Course Syllabus

Robert S. Slotnick, Ph D

Fall, 2005

Updated: 9/22/05

Professor's office hours, telephone, address:
Before and after class and/or by appointment.
(o) 212-261-1541 or 1554; e-mail: rslotnic@nyit.edu
Course web site: http://iris.nyit.edu/~rslotnic/index.html        or     http://iris.nyit.edu/rsuftcourses/index.html
NYIT, Information Hall, Education, 17 West 61 St., Room 227, New York, NY 10023

NYIT HelpDesk:  Office of Information Technology
Tel:              516-686-7570
E-mail:        helpdesk@nyit.edu
Web Site:    http://hlpdesk.nyit.edu

Help on Blackboard: Tech assitant at Academic Computer Lab, 631 348 3317

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course integrates philosophy of education and digital technologies in teaching, training, and learning.  The candidate explores, through primary source literature, software applications, internet materials and multimedia resources the continuum of thought on instructional technology within personal, educational, and societal contexts. This exploration leads to the development of several technology-based projects.  The candidate initiates a web-based professional portfolio that culminates in his/her personal philosophy of instructional technology expressed in a digital format.  Candidates are expected to make additions and revisions to this portfolio each succeeding semester as specified in the final portfolio requirements for the degree. Field observations and experiences are required and integrated into the course.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
* Technology Integration: The candidate will research methods employed to deliver instruction and to determine the appropriate technologies necessary to deliver the specific instruction required in this course.
* Diversity: The candidate will be mindful of the diverse nature of their student population and develop coursework that is culturally sensitive in addition to being understood by students from varying cultures and with varying abilities.
* Constructivism: Candidates will demonstrate this theoretical framework through active learning, and they will create learning materials that include open-ended questions to maximize student inquiry and learning.
* Inquiry-based Learning mission: Higher order thinking approaches dominate the new standards-based learning era in America.  The candidates will be asked to actively construct his/her own foundational understanding of instructional technology and its relationship to learning.
* Half the class meetings will take place Face to Face and half the meetings will occur over the internet with Blackboard. 

Location and Course Calendar:
The class will meet at the UFT Headquarters, 52 Broadway, Wall St. area,  NY, NY. 212-777-7500.
Foundation I,  Thursdays from 4:30 to 6:40;  Calendar 9/22, 29, 10/6, 10/13Bb, 10/20Bb, 10/27Bb, 11/3, 11/10Bb, 11/17, 12/1Bb, 12/8Bb, 12/15, 12/22Bb, Last Class.  When Bb is listed next to date, then that class will meet "virtualy" using the Blackboard course delivery system.  Six meeting will occur face to face and six meetings will take place on Blackboard.
 

 REQUIRED MATERIALS
 Technology Note: All new graduate students entering the instructional technology and education programs are required to have a computer with a current version of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), Inspiration, as well as a connection to the Internet.

Students will make a PowerPoint presentation and must have access to a copy of the program.

Students will make an Inspiration presentation.   Obtain the latest edition of Inspiration by second week of class.  Visit the publisher’s site at www.inspiration.com --you can also download a 30-day full functioning demo while waiting for your software to arrive.

 These reference texts are online (free):
* “Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality”, http://www.artmuseum.net,  full text version of this multimedia site is available in book form as one of the required texts below - it takes you through the historical evolution of digital media and some of the people who were major historical influences.

* “Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology”, http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/, the complete 1985 edition is online, with a new 2000 edition also available in book form - Howard Rheingold takes you through a historical view of the people and ideas behind the development of digital technology as a way of augmenting the way we think.

* Web sites to be selected on instructional technololgy, educational applications, multimedia, designing web pages and designing genres for New Media.

* Additional articles and special web sites will be slected and reviewed.

* TaskStream:  Students must join TaskStream and present a Keynote assignment in TaskStream format.  Students may also use TaskStream to develop a web site.

 Recommended Texts:
* Thomas L. Friedman. (2005)  The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century.  NY: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux

* Jane Healy. (1999). Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children’s Minds—for Better and Worse. New York, NY: Touchstone Books. ISBN: 0684855399, List Price: $14.00.  http://www.pbs.org/digitaldivide/class-voices.html#jane-int  Website discusses her and others views on technology and education.

