MIDTERM INFORMATION AND STUDY GUIDE

Our midterm exam is on Wed, Oct 16th.

• YOU MUST BRING YOUR STUDENT ID CARD (OR PHOTO ID) TO THE EXAM
• It will have some multiple choice, some "fill in the blank," some essay answer.
• You will NOT need a blue (examination) book.
• Please bring a pen only.
• The exam will only take around 90-120 minutes.

STUDY GUIDE: HERE ARE SIGNIFICANT MATERIALS FROM THE LECTURES WHICH EXAM QUESTIONS MAY ADDRESS:

[Not all of these materials will be on the exam, but if you have a fair understanding of the below materials, you should do fine on the exam. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO DO ALL OF THE READINGS ASSIGNED TO DATE]

Innovation • Diffusion • the "Software" and "Hardware" components of technologies • a "Technology Cluster" (think: "bow and arrow" or "DVD and DVD player") • Adopter Categories: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards •  Diffusion across a social structure is unlikely to be uniform • Opinion Leader • the Attributes which Increase Adoption: Relative Advantage, Complexity, Trialability, Observability, Compatibility, Adaptability • Defining "Technology": "A system created by humans that uses knowledge and organization to produce objects and techniques for the attainment of specific goals" • technologies can be perceived as systems, requiring organization, resources, and other technologies • technologies do not always respond to existing needs, but can generate new needs • the goals achieved by a technology do not have to be practical nor beneficial • technological advancement does not necessarily generate social advancement • the stage of "scaling up" - bringing an invention from the point of discovery to mass marketing and production • often a technology comes into adoption because related (supporting) technologies are now available • often significant refining changes in a new technology take place during the "scaling up" process - when the technology is perceived as usable and marketable • The Innovation-Decision Process: Knowledge > Persuasion > Decision > Implementation > Confirmation • Knowledge - sometimes the awareness of the need or problem does not come first, but instead the innovation is discovered and then applied to a problem/need • "Preventative Innovations" - usually adopted at a slower rate, because their benefits are not usually visible in a short time • Social Construction of Technology - That technology is the product of a society and its needs and that it is shaped by social factors • Technological Determinism - That technology shapes the society, that technology influences and causes changes in a society • the differences between Darwinian Evolution (biological) and Lamarckian Evolution (man-made materials): "Natural Selection" vs. "Artificial Selection" • "Selective Regimes" the pressures upon a technology (or organism) which dictate how "fit" or "adapted" it is - humans determine many of the selective regimes of technologies • the range of "generalist" to "specialist" technologies • the levels of human social complexity: band, tribe, chiefdom, and state and their differences • the greatest changes - from "tribe" to "chiefdom" • the significant advantages of "craft specialization" (over no specialization) • why economy is necessary when craft specialization exists • how social ranking and stratigraphy is generated by craft specialization and economy • "Dunbar's Number" - the proposed psychological limit for "strong" relationships, and how it can affect social relationships in populations over ~150 (the presence of "strangers") • "clan" systems as a mechanism for generating social bonds in large populations where "strangers" exist • Selective Exposure - individuals expose themselves to materials which are in accord with their views and needs • Selective Perception - individuals often ignore materials which are not relevant to their views, needs, or interests. • 3 Types of Knowledge: Awareness Knowledge - knowing that the innovation exists; How-To Knowledge - knowing how to operate the innovation (more complex than awareness knowledge); Principles Knowledge - knowing the underlying mechanics or principles of the innovation (rarely needed to adopt or operate an innovation, usually the most complex of the three types) • "Early Knowers vs. Late Knowers" - Early Knowers (when compared to Late Knowers) have a higher education, are more cosmopolite, have more interpersonal communication channels, and participate more • Mass Media Channels - reach large audiences rapidly, creates knowledge, can change weak attitudes, relied upon more heavily by early adopters. • Interpersonal Channels - allows 2-way communication (feedback and questions), more effective at changing strong attitudes, and more important in the "persuasion" stage of adoption. • Cosmopolite Communication Channels - more important at the knowledge stage, more important for earlier adopters • Localite Communication Channels - more important for the Innovation-Decision process overall (adoption) and more important at the Persuasion stage specifically. • Early Adopters/Early Majority take less time from Knowledge to Adoption than Late Majority and Laggards do • The 1998 MMR Vaccine Scandal - Andrew Wakefield (et al.) published a study linking the MMR vaccine to autism, proposing that the vaccine weakened the intestinal lining which permitted unidentified materials to enter the bloodstream which affected the developing brain (later adding that the mercury-based preservatives may contribute to this process, and also that the combined effect of three simultaneous vaccines overwhelmed the immune system, enabling this process); Wakefiled was found to have falsified his results, omitting certain materials, and that his study was shaped and directed by law team interested in advancing a suit against vaccine manufacturers • The results of Wakefiled's panic - a number of people decided to forego the preventative innovation (vaccinations), now many populations are below the "herd immunity" levels for common (yet preventable diseases), thus we are now seeing the results: large outbreaks of measles, mumps, etc. among populations with insufficient percentages of vaccinated members • Why did the spread of the idea and practice of not getting vaccinated spread more rapidly and more thoroughly than the idea and practice that the MMR vaccine scare is illegitimate and that being unvaccinated is dangerous and that one should resume the practice of vaccinations? • Two Significant Landmarks in Technological Progress: Social Complexity and Rationality: Societies which are below a certain level of social complexity do not technologically progress beyond a certain point due to lack of specialists in their society (scientists, researchers, etc.); Societies which lack a rational general ideology can have limited technological progress because they lack a systematic way to recognize, analyze, and solve problems - they lack the fundamental methods of science which allow developers to effectively address problems, and to even recognize problems.