1. Fundamentals of Technology Communication, Culture and Technology (CCT)
Georgetown University
Spring 2017
Fundamentals
of Technology
** Change image to something better
Evan Barba
J.R. Osborn 1

2. Structure of the course
Today
Structure of the course
&
Key Concepts

3. Why fundamentals?

4. Why fundamentals?
Change to information technology (IT) is constant and ongoing

5. Why fundamentals?
Change to information technology (IT) is constant and ongoing
Positioning CCT students to make a contribution to that dialogue is one goal of 506.

6. A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost
A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

7. The woman below replied,
"You're in a hot air balloon 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."

8. "You must be an engineer," said the balloonist
"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist. “Everything you told me is, technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip."

9. The woman below responded, "You must be in Management.”
"I am," replied
the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

10. “You don't know where you are or where you're going.
You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air.
You made a promise which you've no idea how to keep, and
you expect people beneath you to solve your problems.

11. “The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

12. A role for CCT students

13. Instructors
Evan Barba
JR Osborn

14. Teaching Assistants * all sections meet in Car Barn 318 *
Grace Gu Wed. 10:00-10:50 am
Lina McVey Wed. 5:00-5:50 pm
Katherine Hild Wed. 6:00-6:50 pm
Mariam Karimi Thurs. 10:00-10:50 am Yasheng She Thurs. 2:00- 2:50 pm
Komal Sachdeva Thurs. 5:00-5:50 pm

15. Course Site: https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/cctp-506-spring2017/

16. Course Evaluation 10% – Attendance & Participation
20% – Weekly Assignments and Deliverables
30% – Exam (March 21 – In Class)
40% – Final Group Projects

17. information technology
Course goal:
Learn how to do open the blackbox of a sociotechnical system and communicate your findings to a wide audience
Case study in 506:
information technology

18. In this class we will de-black box the information and communications technologies (ICTs) that make up the computing infrastructure we rely on. To give you knowledge: Because ICTs are ubiquitous and knowing how they work is fundamental to most work in the world To model a method: Because de-black boxing can be applied to any sociotechnical system

19. Opening the ‘black box’
Input and output

20. Architecture – A specific way of organizing the flow and representation of information
Algorithm – a series of steps that move information from one state to another
A blackbox is a thing that does something

21. ‘De-Black Boxing’ Fake News
Every time you open Facebook, one of the world’s most influential, controversial, and misunderstood algorithms springs into action. It scans and collects everything posted in the past week by each of your friends, everyone you follow, each group you belong to, and every Facebook page you’ve liked. Then, according to a closely guarded and constantly shifting formula,
Facebook’s news feed algorithm ranks them all, in what it believes to be the precise order of how likely you are to find each post worthwhile. Most users will only ever see the top few hundred.

22. ‘De-Black Boxing’ Fake News
Where is the blackbox?
“one of the world’s most influential, controversial, and misunderstood algorithms”
“a closely guarded and constantly
shifting formula “

23. ‘De-Black Boxing’ Fake News
Input to this algorithm:
everything posted in the past week by
each of your friends
everyone you follow
each group you belong to, and every Facebook page you’ve liked

24. ‘De-Black Boxing’ Fake News
What is the output of the blackbox?
“the precise order of how likely you are to find each post worthwhile”

25. ‘De-Black Boxing’ Fake News
What is missing?
Any indication of how valid a source is!
This is great algorithm for social networks
It’s not so great for reporting verified information
What would it take to
change this algorithm?

26. Every blackbox is a “Sociotechnical System”
The “systems approach”
Define the system
Describe the interactions of components
Elaborate connections to the environment

27. What tools do you need to open a black box?
only a small number of these are specialized
How the Facebook algorithm works, for example.
The rest are transferrable skills that can be applied to any black box
These skills are what you will practice in this class
We start with this idea that we are going to teach you how to open the blackbox of information technology,
(Framework for 21st Century Learning)

28. Sociotechnical System

29. Sociotechnical System

30. Sociotechnical System

31. A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"
— Hawking, 1988[1]

32. “Black boxes all the way down”
Deciding which boxes to open and which can stay shut is a big part of what we call “expertise”
Turtles all the way down

33. a sociotechnical system
This is one state of
a sociotechnical system

34. Sociotechnical System

35. Sociotechnical System

36. Sociotechnical System
regulation
communicates
Pedestrian
A Driver
A Traffic Light
distracts
observes/
regulates
regulation
embodiment
regulation
The Road
Traffic Laws
Systems approach define the boxes, define the arrowst
Driverless car
cellphone

37. Driverless car causes a problem
The solution is for the car to understand context from inputs and give output to the pedestrian that it is safe to cross

38. Sociotechnical System
Pedestrian
A Traffic Light
distracts
embodiment
regulation
The Road
Traffic Laws
Systems approach define the boxes, define the arrowst
Driverless car
cellphone

39. That gets you here
SPLAT!

40. Sociotechnical System
regulation
???
Pedestrian
A ???
A Traffic Light
distracts
observes/
regulates
regulation
embodiment
regulation
The Road
Traffic Laws
Systems approach define the boxes, define the arrowst
Driverless car
cellphone

41. Understanding systems…
Understanding environment and society as a system
means thinking about parts, processes, and connections.

42. What is a system?
A system is a group of parts which are connected and work together. Systems with living and nonliving parts are called ecosystems (which is short for ecological systems). (Odum, Odum, and Brown, 1997)
To help understand systems, it is helpful to draw pictures of networks that show components and relationships.

43. Sociotechnical System
regulation
communicates
Pedestrian
A Driver
A Traffic Light
distracts
observes/
regulates
regulation
embodiment
regulation
The Road
Traffic Laws
Systems approach define the boxes, define the arrowst
Driverless car
cellphone

45. Visualizing systems…
With a system diagram, we can carry these system images in the mind. And learn the way energy, materials, and information interact.
By adding numerical values for flows and storages, the systems diagrams become quantitative and can be simulated with computers.

46. Procedures for Drawing a Systems Model
Draw the frame of attention that selects the boundary
This separates the system from the environment
Make a list of the important input pathways that cross the boundary
This fleshes out the environment and provides “Context” for the system
Make a list of the components believed to be important
These can later be grouped into sub-systems
Make a list of the processes believed to be important within the defined system.
These define interactions and are depicted as arrows or “Flows” of materials, energy, and information

47. Procedures for Drawing a Systems Model
If a complex diagram has resulted (> 25 symbols), redraw it to make it neat and save it as a useful inventory and summary of the input knowledge. Redraw the diagram with the same boundary definition, aggregating symbols and flows to obtain a model of the desired complexity (perhaps 6-12 symbols).
(Odum and Odum, 1996)

49. This week… Week 1: January 17-19
Lecture: Black boxes and Socio-technical Systems
Readings and Videos (for section):
"Systems Map" and "Influence Diagram" at Welcome to T552 Diagramming
Deliverables (due next lecture): Student Survey
Lab Activity: Diagramming Socio-technical Systems

50. This week… and next Week 2: January 24-26
Lecture: Technology as Actors in Systems
Readings and Videos (for lecture):
Latour, B. [as Jim Johnson] (1988)
Pinch, T. J. and W. E. Bijker (1987)
Winner, L. (1980)
Recommended: Clark, A. and Chalmers D. (1998)
Deliverables (due in lecture):
Student survey
Socio-technical system diagram of your 505 project