Due to the availabity and continous improvment of technology, the human race especially students are becoming more dependent on it.Thus, their ways of knowing becomes limited as the spend most of their time with technology such as laptops and fail to interact with others or with their environment.Moreover,they nolonger want to do things manually.Therefore, it is really a good idea to forgo the use of any technological equipment inorder to findout how much more we can learn, interact and communicate with others without using technology. However,Mr Kitchen, you can agree with me that technology makes life easier.Dont you think it will cost us more stress trying to do our presentations manually, having to draw maps and so forth.
Think about the amount of papers we are about to use which will be unreasonable compared to using a projector, thus saving time and papers.

Mr. Kitching, I seriously cannot imagine how a real-life situation in the form of a video or an audio piece will be presented if the analogue method is strictly adhered to.

For a large class like ours, i honestly think slideshows will conveniently cater for visual inconveniences. Presentations done the analogue way cannot be adjusted to suit the capacity of the audience.(sight-wise)

Even more, the buses will be seating huge rolls of paper or filp charts instead of human beings. If the paper /flip charts are stained or damaged in anyway, they will have to be redone. With the slideshow, back-up can prevent that.

The presentations can also be more animated and lively if we use digital methods.

the time used to draw diagrams and write-out presentations will definitely be more useful if rather chanelled into improving the slideshows.

Mr. Kitching, PLEASE... TOK Analogue weekend?

Perhaps I should clarify something. On the TOK Weekend, which we have been running since 2000, we do not allow laptops, projectors or other digital processing or display devices. There are three reasons for this:

1) We are going to the BUSH! We do not want our work to depend on a reliable electricity supply or generator.
2) Many of the topics and knowledge issues that we are going to discuss are not dependent upon modern technology. Inquisitive people have been thinking and discussing them long before the invention of powerpoint or the hard drive.
3) Sometimes, more progress in thinking can be made when we put aside our toys and entertainment devices. It is a good experience to eschew the temptations of immediate gratification and, just for a little while, live more like the vast majority of human beings have lived since the origins of our species.

So what we are doing is not new, and you should plan your presentations around not having ICT tools available.

What we are contemplating is taking our usual practice just a little further this time.

Wow. So we are not allowed to use powerpoint presentations. That is interesting.

Looking at things I don't think we are inconvenienced much since we have access to the internet and our laptops for the researching aspect of the presentation, the most important aspect. Unless we are deprived of this one too, which I highly doubt, then I don't think there is much cause to complain. I mean presenting holding a sheet of paper has not killed anyone yet, and I think that will be quicker and less prone to problems like power outage and its associated inconveniences and so on. By the way, as Mr. Kitching rightfully said, there are indeed other ways of acquiring knowledge, in this case i think presenting knowledge.

I think we can all handle this "analogue" weekend idea. Hopefully, the new level you are taking this weekend to would not be too overbearing. Hopefully!!

I have quiet some insight on this issue, because I was with the generation of staff and students wh experienced the setbacks caused by technical hitches due to an over dependency on technology. On the most striking occasion the voltage in that area was not stable and we lost two projector and other gadgets through power surges. This disrupted the presentations a lot as most people had planned their work around these gadgets. Moving sophisticated gadgets from the school also does not help the life span of these gadgets. I believe that doing the presentations without these technological gadgets is another lesson on its own in the art of presentations. I'm glad most of you like the challenge.
Michael Djan

hi,
after pondering on this topic i have come to the realisaton that we do not need to use digital devices during our presentation. true, these devices enhance our presentation via: animation, videos, pictures, colour. They also enable the easy delivery of our presentations. However, these devices we think comfort to our lives also have drawbacks. Mr. Djan's citation of power surges on a previous TOK trip is a perfect example. i doubt any of you wants to be at the climax of your presentation only for the lights to be turned off. (That's even if the place we are going has electricity) This will definitely disrupt our presentation.
In response to Efua's comment, i want to say i agree with her. the flipcharts and presentation papers we bring along may be damaged, they may fly away, have water spilled on them, be crumbled, stepped on or lost. That i agree, but what about the digital devices, what if the lights go off, a virus deletes our presentation, our laptops get missing, a bear steps on the laptop. the point I am driving at is: in life, regardless of whether we use digital devices or paper, there will be setbacks.
i believe this idea of no-use of digital devices serves as a platform for us to unearth our creative side, to rack our brains to come up with innovative ideas, to wow Mr. Kitching (hi Mr. Kitching.) It's a platform for the prolific. who knows what amazing ideas will be unveiled during the trip.
We have been thrown a challenge, without the use of digital devices, impress Mr. Kitching. Are we up for it?
NB: As Crystal said, this idea does in no way whatsoever, debar us from using technology hitherto, for our research.
have a relaxing weekend break.

