SEMINARS SPRING 2008
HONR 219C Selling Technology: The Success and Failure of Technological
Things
Monday & Wednesday 9:00-10:15am
Dr. Peter Sandborn, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Our world churns out new high-tech products at an astounding rate. But how are ideas turned into products, and what are the design and societal considerations that determine the success of those products? The technology-consuming public often has little or no view into the global ramifications of the products they are using or the technologies embedded within them. Technology providers are very good at grasping the consuming public's whims and providing products that appear to fulfill what consumer's desire. But be careful what you ask for: it may not be what you really wanted, and there are always unintended consequences of technology that find their way back to impacting us all.
Technologically focused products ranging from cell phones to airplanes will be studied in this course. Technology will be viewed from the standpoints of: ergonomics, social and environmental responsibility, practicality, cost, reliability, and other factors that contribute to the success, market acceptance, and lifecycle ramifications of a product. Specifically, we will study products and technology via reverse engineering ("product archeology"). We will address the real costs (both manufacturing and lifecycle) of technology-focused products and address technology risk and reliability. We will explore how technologies and approaches meant to address public concerns over the safety and environment may, in some cases, be paradoxes that represent shifting problems to other places or times. Other topics that will be discussed include: aging system problems, technology obsolescence, counterfeit technology, failure of groups to retain technology, and information modeling. The goal of this course is not to advocate for or rail against particular technologies or products, but to learn to ask important questions and think deeper than the claims made by product marketing.
There will be approximately 6 assignments (extended homeworks) and a final examination. In addition, students will perform a term project in which they will reverse engineer an approved product of their choice. The project should involve extensive research. The form the final project takes is variable, but it must contain both sizable written and visual components. Final grades will be affected strongly by participation in class discussions.
Readings include: Karl Ulrich, Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society; Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point; and technical articles provided in class.
Prerequisite: No specific background is required for this course; however, some portions of the course will require the use of spreadsheets and basic mathematical concepts.
CORE: Physical Sciences non-lab [PS]
