A humanistic account of the changing role of technology in society, by a historian and a former Dean of Students and Undergraduate Education at MIT. When Warren Kendall Lewis left Spring Garden Farm in Delaware in 1901 to enter MIT, he had no idea that he was becoming part of a profession that would bring untold good to his country but would also contribute to the death of his family's farm. In this book written a century later, Professor Lewis's granddaughter, a cultural historian who has served in the administration of MIT, uses her grandfather's and her own experience to make sense of the rapidly changing role of technology in contemporary life. Rosalind Williams served as Dean of Students and Undergraduate Education at MIT from 1995 through 2000. From this vantage point, she watched a wave of changes, some planned and some unexpected, transform many aspects of social and working life—from how students are taught to how research and accounting are done—at this major site of technological innovation. In Retooling, she uses this local knowledge to draw more general insights into contemporary society's obsession with technology. Today technology-driven change defines human desires, anxieties, memories, imagination, and experiences of time and space in unprecedented ways. But technology, and specifically information technology, does not simply influence culture and society; it is itself inherently cultural and social. If there is to be any reconciliation between technological change and community, Williams argues, it will come from connecting technological and social innovation—a connection demonstrated in the history that unfolds in this absorbing book.

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The ArgumentThis essay argues that a prime source of contemporary technological pessimism is the loss of place that accompanied the conquest of space through the construction of large technological systems of transportation and communication. This loss may involve physical destruction, or it may involve the more subtle withdrawal of economic, political, and cultural meaning and power from localities in favor of these far-flung systems.The argument proceeds in five stages. First, key terms are defined, notably “environmental damage” and “technological system.” Second, the origins of the modern ideology of circulation are traced in the development of a capitalist world-economy, and in the historical theories of Enlightenment philosophes (with special attention to Turgot and Condorcet). Third, possible relations between that ideology and nineteenth-century systems-building are briefly sketched. Fourth, the ambiguous political character of these systems — at once liberating and constraining — is noted. Finally, the cultural challenge of overcoming spatial alienation is described with reference to some late nineteenth-century writers who sought to trace new pathways both spatially and linguistically.

This article discusses the use of Collaborative Peer Supervision Groups (CPSG) to promote ongoing professional development for those who work with infants, toddlers, and their families. Our model's strength and clinical utility result from its three major components: (a) a relationship-based perspective that acknowledges the important role that feelings and emotions play across the life span, (b) a peer supervision model that helps to ensure that no individual or discipline is "the expert," and (c) a collaborative case-based continuing-education experience. Salient features of forming and maintaining a CPSG group are discussed including access to a Web site containing many key start-up and evaluation materials. Existing barriers to effective communication between disciplines are discussed as are specific methods to structure case data. Additional tools to help anchor a CPSG are considered as are methods of evaluation. Two case presentations are considered to illustrate group process. Lessons learned from such groups are highlighted. Our intent is to provide sufficient background material so that others with a similar interest will be comfortable starting and maintaining a CPSG group on their own. RESUMEN: Este artículo discute el uso de los Grupos de Colaboración y de Supervición de Compañeros (CPSG) como una forma de promover el continuo desarrollo profesional para quienes trabajan con infantes, bebés y sus familias. Los puntos fuertes de nuestro estudio, así como la utilidad clínica resultan de sus tres principales componentes: 1) una perspectiva basada en la relación, la cual reconoce el papel importante que los sentimientos y las emociones juegan a través de la vida; 2) un modelo de supervisión llevada a cabo por los compañeros, el cual ayuda a asegurar que ningún individuo ni disciplina es considerado como "el experto;" y 3) una experiencia educativa continuada y colaborativa que se basa en Use of Collaborative Peer Supervision Groups • 195casos anteriores. Se discuten las características sobresalientes de cómo formar y mantener un grupo CPSG, incluyendo el acceso a sitios electrónicos de la red que contienen muchos materiales claves para comenzar. También se discuten las existentes barreras de la efectiva comunicación entre las disciplinas, y métodos específicos para estructurar la información de los casos. Se consideran en este estudio herramientas adicionales y métodos de evaluación para ayudar a afianzar un grupo CPSG. Para ilustrar el proceso de grupo, se consideran las presentaciones de dos casos. Se subrayan las lecciones aprendidas de tales grupos. Nuestro intento es proveer material e información suficiente para que otros que tienen intereses similares se sientan cómodos comenzando y manteniendo un grupo CPSG por sí mismos.RÉ SUMÉ : Cet article traite de l'utilisation de Groupes de Supervision de Collaboration entre Collègues (abrégé CPSG en anglais) pour promouvoir le développement professionnel continu pour ceux qui travaillent avec des bébés, de jeunes enfants et leurs familles. La for...

This paper is concerned with everyday data practices, considering how people record data produced through self-monitoring. The analysis unpacks the relationships between taking a measure, and making and reviewing records. The paper is based on an interview study with people who monitor their blood pressure and/or body mass index/weight. Animated by discussions of 'data power' which are, in part, predicated on the flow and aggregation of data, we aim to extend important work concerning the everyday constitution of digital data. In the paper, we adopt and develop the idea of curation as a theory of attention. We introduce the idea of discerning work to characterise the skilful judgements people make about which readings they record, how readings are presented, and about the records they retain and those they discard. We suggest self-monitoring produces partial data, both in the sense that it embodies these judgements, and also because monitoring might be conducted intermittently. We also extend previous analyses by exploring the broad set of materials, digital and analogue, networked and not networked, involved in record keeping to consider the different ways these contributed to regulating attention to self-monitoring. By paying attention to which data is recorded and the occasions when data is not recorded, as well as the ways data is recorded, the research provides specificity to the different ways in which self-monitoring data may or may not flow or contribute to big data sets. We argue that ultimately our analysis contributes to nuancing our understanding of 'data power'.