Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

I’ve used keyboards since I was young. I still remember typing with just my index fingers and needing to look at every button I was pressing. It wasn’t until I started playing online computer games that I really started typing faster and faster. Nowadays I can type without looking and use almost all my fingers, that might not be extremely stellar or amazing today, but it shows that keyboards have been apart of my life for a while and I use them constantly.

This is a mechanical keyboard I use mainly currently. I won it at the WSU 2017 Hackathon.(Photo by Timmy Huynh, August 2018).

I believe that keyboards are important for this generation because almost everyone knows how to use one effectively and almost daily, wether it’s for their job or just to communicate. Most kids these days i’ve seen take some kind of typing class to get them used to it at a young age. Their are many different forms of keyboards as well such as mechanical or membrane which are the two main keyboards types. But keyboards aren’t only physical, almost all smartphones these days have a digital keyboard for people to type and text on. There are many other examples of digital keyboards as well such as smart tv’s or gaming consoles.

Reading about the typewriters and word processors at the Media Archaeology Lab showed how far keyboards have gone and their evolution of being smaller and sleeker. many of the older typewriters and such were typically just the alphabet, numbers and basic function keys such as backspace and return. Now keyboards have so much more such as the number pad and many other function keys such as media keys or system keys like the windows button. One thing that old typewriters that do better than modern keyboards is the tactile feel of clicking on the keys and the amazing sounds they make. Mechanical keyboards are the closest modern keyboards can get to the same feeling and they perform much better but pale in comparison to typing feel.

Here’s a screenshot of the Fitbit Charge

I’ve owned my Fitbit Charge for about three years now and have used it to keep track of my exercise. This technological artifact represents me because I constantly aim to stay healthy and this product helps me to do so. It tells me the time, my steps, miles traveled, floors climbed, and calories I’ve burned throughout the day. I haven’t used it much in the last few years, as I now have my phone to track similar things for me. In addition, I feel that I used to exercise more and cared more about tracking it than I do now. When I do wear it, I tend to work harder to exercise during the day because it constantly reminds me of my progress.

A screenshot of the Fitbit app

The product itself connects to my phone through an app which allows me to look at more specific details about my activity. The app stores my history every day and also provides ways to track things like what I eat, how much water I drink, and my sleeping patterns. Since getting my Fitbit, there has been many apps developed that can record similar activities. One major product that is comparable to a Fitbit and has recently gained a lot of popularity is the Apple Watch. This type of technology is fairly new and is something that my generation specifically has utilized. Having the tools to view your activity and physical health habits has proven to be very beneficial for many people. People my age have experienced a variety of technological advances, especially within the last decade. I don’t use my Fitbit as frequently anymore since I have newer products like my phone that can do the same thing for me. This reminds me of how my generation is always using the most recent technology, and in turn forgetting about products that were developed even a couple years ago. It seems that the world of technology is advancing so quickly that there will always be something bigger and better available for my generation.

For my technological artifact, I chose VHS tapes. VHS stands for Video Home System.

This is an example of a VHS set up. There is the Panasonic VHS tape and remote control sitting on top of the VHS tape player. (Photo by bing.com August 2018)

VHS cassette tapes are dear to my heart because I grew up watching them with my family, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings. After watching the tapes, we were taught to sit on the ground in front of the movie player and hold down the rewind button, making it simpler when we go back to re-watch. The fact that these had to be manually rewound, instead of using a remote control, shows that compared to the current technological devices such as Blue Ray, DVD, and newer televisions, VHS tapes have become the dinosaurs of today’s technology. Technological advancements have continued to be made, changing the clarity of our devices and making them more accessible and used to make life easier. Although it is time consuming to rewind the movies in order to watch them, it is old school to use VHS tapes. The quality of media is low, but when I watch VHS tapes, I reminisce in the past. VHS tapes define my generation because it helps define my childhood. Once DVD’s and more advanced technology began coming out, technology has rapidly increased and companies have grown exponentially. I feel as if my generation, 90’s babies, is the last generation that has been accustomed to slower technology. VHS tapes define both myself and my generation because it is a flash back to the past that my future children and grandchildren may never get to experience. Now a days, the only places where I see a library of VHS tapes would be hidden in my parents living room, in my aunt’s house in Sun Valley, Idaho, or at an antique shop. With how quick of a turn-around technology is, it makes me wonder what Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon will do next to keep up with the high demand of updated flashy technology.

