The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
IÕm lucky enough this week to be down in San Antonio, Texas, speaking at the International Society for Technology in EducationÕs National Education Computing Conference. Besides that being a mouthful for anyone, San Antonio has rapidly turned into one of the nicest cities IÕve ever had the pleasure to spend some time in. 35-plus degrees Celsius and 80-90 per cent humidity make it a place that you walk very slowly through, along the riverwalk that runs for several kilometres across the city. It is a stunning place to visit. IÕm here for the largest educational technology conference in the world. There are about 17,000 people and an exhibit floor that is simply unbelievable to see. The exhibit floor is about the size of six football fields and is the place where many of the worldÕs technology companies have set up massive displays, complete with rotating signs suspended from the roof of the building; and free giveaways and mini classroom setups, trying to convince people to stop by and spend their money. So even though as a teacher I am now officially on holidays, it makes me wonder why all of this money is even spent. The global education technology business is a multibillion-dollar industry. But as I wandered around the exhibit floor the other day, I got thinking about the things I was seeing that were for sale. Almost anything there I saw for sale could either be accessed online or built for free. Certainly there are a few special vendors selling things that are truly new or different, but for the most part, I wondered why school districts, which are so notorious for having tight budgets, spend tens of thousands of dollars on tools which can be had for no money at all. Another thing that always strikes me when I cross the border is the different technology habits of Canadians and Americans. Granted IÕm at a conference full of geeks who love their gadgets, but it always seems to me that Americans spend far more time and money on cell phones, laptops, headsets, and whatever else they can find, than most Canadians do. Even if my first stop south is only Minneapolis, an hourÕs flight out of Winnipeg, as soon as I hit the airport, there seems to be so much more of it. Especially cell phones. People in the U.S. love their cell phones. IÕve been amazed at the people over the last few days living on their Apple iPhones. I have to admit that these look like great devices. You can access anything online, they have a host of built in applications, and they even make phone calls. But even for a guy like me who is pretty hyperconnected most times, the way that many people seem to be attached to every text message and twitter update is amazing. ItÕs even got me wondering about the amount of social, face-to-face interaction that some people are missing out on. The other great thing about San Antonio has been the wireless Internet service. Almost every place you go, you seem to be under a cloud of public wifi that you never seem to have trouble logging on to. As a matter of fact, IÕve had some interesting discussions here with people who live in places like China, Korea and Thailand. They have told me that in urban areas in these places, Internet service is considered to be a utility like electricity or water services and is even included as part of your rent. IÕve also heard that by 2012, Mexico will be doing the same thing, having a connection set up for every single person in the country. Not only that, but especially in Korea, our Internet speeds seem almost laughable. The average broadband hook-up speeds in Korea are over 22 times faster then ours. Imagine what you could do with that. Almost all content, from music through movies to any other knowledge that has ever been placed online. ItÕs all now within your grasp. So its been a good week, this first week of summer holidays. IÕve seen a few interesting places but still like where I live best of all. ([email protected]) Tech Notes runs Mondays.
