Thursday, September 30, 2004

HST287: paper ideas, musings

Some current trends that may intersect in interesting ways in how we "do" history:
- "information explosion" - a perception (and an increasing reality?) that the amount of collected data is too overwhelming to process by traditional means
- instant information - that the web has or will have "everything"
- instant communication - person-to-person or person to fluid groups (subcategory: polarization)
- the tyranny of "I" - everything revolves around the individual (and "I feel")
- the impact of video (especially post-70s quick cutting TV) on human brain development (cf. recent studies on connection between under age 2 TV viewing and ADHD)
- the refinement of marketing techniques, esp. its role in politics and now a new collaboration between marketing agencies, Proctor & Gamble, etc.
- the changing role, nature, and process of education (esp. "the disciplines", the rise of part-timers, and of course, online learning)

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