Wiki for Dr. McClurkens Courses - 325:questions

hist325--history_of_american_tech_culture--fall_2019

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-08-24T18:30:15+00:00

Week 1 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 2 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 3 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 4 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 5 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 6 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 7 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 8 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 9 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 10 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 11 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 12 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 13 Questions/Comments-325_19 Week 14 Questions/Comments-325_19

hist325--history_of_american_tech_culture--spring_2017

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-01-30T14:42:32+00:00

Week 1 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 2 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 3 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 4 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 5 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 6 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 7 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 8 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 9 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 10 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 11 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 12 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 13 Questions/Comments-325_17 Week 14 Questions/Comments-325_17

week_1_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-01-20T03:05:56+00:00

Pursell Reading As some have already stated, Pursell tells us that technological determinism is the idea that technology determines what shapes society. I agree with Anna in the fact that I believe that the consumer shapes the market and technology. While the versions of technology may vary, such as different versions of the smart phone, they all are trying to fix the same problem and fill the same need created by the consumer. Our ability of creative problem solving and innovation lead to a co…

week_1_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-14T02:17:37+00:00

Remember to include your name to claim your comments. Pursell Reading What is technology? (How does that definition (or at least the examples of it) change in different eras and places?) Technology has gone through many phases through the centuries from the railroad all the way down to what women did in the household. That caught my attention the most is that the technology that was discussed in

week_2_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-09-04T18:51:03+00:00

Readings from Pursell I enjoyed McGaw's view on technology and found it to be very interesting. She did a great job of returning to the question “What accounts for America's sudden, rapid, and comparatively successful early nineteenth century industrialization?(p.30)

week_2_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-14T02:19:24+00:00

Add a comment or question to one of the readings below. Readings from Pursell McGaw did a great job defining her ideas of technology. On page 22, she states “ we have given little thought to early modern technology or to farm technology in general. It suffices to say here that agricultural technology includes far more than machines, implements, and the knowledge of how to use them.

week_3_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-02-02T17:20:31+00:00

Overarching comments/observations/questions I find it is crucial to notice the ways that social inequalities and the development of industry modify each other. We notice in Pursell's chapter 2 that many of those who had rioted against the dams in New Hampshire were

week_3_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-14T02:30:14+00:00

Overarching comments/observations/questions Steinberg, “Dam-breaking in the 19th-Century Merrimack Valley” Theodore L. Steinberg’s article Dam-breaking in the 19th-century Merrimack Valley: Water, Social Conflict, and the Waltham-Lowell Mills discusses an example of

week_4_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-09-17T16:45:05+00:00

Susan Danly, “RR in American Art” What is Danly's argument? Danly seems to form an argument around landscape paintings of areas the railroads were being built, and of paintings depicting the negative effects of the railroads' construction. Her focus was on the beautiful, vast prairies and how devastating the effects of the railroads were on the environment, animals, and Native Americans. Repeatedly through different artists, she cites incidents with Native Americans attacking the railways and …

week_4_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-14T02:33:37+00:00

Susan Danly, “RR in American Art” What is Danly's argument? How were railroads represented in American art? Railroads are represented as beacons of technological advancement that pierce through the untamed wilderness bringing civilization into the natural world, not in an overbearing and dominating way but, in a way that brings man and machine into harmony with nature. The railroads always seem to merge with the landscape rather than disrupt them allowing the natural beauty to remain the cent…

week_5_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-02-16T21:01:06+00:00

Virginia Penny – Watchmaking The most interesting part about this article was the American employers' different defenses for paying women watchmakers less than male watchmakers. “Men earn about double the wages of women, because, first, they do more difficult work, are more ingenious, more thoughtful and contriving, more reliant on themselves in matters of mechanics, are stronger, and therefore worth more, though not perhaps double, as an average; second, because it is the custom to pay women l…

week_5_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-14T02:50:44+00:00

Virginia Penny – Watchmaking Who was Virginia Penny? “The principal objection to employing women is that they are very apt to marry just as they become skillful enough to be reliable, therefore, what does not require a long apprenticeship or a great expense to learn, is most desirable for them. A good degree of intelligence is indispensable. The more, of course, the better.”

week_6_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-02-23T15:20:23+00:00

Nye, 29-132, 138-142, 182-184, 287-291, 304-307, 314-317, 322-338 Chapter 1, Great White Way “For such towns lighting was more than a mere functional necessity or a convenience; it emerged as a glamorous symbol of progress and cultural advancement.” (54) I believe that this quote itself

week_6_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-21T16:18:17+00:00

Nye, 29-132, 138-142, 182-184, 287-291, 304-307, 314-317, 322-338 Chapter 2, Great White Way Nye’s chapter “The Great White Way” discusses the early days of electric lights, from their theatrical antecedents to their use as spectacle in celebration and advertisement.

