Film 4: They're Made Out of Meat

This is a  difficult film to interpret. The two aliens find the idea of life forms composed of corporeal matter to be completely odd. This makes us wonder about their form of existence but as they appear as human we have no idea about the way in which they are embodied (or not). Given that the aliens find the human form so strange one might conjecture that there is something remarkable about the fact of corporeal existence. The fact that humans can function as they do - with all their senses and abilities - can be interpreted as something of a marvel. This can raise the question of just what it means to be corporeal. For example, we are subject to sickness, old age and death. Our faculties decline with age and if we live past approximately 80 years old then existence is extremely limited. We can then ask whether we can conceive of existing in other ways. Perhaps part machine, part body. In some ways we are already at that stage with e.g. pacemakers, replacement hips and so on. 

Film 3: World Builder

The only thing clear for the majority of this film is that building worlds is a relatively straightforward affair. The material environment is created with ease and it comes alive as textures and colors are added to the world. It is then that we see that the man is creating a street in a down complete with dwellings. The man puts a particular focus on the flower and without the ending of the film available to us we might interpret this as a focus on the sentient over the inanimate. Perhaps an acknowledgment that there are some things - natural things - that cannot be replicated. When the woman emerges we are struck by the fact that she is most thrilled by her sensory experiences: feeling the sunlight, touching the balustrade, listening to the water and admiring the flower. Again, without the final interpretation we might think of this experience as one that has been lost in the artificial world of the future. The conclusion of the film - with the woman in a coma - suggests that the man values reality over simulation but that simulation is all that is available to him because of the woman's medical condition.

Film 2: Heart to Heart

The film is suggesting that something is lost through computer mediated communication, particularly when this occurs via text. The idea is that we are somehow removed from one another when we communicate over the Internet and that we only really connect through, in this case, voice. The argument could be extended to say that we need to be physically present to really connect with people. 

Film 1: Toyota GT86

There are parallels between the GT86 advertisement and the educational arena. Most obviously critics argue that the on-line space is inauthentic and unreal. This argument is made even when teachers are present through videos and on the discussion forums. The criticism becomes even more acute when we think of MOOCs where a handful of teachers have to cope with thousands of students. In this sort of environment teaching presence is almost non existent.

We can also draw parallels in terms of the student experience. Here we have to think about the extent to which "life on-line" constitutes an attenuated form of existence. To put it another way, what is lost when one interacts through text as opposed to face-to-face? Some might say that we lose the human - immediacy, spontaneity, bodily cues and so on - and to that extent the experience is less real. On another line of argument the on-line experience is just different i.e. not better or worse than life in the physical world.

Film 4: Sight

It seems fairly obvious that life has been turned into a "game" through the use of a technology embedded into humans. On another level we can see that the man has lost all ability to interact with the world normally. For example, having left the game, the act of cooking becomes another game. The same is true of his interactions with the woman in the restaurant. There is a degree of ambiguity here. Whilst engaging in a game in his interactions with the woman we also see a degree of social control as he uses the game environment to interpret what he should do. This social control is ultimately exposed at the end of the film where we discover that the man can actually control the woman because she has had the same system implanted within herself. This opens up questions of determinism and instrumentalism which do not admit of any easy answer. For example, to some degree the man is controlled by the gaming environment and yet he uses the environment to get what he wants. The woman believes herself to be free but is in fact determined by the technology that she has accepted. There is a power dimension to the determinism. The man has the power as an engineer in the gaming environment. The woman has none because made the choice to be implanted with the technology.

Film 3: A Digital Tomorrow

The opening scenes of this film represent an environment - rooms in a house - that are barren and utterly devoid of technology. We become aware that the young girl is watching TV through her glasses and this is the only technological enhancement within the immediate environment. The girl bags her laundry and we are struck by the fact that technology has done nothing - in this case - to make a difference to the mundane things of life. As the film unfolds we see technological innovations that are essentially frivolous. For example, the door is opened by pressing a hand against a window. The rear view mirror in the car is used by the girl to check her make up. The mobile device in the car is used for making phone calls. The though transcription captures what is in the writer's mind. These technologies present their own frustrations and we are reminded that despite all the promises technologies are often as frustrating as they are useful. Overall the message of the film seems to be that we are sold an image of what technology will do for us. In reality, technologies are a mixed bag offering us affordances that can be useful but at the same time causing frustration in our lives.

Film 2: Bridging our Future

Unlike the first film technology is presented much more as an enabler. In the first instance technology is used to present theory and to search for examples of bridges. It is also used to test students knowledge, to allow them to model a bridge and give the students access to an engineer for expert advice. Thankfully the children then get hands on by building a model of bride that they then test out. It is probably fair to say that the technology has been appropriately aligned with desired learning outcomes. Technology does not so much distance students from the world as enable to understand aspects of the world i.e. how to build a bridge.

The technology is used as a means of communication but the teacher and the engineer seem much more integrated into the process. Unlike the first film there is no sense that they might be superfluous to the process. Rather they are facilitating the process through the use of technology. Whether real or imagined, there is a also a sense that children are communicating much more readily with one another around the technologies that they are using. For example they chat with one another about what they are viewing on their screens. There is some automated communication from the devices e.g. the students are presented with their scores when they have completed the quiz. On one line of argument this frees up the teacher to provide expert input into the more important classroom processes.

