A Viewer's Guide for Connections: Technology and Change
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DOCUMENT RESUME RD 182 213 - SO 62 266 AUTHOR Munshi, Kiki Skagen;Scheiber, Jane L. TITIE A Viewer's Guide forConnections: Technology and Change. INSTITUTION California Univ., San Diego.Univ. Extension. SPONS AGENCY National Endowment for theHumanities (NFAH), Washington, D.C. PUB DATE 79 4. NOTE 66p.; For related documents,see SO 012 264-267 AVAILUILE FROM Boyd & Frasier PublishingCompany, 3627 Sacramento Street, Sat Francisco, CA94118 (t2.951 EDES PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PCNot Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Adult Education: ChangeAgents; Creative Thinking; Discovery Processes:*Educational TelevJsion; *Environmental Influences;Futures (of So.ciety): Government Pole: HigherEducation; Industrialization; Inventions: Man MachineSystems; *Multimedia Instruction; PoliticalInfluences; *Social Change; Social History: *Sechnological Advancement; . Technology; Television Viewing IDENTIFIERS Controversial Issues ABSTRACT This volume contains theViewer's Guide to accompany . the ten-part televisionseries component ofa multimedia instructional program'on.relationshipsaiong science,technology, and' society. The major objectiveof the program is tomake college level course material aNailable to thegeneral:public throughcooperation of newspapers, publictelevision, and 300 particfpatingcolleget and universities. Specificoblectives of the Viewer'sGuide.awe to highltght important pointsand themes of the televisionseries,and to tie tfiose themes'to Vilenewspaper articles and essays inthe program Reader. The documentlispresented in ten sections--one each telexision to accompany program. Topics discussed inpludetechnological infrastructures; the relationshfpof techno/ogy to knowledge, culture, and work; economicdeterminism; resourcesand population; major inventions: science endtechnology: engineering . accomplishmpnts; waras ai impetus to technology; andcreative thinking. For each section,information presented on a summary o-f the program, background,themes, readings, anddiscussion questions. The document concludes witha time chart representingtechnological cievelopments andother significant events inworld history from 100000 B.C. to 1970. (DB1 , **1*********4i********************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDEtare the best that can be made *: from the original document. 2*****************10004######***####***44#10*****###*************4110###**100 U S DEPARTMENTOP HEALTH. EDUCATION & WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OP EDUCATION THIS DOLuMENT HAS OLEN REPRO- DUCED EXAc TLY AS RECEivED RoM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN- ATING IT POIN T.T, Di- VIEW OR OPINIONS STATEC 00 NOT ME(ES'.AWIvY REPRE. seNT ok:FCIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTEof EDuc AT ioN POSI T ION OR POL IC r Viewèr'sGuide -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS", MATERIAL INMICROFICHEONLY HAS 85EN GRANTE0111, for i.raa4.4( TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOUROESCo nn ections. INFORMATION CENTER (ER1 Technology r, and Change by LU Kiki Skagen Munshi with Jane L Scheib& This Vi6wer'5 Guidewas developed by Courses by Newspaper,a project of Unjmersity Extension University of California, San Diego Funded by the NationalEndowment for the Humariities boyd 8., FraserPublishing Company San Francisco e .Contents Preface PROGRAM ONE ' The Trigger Effect 4 PROGRAM TWO Death in the Morning (11 PROGRAM THREE Distant Voices 17 PROGRAM FOUR Faith n Numbers 23 PROGRAM FIVE The Wheel of Fortune 28°. PROGRAM SIX Thunder in the Skies 34 PROGRAM SEVEN The Long Chain 40 PflOGRAM EIGHT Eat, Dri:Pk, and Be Merry. 46 PROGRAM NINE Countdown 51 PROGRAM TEN Yesterday, Tomorrow, Snd You 56 t. Time Chart 61. Preface r- This Viewer's guide has been specially prepalvdto further your enjoyment and understanding of CONNECTIONS: TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE. America's first national media program to feature botha newspaper and a television series, CONNECTIONS: TECHNOLOGY ANDCHANGE was vieveloped by Cdurses by Newspaper,a project of University Extension. Uni-. versity of California, San Diego, with funding fromthe National.Endowment for the Humanities: Components of the program include a ten-part television series, "Corme,c- tions," coproduced by BBC and Time Life Films and featuringwriter/narrator James Burke of the BBC; a narrative text, Connectkins, by JamesBurke, which is the companion volume to the television 'series;a series of fifteen newspaper articles'written for Courses by Newspaper and coordinated by John G. Burke, Professor of History at the University of California,Los An- geles; a Reader/Study Guide, Technology and Change, editedby John G. Burke and Marshall C. Eakin; and this Viewer'sGuide. "Connections" was presented for the first timeon