This material is connected with The Open University Computing and IT certifications.
The role and impact of technology in both our personal and working lives is ever growing. Understanding how people shape technology and how innovation shapes people's interactions with each other and the natural world is very important - not only for those who research study, develop and implement brand-new technologies, however also for all those people and organisations that need to utilize those innovations in their working and individual lives.
Technology is not a neutral word. Different individuals will give it different upon their perspective and context.
Members of the Faculty of Technology are no different, however for several years we have embraced one particular meaning of innovation that shows our own aims and objectives:
There are 3 essential elements to this meaning:
1. Technology is about acting to meet a human requirement rather than simply comprehending the workings of the natural world, which is the objective of science. The innovation of the microscopic lense was driven by a requirement to explore the world of the little, beyond our unaided vision. This technological service to a long standing issue has in turn allowed us to understand more the functions of the world which in turn has caused the advancement of more innovations.
2. It uses much more than scientific understanding and includes values as much as facts, useful craft understanding as much as theoretical knowledge. The iPod is an example of where the physics of making a small device bring so much music is married with innovative design to make an iconic must have device.
3. It includes organised ways of doing things. It covers the desired and unintended interactions in between items (devices, gadgets, artifacts) and the people and systems who make them, use them or are affected by them through various procedures. Lots of people like to consume coffee, frequently in a coffee bar. That coffee might have originated from trees which have been bred particularly for increased yields that support a small farmer and his household but that requires pesticides that were developed and produced in another country. The gathered coffee beans will themselves be transported worldwide, to be processed and placed in bundles which are dispersed to shops that then make the cup of coffee in a polystyrene cup that was produced for the purpose however which then requires to dealt with and so on. Every option we make relies on, and feeds, a highly synergistic and far reaching way of life where some have much and some have little.
Technology is a hands-on, can-do occupation where individuals have to be experienced in a number of the following: engineering, communicating, creating, developing, innovating, handling, manufacturing, modelling, and systems thinking. But innovation likewise provides us numerous items which can be used for excellent or ill or where the benefits are disputed and likewise the procedures associated with producing and using innovation means that we need to all take an interest in whether it offers us and everyone else with a sustainable future.
Explore more innovation posts
- British Science Week
Celebrate all things science with British Science Week! We have actually got complimentary courses, games, animations and more ...
Read now to gain access to more information of British Science Week
- In-car technology: are we being offered a false sense of security?
Our brand-new automobiles come geared up with innovation to read out text messages and let us utilize voice commands to make telephone call. Allocating attention to other jobs, can result in our driving efficiency suffering and putting lives at threat.
Read now to access more information of In-car technology: are we being sold an incorrect complacency?
- Stress and anxiety in the digital age: the dark side of technology
What is it about new technology that is making much of us nervous and stressed out? Dr Gini Harrison and Dr Mathijs Lucassen check out the leading five stressors:
Read now to access more information technology of Stress and anxiety in the digital age: the dark side of technology
Explore complimentary courses associated with innovation
- information technology security
information technology security underpins the business practicality and profitability of business of all sizes and the efficiency of public sector organisations. This free course begins by describing why details security and its management are very important for any contemporary organisation and to every person. You need to be acquainted with an ...
Find out more to access more details of Information security
Free course
10 hours
Level: 3 Advanced
- The effect of innovation on kids's exercise
This totally free course, The effect of innovation on kids's physical activity, checks out the impact of technology on children's physical activity levels. It analyzes the various types of innovation that kids have access to and the ways in which they engage with it. As part of this conversation this course looks at details from a range of ...
