Unofficial Technology

Red Rock Canyon Lake Originally uploaded by Judi Smith.

Paul and I just returned from a trip to Colorado Springs. While we were there, we hiked in the newly opened Red Rock Canyon state park.

We were there on a Wednesday afternoon. It was quiet, just the sounds of our footsteps on the path. While there were others in the park, we didn’t really see or hear them. It was a wonderful time of solitude shared with good friends – a rare and precious time.

One of the most amazing things was to be able to take photographs of vast landscapes where there are no visible man-made objects.

While sharing my enjoyment of nature, I am prompted to think the convergence of technology that allows me to effortlessly share my thoughts with potentially millions of people around the globe. The ability to bring to public view some beautiful landscapes of the West, the ability to publish words and photos that are all just bits in their original form is radically changing the world for the better even as you read these words. There are new ideas, new forms of collaboration that are changing the way we think about how we live our lives.

Apple has certainly given a great deal of thought to this new digital life and its implications. The iLife suite of software works together seamlessly to accomplish what I am using several pieces of software cobbled together to do. Kudos to Apple for their forethought.

However, I do agree with Dave Cormier of the University of Prince Edward Island, one of the hosts of the Ed Tech Talk Show webcasts (http://edtechtalk.com/) – computer based applications are so 20th century. The browser-based application that is device independent will be the wave of the future. By using several applications I can publish from anywhere on any computer and almost any device. As software converges even more, we are seeing the rise of social networking software that will do all of what I am using two or three separate web applications to do. For example, MySpace, allows users to share photos, blog, participate in chats and discussions all from one code base.

MIT posited in January of ‘05 that a $100 laptop would help bridge the digital divide. However, without the infrastructure to make that laptop part of the ever flattening world, the laptop itself will accomplish very little.

What makes technology so powerful is the ability that it provides for unrestricted information. My thoughts, your thoughts, everyone’s collective wisdom searchable and available at the click of a mouse.