American .television on PBS by WQED/Pittsburgh witha grant from the American Telephone & 'Fele- tgraph Company and Associated Companies of the BellSystem in the fall, 1979. Designed for both the interested virer/reader andthe student enrolledfor credit. this volume relates the video and print components of the multiniedia program. Both the television series and the print materials deal with the "con- nectionsinherent in thecourse of technological development and among the technologies that dominate our world. In additiov, thetwo Burkes were in consultation during the development of theprogram. Each comvonent, how- ever, presents a different approach to the subject of technology and change. James Burke uses the television component to preknta series of de ective stories that cOnnect seemingly unrelated eventsas he traces the evolu ion of eight modern inventions. He thus presents the historical flow of technological development, and then raises questions about the nature of technologyand our dependence upon it from, this base. John G. Burke, incontrast, has struc- tured the newspaper series and the book of readings around thequestions themselves, focusing on such issues as the effects, preconditions, andsources of technological change. The aim of this Viewer's Guide is both to highlight important pointsand themes 91 the television series and to tie those themes to..the differentper- spectives of the newspaper articles and the articles in.the.- Re4der.% In addition, 4 1 P REFACE this volunie provides some interesting backgroundon the filMing of the "Con- nections- programs, whiCh took James Burke and hiscrew to more than ,150 locations in nineteen countries, Also includedare questions for discussion and study. Finally, the l'ime Chart iS designed to give the readera sense of the chronology of the developments discussed in the video and print materials. Many people share the responsibility for the development of the Viewer's Guide. George Colburn, Project Director of Courses by Newspaper at the University of California, San Diego, has Even perhaps the single most instru- mental person in bringing the television series and thecourse by newspaper together. He also shared in the basic.coriceptualization of the Guide. Elliot Wager of the Courses by Newspaper staff did much of the workon the Time Chart. Both John Burke and James Burke have been kind enough to review the manuscript, and James Burke also contributed the information for the0. Program Background sections."lhanks are due to all of these, but the greatest debt is owed to Jane_ Scheiber, whose careful editing and perceptivesugges- tions have become a substantial part of the final volume. We also wish to acknowledge our gratitude to the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds Courses by Newspaper, and to its Director of the Office of Special Projects, James Kraft, for his support of this multimedia venture. Although Courses by Newspaper is a project of the University of California., San Diego, and is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the views e,resscd in course materialsare those of the authors only and do not necessfly reflect those of the funding agency or of the University of California. Kiki Skagen Munshi 3 PROGRAM ONE Th6Trigger Effect Prognim Summary "Look around you,"requests James Burke as he .opens the first program in the "Connections" series...Look around. and see the technologyupon which . you are dependent. What does it do to you? What doyou do to it? What were its origins? How did it grow? Whatwould happen if it weren't there? Burke leads us through the light-splashednight of New York as he talks about the technology islandwe have created on Manhattanand in other major population, centers of the world.The use and understanding of tech- nology do not, he says,go together. The elevator doors close betweenus and his face, leaving'us to watch the.gears and pulleys that pull the box up into a skyscraper. Burke thus showsus the reality behind the wood-paneled interior of the movable box. And heuses this example to evoke a fear many of us share about one particular manifestation oftechnology. What if the elevator stops halfway i4 and the lights go out?. In November, 1965, Burke tells.us, it didstop. New 'ork's vulnerability was graphically illustrated when a rather small piece of equipmentdid what it Was supposed to do. The evening .began normaily.On the subway, in the airport, in hospitals, on the streets, at theUnited Nations, and at the head- quarters for Con .lidison, people followedtheir routine activities. Leisurelyat first, then at an increasingpace, the cainera cuts from one scene to anotheras we approach the point at which. Adam Bea IIpower station failed, draining light and heat from' the .great city. The response of those caught in the NewYork blackout of 1965 was to make do" with the technology-available . .while they waited fo l. more tech- . ,nology to come to