Session 6:

Geographical Information Systems (rescheduled from March 2)

Resource Person, Kerry Brooks, WSU-Spokane

The Geography Network [http://www.geographynetwork.com/]
A CITIZENS' GUIDE TO GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION by Meg Merrick, Mohamed Abdel-Hamid, and Britt Parrott [http://www.upa.pdx.edu/IMS/comgeo/Previous_Projects/previous/citguide.html] 3/16/2001
The Community Geography Project [http://www.upa.pdx.edu/IMS/comgeo/index.html]
Geographic Information Systems from USGS  [http://info.er.usgs.gov/research/gis/title.html]
GIS Success Stories  [http://www.esri.com/gisforeveryone/success/gallery_nbrhd.html]
U.S. Census Demographic Data on-line  [http://www.esri.com/data/online/tiger/usdemog.html]

Resource Person, Karen Michaelson

Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles (NKLA) [http://nkla.ucla.edu] is a website dedicated to providing public access to vital data and information for neighborhood improvement in Los Angeles. A project of the UCLA Advanced Policy Institute, NKLA assembles public records such as property tax delinquency, building permits, and building code complaints from Los Angeles city and county agencies in a single, easy-to-use website.

Class Activity: Discussion of the L.A. example.

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Technology and society  

SESSION 6 TOPICS A historical perspective on the role of technology in our society. A discussion of the unintended consequences of technologies. Presentations of Book Reviews and discussion of themes.

INTRODUCTION
Our Vision of the Future -- NPR's Madeleine Brand reports on how our ideas of the future have changed during the 20th century.  NPR 12-30-99 (8:44) [http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/19991230.me.12.ram]

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
J. Burke and R. Ornstein, The Axemaker's Gift
Required Reading:
 Burke and Ornstein (1995). The Axemaker's Gift: A Double-edged History of Human Culture. Madison, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons. (pp. xiii-33, 63-70, 122-134, 144-156, 224-234, 251-311)

  What is Technology?[http://www.aber.ac.uk/~ednwww/Undgrad/ED10510/whattech.html] DOWN
see [http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/trinity/watistec.html]

CyberStudies WebRing [http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=cyberstudies&list]

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Edward Tenner,  Why things bite back.
Selections from the book in MSWord, (.rtf format) Blackboard, Course Documents Blackboard
John L. Roeder's discussion of Tenner's Why things bite back [http://www.freeinfo.org/tch/winter99/reviews/rev7.html]High Tech View of the World interview with Edward Tenner[http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/19980710.me.14.ram]
Review of Why things bit back from the Times Higher Education Supplement [http://www-formal.stanford.edu/pub/jmc/reviews/tenner.html]

Major Assignment
Books reviews should be posted on the Blackboard Discussion Board before March 14.  Book Reviews can also be posted at amazon.com.  Class presentation on Book Reviews.   Focus on what the book say about the links between technology and society, about the future, and about the role of leaders.
Short hands-on activities Introduction to Linux 

Introduction to Linux, including links by Matthew Mitchell. Begin here to learn about Linux.
[http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/doctoral/ld703/linuxpage1.html]

Linux Online is a central clearing house for information and promotion of Linux. It endeavour to represent the hard work of everyone involved with this operating system and is operated as a not-for-profit business.

[http://www.linux.org/]

1. This is a watershed document first published in 1998. Covering, in detail, the context surrounding Unix (and Linux) development and it's relationship to Windows NT development.
[http://www.unix-vs-nt.org/kirch/] -- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX
2. An interesting article that pokes a few holes in Microsoft's Windows marketing campaign.
[http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2242246,00.html] -- NT beats Linux ... maybe
3. Microsoft's Performance Analysis
[http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/exec/compares/NtLinux.asp] -- Microsoft's View
4. Linux Journal [http://www2.linuxjournal.com/index.html]