I came across an article entitled 'analogue vs digital' in a local newspaper and I'm convinced that the analogue weekend IS POSSIBLE.
The famous t.v. reality series, 'The Challenge' attests to this. The reason why the 'challengers' are given flipcharts instead of digital devices in presenting is to actually test their extemporaneous and expressive abilities. You can think of it this way:

With Slideshows, animations, audio and video pieces, the computer does most of the 'expressing' for you. If it's a haunting effect you want to create, you rely on the computer's effects and this makes you put limitations on your creative abilities and allows you to express yourself less.

Research has shown that the offspring of the 'tech age' are gradually discarding extemporaneous techniques because most of the time (which shouldn't be the case), the slideshows used fully bear the whole presentation. Hence, all the presenter does is to read the content of the slides...how boring!!The listeners tend to make the presenter's voice the 'background music' and focus on the slides.

I just realised how technology is gradually 'handicapping' us and making us more and more dependent. Even with the 'buts' of the analogue weekend..i'm in for it!! (i just hope clocks/watches are allowed)..

OHHH LORD JEHOVA!! HELP us NO NO NO!! How can this happen to us??? I can't imagine a day in my life till now where I was eschewed from the use of technology....

Living without my computer...Whoosh something unrealistic and "IMPOSSIBLE" according to my perception...Forlornly, this erroneous deed will continue for the whole weekend!!(What about the journey in the bus!!Without an $iPod$ )..

Phewwww!!

Erm Erm.. Now I think I have stretched it so far.. After reading the above comments I guess it will actually be a brand new experience for me “Abstention from TECH” & “ NO INTERNET”.
On the other side of coin, when it comes to the TOK presentation, it will be fine without PowerPoint as there are many ways to express ourselves using the art of impromptu! Moreover- as Mr. Kitching fairly quoted, " WE ARE GOING TO THE BUSH!!" even the exclamation marks batter the horrendous situation of the place. I think it would be even wise not to take these $expensive$ gadgets...!!!

Lastly, I think "IMPOSSIBLE" itself says:
" I + M + POSSIBLE ", consequently it must be workable...=)

Exaggerations from Sanjana's comments!!!! Funny enough, technology has really handicapped us. A small challenege to use our creativity to express our opinions on different knowledge issues has made us scared of the fact that WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY!!!

Indeed this trip will show us that WORK IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY!!

But that is fine.... At least we have the whole week to research using the Internet, books, etc. and two days to express it through flip charts, card boards,pictures, etc.

Let's put on a new non-technological thinking cup for this trip!!! It's going to be great... a new experience in the BUSH!! New Ideas and New Learning Experience!!

Yes Marilyn , my comment expressed my sincere feelings about this non-technical issue... Indeed it was a bit a funny but I was just thinking for the imminent action, how doable will it be.. i can't wait to experience this unusal journey in the future without music, net or electronic games...

Well what about the joyous moments which we will have in BUSH. I think they need to be captured for the furture.....hmm...CAMERAS???