* Ray Kurzweil. (2000). The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence. New York, NY: Penguin Books. ISBN: 0140282025. 

* Randall Packer and Ken Jordon. (eds.) (2001). Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN: 0393049795, List Price: $27.95.

 MATERIALS NOTE: Candidates will use this mediaware throughout their degree program.

 COURSE ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION

1.  Class will meet in face to face mode and over the internet using the Blackboard course delivery system.  Attendance and Class Participation is important and contributes to your grade.  Come to class prepared; do assignments, reading, writing, and computing.  When working on Blackboard read materials on the topic in advance.  Make your own comment about the materials and comment constructively on classmates contributions.  Enroll in TaskStream and submit keynote assignment.

2.  Emerging Educational Philosophy:  The candidate will write a short essay, with internet citations, on her emerging educational philosophy.  Consider such topics as: What are your goals?  What are your methods?  What is your classroom like?  What are your students like?  What are the core constructs that constitute your philosophy?  Some suggestions are: cooperative learning groups, gender equity, role of technology, values/character education, diversity/special needs, constructivism and inquiry learning, parental involvement, etc.   Condense your narrative to 2 to 3 pages using 3 or 4 core constructs which are supported by internet sites.  Over time the candidate will edit, add, and modify her/his core ideas and will add digital images, links to education resources, and to theorists who inspire or reflect the candidates core values.

3.  Visual Learning:  Inspiration is a program that helps you to visualize associations and relationships through the use of concept webs.  It can help you organize, outline, and visualize key ideas and concepts.  1. Create an Inspiration autobiography "About Me".  2.  Develop an Inspiration Web on a specific topic such as a lesson plan or learning unit you can use in class.  For this project you want to create a series of visual images and related concepts linked in an associative web.  Choose one topic, refer to resources, and create an Inspiration Web to visualize the relationships.

4.  Technology and Learning:  The candidate will make a PowerPoint presentation on a topic from Blackboard Discussion, or topics such as, Education and Multimedia, Moore's Law or Kurzweil's Law of Accelerating Returns, Technology and Learning, Gardner's MI, Papert and Constructivism, my philosophy of education.  This presentation should illustrate key topics and stimulate reflection and/or controversy.  Your presentation should be clear and simple using PowerPoint to bring forth the information and not to focus on the many features of PowerPoint itself.

5.  Field Experience/Observation: Candidates are required by New York State Education Department to complete 5 hours of field experience.  Candidates should choose a computer lab in your school or in your district and  follow the form at the end of this syllabus to fulfil the requirement.  The Candidate will observe and report on all aspects of the computer lab:  physical appearance and characteristics, class schedules, content, and liaison to classroom teachers, student activities, hardware, software, and physical setting and personal experience.   Use Form as guide for report.  You may substitute another suitable topic with permission prior to the assignment. 

6.  Portfolio Development and Educational Resources:  Candidates will design their personal web page, choosing color and graphics,  and will add links to their portfolio and other educational resources.  The web page will be the platform for all the candidates research and design efforts on education and instructional technology during the program.  Candidates may use TaskStream or some other web editor of their choice, such as, TeacherWeb.com, Composer, or DreamWeaver, etc.

7.  Research Topics in Instructional Technology:  Candidates will become familiar with the ERIC database on journals and articles for research in instructional technology.  These research articles will help the candidate identify a topic of interest and how to conduct a research assessment
on that topic.  The Candidates can use this topic and research assessment as the basis for your review of the ressearch literature
in the final two required courses in the program -- Research and Field Project.  See Catalog for full descriptions of these courses or
check my course syllabi on the internet.  See: http://iris.nyit.edu/~rslotnic/Research/research.html and http://iris.nyit.edu/~rslotnic/Field/

Grading Policy
1.  Attendance & Class Participation and Blackboard Topics, TaskStream	15%
2.  Emerging Educational Philosophy	15%
3.  Inspiration	15%
4.  PowerPoint Presentation	15%
5.  Web Page Development	15%
6.   Field Experience: Lab Observation.  See Form at End	15%
7.   Overview of ERIC for Research in Instructional Technology	10%

A = 90 - 100, B+ = 86 - 89, B = 80 - 85, C+ = 75 - 79, C = 65 - 74, F =< 65.
 

