Innovations In Everyday Technologies

Looks at a variety of technological innovations, including dishwashers, toasters, light bulbs, and vacuum cleaners, and how they work.

In 1909 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, on his way back to South Africa from London, wrote his now celebrated tract Hind Swaraj, laying out his vision for the future of India and famously rejecting the technological innovations of Western civilization. Despite his protestations, Western technology endured and helped to make India one of the leading economies in our globalized world. Few would question the dominant role that technology plays in modern life, but to fully understand how India first advanced into technological modernity, argues David Arnold, we must consider the technology of the everyday. Everyday Technology is a pioneering account of how small machines and consumer goods that originated in Europe and North America became objects of everyday use in India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rather than investigate “big” technologies such as railways and irrigation projects, Arnold examines the assimilation and appropriation of bicycles, rice mills, sewing machines, and typewriters in India, and follows their impact on the ways in which people worked and traveled, the clothes they wore, and the kind of food they ate. But the effects of these machines were not limited to the daily rituals of Indian society, and Arnold demonstrates how such small-scale technologies became integral to new ways of thinking about class, race, and gender, as well as about the politics of colonial rule and Indian nationhood. Arnold’s fascinating book offers new perspectives on the globalization of modern technologies and shows us that to truly understand what modernity became, we need to look at the everyday experiences of people in all walks of life, taking stock of how they repurposed small technologies to reinvent their world and themselves.

This book examines the role of everyday technology throughout the life cycle in order to demonstrate the wide acceptance and impact of everyday technology and how it is facilitating both practitioners and patients in contemporary practices. In response, then, this text speaks to a number of audiences. Students writing for undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations/proposals will find the array of works insightful, supported with a vast number of references signposting to key texts. For academics, practitioners and prospective researchers this text offers key empirical and methodological insight that can help focus and uncover originality in their own field. We anticipate that readers will find the collection of empirical examples useful for informing their own work, but also, it attempts to ignite new discussions and arguments regarding the application and use of everyday technology for enhancing health internationally. Explores the multifaceted use and application of each ‘everyday technology’ that impact on diagnosis, treatment and management of individuals. Examines an array of everyday technologies and how these that can either enhance and/or hinder patient/service user outcomes i.e. handheld devices, computer workstations, gamification and artificial intelligence. Discusses technologies that are intended to facilitate patient diagnosis, practitioner-patient relations, within an array of health contexts. Provides readers with an overview with future direction of everyday technologies and its limitations.

This book provides an invaluable reference of materials engineering written for a broad audience in an engaging, effective way. Several stories explain how perseverance and organized research helps to discover new processes for making important materials and how new materials with unmatched properties are theoretically conceived, tested in the laboratory, mass produced and deployed for the benefit of all. This book provides a welcome introduction to how advances are made in the world of materials that sustain and define our contemporary standard of living. Suitable for trained materials scientists and the educated layman with an appreciation of engineering, the book will be especially appealing to the young materials engineer, for whom it will serve as a long-term reference due to its clear and rigorous illustration of the field's essential features.

This young readers edition of Ingenious focuses on 50 kid-friendly Canadian innovations that changed the world, from canoes to whoopie cushions, chocolate bars to Pablum. Co-written by Canada's Governor General and accompanied by contemporary illustrations, this adaptation offers young Canadians a way to celebrate our history and world contributions on Canada's 150th birthday. Successful innovation is always inspired by at least one of three forces -- insight, necessity and simple luck. Innovation Nation moves through history to explore what circumstances, incidents, coincidences and collaborations motivated each great Canadian idea, and what twist of fate then brought that idea into public acceptance. From the marvels of aboriginal inventions such as the canoe, igloo and lifejacket to the latest pioneering advances in medicine, education, science, engineering and the arts, Canadians have improvised and worked together to make the world a better place. With striking, vibrant illustrations throughout, Innovation Nation is a gorgeous companion to the adult edition that will surprise, enlighten and entertain young readers, and will be a valuable resource for teachers and librarians.

This SpringerBrief provides an overview of contemporary innovative technologies and discusses their impact on our daily lives. Written from a technical perspective, and yet using language and terminology accessible to non-experts, it describes the technologies, the key players in each area, the most popular apps and services (and their pros and cons), as well as relevant usage statistics. It is targeted at a broad audience, ranging from young gadget enthusiasts to senior citizens trying to get used to new devices and associated apps. By offering a structured overview of some of the most useful technologies current available, putting them in perspective, and suggesting numerous resources for further exploration, the book gives its readers a clear path for learning new topics through apps and web-based resources, making better choices of apps and websites for frequent use, using social networks effectively, protecting their privacy and staying safe online, and enjoying the opportunities brought about by these technological advances without being completely consumed by them.

As technology weaves itself more tightly into everyday life, socio-economic development has become intricately tied to these ever-evolving innovations. Technology management is now an integral element of sound business practices, and this revolution has opened up many opportunities for global communication. However, such swift change warrants greater research that can foresee and possibly prevent future complications within and between organizations. The Handbook of Research on Engineering Innovations and Technology Management in Organizations is a collection of innovative research that explores global concerns in the applications of technology to business and the explosive growth that resulted. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as cyber security, legal practice, and artificial intelligence, this book is ideally designed for engineers, manufacturers, technology managers, technology developers, IT specialists, productivity consultants, executives, lawyers, programmers, managers, policymakers, academicians, researchers, and students.