Lin Marklin
EDT 6460 – Assign II
January 23, 2006
lin.m.marklin@wmich.edu

10 events/advances that helped to level the world playing field

1. Opening of the Berlin wall

2. Netscape, open standards,

3. Workflow

4. Outsourcing

5. Off-shoring

6. Open-sourcing

7. Supply chaining

8. In-sourcing

9. In-forming

10. Steroids

In comparing the two timelines, one pattern that jumps out at me is that in the area of workplace technology, I am an early adopter while in the area of personal technology I am later adopter.

I have found myself to be an early adopter in my profession when it comes to workflow productivity software. I started using Netscape when it first came out and was very glad to leave behind the world of Archie and Veronica. I made the switch to Windows relatively seamlessly. I had used Apple in graduate school (1990-2) and faithfully avoided the DOS lab during that time. Upon entering academia, I was faced with DOS, and I took on the attitude the “I can do this,” and I did. Once Windows came out, it was like welcoming back an old friend. When my college piloted Blackboard, I volunteered for the pilot program, and the next semester, I used Blackboard as a supplement to my face to face classes. The following semester, I taught an online section of ENGL 152, and I have been an online instructor ever since. I learned to use FrontPage the first year my college made it available to faculty, and now all of my instructional materials for my face-to-face classes are available on the web. My professional colleague all view me as an early adopter of technology, but I have a hidden secret.

When it comes to personal technology, I am not an early adopter. I did not get a cell phone until 3 years ago, and I only did so as part of a business venture. If we had not started a small business, I doubt that I would have a cell phone today. Recently, I purchased a better model phone, but I do not really know how to use its features. After 3 months of complaining that I could not hear people talking to me, my husband figured out how to turn up the volume. I still do not know how to decline an incoming call, so I have to just let it continue ringing or answer and hang up without speaking. When it comes to digital cameras, we purchased one 5 years ago, but I never really used it. Then our film-based camera broke while on vacation, and we bought a better digital to replace it. I now have spent 2 year taking digital pictures, but I have yet to figure out how to get them professionally printed. (Not that it would be difficult to do – I just have not done it). We purchased a wireless lap-top for me 3 years ago, and I have never used the wireless network at WMU. I use my lap-top almost exclusively when we are on vacation, and I need to either teach my online classes or I need to submit work for the online courses I am taking. In the course of a year, my son uses it more for his computer games than I use it because I still prefer the desktop. We had dial up connection until last summer when we had to invest in broadband because I was taking 12 credits online, and dial-up never would have worked. I have talked about getting a PDA, but when my husband gave me his old one 6 months ago, I never actually did anything with it. I have talked about getting and I-pod, but last night when I asked for one for my birthday, my husband who knows me well, answered “Do you know how to use one?” Based on previous experience, if I do not change my ways, I will get an I-pod and it will sit around for a year or so before I really use it, and then I will only use about half of its potential. So my dark secret is that I am really not the early adopter that others think I am.

What is interesting is that I never really saw this pattern until completing this assignment. I think I basically approach technology with an attitude of “what can the technology do differently for me?” and not the attitude of ‘how can the technology do what I am currently doing differently?”. So I did not need a cell phone because I had a home phone. I did not need a digital camera because I had a regular camera. The same goes for desktop v. laptop and dial-up v. broadband. When given the opportunity to use an online course management system, I quickly took it because nothing I was currently doing combined all those features. I learned how to use FrontPage the first chance I had because I had no other web-publishing technology at my disposal. I am not sure I can change this pragmatic approach to technology and move to a place where I embrace personal technologies as they become available. I would rather wait until a true need for them emerges in my lifestyle, and that may be because I am a thrifty person. I am just not a person who is interested in the newest steroids. I am content being in the middle of the pack in that area of my life

