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Tech Post #3

Tech 114: D201

301091974

Priscilla Lee

Future Thinking: The Future of the Digital Watch

In 2059, the electronic boxes that once sat in our homes and offices will become obsolete. Computers, laptops, televisions, and DVD players will become compacted into one device: a multi-media watch. This innovation will bring back the popularity and functionality of the digital watch.

Description

The M²W (multi-media watch) will combine the multitude of personal devices we have today into one all-encompassing device to be worn on the wrist. It will unify and compact mp3 players, USB flash drives, blackberries, cell phones, et cetera. The basis and interface of the M²W will build upon the archetype of smart phones. The purpose of this device is to allow users to watch over the transfer of data and information from other devices to their personal device, anywhere the user might be. Therefore, the M²W will eliminate the computer at home. When the device is not in use, it will have an idling state of a watch display. To avoid attempting to see a vast amount of information on a tiny screen, the M²W will have a built-in high resolution projector that can project images or texts where there is a solid surface. In addition, Bluetooth and voice activation will eliminate the need of a QWERTY keyboard. The innovation of the multi-media watch will be used by business people to keep track of their client’s documents and everyday individuals as a personal information management device.

Development

The constraint of the physical size of a M²W will lead to greater an improvement in the form information is portrayed and how technology can promote the sustainability of the earth.

Firstly, the information age of today will overload and overwhelm society so that there will be a revolution to simplify information. As more information is generated on the internet and the prices of technology decrease, more people will be suffering from techno-stress (Marshall, 2007). This new form of psychiatric disorder will escalate the need for society to decrease information overload by simplifying and filtering unnecessary data. The revolution will be termed the age of abstraction, where information is condensed into its most simplistic form, but still capable of conveying an equivalent idea. For example, an e-mail’s subject heading will become the most important piece of information. From the keyword of the subject heading, the receiver will decide if the email is worth reading or not. The multi-media watch’s interface will have text displayed on the screen as metadata of the actual information. Consequently, the age of abstraction will enhance society’s ability to manage both information and time in their daily life. As the public becomes able to filter only the information they need, they will attain more leisure time and have less headaches when searching for what they want.

Secondly, the wrist size attribute of the M²W makes it one of the first leading edge technologies to promote sustainability in a new way. Because the multi-media watch is a combination of personal devices, it reduces the amount of individual techno junk that will end up in the landfills. This sustainability movement will parallel society’s need to reduce their carbon footprint on earth. The production of the M²W will influence other industries to miniaturize and merge devices into more efficient and eco-friendly products. Moreover, users will gain an increased amount of portability. The multi-media device worn on the wrist will enable users to carry only one device anywhere they go.

Rationale

Thought it seems like in the 21^st century North American society has replaced watches with cell phones, the M²W will become the next generation of a digital watch and bring back the popularity of wrist watches. In 2059 cell phones will be like the pocket watch, providing the primitive technologies and mechanics to create the multi-media watch. The age of abstraction and the sustainability movement will enable the M²W to become a prominent technology of the future. The age of abstraction draws upon the idea of how time was simplified and made into a precise measurement in 1970 when the first digital watch was produced. The digital watch changed the “cultural understanding of time [and] allowed a simplification of the watch’s user interface” (Martin, 2002, p. 11). The M²W will simplify information similarly to how a watch display became more precise, allowing society to manage their time better. In Addition, the simplification of information will help users to evaluate information more efficiently. Tags created by a folksonomy will become the main texts that are displayed on the screen. The future interface will require society to change their mindset on how they view information. Society is already adapting to a new way of seeing information, portrayed through using the internet. For instance, by using the Google search engine people are already being trained to become familiar with keywords. Moreover, the sustainability movement will address today’s prevalent issue of becoming a more eco-friendly society. As of August 1, 2007, British Columbia imposed the Environmental Handling Fee, taxing techno-junk like desktop computers, laptops, monitors, and televisions (Encorp Pacific Canada, 2009). These techno-junks will increasingly aggregate in the landfills and cause pollution and heath issues in the surrounding environment. The M²W will set a new standard for industries alike to minimize techno-junk by miniaturizing and combining different electronic appliances. The miniaturization of electronic components and materials will be another complication in the development of the multi-media watch. However, cell phone wrist watches are already in production like the LG GD910 touch screen 3G wristwatch phone and the multi-media watch can build upon these existing technologies through improvements and innovations. The M²W will become plausible by 2059, but before manufacturing commences, the technology needs to develop further to solve problems concerning battery life, memory storage and optimizing performance levels.

