To what extent does this solution address the underlying problem? Why?
buein0r21
wp4_prompt_noon_1.docxWriting Project #4
Social Problems, Technological Solutions
Purpose: We have now carefully considered a range of current and future challenges and opportunities related to everyday technologies, digital media, and futuristic technologies. In this final writing assignment, we will draw upon these discussions to consider to what extent technology can help us to create a better world. Rhetorically, we will focus on developing a sophisticated writing style, thoroughly researching an issue, making a meaningful argument, and effectively guiding the reader through the complexities of the argument. The goal is to develop and refine the writing techniques that we have been working on throughout the semester to produce an essay with a strong voice and a compelling point of view.
Recommended Reading:
--Benforado’s “The Hidden Bias of Cameras”
--Eubanks’s “The Policy Machine”
--Lam’s “For More Workplace Diversity, Should Algorithms Make Hiring Decisions?”
--Toyama’s “Why Technology Alone Won’t Fix Schools”
Premise: Our society is full of problems, and technology often seems to offer promising solutions. In this unit we will be exploring this difficult question: to what extent can technology alone solve complicated social problems? All four of the abovementioned articles explore some of the limitations of technological solutions to social problems. For instance, Benforado argues that police body and dashboard cameras do not always give us the objectivity that we may hope for. In another case, Toyama argues that pouring technology into underperforming schools does not resolve any of the underlying problems they face. Keeping in mind these kinds of arguments, we will consider how to most effectively make use of technology to better our communities without over-idealizing what technological innovation can or cannot help us to accomplish.
To what extent does this solution address the underlying problem? Why?
Sources: You must cite at least four sources. At least two of the sources should be forms of academic support.
Suggestions for Successful Writing:
--Focus: the more narrow your focus, the more successful your essay is likely to be. Certain kinds of issues are so broad that they may be very difficult to write about. So, for instance, issues like climate change, obesity, and immigration may be good starting points, but you will need to narrow the focus significantly in order to write an essay related to one of these topics. Here are just a few examples of the kinds of issues that students have successfully written about in the past: Will electronic voting solve the problem of low voter turnout among Asian-Americans? Will robots be able to care for lonely elderly people? Will egg-freezing technology allow college-educated women to more easily balance career and family obligations? Will online education solve the problem of the high cost of college tuition?
--Counterarguments: It is absolutely essential to spend a significant amount of time responding to possible objections. First of all, you will likely need to convince the reader that the problem you identify is actually a problem! Second, you will be making an argument about whether or not the technological solution will solve the problem, and it is essential that you anticipate and address alternative points of view.
--Solutions: You will discuss at least one kind of technological solution in this essay, but you may discuss more than one. You should weigh technological solutions to the problem against other existing or proposed social, political, legal, economic, or cultural solutions. In this way, your essay should consider a range of approaches to the problem.
--Sources: You will want to find relevant and thought-provoking sources about both the social problem and the technological solution. You must have a minimum of 4 sources, but feel free to draw on as many sources as will be useful to you.
