Paper I: technology in everyday life
The purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of technology in
everyday life and its effects on the lifestyle of people in modern
world. For this paper you need to pick 15-20 minutes of your
day, list the activities you did during that time, and explain how the
same goals could have been accomplished at some point back in time,
you may pick any point before 1980th. For instance, you come home, put
food in microwave to warm up your dinner, turn on TV to watch the
news, etc. How would you warm up your dinner and find out the news in
the middle ages?
Think about simple, routine things that you do. Or think about your
hobbies (how much technology is involved in playing basketball?). Or
about your recent shopping trip or a visit to a dentist. In
any case, the best way to make your paper interesting is to find
something that would surprise you, to discover how new or how old is a
technology that you use every day.
Your paper should discuss (briefly) advantages and disadvantages of
the modern technology versus its analog from the past. Would you trade
places with the people from the past? Why, or why not?
You paper must satisfy the following requirements:
- It must be no less than 2-3 pages long (standard font).
- You must clearly cite all your sources. For instance, if you
claim that in 1800 there was no popcorn, you must cite a source (or
sources) that support this claim. You may use online sources, as long
as you are convinced that the source is reliable (cross-checking
helps). If you need help finding sources, please let me know.
- You must describe at least 2 different technologies.
- Your paper will be graded based on how well you have researched
the subject, on the quality of writing, and on the choice of
technologies that you are describing (more interesting choices will
have a better chance of a higher grade).
Good luck!
This page is a part of IS 1091 at UMM web pages.