Conclusion

By the time the M²W becomes widely owned, this device will take timekeeping to another level. Not only will it be used to keep track of time, it will be used to manage information and data flow anytime of the day. Society will gain the control to prevent or allow the once invisible data flow to appear on the screen of their personal device.

Bibliography

Encorp Pacific Canada. (January, 2009). Electronics Recycling Fees: The EHF is not a tax. It

funds the Return-It Electronics program. Retrieved March 30, 2009, from

http://www.encorp.ca/cfm/index.cfm?It=939&Id=7&Se=40

Marshall, Stephen (2007, February). Information Overload. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from

Information Overload Overcoming techno-stress Web site:

http://www.wordworx.co.nz/Infoverload.htm#Information_overload_update

Martin, T.L. (2002). Time and Time Again: Parallels in the Development of the Watch

and the Wearable Computer. Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on

Wearable Computers (ISWC.02), 5-11. Retrieved March 26, 2009, from IEEE Xplore database.

I was a bit skeptical on publishing a personal story onto a public site like NowPublic. However, under the time constraint of this activity, i decided to write a personal story because all the information i needed  was in my head. I felt intimated throughout this whole process, not because i was using a site i have never used before, but because i did not know who will read my story. Also, since my piece was about SFU Surrey, i did not want to write anything wrong that i could be held accountable for. I was careful not to include anything negative about the SFU Surrey programs.  This shows how NowPublic as a mediated communication technology that is  suppose to allow the public to publish uncensored user generated content; on the other hand, enables users to chose what to write in order to mold the experience of how others will perceive them. As i am writing a story on how i have became a more technological person, i ran into some problems with posting my story. Whenever i copy and past my story from a Word document to NowPublic, the procedure also copied and pasted all the Word document formatting codes into my story. In lecture, we learned that what is displayed through these mediated communication tools is how we present ourselves to the world. My story was about how i have improved on using technology and i could not allow others to see  the reformatting codes on my story because it shows that i am incapable. In conclusion, i fixed the problem by writing my story in HTML.

To View my story click below:

http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/sfu-surrey-campus-techone-program-challenges-students

In this class activity, I was surprised that the whole class was able to get organized quickly and was able to complete this assignment. This was my first time participating in a Wiki. Below is my reflection:

Working as a whole class was a new experience for me and I learned how collective projects are produced. First of all, I believe the experiment was a success because we were able to address all the suggested ideas and provide many different sources for our references. Everyone got to participate, and this allowed us individually to gain exposure, whether general or specific, about Crowdpower and using Wikis. The benefit of a large group was that we were able to retrieve and process more information at a faster rate than an individual person. The problem with having a large amount of people was that at the beginning more time was needed to organize and delegate tasks. In order for a big group to be more efficient, we had to split up into smaller groups. By giving each group a specific topic to answer it made people have a focus, but it narrowed the depth of information learned individually. Though we had to concentrate on specific areas, we were able to provide more in-depth knowledge. Collectively, we brought together a broad range of information. Because we have a diverse range of people with different perspectives working together, we incorporated a vast assortment of sources. For example, some people posted images, some added video clips, and others wrote in text what they found. On the other hand, if I were to do this activity individually, I wouldn’t have been able to incorporate the wide breath of information. I would have only done an overview of the ideas and excluded the details. Also, my work would be limited and biased to my level of understanding. Moreover, because we were all in the same room, I was able to observe and learn that making a Wiki required a lot of people and a high level of participation. The overall experience of this activity with the class has taught me the process of making a Wiki and that it requires individual people with specific knowledge to work together to provide the public with more detailed, accurate, and unbiased information.