week_9_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-10-23T20:15:26+00:00

Only one post needed this week.--JM Geoffrey Bennett, “Colour Comes to All,” The Story of Popular Photography “Colour Comes to All,” was a very interesting read. When Bennett was explaining the origins of color photography, his remarks really stood out to me.

week_9_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-10-24T08:55:19+00:00

Only one post needed this week.--JM Geoffrey Bennett, “Colour Comes to All,” The Story of Popular Photography Geoffrey Bennett traces over a century of history of popular photography from the earliest days of color in the mid-late 19th-century to the emergence of amateur and even “snapshot” photographers in the 1980s. When color photography was first developed in the mid-19th-century, it required the use of three color filters in order to produce a color photograph. The process was expensive …

week_10_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-10-30T22:30:11+00:00

Readings from Smith and Clancy Referring to: “How Electricity Effects Economy in the Home and Adds to the Happiness of the Family (Prizewinning Essay 1917)” This brief essay is a clear example of promotional literature that urges readers of the necessity to install electric lighting within the household.

week_10_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-22T00:54:29+00:00

Readings from Smith and Clancy In their chapter “Toys Were Us: Invention and Technological Acculturation in Hobbyist Worlds, 1900-1940,” Smith and Clancey argues that in the days of modern technical innovation and education, that boys and men were given a distinct advantage in the field not only in terms of college education, but also, in terms of play and casual exploration. This advantage is evident in a number of magazines and articles from the turn of the 20th-century, as young boys were en…

week_11_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-07T02:15:50+00:00

Pursell Reading “The film superimposes the genie onto reverse footage of an atomic explosion, so that the bomb appears to implode harmlessly back into the lamp.” (220) This quote shows how Disney was trying to show the public that though the atomic bomb created mass destruction it could also be harnessed for good in helping the public by stating “Atomic power was thus domesticated – in the form of a powerful but docile servant.” (220) -Jessie Cavolt

week_11_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-21T12:13:57+00:00

Pursell Reading Michael Smith writes about the social and political origins of the “atomic age” that permeated postwar American culture. As nuclear energy was seen as both a diplomatic advantage and potentially beneficial source of energy, the US government, following the patterns set in the Manhattan Project, wanted to develop programs to establish and promote civilian nuclear energy. In the early stages of development, questions arose from scientists and the public ranging from as simple as “…

week_12_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-13T20:56:56+00:00

Nye, 238-286, “A Clean, Well-lighted Hearth” Do you ever sit back and think to yourself, “I wonder how this tradition originated or when did this become a thing in society?” Essentially why do we do what we do? While the advantageous of electricity are blatantly obvious: it is safer than gas, cleaner than gas, and does not consume oxygen (243), lighting began to take a life of its own for unpractical uses as well.

week_12_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-14T15:33:15+00:00

Nye, 238-286, “A Clean, Well-lighted Hearth” In about 1910, Westinghouse and General Electric dominated the electrical equipment industry (261). However, prior to this date they had been so focused on large companies and large contracts.Smaller domestic contracts were seen at the time as less profitable than those large company contracts. Due to this thought process, they missed out on the domestic market and smaller manufacturers started to

week_13_questions_comments-325_17

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-04-20T13:09:55+00:00

Pursell, 324-348 -- Andrew Ross, "Hacking Away at the Counterculture" “You can’t trust your best friends software any more than you can trust his or her bodily fluids (326).” While it might seem dramatic to compare a computer virus to AIDS, I think this quote encompasses this fine line between reality and imitation that we discussed in class when we talked about plastics. This quote shows a major culture shift in America where an invasion of a device one processed was parallel to an invasion of…

week_13_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-21T14:26:24+00:00

Pursell, 324-348 -- Andrew Ross, "Hacking Away at the Counterculture" In this reading, the author elaborates on his own concept that is technoliteracy. According to the text, technoliteracy is “to make a historical opportunity out of a historical necessity.

week_14_questions_comments-325_19

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-12-10T13:09:43+00:00

Extra Credit Memes - Glynnis Farleigh -Glynnis -Claire Starke - Haley Denehy - Erika Mabry - Jack Sweetak -Reilly Miller -- Erin Madden - Dillyn Scott -- K. Eastridge -- John Liberty - Kevin Bach -Meghan McDonagh - Nick Bass