Design and Technology

This week's practical session we started working on the first three of the C.A.D. worksheets we're using to learn VectorWorks.

In the lecture, Robyn talked about the format we'll need to use for the essay we're to do later on in the semester (Harvard referencing, etc.). After a recap of last week's material (technology as systems and processes rather than just hardware; the drivers of technological development; the dichotomy between science and technology; the situation of technology within a social context) we watched the first part of 2001: A Space Odyssey (the bit with the apes). I'm still not entirely sure what we're supposed to have gained from that other than an appreciation of just how cultish some cult films are and that tools provide an advantage.

Next Robyn talked a bit about ways to communicate with others. Specifically, she discussed a list of "don'ts"; things like judge, criticise people, diagnose, threaten, divert, question, rationalise, etc. Some of these are fairly self explanatory and other took a little more explanation than the single word she started with. Say that we ought not criticise, question, advise or use logic in a discussion didn't make a great deal of sense until she narrowed them to ad hominem criticism, excessive and provocative questioning, giving unwanted or inappropriate advise and rationalising problems and concerns.

After a discussion about these issues to do with communication, we watched part of another video; this time on Philosophy for Children.