Not if the speakers are broken.
But our Techno Teach-In presenters, Amanda and Molly, were prepared with a back-up, switching over to Molly's laptop. A good reminder for everyone, always have backups ready to go in case your presentation doesn't work on the computer station at the site, or if the right equipment, cors, connectors, etc. aren't available.
The blogs they shared were really interesting and insightful. Hopefully everyone gets a chance to browse and read away.
Our discussion of technology and its' prevalence in all aspects of not just youth culture, but society in general caused a reexamination of my own technology usage. Between two laptops (one at work, one at home), cell phone with internet capabilities, and ipod, just to name a few, I realized I'm very heavy on the tech side (which I probably should be, considering that I'm teaching a class on technology, media, and art), but I also thought about the usages I make of this technology. I think I actually have a pretty decent balance of actual work usage (computer time for HPAC and SAIC purposes), practical utility (cell phone to stay in contact, using internet for weather, directions, information gathering), and general enjoyment (video games, television shows on both actual tv and internet, music). But still, I am tapped into lots of technology and media. Hoever many people out there choose to exist without all these 'conveniences'. Would my world crumble away if I lost all my technology? No, I'd survive, but I can see how some people become completely dependent on their devices, and in the process a little disconnected from the non-virtual world. Maybe this changes at some point though, and our actual physical world will beomce less important, and we'll all need to exist in the virtual world or risk becoming obsolete and irrelevant. Sounds like a sci-fi movie, doesn't it?
How dependent are you on technology in your life? Do you think you're overly dependent?