I think indeed that the T.O.K weekend can go on successfully without any technological devices. It is good that we have been told about this earlier on as it serves as an avenue for groups to thinks of other innovative ways of presenting what they have to say. Since almost all of us are closely attached to our gadgets and devices, having a device-free environment where we can just focus on our presentations will indeed enhance creativity from a lot of us. I must say I was very disappointed on hearing that absolutely no devices are allowed. However, I see this as a challenge to make the most of what we have, and I mean to divorce ourselves from the very things which we are so dependent on. I also see this as a challenge to test our competitiveness, owing to nothing but our very selves.
We are always being taught to challenge ourselves in this school. i guess this is one of the many challenges we must face.

i honestly see no challenges, with the fact that we will not be using technology for our presentations. I mean... it will not make any difference,because its all about the content of the presentation. Somebody could have a brilliant powerpoint presentation, but the content does not make any sense at all. And most of all when we were younger am sure we made presentations in class and had no access to powerpoint, laptops....etc.Its the same just that this time its TOK,so it has to be more serious/ intellectual...
i honnestly think that its a great idea, and that it will even be easier, cuz we will not have to waste time on making a powerpoint presentation. We just need to have our points down, and present.
well...thats just my opinion :)
(but i think that cameras should be allowed,for this trip to be memorable) :)

its Mika by the way
(i have difficulties with becoming a follower that's why its anonymous)

Sanjana, if you could bring a non-digital camera that will be ok. Otherwise we will bring analogue camera ourselves. Most of you could appreciate the point of this non-technological week. What can you say about this software? Do you agree? Follow the link.

http://macfreedom.com/

I actually like this idea about the technology free weekend. It is not going to be so hard presenting using our information on paper and our diagrams on cardboard. We have been using our laptops for powerpoint presentations so much that it seems quite horrific that we cannot take, of all technology, our laptops. However, I don't think it will be too bad. I also think that we will have more time to interact with each other because of this since most of us will not have our ipods and laptops to take our time

Mr. Kidane, that is a very interesting link you have given us. Macfreedom seems like a very good thing. Most of the time, the internet serves as a great distraction. If Macfreedom is really able to keep us away from the internet for up to eight hours, we might actually get a lot more work done.

However,as students, we need to use the internet a lot and this may not seem like a good idea always. I feel that maybe if we could use the Macfreedom application such that we could have different times that it could keep us away, not only for 8 hours, but maybe less, then i think it would extra good.

i recognize that our generation is often considered the most culturally distanced socially confused group of humanoids currently inhabiting terra and that this is attributed largely to our use abuse and dependency on technolgy.
and i must conceed there is something to what is said of us when i observe people supposedly spending time with each other both speaking on phones to other persons and occasionally making faces at each other, r skyping people siting two feet away with video calls.
yes our way of communicating is not so traditional anymore and especially for adults who are not "l33t" able to read text using numbers as letters, understanding our short hand etc... we really must seem an atrociously mannered group, but we do have a structure if an informal one that governs our social behavior on these mediums.

separating us from our security blankets and favorite toys is likely to get us interacting in a manner in which other generations are most familiar it will most likely be just to complain about all the things we could have been doing with our tech, probably for as much or more time than we would have spent hooked on it.
withdrawal symptoms might scare some of us off.
that said i think it's a good idea if you want us to interact in an organic manner but when you add the you can go retro point you kind of defeat the idea of no distraction. as i understand it a boom box seems to slide through as does an analogue camera at least according to the announcement at TOK today though they do require more skillful handling and are more cumbersome with changing film and batteries they achieve the same function, over a longer period causing more distraction,so is the problem the level of advancement or the distractions in themselves?

I think that having an analogue weekend will actually be a good idea though it may be hard, seeing as the school we live in revolves around the use and application of technology, whether academically or leisurely. But having an analogue experience will be great, i don't think that the people in the school have reacted with the environment adequately. Thus this weekend will enable everyone to appreciate the environment more and acknowledge the fact that, we do not always need to be surrounded about gizmos. This will also break the "addiction" that some people have to their gadgets. The TOK weekend will be jeh, but its unfortunate that they postponed it.

Amanuel Nigussie

I think this is very supportive for us to improve our expression ability because, when we use digital device on our presentation they will help us to in expressing things through displaying some picture or video so we don’t need to talk too much. However, if we eliminate these devices for at least these two days it will help us to gazer more adjectives which could descried what we mean on our presentation.

it does mean digital devices are not useful!!!!111

i think digital devices make presentations interested. we dont have to fully rely on them but in some situations we really need them. just imagine a morning assembly presentation without any form of technology used, students will sleep.