HIST 100: Engineering The Past

Week 4 updates

by Leave a Comment

I have three short videos for you today.

WordPress: Adding links and images

 

Assessing your work in this course

Here’s a quick overview of what I’m assessing/grading in this course. One thing I forgot to mention in the video, but which is mentioned in the syllabus: Rather than being graded individually—which would be crazy-making for both you and me—I assess your blog posts and comments collectively. I’ll let you know soon (and throughout the course) if your posts aren’t meeting my expectations for this course, or if you’re doing a really great job.

The visualization activity in Module 4.2

Honestly, it’s going to be difficult to mess up this assignment. It needs to be thoughtful and legible, but other than that, there’s no single correct way to respond to this assignment. In the video, I give you one example of a way to organize a response, but it’s certainly not the best possible way. I encourage you to be creative with your response.

My First Thanksgiving

by 1 Comment

I vaguely remember my first Thanksgiving  in elementary school. I remember that we made paper pilgrim hats and Indian head bands. We talked about the importance of this gathering and how the pilgrims would have never survived without the lessons learned from the Native Americans. We also put a great deal of importance towards Squanto, who was a Native American that tried to bridge the gap between the two cultures. It was because this act of kindness the celebration of Thanksgiving began.

I also remember that our teacher at the time was a Native American, and she told us of the sufferings that her people faced because of the pilgrims. This was extremely biased, but what she taught was very true (just had a few other details missing). As this was my first impression of what the meaning of Thanksgiving was, I remember that I thought for a long time that this holiday was to pay your respects to Native Americans and the cruelties that they endured. Rather than taking the time to look at your life and all that you are blessed to have.

Prownian Analysis

by Leave a Comment

Step 1: Description

This object is very skinny and about 10″ long. It is half white and half black. There are buttons on the top of it. On the back there is a cover with a clip that can be easily removed.

Step 2: Deduction

This object uses energy from batteries to operate. It can be used for many different devices but this object is used to control a television.

Step 3: Speculation

This is used by virtually everyone with a television. But does this object control every function that a television is capable up? Is this the best way to control your television?

Step 4: Research

Hurd, Jonathan. “Is The TV Remote Headed for Extinction?” Weblog post.Research Now. Web. 07 Sept. 2011. <http://www.researchnow.com/en-US/PressAndEvents/InTheNews/2011/9/Is-the-TV-Remote-Headed-for-Extinction.aspx>.

 

This excerpt talks about the new innovations that may be taking over the TV remote. With the rise of smart phones and the want from society to control everything from a centralized device, there is only a matter of time where TV remotes will be a thing of the past. The article investigates how fast smartphones are advancing and the growing popularity for these devices.

Nielson, Jakob. “Remote Control Anarchy.” Nielson Norman Group. 07 June 2004. Web. 25 Jan. 2016. <https://www.nngroup.com/articles/remote-control-anarchy/>.

 

This article describes the different reasons why remotes are not the best way to control a television. It explains that they are full of buttons that don’t even have a function for your TV. And that the amount of remotes you need to control your different devices is getting a bit ridiculous. It also shows how to use these remotes correctly.