Catshanghai

I’ve started to write a weekly column for my school newsletter to get everyone excited about technology, answer questions and give advice. I tried to make the column interactive by inviting questions and comments from readers. Anyway, I set the scene with this first article.

Computers are everywhere. We can see and enjoy their impact on the way we study, teach, work, communicate and amuse ourselves. I am always impressed by new products and inventions, whereas our students acknowledge the cool factor of a new cellphone or website, get over it and get to grips with it while the rest of us are still figuring out how to turn make it work. Speakers at conferences like to talk about the divide between our students’ generation of digital natives who are fluent technology users and digital immigrants who first started using computers much later in life.

Rather than accept this divide, I have spent the last decade learning as much as I can about hardware, software and the Internet however I can and from whoever I can. However much I learn will never be enough and it will never be upto date, because technology is developing so quickly and the rate of change will continue to accelerate.

The Internet is a great example of how quickly technology is changing itself and reshaping our culture along the way. In the past, information and knowledge were mediated through people in authority such as priests, newspaper editors, politicians and television controllers. All that is now being turned on its head through changes in the way that people are using the Internet and sharing information. Musicians can use computers to record and sell their music without relying on a record company. Anyone can become an author by writing a blog or an entry on Wikipedia. Ze Frank and Askaninja were last year’s self made video stars whose shortclips were viewed more often than CNN. Meanwhile bad restaurants and shops will get bad reviews from unhappy customers that will be viewed by hundreds and thousands of people. The power relationship is changing so that everyone can have a voice and learn from each other, not just from the experts or the people in authority. I find this trend very exciting.

I would like to use this column as an open platform for students, teachers and parents to share ideas about ways to make better use of technology we use in our daily lives. It could be a useful website, advice for digital camera users or a hint for getting Youtube videos onto a big screen. Any piece of advice is welcome. Just E-mail your technology tips to me and I will include them in future columns.