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4. Technological Systems |
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Welcome back to the study of technology. This presentation continues our exploration into technological systems. Show the chart. |
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This time we will look at Outputs and Feedback. | ||
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Let me start. An output is the end product of the process. When we work in the engraving shop, the output is a trophy. | ||
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Good, what else? | ||
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How about graphics? When I complete a design and it gets printed, say a business card, and someone hands the business card to a customer, and the customer calls the person back, the output could be my design or the printed card or the message communicated. The real output here is that a message was communicated. My card was like a machine for getting the person to call the other person. | ||
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Enough already. | ||
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No, she's right. The output of technology is sometimes not a thing. I know some of you guys who own cars love your cars and you think that the most important things about your car are the rims. But really, the most important thing about most cars is the transportation it provides. The geting you from here to there. | ||
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So the real output of all the energy and stuff we do to put on Miss Lake Region is the entertainment and good feelings everyone has. | ||
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I never thought about it that way. | ||
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Always remember, the whole point of technology is that people satisfy their wants and needs by developing solutions. Solutions, or outputs, are not always things. They can be a service or entertainment. Miss Lake Region is a great example of how Technology and Marketting work together. | ||
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Not all output is good either, remember my cousin and the fence. | ||
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You're right. Let's take a moment to talk about unexpected or unwanted examples of output. | ||
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Well, in the vinyl shop we have a lot of waste even when we don't make any mistakes. | ||
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Hey! Don't call the vinyl ball waste ;( | ||
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All that means is that technology creates some problems as well as solutions. | ||
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I couldn't have said it any better. | ||
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So output is the result, good and bad that comes from a technological system. | ||
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What's next? | ||
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Feedback. | ||
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OK, I know, let me guess. Feedback is when I get good grades and my parents give me a big reward.
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Show Off! | ||
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Well, feedback is like your example. Feedback is part of an ongoing process. Where's the chart? | ||
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Good. Ok. Check out the chart, Let's follow the process. Start with the inputs... | ||
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The
various inputs interact through three types of processes...
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... to create outputs. Chart again, please. | ||
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Notice how the inputs, processes, and outputs line up. | ||
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Yeah, then the arrow from the output goes up into the feedback and out of the feedback and back to the input again. What's up with that? Isn't the output the end? | ||
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We just said that the output from the engraving shop was the trophy and the output of Miss Lake Region is the entertainment. But when Miss Lake Region is over, it's over. | ||
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And when the T-shirt job is finished, it's over. So why should you have feedback? And if you do, who cares? | ||
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Interesting point. But before we get too far, I want to present a simpler model of all this. Let's take a look at a relatively simple technological system that has output, feedback and control working together. Show the model. | ||
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Check this out. Here is a drawing of a room with an air conditioner and a thermostat. If I set the thermostat to 70 degrees, the air conditioner will stay on until the temperature is reached and then it shuts off until it gets too warm again and then it starts up and so on and so on. | ||
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I get it. the thermostat reads the output and controls the air conditioner to meet the set temperature. it's a feedback loop. | ||
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Right. A feedback loop is a good way to describe what's going on. | ||
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But how does that work with Miss Lake Region? | ||
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I think I know. All through the process of putting on Miss Lake Region, we have to keep our eye on what we are doing. | ||
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That's called monitoring. | ||
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Okay, montitoring everything. And as it goes along, when something is wrong we have to keep modifying and changing things to make them work. Say we write an ad for the morning announcements and people tell us that it sounds boring. We can go back and change it and make it better. | ||
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Or when we start to make the tickets and someone wasn't paying attention and we print 500 tickets with the wrong date. Ugh. | ||
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At least we caught it in time and we can fix it. | ||
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What about spelling? I think we need a permanent spelling feedback machine. | ||
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you mean a spell check. | ||
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Ok. Ok. Let's wrap it up. Give us a summary about output and feedback. | ||
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Each technological system will have its own form of output and feedback. | ||
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Feedback and controls help make a system work or work better. | ||
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You know, I just thought of something. | ||
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Make it quick. | ||
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You can have systems within systems. | ||
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Huh? | ||
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Well, Like when we were talking about Miss Lake Region. Designing and printing tickets was an example of a tech system with all the needed parts: input, process, output, and feedback. But that was just one of hundereds of things we needed to get done. Each small project was just a part of the whole project. See, systems within systems. | ||
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Cool. | ||
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Next time we will explore the Design Process a little closer. | ||
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