4 films illustrating Utopian / Dystopian views on technology

After watching these 4 films: - Bendito Machine III - Zumbakamera 2009.
- Inbox - Madonne Ashwin, 2012
- Thursday - Matthias Hoegg, 2010
- New Media - Julian Cooke, Sebastian Dias, 2012

As mentioned in the resources for #edcmooc week one, I thought about the films, how they were made, if they portray a Utopian or Dystopian narrative, and if they shed any light on the way we might look at learning and technology. The first three titles seem to have a friendly undertone, that would make them suitable for children too. The fourth film , "New media" has quite a dark and surrealistic atmosphere, and reminded me of 'War of the Worlds'.

Bendito Machine III shows a tribe that worships artifacts of technology that comes from above, from the clouds. After the objects of worship malfunction, they are discarded and a new piece of technology is raised on the socle. The three pieces seem to get bigger one after the other, but it looks like they do the same: they make noises and show images. In one way this film might be regarded as Dystopian (portraying fictional society with frightening aspects) because of the primitive superstition with which the tribes folk regard the objects of their worship. On the positive side, life seems to go on regardless of the cycle of new technological god figures.

On a more romantic basis, "Inbox" and "Thursday" show a couple and their reaction to technological possibilities (Inbox) or profound mechanization of society (Thursday). The first seems to be on the Utopian side, the second more weighing on a Dystopian narrative. The bird in Thursday may symbolize nature, or could be an "agent" on its own. Is it coincidental the bird bites the electrical wires, thereby bringing the Machine to a standstill?

After watching the short films I started reading Daniel Chandler - Technological or media determinism. Unfortunately the server was unresponsive halfway in my reading, probably because too much EEDCMOOC-folk were trying to get access. Luckiliy I found and printed a PDF version. Interesting discussions can be seen in this paper, about free will, determinism and the role of technology in evolution. Although I don't consider myself a determinist, or believer of technological autonomy, I do think it is important to treat technology in society and education with caution, as if it were deterministic. I was pleasantly surprised to see the mention of Asimov 1981 - "Asimov on science fiction. New York: Avon. Checking if this is available in a library in the Netherlands,... yes, the Amsterdam Public library has one on loan!

After seeing the four films, and reading Chandler and John Daniel's "Technology is the Answer: What was the Question?", my preliminary conclusion on technology and education would be that education may be helped (specially in view of access and speed) with technology, but learning being a holistic activity, technology can never fully replace face to face contact between teacher and student (just like an orchestra without a physical present conductor seems impossible). For example see: Deka, Tedi S. & McMurry, Patrick (2006): Student Success in Face-To-Face and Distance Teleclass Environments: A matter of contact? in IRR ODL - http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/251/468 (seen Jan. 30th 2013).