- Feb 2019
-
dougengelbart.org dougengelbart.org
-
to give direct aid to an individual in comprehending complex situations, isolating the significant factors, and solving problems
This is where most modern technology deviates from the Engelbartian norm. Instead of broadening our horizons today's platforms often seek to constrain them because it is through constraint that control and profit can be had. Many platforms from Facebook to Learning Management Systems are more interested in locking you into their ecosystems than drinking in the wider panoply of human creativity and knowledge. The more I think about this, the more see evidence of it everywhere in our world today. In education alone, the aforementioned LMSes are being complemented by even more restrictive (and exploitative) textbook publisher "online supplements." I'm hoping both of these are the endgames of obsolete modes of thought but they have sustained themselves long after we wrote them off. I remember Bryan Alexander bemoaning this facet of the LMS as far back as 2006. That was 13 years ago - a geologic era in technology terms - and yet they are still with us.
-