‘The Technological Development of The Digital Watch Through History’

Society’s core value of the upper class having authority over the lower social orders has been
challenged by the development of portable timekeeping devices. In the pre-industrial era, pocket
watches were technological advancements that were reserved for the elite class to represent their
status and power. With the elites possessing the power and technology of timekeeping, they
governed their workers daily life. When watches became more available and cheaper through
mass production in the industrial revolution, the privilege of the timekeeping devices was
distributed to the public and in turn they were able to manage their own schedules. However, the
development of digital watches in the post-industrial period posed a cultural shift. As the digital
watches evolve into the modern world, the public became less conscious about timekeeping and
more concerned with owning the newest technological innovation.

Pocket watches, with their complex gear systems and encasement made of precious metal,
were the first portable timekeeping devices. These “silver watches signalled enviable affluence”
and the revolutionary technology made pocket watches a status symbol of the 18th century for the
upper class (Styles, 2008, para. 27).Time keeping devices experienced a major aesthetic change
that made them more practical. They became wrist watches, which were designed for soldiers in
World War I to keep track of time in battle because of its easy access compared to a watch kept
in a pocket (Wiki, 2009). The transformation into wrist watches challenged the watch industry to
create better mechanisms to make smaller watches. Though watches in this pre-industrial era
went through significant technological advancement, they were in constant need of repair which
made them expensive and reserved for the elites. As a result, only the upper social orders were
proprietors of timekeeping who managed the daily lives of the lower classes.

As wrist watches progressed into the industrial revolution, portable timekeeping devices
became more available to the public through innovations in technology. The industrial revolution
was the wrist watches’ phase of major innovation, which provided the foundational mechanics of
a watch to advance from the traditional society to the modern society. During this revolution, the
watch industry was in competition to find more precise and accurate mechanics. For example, in
1927, quartz crystals were discovered and used for astronomical observation. Then, after
research had been conducted in scientific laboratories, they became the staple material for more
accurate timekeeping (Stephens & Dennis, 2000). Consequentially, the industry switched from
manufacturing mechanical watches to producing quartz watches. More over, quartz crystals were
in demand during World War II to produce quartz oscillators (Stephens & Dennis, 2000). This
demand along with the nature of the watch industry to produce more precise timekeeping devices
motivated the industry to invest in creating automated manufacturing equipment. In essence, the
industrial revolution broke the barriers of the traditional “entrenched patterns of manufacturing”
from watches being handcrafted to mass production (Stephens & Dennis, 2000, p. 482). As a
result, more accurate and precise watches were being produced at a faster rate and with lower
production cost. With more men and women being able to own a watch, they began to
“[internalize] new time discipline” (Styles, 2008, para. 12). This brought upon newfound
knowledge to the workers’ daily lives. Instead of looking toward temporal signs such as daylight
for working hours and night as resting time, workers could now organize their day into various
slots of activities. For instance, in the 21st century, from 6am- 7am is breakfast time, 8am-4pm is
work, and 8:30pm-9:30 pm is reserved for a favourite TV show, etcetera. Thus, the industrial
revolution resulted in more affordable watches being widely owned and the idea of time
discipline affected the public to better organize their daily activities.

As society became more time conscious, the watch industry continued to evolve with the
invention of the electronic digital watch in the post-industrial era. The creation of the electronic
watch began while the Swiss and Japanese watch industry were going to launch their analog
quartz watch. The American Hamilton Company was having technical difficulties producing
quartz watches; in order to stay in the competitive watch market, they embarked on making the
world’s first electronic digital watch (Stephens & Dennis, 2000). With research being conducted
for the Cold War and Space Age, the Hamilton Watch company was able exploit military
resource that provided the blueprints for “miniaturizing electronic circuitry” (Stephens & Dennis,
2000, p. 483). The world’s first electronic digital watch called the Pulsar was produced in
1972(Wiki, 2009). Hence, the watch industry, which was one of the first to change their
manufacturing patterns, also became the first industry to introduce personal electronics to the
world. The digital watch was the beginning of a technological progression into post-modern
society. Though digital watches stressed timekeeping to become more absolute to the numerical
figures, digital technology and development in miniaturizing electronics allowed watches to
advance beyond timekeeping. The digital watches began to expand and incorporate functions
such as calculators, GPS receivers and cellular phones. Watches became gadgets. The people
became more interested in keeping up with the latest watch trends than owning the most accurate
timekeeping watch. In The New York Times article by Michelle Slatalla, she tells her story of
her search for the Casio GW-400J watch that her husband desired because of the G-Shock’s line
that emphasized toughness. Her husband wanted a fully featured gizmo containing a vibrating
alarm, countdown timer, thermometer and a moon-phase indicator (2005). Her husband is an
example of society’s shift in values. In the 21st century, the public is concerned about keeping up
with trends to represent their individuality. Contrary to the pre-industrial era in which pocket
watches were status symbols, digital watches today has become personal expressions.

