Course reflection

     Throughout the duration of this course, I have learned a lot about how fast our technologies have evolved and why we adopt certain ones in the first place. Starting off with learning technology ecosystems really helped me through the semester to see the larger scale of technologies. I recall one of the first classes we spent a lot of time identifying hardware, software, organization and social systems of certain technologies. One for example was smartphones. Understanding how these technologies can have an affect on users directly and indirectly was interesting as well. When I was creating my conceptions about what I thought we would go over in this course, I did not take into consideration the structure of communication technologies. This was critical to understanding how things operate and work. I also knew that there were corporations and agencies that ran and regulated technologies and one in particular I enjoyed learning about was the FCC. We use technologies like radio and television everyday so by seeing how they got introduced to us was informative. 

    When it came to what I personally found the most interesting in communication technology trends, it was digital signage. This could be because I am a communication design major, however, I found it fascinating how we have merged from traditional print to the most eye-catching 3D billboards. Seeing how these have evolved over the years also peaked my interest. An example is how they integrated AI with digital signage to see where audiences look for certain times and facial recognition. My favorite theory to learn about was innovation adoption rate. I liked to compare my own statistics to this model, and I found myself thinking of other individuals who either were early adopters or laggards. A social issue I had previously heard about was the digital divide. It was insightful to see the ways people have tried to bridge the gap like the school system in Coachella valley. However, after the pandemic, we are still seeing people face this issue. Lastly, a policy that was informative to know about was ones concerning surveillance. At my apartment we have cameras and a ring doorbell, so it was interesting to know the certain data being collected. The 2008 Illinois Bio-metric Information Privacy Act is a policy that I believe is good to have in place for our protection of fingerprints, voiceprints, etc. Overall I learned a lot of valuable information in this course and I take these teaching along with me as I navigate our ever evolving technological future.