Many new technologies were combined to realize this prescient sentence.

<br>By Jon Sullivan - PDPhoto, Public Domain, Link

I'll be interested to see if this report is entirely Positivist, or if Engelbart recognizes the possibility of computing being weaponized in sectors like politics, economics, security and warfare.

I find it interesting how decades of using computers has led to "new methods of thinking and working that allow the human to capitalize upon the computer's help." With all the new technologies, I think the central intellectual development has been to reverse the sequence of design decisions Engelbart describes. Best practice these days is to start with "the people who will occupy this building, and the daily sequences of their activities."

Let's say it's been twenty years since PDAs have been widely available. I returned to higher education less than ten years ago. K-12 seems to have embraced learning technologies, and their affordances, to improve primary and secondary education. In my experience, few educators with terminal degrees have made the effort while younger and more precarious teachers are slowly adopting educational technologies. Administrators are leading the way with their digital management systems and students are using proprietary social media platforms. Our institutions are doing what they were designed to do: resist change and reproduce the social order. Research paid for with public monies is as quickly privatized as that produced in corporations. Open education practices are just beginning to be explored.

The first PDA, the Organizer, was released in 1984 by Psion, followed by Psion's Series 3, in 1991. The latter began to resemble the more familiar PDA style, including a full keyboard.[4][5] The term PDA was first used on January 7, 1992 by Apple Computer CEO John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, referring to the Apple Newton.[6] In 1994, IBM introduced the first PDA with full telephone functionality, the IBM Simon, which can also be considered the first smartphone. Then in 1996, Nokia introduced a PDA with telephone functionality, the 9000 Communicator, which became the world's best-selling PDA. Another early entrant in this market was Palm, with a line of PDA products which began in March 1996. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant

My reply to another post about historical context might be helpful. https://hyp.is/R07lQCldEem5RmPv1ywB5g/worrydream.com/Engelbart/

​Technology is in constant motion. If we try to ignore the advances being made the world will move forward without us. Instead of trying to escape change, there needs to be an effort to incorporate technology into every aspect of our lives in the most beneficial way possible. If we look at the ways technology can improve our lives, we can see that technology specifically smartphones, have brought more benefits than harm to the academic and social aspects of teenagers lives, which is important because there is a constant pressure to move away from smart devices from older generations. The first aspect people tend to focus on is the effect that technology has on the academic life of a teen. Smartphones and other smart devices are a crucial part of interactive learning in a classroom and can be used as a tool in increasing student interest in a topic. For example, a popular interactive website, Kahoot, is used in many classrooms because it forces students to participate in the online quiz, while teachers can gauge how their students are doing in the class. Furthermore, these interactive tools are crucial for students that thrive under visual learning, since they can directly interact with the material. This can be extended to students with learning disabilities, such as Down Syndrome and Autism,​ research has shown that using specialized and interactive apps on a smart device aids learning more effectively than technology free learning. Picture Picture Another fear regarding technology is the impact it has on the social lives of young adults, but the benefits technology has brought to socializing outweighs any possible consequences. The obvious advantage smartphones have brought to social lives is the ability to easily communicate with people; with social media, texting, and calling all in one portable box there is no longer a struggle to be in contact with family and friends even if they are not in your area. Social media can also be used for much more In recent years, social media has been a key platform in spreading platforms and movements for social change. Because social media websites lower the barrier for communicating to large groups of people, it has been much easier to spread ideas of change across states, countries, or the world. For example, after Hurricane Sandy tore apart the northeastern United States, a movement called "Occupy Sandy" in which people gathered to provide relief for the areas affected was promoted and organized through social media. Other movements that have been possible because of social media include #MeToo, March for Our Lives, #BlackLivesMatter, and the 2017 Women's March. ​

I seem to run across references to this every couple of months. Interestingly it is never in relation to information theory or Claude Shannon references which I somehow what I most closely relate it to.

Another thing in a certain place in the neighborhood where she lived. Now I think the poem's first 2 1/2 lines were purposely provocative. They keep you guessing, and make you keep reading.

Oh. I guess she's listing things and places in her life.

What? How can you be from clothespins?

This quote by Doug Engelbart was selected for the IBM THINK Poster 2015 http://bit.ly/1DHBLYI. For more on the IBM THINK Exhibit see http://bit.ly/1oZu1RN.

The quote is from Engelbart's paper "Improving our Ability to Improve" http://bit.ly/1po1K7p which he presented at the World Library Summit in Singapore in 2002.

Just interested in the pervasive use of the word "artifacts," which still pops up in discussions about technologies.