Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Blackfly

I am home from school today so I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is I am sick, and the good news is I can actually write my blog in the middle of the day without it being blocked.

I must admit I did not know what to talk about today. I have been really struggling with the Heidegger reading. Heidegger makes some good points but I will discuss the article at length after Thursday's discussion.

Today I want to discuss the animated short Blackfly by Chrispoher Hinton.


The song was written by Wade Hemsworth, and as in The Log Drivers Waltz, Hemsworth and the McGarrigle sisters are on vocals. The reason I was attracted to this song was the dialect of Hemsworth. At times it sounded like a the distinctive Newfoundland dialect of my home country. After some quick research I found that although Hemsworth was not from Newfoundland he discovered traditional music when he was stationed in Newfoundland during the second World War. Although Hemsworth makes his dislike for flies known during the song, I don't think he has any intention of leaving steady employment. "I'll die with the black fly a-pickin' my bones" sends a strong message that work is work, and although it might not be the best of conditions it is still a job. Humor can get you through a day on the lines or a day in a challenging classroom.

The question is how does this relate to technology? Well when the song was written in 1949 there were many jobs available doing labor work on the lines in Northern Ontario. Today their would not be as many jobs due to technology. The traditional labor jobs would be replaced by skilled tradespeople who can operate huge machinery. Technology and machinery has developed to the point that one person and a machine can preform the jobs of many. How long before the machine can preform the job independent of the person? Have we already reached that point? Will we eventually reach the point where teachers are replaced with technology? Would kids rather learn at home using hand held technology than having to sit in a class? I certainly hope that my job is not replaced with technology!

Another gem on the NFB site is a slightly outdated education guide for incorporating animation in your classroom. It gives you instructions on how perform an animation simulation with black-flies swarming all around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Fly_Song
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_Hemsworth
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101468/
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4 comments:

  1. MikeFebruary 2, 2010 at 3:46 PM

    Old resource, but has some good stuff in it. Thanks for sharing this video.

    I wonder too about teachers being replaced by technology, but I don't think it will happen, perhaps in the old sense of teacher as dispenser of information. Lots of that can be found online or elsewhere. The real value of a human teacher is the thinking, guiding, modeling, the social aspect of learning, explaining in different ways, prompting, coaching etc. The old correspondence courses are and never were very successful, even online courses usually succeed because of a human teacher at one end. I comment on this in my blog as well.

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  2. GarryFebruary 2, 2010 at 7:16 PM

    Neat, Paul. Great film. When considering a machine doing the work of many, have you any thoughts on the recent changes to Winnipeg's garbage collection? One less worker per truck. The paper by Carl Mitcham addresses the issue of machines making machines - robots. Will there ever be complete automation? No. We will always be in control. You have seen the video on my blog; I read your comment. I think the meaning of that video applied to technology could be: technology does have its limits, no matter how good it gets.

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  3. RolandFebruary 4, 2010 at 11:40 AM

    Hi Paul,

    Thanks for the link to the video! You mentioned a worry of technology possibly replacing teachers. A scary thought! Marshall McLuhan wrote that when the world becomes saturated with technology, it will create "global tribalism" where people will seek local, physical relationships rather than online virtual relationships.
    I think the essence of teaching is creating positive relationships. These relationships can never be replaced or created solely through technology. The human touch will always be needed... I hope.

    Roland

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  4. Ben AkohFebruary 8, 2010 at 6:05 PM

    Paul, Great video and link. I happen to learn something new everytime. Hensworth's hate for flies could translate to my hate for Winnipeg's mosquitos during the summer and was wondering if Madden talked about it in "My Winnipeg." That's something that should be worth mentioning.

    Anyway...

    We briefly mentioned cyborgs in passing during our last class. That got me thinking during my drive home. What if we are already cyborgs? What if we dont have to have the man-machine combination to truly be seen as machine men? What if technology's impact on our lives already makes us machines? Already, our dependence on technology shows how "dependent" we are. And that one aspect of technology taken from our routine incapacitates us beyond comprehension. The day our mobile phone is lost (and how lost we eventually become), the day electricity fails for an hour and how intense life becomes, etc. Our dependence on technology is already a layering on our culture. It has become tradition - one with us -- almost inseparable. Arent we then men-machines? And it does not have to take a procedure to infuse metal and wires into us for us to assume a new true nature.

    Maybe it is not just our dependence on technology that makes us cyyborgs. Maybe its the way we think too. Maybe technology has affected the way we think, work, play. So much that we cannot imagine a world without technology's place in these things. Maybe we are technology.

    Maybe the human teacher you refer to is technology itself. Maybe he will become technology or is on the way to becoming one? Maybe the machine that replaces us is actually ourselves replacing each other -- only just one machine more technologically astute than the other. Maybe...maybe.... just maybe...

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