Week 3 #EDCMOOC We were only being human

TechAdmin
http://www.flickr.com/photos/techadmiin05/2298049393/ 

The chorus of The Pet Shop Boy's song "Being Boring goes - "'Cause we were never being boring; We had too much time to find for ourselves; And we were never being boring; We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"; And we were never holding back or worried that Time would come to an end" I sometimes see our engagement in technology as a ceaseless attempt to make sure we are not being bored, we now have the answer to any question via the WWW, if we phrase it well, there is no sense of wonderment. However, I was contemplating on whether technology could bring about a sense a of wonderment, could it reinforce humanity? So I started to reflect on the intersection of humanity with technology and examples of such, in fact "Think it Big" actually awards prizes for this http://bigthink.com/humanizing-technology/2012-humanizing-technology-prize-nil-the-winners    . Here is my list I have applied a simplified typology

Protest

• 38 degrees
• Occupy Wall Street on Twitter 
• HM Epetitions

Philanthropy 

• Just Giving
• Hole in the Wall 
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• OER Africa

Inspirational

• TEDX
• PASSED Proudest Achievements Skills Education and Development 
• STEM Women at Science and Technology Facilities Council

Then I saw this article in the Observer Review this weekend "Digital Capitalism Produces few Winners" which reports on the poor wages Apple employees receive and refers to Sarah O'Connor's FT Article Amazon Unpacked and I quote

"She visited Amazon's vast distribution centre at Rugeley in Staffordshire and her account of what she found there makes sobering reading.She saw hundreds of people in orange vests pushing trolleys around a space the size of nine football pitches, glancing down at the screens of their handheld satnav computers for directions on where to walk next and what to pick up when they get there. They do not dawdle because "the devices in their hands are also measuring their productivity in real time". They walk between seven and 15 miles a day and everything they do is determined by Amazon's software. "You're sort of like a robot, but in human form," one manager told Ms O'Connor. "It's human automation, if you like

...where is the humanity here?

Here are what I think are the best resources from Week 3

Toyota GT86: the ‘real deal’ advert 

BT: heart to heart advert 

World builder

They’re made out of meat

 Steve Fuller’s TEDx Warwick talk