5.6.10 Technology

There was a Radio Uprising reunion today since Becky and Mary Ellen joined us in the studio. The show started off with a robot introduction recorded by John that Becky, Juliana and I had the pleasure of lending our voices to. This past Monday, while preparing the script for today's show, I got to see John in action as we recorded this piece but also as he mixed it together with cool sound affects on Garage Band--I was impressed by his tech-savy abilities, to say the least.

And technology was the theme of the show. With special emphasis on robots and the internet.

Fun Fact (sponsored by Wikipedia): the word robot was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Capek in his play Rossum's Universal Robots, published in 1920.

Pre-Recorded Pieces:

1)In "File Sharing Vox Pop", Mick Pratt from Blunt Youth Radio interviews teens about their opinions on file sharing.

2) From CMP, Nory's Diary of an Activist: Facebook Activism

In-Studio Pieces:

1) Becky told us how she tried explaining the internet to her 90-something year old grandmother once; and how it didn't go so well. Although a very sharp lady, Becky's grandmother thought Becky's description of the internet as an invisible network that connects people was a bad idea of a joke.

2) Juliana spoke about how high school students in Chile used technology to rally for school reform in 2005. They used youtube, radio, fotolog, and blogs in their movement called "March of the Penguins" (Marcha de los Pinguinos), a name that came from their school uniforms. They wanted to make education available to all students independent of their background, including their financial situation.

In-Studio Interview: Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen explained her use of technology and media in teaching the English language and speech patterns to ESL (English as a Second Language) students. In the 'Age of the Image' that we're in right now, all people (regardless of country of origin) recognize certain images (logos, brand names, etc) and their meanings. But for ESL students, articulating these meanings in English can be difficult. So Mary Ellen helps students learn more-and-more English words to increase their literacy through the use of popular media.

In-Studio Discussion: How has technology changed your interactions with other people? Do you believe Americans are more or less alienated with the progression of Technology?

Music:

"We Built a Robot", Panda Bear

"The Great Unknown", Dar Williams

"We Will Become Silhouettes", Postal Service

Harkening back to our Environmentalism show, here are two outdoorsy PSA's.

PSA 1: The Center for Environmental Innovation and Education is holding its first Walk and Talk series in Beacon on Friday, May 7th from 12pm to 2pm. Pre-registration required. To register, visit www.bire.org. 845-838-1600 ext.16.

PSA 2: International migratory bird day: free bird movies, a bird of prey demonstration, bird walks, etc. Hasbrouck Park (Delaware Ave in Kingston, NY) on Saturday, May 8th at 10 am. Call or e-mail Mark DeDea at forsythnature@aol.com or 845-339-3053. www.forsythnaturecenter.org.