Fall 2002

Prof. D. deB. Beaver
Bronfman 117; ext. 2239
Office Hours: call or drop in

Aims and Methods

     The purpose of this seminar is to acquire an understanding of the nature, development, role, and significance of technology as a dynamic element in human society.  In other words, we will be studying the social history of technology, a vast subject area, both in time, and in conceptual approaches.  To geve us a path through this area, we will use a few "texts" to provide focus, continuity, and a point of departure for looking at the subject in different ways.

     For example, at a very basic level, one can approach the history of technology either as a study in the humanities, illuminating human nature, or as one in the social sciences, yielding causal relations and predictive power.  In fact, we will want to try the social sciences viewpoint in considering technology assessment, but, at the same time, our focus on the "unexpected" consequences of technology will involve us in a study of human nature.

     In recent years historians of technology have stressed ideology, complexity, and system as important factors in the development of technology and in the characterization of its nature.  They have also broadened their concerns to provide context from the point of view of the environment, of "consumers," and of women.  These and similar factors are significant for understanding and reconstructing the technological past.  They are also important for analysing and evaluating what are taken to be the salient features of the interrelationships of technology and society.

Course Requirements

Class discussion (30% of final grade)
evaluation based on attendance, plus frequency and quality of participation.
Paper (6-10pp) (20%)
Term Project (30%)
Comprehensive final examination (20%)

Term Project

The purpose of the term project is to study specific areas of personal interest, and to apply newly acquired knowledge critically where appropriate, while following a method and narrative discipline relatively unusual for an academic exercise. Conventional history of technology is rather linear straightforward narrative, chronological, and causally relatively simple. Such histories oversimplify the complex interrelations of humans and technologies, which form a rich and interwoven historical tapestry. It is extraordinarily difficult to try to write history unconventionally, but the attempt to do so is well worth the effort it takes to acquire a novel comparative perspective.
To that end, we begin by viewing James Burke's videotape series CONNECTIONS. Each of the ten one-hour episodes about technology and culture is to be viewed (group watching, when possible, is strongly recommended); we discuss them briefly in class, approximately one episode each week.
For the term project, each student [or group of students] is to prepare an additional episode. To the extent felt possible, the narrative should indicate visual and audio context [scenes, pictures, models, music]. A shooting script is acceptable, as would be a filmed episode or even a dramatic Power Point presentation. Most people feel more comfortable with the conventional format of a term paper.
Students present their new episodes in class, beginning the week before Thanksgiving week to ensure everyone has a chance to perform. Presentations are limited to 15 minutes [the equivalent of about 6 double spaced typed pages], so that a 10 minute question and discussion period may follow each one.
Students should clear topics and provide a rough outline (~1pp) by Thursday, October 17, the first class after Fall Reading Period. Final written drafts or scripts/tapes of the episodes are due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6, the last day of fall semester classes.

Critical Paper

George Basalla's The Evolution of Technology presents an unusual and provocative theory of technology: an evolutionary model for understanding technology's history and development. Students are to read Basalla's book and write a critical evaluation of it. Papers (6-10 pp) should be handed in by Thursday, Oct. 31.
Because students will have already become familiar with the different approaches and interpretive stances of Mumford, Gimpel, Cardwell, Pacey, and White, the evaluation should ideally also be comparative.

Texts

Additional articles supplement the texts and are available as a course packet from Ms. Kate Fletcher, Bronfman 189, at cost.  (100 pp; $3.00):  
 

L. White, jr., The Life of the Silent Majority  (LSM) L. White, jr., Technology in the Middle Ages  (TMA) L. White, jr., Technology Assessment from the Stance of a Medieval Historian (TA) L. White, jr., The Act of Invention  (AI) L. White, jr., Historical Roots of Ecological Crisis (HRE) L. Mumford, The Pentagon of Power (POP) M. R. Smith, Technological Diterminism (TD) L. Marx, Postmodern Pessimissm (PP)

Class Meetings
Classes will be in seminar format, consisting of discussion of the salient viewpoints, arguments, weaknesses, metaphysics, etc. presented in the assigned reading, plus any other critical, analytical, or contextual remarks thought relevant.

Brief Bibliography

SHOT  (Society for the History of Technology) publishes a journal, Technology and Culture, that contains many excellent articles covering a variety of topics.   One issue each year contains a bibliographical update.

The list above may prove useful in forming ideas about how to start your Connections episode, and what events you might like to include in it.  As you move to refine and expand the structure and character of your episode, you will find there are many fine and interesting books on more specific topics, such as on industry (electrical, chemical, automotive, computer), on engineering, on categories (power, communications, transport, military, textiles, metallurgy, materials, domestic technologies), etc.

If you start early enough, you may be able to identify useful articles you would like to have, which, if not held at Williams, could be ordered on inter-library loan.  If you haven't ordered such articles before Fall Reading Period, however, you can't count on their arriving in time for your presentation.

Under the Resources section of the History of Science website are helpful materials for the history of technology, including some useful links to sources and other reputable links.  There are many other potentially useful Internet sites which may help you, but beware the time sink factor.