Attributing scientific and technical progress: the case of holography

Holography, the three-dimensional imaging technology, was portrayed widely as a paradigm of progress during its decade of explosive expansion 1964–73, and during its subsequent consolidation for commercial and artistic uses up to the mid 1980s. An unusually seductive and prolific subject, holography successively spawned scientific insights, putative applications and new constituencies of practitioners and consumers. Waves of forecasts, associated with different sponsors and user communities, cast holography as a field on the verge of success—but with the dimensions of success repeatedly refashioned. This retargeting of the subject represented a degree of cynical marketeering, but was underpinned by implicit confidence in philosophical positivism and faith in technological progressivism. Each of its communities defined success in terms of expansion, and anticipated continual progressive increase. This paper discusses the contrasting definitions of progress in holography, and how they were fashioned in changing contexts. Focusing equally on reputed ‘failures’ of some aspects of the subject, it explores the varied attributes by which success and failure were linked with progress by different technical communities. This important case illuminates the peculiar post-World War II environment that melded the military, commercial and popular engagement with scientific and technological subjects, and the competing criteria by which they assessed the products of science

Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire : some connections and contrasts

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) and Paulo Freire (1921-1997) are certainly two of the most cited figures in the debate concerning critical approaches to education. Their respective cultural and political work occurred in different contexts and at different times (Gramsci in Europe in the first part of the 20th century and Paulo Freire in Latin America, N. America, Europe and Africa in the second half of the century). Nevertheless, a whole generation of writers, positing a critical approach to education, especially those subscribing to what is commonly referred to as critical pedagogy, constantly draw on Gramsci’s and Freire’s powerful insights into the relationship between education/ cultural work and power. The two figures are often accorded iconic status inthis literature.In this paper, I shall attempt to draw theoretical and, when appropriate, biographicalconnections between the work of the two, also highlighting some obvious contrasts. In so doing,I shall reproduce key points made in my earlier published work on these two figures, notably my book length study in which I sought to derive insights from their respective writings for a process of trans-formative adult education relevant to contemporary times. In this piece, I also hope to provide fresh comparative insights not found in the earlier work.peer-reviewe

Attributing scientific and technological progress: The case of holography

Holography, the three-dimensional imaging technology, was portrayed widely as a paradigm of progress during its decade of explosive expansion 1964–73, and during its subsequent consolidation for commercial and artistic uses up to the mid 1980s. An unusually seductive and prolific subject, holography successively spawned scientific insights, putative applications and new constituencies of practitioners and consumers. Waves of forecasts, associated with different sponsors and user communities, cast holography as a field on the verge of success—but with the dimensions of success repeatedly refashioned. This retargeting of the subject represented a degree of cynical marketeering, but was underpinned by implicit confidence in philosophical positivism and faith in technological progressivism. Each of its communities defined success in terms of expansion, and anticipated continual progressive increase. This paper discusses the contrasting definitions of progress in holography, and how they were fashioned in changing contexts. Focusing equally on reputed ‘failures’ of some aspects of the subject, it explores the varied attributes by which success and failure were linked with progress by different technical communities. This important case illuminates the peculiar post-World War II environment that melded the military, commercial and popular engagement with scientific and technological subjects, and the competing criteria by which they assessed the products of science

Everyday experience and community development practice

This article explores the potential to apply what is generally known as ‘theories of everyday life’ and psychogeography to understanding how the experience of place affects individuals concept of self and their position within the world. We suggest that community development practice can become over focused on the practicalities of organizing, at the expense of understanding the daily life experience of individuals and communities. If community development practitioners applied an analysis based on the theories and experiences of everyday life they could better facilitate individuals to work collectively for personal and social change. The article explores the basic ideas of everyday life and psychogeography. We then identify a methodology for using these ideas in community development practice and provide an experimental example of such an analysis set in Las Vegas. Finally we discuss the potential for community development workers of linking such an analysis to the work of Freire and the ideas of Gramsci to increase the effectiveness of their practice

AS-343-90 Resolution on Approval of CSC X302 into GEB Area F.2

CSC X302 is approved for credit in GEB Area F.2

Technology infrastructure in information technology industries

Abstract not availableeconomics of technology business administration and economics

A Cosmology of Invisible Fluids: Wireless, X-Rays, and Psychical Research Around 1900

ABSRACT: On December 28, 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen disclosed his discovery of X-rays to the public. Just a few months later, Guglielmo Marconi successfully demonstrated his wireless system at Salisbury Plain, England. This article traces the relations between the early histories of wireless and X-ray technology. It does so by highlighting the role played by psychic research to open the connections between different technologies and knowledges. The disclosure of occult connections between these two technologies helps to locate the cultural reception of wireless around 1900 in a wider cosmology of rays and invisible forces.RÉSUMÉ : Le 28 Decembre 1895, le physicien allemand Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen révélait au monde sa découverte des rayons X. Quelques mois plus tard, Guglielmo Marconi faisait une démonstration de son système de télégraphie sans-fil en Angleterre, à Salisbury Plain. En examinant la parapsychologie comme un champ propice à la mise en relation entre les technologies et les connaissances les plus hétéroclites, cet article reconstruit les liens entre la télégraphie sans-fil et les rayons X. L’étude de ces liens occultes permet de situer la reception culturelle de la transmission sans-fils autour de 1900 dans une cosmologie des rayons et forces invisibles

Engineering News, Spring 2021

https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/eng_news/1046/thumbnail.jp