood.