Sociotechnical Plan - Smart Homes

The Fall of Kodak

Greetings to all,

Kodak’s Good Plan that went Wrong

For years since its founding, the Kodak organization had dominated the business of photography. It was at the dawn of the digital age, according to DiSalvo (2011), when Kodak’s good plan of business began to go wrong due to circumstances outside of its control. According to DiSalvo (2011), the city of Rochester NY, where Kodak headquarters is stationed, was a center of the highly successful business where employees were known to stay with the company for years and even up to retirement. When the digital age of the 1990’s began to develop and computers began to take root, Kodak did not change its plan of action or way of business; and in turn, over the years as digital cameras began to come onto the scene, Kodak’s profits began to dwindle and the organization began to lose relevancy in the modern economy. The outside circumstance beyond Kodak’s control was the technological development of the digital age when Kodak was still focused on the old good plan that had now lost its relevancy (DiSalvo, 2011).

A Potential Impact for my Sociotechnical Plan

For the collaboration of human beings and technology, you need not look any further than the rising trend of the smart home phenomenon. A smart home is a home or building run, controlled or interacted with using artificial intelligence or digital technology. The potential impact of this combination of human interaction with technology has the potential to impact those living with a disability or the elderly, as this technology can assist with their ability to control their home with limited interaction or centralized interaction from a mobile device (Dreyfus, 2009). Additionally, there is the potential for the remote access and control of home security systems that in turn can have a financial impact on homeowners and their insurance costs (Smith, 2014).

This is a relevant social technology due to the simple fact that as our society gains more technology in our everyday lives and integrate it into how we live, it will in turn shape our social norms and how we interact with our surroundings. The invention of a technology that changes how we live our lives or interact with one another will, in turn, change our lives in ways we can only imagine and potentially how we see the world or our society itself.

Two forces that will affect this innovation idea is that of the public’s trust and concern for privacy as well as the demand for more home oriented technology. After the revelations made by Edward Snowden regarding the National Security Agency’s surveillance program on the American people, the American public has become concerned about digital privacy. This force of public opinion can cause a delay in home integrated digital technology, as a person’s house is where they wish to feel safe the most (Munger, 2015). The second factor is the consumer culture of the United States, with the latest and greatest technology available on the market. The force of digital consumers based on demand can very easily impact this innovation and change the way people live in a modernized society (Lang, Shang, & Vragov, 2015).

References

DiSalvo, D. (2011, October 02). The fall of Kodak: A tale of disruptive technology and bad business . Retrieved from Forbes : http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2011/10/02/what-i-saw-as-kodak-crumbled/#1d9426f320f5

Dreyfus, D. (2009). Smart-home technology for persons with disabilities. American Family Physician , 80(3), 233.

Lang, K., Shang, R., & Vragov, R. (2015). Consumer co-creation of digital culture products: Business threat or new opportunity . Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 16(9), 766-798.

Munger, M. (2015). No place to hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. surveillance state. Independent Review, 19(4), 605-609.

Smith, K. (2014). Home smart home. Best's Review, 115(7), 16-22.

            

Serendipity, Error, Exaptation Examples

Greetings to all,

Serendipity

A serendipitous discovery that turned out to be good or useful was the invention of the microwave oven. In the year 1945, 
an American engineer by the name of Percy Spencer was testing magnetrons using high-powered vacuum tubes inside a 
radar system. One day Spencer was working near a magnetron that was producing microwaves while Spencer had a peanut 
butter candy bar in his pocket. While working with the magnetron Spencer noticed that his candy bar had melted and 
shortly after Spencer’s research lead to the invention of the microwave oven (Tweedie, 2015).   

Error

A discovery that came about through an error is that of the discovery of penicillin. On September 3^rd, 1928, Alexander 
Fleming returned from vacation to his lab to discover in one of his Petri dishes that had contained Staphylococcus 
bacteria had an unusual spec of mold growing inside of it. This mold he noticed had caused the inhabitation of bacteria
 growth around the mold. Through further experimentation, Fleming found that his mold had the capability of killing a 
large amount of different harmful bacteria. This mold would later go on to be what we know today as penicillin (ACS, 
1999).  

Exaptation

A discovery that fits the description of exaptation or repurposing to achieve something new is that of Listerine. In 
1860 Louis Pasteur’s had a theory that germs were the cause of a wide range of infections that affected medical patients. 
Inspired by this theory Doctor Joseph Lister in 1865 performed operations in a chamber sterilized by an antiseptic and as
 a result, the mortality rate at the facility began to decrease. As a result of this discovery in 1879 Dr. Joseph Lawrence 
developed created what we now know today as Listerine mouthwash, with the original intent of it being primarily using 
surgeries and bathing wounds. After its invention was it realized that this product could also be used as a mouthwash to
sterilize the mouth (LISTERINE, 2015).

Meaning of the Terms

For me serendipity is simply something that is found to be of use in one way or another; I have read about numerous 
examples discoveries being useful or beneficial, this can range from the invention of the automobile to solar panels. 
Errors, as they pertain to discoveries, are mistakes that lead to the accidental invention of something else; the perfect 
example of this that I have read so for is that of the pacemaker (Williamson, 2011). Exaptation is the utilization of a 
discovery intended for a specific purpose and using it for something else other than its original intent. With 
exaptation, I have to laugh and think about how books are sometimes used as TV stands or boxes as tables as that
 is not the purpose of their design but that is what they are used for in some cases.  

References

ACS. (1999). Discovery and development of penicillin . Retrieved from ACS: American Chemistry Society : 
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/flemingpenicillin.html

LISTERINE. (2015). From surgery antiseptic to modern mouthwash. Retrieved from Listerine: 
http://www.listerine.com/about

Tweedie, S. (2015, July 03). How the microwave was invented by a radar engineer who accidentally cooked a candy
 bar in his pocket. Retrieved from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-microwave-oven-
was-invented-by-accident-2015-4

Williamson, M. (2011, September 29). Wilson Greatbatch: Inventor of the implantable cardiac pacemaker. 
Retrieved from Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/wilson-greatbatch-inventor-of-the
-implantable-cardiac-pacemaker-2363206.html