The film is clearly portraying a Utopian vision of a technology enabled future. That said, there is something reasonably "realistic" about this vision in that the film presents a vision of technology as integrated into classroom practices and enabling "real" learning. It is more difficult to make the case for technology as removing the school children from reality although one might note that they do actually visit any bridges. Everything is at their finger tips. The fact that everyone is so picture perfect probably speaks to the potentially dystopian nature of this vision as it will be a certain class of citizen that has access to this kind of technology in the classroom.

Film 1: A Day Made of Glass 2

This film is doing more than visualizing education. It is visualizing a way of interacting with our environment as a whole. For example, whilst the school children learn through the various devices, the doctors treat patients using similar devices. Technology is portrayed as a medium that enhances and augments reality. In this respect technology is presented as wholly benign, beneficial and within our control. It is there to serve our purposes. One might - if one did not think to any real degree - be left with the impression that technology is exactly what we need to make our lives better. 

It is interesting that there is no speech in this film. Perhaps it would have distracted from the message that technology itself is a medium of communication. In the case of the school children we see the "technology communication information" about, for example colors and nature. The teacher and the park ranger both seem almost superfluous. It is as though they might be removed with no real loss to the childrens' education. The case is different with the doctors as they need to, for example, interpret the results of the scans. However, it does not take much of an imaginative leap to imagine the doctors as absent with machines interpreting the results and carrying out the surgery.

This is a very Utopian view with the sickeningly perfect family finding their lives enhanced by everything that is available to them. The doctors are empowered through the use of technology. However, it is not difficult to move to a dystopian perspective. In this imagined future world there will be the "haves" and the "have nots" a fact which is already a reality in terms of access to technology. Again from a dystopian perspective this technology can be seen as removing us from the real. Notice how the display in the park almost seems like a barrier to the park itself. When the children find the footprint they take a photograph and are immediately provided with the an image of the animal that created the print. Apparently no thinking required.

Film 4: New Media

I don't really see echoes of 'Bendito Machine III'. Rather the imagery "War of the Worlds" and the message is the "Terminator" series. There is no ambiguity. This is a dystopian future in which the machines have taken over. They roam the landscape for an undefined reason but the cut to the TV remote suggests that humans are now hiding indoors and the world outside is the domain of the machines. The tumbling balls of steel are reminiscent of tracking drones or some such thing further reinforcing the idea that it is the machines that are in control. Overall I see the message conveyed being one of the ultimate consequences of perpetually producing technology with no thought for the future.

Film 3: Thursday

The suggestion is that this film depicts a tension between a natural world and a technological world. However, this does not seem to me to be the primary message. Rather I see in the first instance a question related to technological determinism and instrumentalism. Humankind invented the various devices in the movie and yet we see humankind defined by the devices. For example, the alarm clock wakes up the man. The main waits whilst the kettle boils. The characters are "slaves" to their cell phones. There is no choice but to use the computers at work. From my perspective the natural world runs parallel to this technological world and we are brought to think about life without technology. In this kind of life we have to learn and do for ourselves, just as the young birds learn to fly. Notice how the bird that crashes into the window picks itself up and flies again. When the computers are down due the bird taking the wire the humans simply give. There is a lack of agency in the humans in contrast to the agency in the natural world. Thus we have gained some advantages - communication, information processing etc - but we have lost our agency.

Film 2: Inbox

The fact that the woman checks her computer - presumably some sort of social software - and finds no messages sets the tone for this short film. We start with the feeling that she is socially isolated. The exchanges through the two bags lead to a connection but it is a very attenuated form of connection with post it notes, smiley faces and card games. This reminds us of the sort of surface interactions that can occur on-line. The relationship moves to a different level when the man asks the one if she would like to meet him. Then the technology fails. The man is left distraught because he has no way to communicate with the woman. He rushes out of the house and they meet serendipitously in the real world. The nature of the exchange is redolent of their on-line exchanges and we might interpret this in terms of a loss of social skills. This interpretation is reinforced by the opening of the film where the various shoppers have the opportunity to interact in the real world. However, they fail to do so.

Film 1: Bendito Machine III

This film is not particularly ambivalent in terms of whether the characters have choice in adopting the various technologies that descend from the sky. At first it appears as though the technologies are simply provided without the characters requesting them. However, at one point in the film one of the characters throws a stone at the device in the sky in an attempt to have a new technology delivered. One might argue that this point they have become addicted to the devices due to the provision of the various technologies. It might appear that we need to ask about the characteristics of the various technologies. In this respect we could say that they all seem to be frivolous, offering various degrees of entertainment. However, this is not the real issue. The real issue is the extent to which we are able to make choices with respect to the technologies that surround us. On one line of argument we can choose whether to be distracted by frivolous devices. It is more difficult, but not impossible, to choose not to use devices that serve important purposes in our work and social lives e.g. computers with office suites and communication tools.