These are VHS tapes of various Disney movies. These were the kind of movies I grew up watching as a child. (Photo from bing.com August 2018)

This shows a whole computer, with the  mouse I have on the right
(Photo by:Matthew Wilson, Kitguru,August 2018)

Unlike other generations, the generation I grew up in has always had practical and affordable computers. Although they were not as fast as they are now, they did things in seconds, that took other generations minutes, to even hours. That instant gratification has caused problems for kids in my generation, but the positives of it, have vastly outweighed the negatives. On that note, I decided to pick, my Corsair gaming mouse as my technological artifact. I have used this mouse for 4 years now and don’t plan on buying a new one until this one breaks, its built well and is very reliable. The mouse demonstrates some of the flaws of newer technology, and highlights the fact that newer, is not always better. In a world with high tech electronics, most people use wireless mice, which are nice, because there is no wires that get in the way. However, I will only use a wired mouse for two reasons. First, they never disconnect and are way more accurate for gaming. With a wired mouse, as soon as you move it, the computer registers the movement. The same cannot be said for a wireless mouse. Second, they do not require spending extra money on batteries.

This defines me because of the things in my life I have used it to do. I have only ever played video games on a computer. Without the mouse, playing games on the computer would have never been possible. All my life I have used a computer, or the smaller, more portable computer, commonly known as a phone, to keep in touch with my family and friends. I cannot even think of living in a time where I couldn’t call someone to find out what they were up to, or if I had a question. The computer mouse also defines my generation, everyone who is part of my generation knows what a computer mouse is and how to use it. During my generation, computers went from something that was only for the wealthy and privileged, to something that has changed the world. Computers have single handedly changed the way we interact with others, get work done, and even keep confidential medical records. In this day and age, almost all school work is done and submitted on a computer, 20 years ago, this would have been unheard of.

The mouse I chose specifically, makes it easy to see the mission of the Media Archeology Lab. Along with many other things, I believe one of the great things about the MAL, is that we can look at older technology, and exactly what worked, and what to improve on. As the old saying goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. This is why the keyboard and the mouse, with small improvements, have remained the same ever since they were created. My mouse embodies that. Unlike, in my opinion, the completely unusable wireless apple mouse, the mouse I own keeps the form of the reliable mouse that we have always had, and doesn’t try to do anything fancy in the process. Having something like the MAL makes newer technology better, and helps us to improve and continue to innovate.

Mint Logo
Mint 2018

The technological artifact that I chose to represent myself is the Mint application on the IPhone. The Mint application is one of many IPhone apps that allows you to connect your banking and bills to the app to better track spending. Staying in line with what we have learned from exploring the Media Archaeology Lab I chose something that I feel encompasses past tools and technologies and puts them into a digital form.

In this case it is the technology that involves past technologies used in budgeting and balancing. These are tools that without a digital app such as Mint I would not be able to comprehend. All of the past technologies that are incorporated in the app have reduced the workload and have changed the face of what budgeting looks like today. Which for the most part is the reason I feel this app represents me as the person I am existing in this generation. Often times my generation is accused of not putting in the work that it might have taken to succeed years ago.For me the Mint app represents being able to streamline a once multiple step process over a period of time to a simple two-step process all at once.  Connecting banks and bills no longer requires paper and a pen to balance out checkbooks and create a budget.

Pie chart Representing Monthly Spending
Mint 2018

Now within five minutes I can have a monthly budget made for me using connections to my bank. Because this process is so easy and simple I feel that the work put in is not easier it just looks a different way.

Similar to the artifacts we can see in the Media Archaeology lab, the multitudes of devices that required different types of maintenance to be functional have now been streamlined into devices that simply require less work.  Technology at its core symbolizes progression and eventually simplification, the work is all still there but with technology it will always look different.