Wolfram Alpha is an online answer engine. Let it be noted that this differs from Google because Google is a search engine; where Google searches the web and provides links that may answer your search, Wolfram Alpha computes an answer itself. That is, it provides specific answers to questions, as opposed to providing links to other websites for answers.
Y'all can read more specifics about Wolfram Alpha on the website:
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I believe Rosen would support this technology, because he writes, in iDisorder, "Avoiding an iDisorder does not mean getting rid of your technology. Most assuredly the solution is about balance and moderation." (15) This follows what we said in class. The majority seems to have concluded that it is important to learn mathematical computational skills, but once the computation is understood, the technology may be a beneficial time saver.
I disagree. While some people who use Wolfram Alpha do already understand how to work the problems and are just using this to get the answers, a good majority are just using it so they don't have to learn how to do it. It is for this reason I believe Rosen who not only be against this technology, but almost hate it. It leads us to believe that if we don't know how to sort out our own problems, technology will do it for us. Turkle would also hate this because it increases our demand on technology, and decrease on the demand for both others and ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Rosen would support this technology and rightfully so. While it is true that this resource may be abused by students who are not interested in learning, I think that just about any kind of technology could be abused in a similar way. It is up to the person using it whether or not they are going to use it appropriately; the technology itself is not to blame. When used in "balance and moderation," Wolfram Alpha is a great learning aid that reaps many benefits to its users.
ReplyDeleteLike we said in class, this really depends on the way you use it in order for some kind of dependence to form. I know lots of people who have referred to Wolfram Alpha to help learn material, but I know a lot more who use tools like this to finish homework quickly. I know I have used wolfram alpha, among other sources for both situations. Rosen would obviously disagree with this app, but in all honesty, the technology behind wolfram alpha is amazing. A website/app can solve calculus and physics problems, step by step just by typing a problem into a search engine!
ReplyDeleteI think it would be fun to mention that you can now type "facebook report" into Wolfram Alpha and it will use your data from facebook to present you with a plethora of graphs and statistics about your facebook world. This includes a word cloud of commonly used words, a social graph visualization, usage statistics, top connectors, etc. I had tried it previously but it was having problems connecting to my profile before. But I encourage anyone who reads this to try it - it's fun!
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