Our midsemester examination will be held on two days: Wednesday, 10 March
2010 and Friday, 12 March 2010.
- Wednesday's portion of the examination will focus on short, mostly factual,
questions about the readings and lectures. For example, you may be asked
to present an author's thesis or to link an author to a piece of his
or her writing.
- Friday's portion of the examination will take the form of an essay
in which you have the opportunity to apply the ideas from the
readings in a new context. For example, a question might present
a new technology and ask you to approach it from the perspective of
two or three of our authors. Similarly, a question might ask you to
compare and contrast two or three author.
Sample versions of each part of the exam will be distributed in class.
You may bring one page (8.5x11, double-sided) of hand-written notes to
each examination. You must turn in the notes with each part of the exam.
(You may photocopy your notes in advance if you wish to use the same
set for both parts.)
As you prepare for the examination and review session, I recommend that
you (1) summarize the important parts of each reading and lecture, (2)
identify commonalities between readings, and (3) review the questions
that you and your colleagues have asked on the various readings.
Further details follow.
1. Summarize Readings
For each of the following readings or presentations, identify (a)
the author's main point, in your words; (b) the author's main point,
in his or her own words; (c) two secondary points from the author; (d)
the author's definition of technology (implicit or explicit); and (e)
a question that author would recommend you ask about a new technology
that you are evaluating.
- Berry, Wendell (1990). Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer.
- Brown, John Seely and Duguid, Paul (2000). A Response to Bill Joy and
the Doom-and-Gloom Technofuturists.
- Cadmus, Robert R., Jr. (n.d.). The Physics of Musical Sounds.
- Florman, Samuel C. (1981). Technology and the Tragic View.
- Goodman, Paul (1969). Can Technology Be Humane?
- Joy, Bill (2000). Why the Future Doesn't Need Us.
- Lalonde, Gerald (2010). The Evolution of Writing. Class Presentation.
- Marx, Leo (1987). Does Improved Technology Mean Progress?
- McDermott, John (1969). Technology: The Opiate of the Intellectuals.
- Mesthene, Emmanuel G. (1969). The Role of Technology in Society.
- Petroski, Henry (1992). To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design.
- Petroski, Henry (1992a). Being Human. Chapter 1 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992b). Falling Down is Part of Growing Up. Chapter 2 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992c). Lessons From Play; Lessons From Life. Chapter 3 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992d). Engineering as Hypothesis. Chapter 4 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992e). Success is Foreseeing Failure. Chapter 5 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992f). Design is Getting From Here to There. Chapter 6 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992g). Design as Revision. Chapter 7 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992h). Accidents Waiting to Happen. Chapter 8 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992i). Safety in Numbers. Chapter 9 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992j). When Cracks become Breakthroughs. Chapter 10 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992k). Of Bus Frames and Knife Blades. Chapter 11 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992l). Interlude: The Success Story of the Crystal Palace. Chapter 12 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992m). The Ups and Downs of Bridges. Chapter 13 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992n). Forensic Engineering and Engineering Fiction. Chapter 14 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992o). From Slide RUle to Computer: Forgetting How It Used To Be Done. Chapter 15 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992p). Connoisseurs of Chaos. Chapter 16 of To Engineer is Human.
- Petroski, Henry (1992q). The Limits of Design. Chapter 17 of To Engineer is Human.
- Pool, Robert (1997). How Society Shapes Technology.
- Schumacher, E. F. (1973). Buddhist Economics.
- Sclove, Richard (1993). Technological Politics as if Democracy Really Mattered
- Sharp, L. (1952). Steel axes for stone age Australians. Human Organization, 11(1).
- Vetter, Roger (2010a). Instruments, Makers, and Musicians. Class presentation.
- Vetter, Roger (2010b). The Quest to Encode Sound. Class presentation.
- Washburn, S. L. (1960, September). Tools and human evolution. Scientific
American.
- Weinberg, Alvin M. (1996). Can Technology Replace Social Engineering?
- Whittaker, J. C. (1994a). Flintknapping: Basic principles. Chapter 2 of
Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools (pp. 11-21). Austin:
Univ. of Texas Press.
- Whittaker, J. C. (1994b). A Brief History of Flintknapping. In Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools (pp. 23-63). Austin:
Univ. of Texas Press.
- Whittaker, John (2010). The Evolution of Stone Tool Technology. Class
presentation.
- Winner, Langdon (1980). Do Artifacts Have Politics?
2. Identify Commonalities
As you have no doubt noted, many of our authors share common themes. For
example, a number of pieces speak to the relationship of technology and
democracy, or to the cycle of unintended consequences, in which a new
technology is needed to resolve the problems caused by a previous technology.
Identify at least five common themes and the authors who share those
themes. Note the differences between the ways the authors approach
each theme.
3. Review Questions
Scan through the questions on the readings that you and your colleagues
have provided. I am likely to choose at least one of the clarification
questions for the short answers part and and least one of the discussion
questions for the essay part.
Note: If you bring reasonable selections from the reading questions
to the review session, I will pick two small sets of questions (say, five
short questions and five essay questions) and will guarantee that at least
one of each set will be on the exam.
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