Throughout the pre-industrial era, industrial revolution, and post- industrial period, watches
have been shaped by social constructivism. The industry and society have been on a quest to find
a precise device to keep track of time. These time keeping devices have been prominent
technological advances that aided World War I, World War II, Cold War, and the Space Race.
Today, the digital watch technology serves as a foundation to the digital revolution.

Bibliography

Statalla, M. (2005, July 14). What? Your Watch Only Tells Time? The New York Times. Retrieved February, 2, 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/14/fashion/thursdaystyles/14online.html?_r=4&scp=36&sq=digital%20watch&st=cse

Stephens, C., & Dennis, M. (2000). Engineering time: inventing the electronic wristwatch.
British Journal for the History of Science. 33, 477-497.

Styles, J. (January 2008). TIME PIECE: Working Men and Watches. January 2008, 58, Retrieved March 11, 2009, from Academic Search Premier.

(2009). Watch. Wiki The Free Encyclopaedia. Retrieved March 11, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch

Below is the PDF version:

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TechPost #1 – ‘ The Digital Watch In Contemporary Society’

Priscilla Lee

Tech114: D201

301091974

February, 10th, 2009

Digital Watch

Digital watches have revolutionized the way people tell time. The switch from analog time to digital time has re-contextualized how people view the time of day in fractions (quarter to eight) to a precise numerical value. Starting from the 1970s the watch screen, lit up by LEDs, was to be read from left to right (Stephens, 2002). The left contains the numerical value representing the hour, followed by a colon, and on the right side is the amount of minutes in an hour that has already passed. A digital watch’s sole function was to help people keep track of the absolute time every where they went and at any time of the day, because it is to be worn on the wrist. Today watches are not only a time keeping device, but a personal technology that is an extension of our brain. They enhance our ability to plan and efficiently go about our day. However, the future of digital watches is becoming smart watches, multi-functional and diverse in the information they can display. With functions such as organizers, cell phone, MP3 player, and wireless internet connection, we are becoming more dependent on the digital watch. Though in recent years people have been using their cell phone to tell time, digital watches are once again on the rise due to the merger of the two devices into a cell phone wrist watch.

The Multi-functional Digital

In the Associated Content article by Roberto Sedycias he describes the latest innovation of the cell phone wrist watch. The device is said to be a “fully featured powerhouse” consisting of GSM SIM for two way communication, Bluetooth, MP3 player, Wi-Fi, camera and personal organizer (Sedycias, 2009, para. 4). He predicts that the cell phone wrist watch will become a commodity to those who own a PDA, but do not have GSM connectivity.

