I asked:
>> -- is not part of what technology (1) is about is control -- if only partial?
>>
>>(1) as an ensemble of artifactual elements in the ecology.
>
And Judy asked for more of an explanation.
Starting simply with control technology such as a thermostat, it allows us to control our built environments to within a few degrees through cooling and heating technology. Getting closer to the person, the layers of my clothing allow me to control the rate of cooling of my body, and my eye-glasses bend the paths of the photons before they enter my eye so that I may see more clearly. The window to my room controls both light and heat, allowing one to enter and exit without significant perturbation, and greatly reducing the flux of the other.
Becoming interpersonal, our conversation over the Internet spans great distances, and global communications technology helps us to harness space and time, so that our offices in New Brunswick and Cambridge are as if juxtaposed. The unmoderated form of xmca compells us to exhibit expansive and distributed controls of our conversations, however. The technology is not all controlling, but one element of a layer, a slice through our built and natural systems, with the appellation of 'control'.
Bill Barowy, Associate Professor
Lesley College
29 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-2790
Phone: 617-349-8168 / Fax: 617-349-8169
http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/wbarowy/Barowy.html
_______________________
"One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself
and watch yourself softly become the author of something beautiful."
[Norman Maclean in "A river runs through it."]
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