Approximate Timeline of Events
Friedman’s Observations	Marklin’s Experiences
1980-1989
1984 - Open-sourcing Richard Stallman launches free software movement (GNU) 1985 - Outsourcing Texas Instruments establishes circuit design and dev. Center in India 1988- Supply chaining Wal-Mart hires a CEO who will oversee the tightening of the supply chain that made Wal-Mart a giant 1989 - Opening of the Berlin wall – Windows OS developed	I am in college. I use no computers as an undergraduate.
1990-1994
1990 – In-forming Archie developed by Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in Montreal. 1990 - Supply chaining Wal-Mart continues tightening its supply chain 1991 - Open-sourcing Linux (built from GNU) posted as competition to Windows 1993 – In-forming Excite developed 1993 – In-forming Veronica and Jughead developed 1993 – Off-shoring NAFTA encourages some US companies to consider relocating to Mexico 1994 - Workflow more applications are made to work together 1994- In-sourcing - Companies like UPS lets small players act big 1994 - In-forming David Filo and Jerry Yang, start Yahoo! Database search engine 1994 – In-forming WebCrawler started 1994 - Outsourcing HealthScribe India set up in Bangalore to do transcription	1990 – Began using personal computing in graduate school 1990 – Work on Apple computers in college 1992 – Work on IBM computers for first teaching job 1993 – In-forming- Use Archie to access TelNET 1993 – Purchased first home computer 1994 – Worked with Windows OS
1995-1999
1995 - Netscape, open standards, Internet companies start booming, 5 billion miles of fiber optics laid 1996 - In-forming Ask Jeeves was founded in 1997 – In-forming TiVo founded 1998 - In-forming Google Founded in by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin 1998-99 - Outsourcing much Y2K upgrading is outsourced to India 1999 - Open-sourcing Apache project underway	1995 – Netscape - Used Netscape 1.0 1995 – Workflow -Buy Windows 95 1995 – Workflow- Started desktop publishing business 1995-2004 - Fiber optics- only use dial – up connectivity 1996 – Workflow -Start using computers extensively in the classes I teach
2000+
2000 – Outsourcing e-commerce starts to boom and outsourcing to India booms also 2000+ -Steroids – . Wireless technology takes off. Wireless allows file sharing and turbo charging of information sharing 2001 - Open-sourcing Wikipedia s 2001 - Off-shoring - China joins WTO 2002 – Workflow E-Bay buys PayPal 2003 - Supply chaining Wal-Mart tells suppliers that by 1/1/05 all pallets and boxes need RFID	2000 - In-forming- My job as an English instructor starts to include a focus on information literacy 2001 – Outsourcing - I teach online courses through Michigan Virtual Learning Collaborative and potentially take students from onsite instructors all over Michigan 2001- Off-shoring Several plants are relocated to Mexico within the corporation where my husband works. 2002 – In-sourcing Start buying things on E-bay. 2003 – In-forming- I begin tutoring colleagues on the types of information literacy that we now need to teach 2003 – Steroids -I buy a very basic cell phone 2003 – Steroids- I buy a wireless computer, but still use a dial-up connection 2003 – Supply chaining A Wal-Mart is built w/i ½ mile of my house. We choose to NOT shop there. 2004 – Open-sourcing We start using Firefox as our primary browser. 2005 – Fiber optics - Subscribe to broadband 2005 – Steroids- I buy a cell phone that can download and text message. It might be able to browse. I do not use these functions 2005- Off-shoring Two local plants within the corporation where my husband works are closed and a plant is opened in China

Evolutionary time line of globalization:

Globalization 1.0 - Voyager of Columbus to mid 20^th century -
(Nation states pursuing national goals are globalizing -1492-1950ish)

Globalization 2.0 –mid 20^th century to end of 20^th century
(Companies pursuing company goals are globalizing markets and supply chains -1950ish - 2000)

Globalization 3.0 2000-present
(Individuals pursuing individual goals become globally connected)

The flattening of the world was greatly facilitated by a triple convergence that came about in 2000 and still continues today.

1. Global web enabled platform and standardization of web protocols

2. Shift to a focus on connecting and collaborating with other workers in a horizontal way instead of the old hierarchical ways of connecting.

3. Developing countries, particularly India and China, flood the global market with 3 billion motivated and hungry new workers. In the case of India, these workers brought the technical skills they developed during the run up to Y2K.

References

Lévesque, F. (2005, Nov 25). Flat Education, 1-2. Downloaded January 22, 2005 from http://klever.edublogs.org/2005/11/16/flat-education/

Polsson, K.R. (2005). Chronology of Personal Computers, 1-19. Downloaded January 22, 2005 from http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/comphist/

Sonnenreich, W. (1997). A History of Search Engines, 1-9. Downloaded January 22, 2005, from http://www.wiley.com/legacy/compbooks/sonnenreich/history.html