The Effects of the Digital Watch: Smart Watches

With all these functions on one’s wrist, it shows that our social demographic is demanding for devices to be all encompassing. However, with great power on the wrist, the device can consume all of us and our time. For example, as Davis reports from The Height (2008), Boston College newspaper, the usage of ipod limits communication with others because it provides a mean for people to tune out their surroundings when they are listening to their personal playlists. As for the multi-functional wrist watch, like the ipod we will be using it to listen to music, check emails, and surf the internet practically anywhere we go causing us to have less personal interactions with others. The smart watch is like a portal that will suck our attention into the device. Consequentially, we will turn a blind eye towards the changing environment around us. It brings upon a negative social affect on us. We will be less helpful members of society as we become less concerned about others and more self-centred. McLuhan has termed this the numbing effect because “we are benumbed by any new technology” and the only environment we remember is the past (McLuhan, 1969, p. 7). As digital watches become more multi-functional, they reverse and obstruct our ability to keep track of the changing, natural environment around us. Moreover, with many functions such as appointment reminders, phonebook, and GPS navigators, wrist watch not only track the time of day, but can tell the user if they are not engaged in any other activities (Sedycias, 2009). Today, we are constantly multi-tasking, with our days over flowing with things to do. Digital watch and its precision, has made us reliant on its capability to remember our daily schedules and provide various alarms for a broad range of activities. As digital technology continue to evolve, our daily activities may one day be done on personal devices like the digital watch. However, we know for sure that the high-tech watch industry need to adapt and keep up with the advancing digital technology in order to attract the tech-savvy consumers. The industry will keep on inventing; as a result, the consumers are stressed to keep up with the latest gadget. Contrary, the economy will benefit from this positive effect as sales remain continuous. In conclusion, the smart watch are geared towards personal usage causing us to become enclosed and away from our environment. The watch industry will create watches with more personalized applications which in turn affects the consumers to constantly search for the latest smart watch.

Digital Watches may be overcome by…

With all these utilities, one has to wonder how everything is going to fit on the limited space of one’s wrist. The digital watch industry is struck with a challenge of a “[function] and form battle in the laboratories for real estate on the wrist” (Pescovitz, 1998, para. 10). The cellphone wrist watch like the one in Figure 1 looks big and chunky, undesirable to wear. Historically, in the 19th century, watches were worn as fashion pieces constantly changing with the evolving styles (Stephens, 2002). For example, today’s society as seen from the cell phone market, consumers are more drawn to sleek and fashionable cell phones. I believe the digital wrist watch, unless form wins over in the industry, will be overcome by society’s growing desire for more aesthetically pleasing products with all the functionalities hidden. The watch industry also need to consider that these high-tech technology are also a form of accessory. This can be seen by how the trendsetters, Hollywood stars, use their cellphone and personal technology as fashion statements. Though the digital watch is influenced by our changing social trends, it has significantly affected the way we live and carry out our days.

Bibliography

Davis, J. (2008, September 15). IPODS ON CAMPUS MAY HURT CLASSROOM LEARNING. The

Heights. Retrieved from http://media.www.bcheights.com/media/

storage/paper144/news/2008/09/15/News/Ipods.On.Campus.May.Hurt.Classroom.Learning-3430692.shtml

McLuhan, M. (1969, March). The Playboy Interview: Marshall McLuhan. (Playboy, Interviewer)

Pescovitz, D. (1998, June 18). DOWNTIME; The Well-Dressed Wrist: Pager, Phone,

Joystick…Watch. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?

res=940CE6DB103DF93BA25755C0A96E958260

Sedycias, R. (2009, January). Digital Wristwatch: A Multi-Purpose Utility Device. Associated

Content.  Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1395566/

digital_wristwatch_a_multipurpose_utility.html?cat=46

Stephens, C. E. (2002). On Time: How America Has Learned To Live By The Clock.

New York: Bulfinch Press.

To download PDF version to view:

http://www.sfu.ca/~pml6/Tech114/Priscilla_Lee_TechPost%231%5B301091974%5D.pdf

The Digital Wrist Watch.

I am personally a time conscious person and i decided to pick the digital wrist watch as a personal technology that i will be writing my TechPost about. A digital watch is awesome, inwhich with one glance at the wrist, i am able to know the precise time. A digital watch time is unambiguous as it portrays  the hours and minutes in a definate numerical value. Below is the Pulsar. It is the worlds first digital watch porduced by Hamilton Watch Company.

Hello. My name is Priscilla Lee. I like scrumptious, baked goodies. Especially, cookies and cakes of all kinds.

I have always had a love hate relationship with technology. However, my favourite piece of technology that never fails me would have to be a digital analogue clock. Keeping track of time is important to me because it  contextualizes my life. The revolution of digital clock provides the exact time. There will be no need to estimate where the hour or minute hand has landed. Therefore, a digital clock is simply easy to read and understandable. Most of all, I cherish the aspect that i will never ever have to listen to the irritating ear deafening ticks and tocks of a mechanical clock.

<—– The person on the right is me. The duck was there to hide my room.