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In this week's discussion Mary Beth brought up interesting point about Hole in the Wall studies and one laptop per child. This article criticized the program for not designing from the bottom up.

This is a short clip by Nicholas Negroponte, who is the founder of One Laptop per Child. He talks about how technology has made a way to mesh together our work and home life. It's interesting how opposite the views are for this topic.

I like how he describes this meshing of technology and daily life as an omelet. The idea behind One Laptop per Child also draws attention to the topic of the digital divide. I was trying to find some other commentary from mr negroponte and I came across a clip from the Colbert report that highlights the paradox in a funny, yet serious way http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/363111/october-25-2010/nicholas-negroponte

An app that uses your info and location to show you that strangers around you could share interests and could be possible friends. Really? Come on, now. We need this? It's like a funny little trust-detector. I can see how it could be cool, but I just don't know about this one. Our whole idea of and interaction with 'strangers' these days is pretty interesting -- something I've been looking into as a result of this course, which led me to this article!

It sounds like Sonar is going to help us come up with "appropriate" opening lines. I think this is interesting because there seems to be a perceived fear that increased online interaction has a negative impact on our ability to interact in a face-to-face social setting. Sonar seems to be an example of technology that becomes marketable as it will assist and support human to human interaction. Kind of creepy in definite "big brother" fashion, but something that might be attractive to people who feel they (or their child/family member) have lost their ability to socialize in person. Although having an app do it for you...is that really helping?