Incomplete grades
Incompletes are only given in extreme circumstances, and then only after presenting a written letter for the request.  An incomplete will be recorded upon approval from the Dean or Designee; when the course work is completed, the final grade will not be higher than B, except in unusual cases.  Please remember, there is a time limit (one semester plus one summer or intersession) for a grade change.  An incomplete requires a sighed form from the instructor.

Attendance and lateness
Unless excused, missing the equivalent of more than one full class will result in a full grade drop.  With the TCC schedule, each evening counts as two classes. Lateness will count toward absences.  Two “lates” will count as one absence in fairness to the entire class.  Excess absences may result in the student being withdraw from the course by the instructor.

Late Assignments
Assignments hand in late will be dropped one point per day late.  When an assignment is due, it will be marked with the maximum credit possible.  For example, if an assignment is worth 10 points, it can be marked a maximum 10 points.  If it is a day late, the maximum you could receive is 9; if two days late, maximum is 8.  Please always submit a hard copy of every assignment.

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Appendix C.  See notes on Inspiration at end of syllabus.

View and Discuss:
ArtMuseum.net
http://www.artmuseum.net/w2vr/contents.html
Visual introduction to history of multimedia and technology
Large amount of information, images, ideas and history

Show and Tell:  Electronic Projects
Philosophy of Education
Inspiration
PowerPoint
Webpage
Lab Report

Hand in all projects.

   

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Appendix A.  Field Experience for EDIT 603 Foundations I: Instructional Technology
Observation Form

1.    Describe Location/Setting

2.    Describe Computer Lab

• Physical description
• Room arrangement
• Number, type and arrangement of computers and other technology
• Printers, cameras, projectors
• Internet connection
• Range of software available
• List all hardware and software available

3.    Draw Blueprint of Lab

• Use information above and create map of lab
• Show physical dimensions of lab
• Include computer stations, teacher station, printers, screens, etc.
  

4.    Lab Coordinator

• Roles and responsibility
• Works with individual students, classes, teachers, administration; describe and explain
  
• Degree of curricula coordination and planning
• Degree to which coordinator has relationship with Principal, APs, and Teachers

5.    Lab Schedule

• Hours of operation -- open and available; is lab schedule available? 
  
• Number of full classes, grade and content
• Range of activities for classes
• Ongoing individual and small group projects -- email, Internet

6.    Degree of lab integration into school activities

• Use of lab by wide range of people
• Lab is seen as a resource room for students and teachers
• Describe activities in lab

7.    Evaluation

• Lab appearance
• Lab policy is receptive and inviting
• Equipment is properly maintained and working
  
• Schedule is clearly posted
• Resources are accessible -- software is available
• Is it a resource room and place for learning?
• Do students (and other teachers) feel comfortable here?<>
• <>Include some digital photos of the lab and activities; annotate.

8.   Photo Images

•  If possitble take digital photos of lab
• Show lab coordinator, students, other teachers
• Show physical dimensions of lab
• Show student activities/projects
  

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Appendix B.  Philosophy of Education:  Core Constructs
The object of this research is to collect, write, and illustrate various aspects of your emerging philosophy of teaching.

Include such topics as your philosophy of teaching: What are your goals?  What are your methods?  What is your classroom like?  What are your students like?  Describe your classroom.

What are your core constructs about your philosophy ?
Here are some examples:
cooperative learning groups,
gender equity,
role of technology,
computers and learning
values/character education,
diversity/special needs,
constructivism
inquiry learning,
learning to learn
multiple intelligence
problem solving circles in math
parental involvement, etc.

Condense your narrative to 3 or 4 core constructs.   This narrative will lead to a web-based portfolio. Over time the candidate will edit, add, and modify her/his core ideas and will add digital images, links to education resources, and to theorists who inspire or reflect the candidates core values.
 
 

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Appendix C.  Notes on Inspiration
Think and learn visually

Create a picture of your ideas or concepts

There is an outline mode -- expresses your ideas in words

There is a diagram mode -- expresses your ideas in visual images and associations

Work with visual representations of ideas

Visualizing your ideas improves recall, increases your involvement

Shows gaps in knowledge

Inspiration helps you create visual structures of your ideas and concepts.
They are called:  Concept map, Idea map, Web, Storyboard

Inspiration has tools to help your organize and visualize:
Different shapes -- square, rectangle, circle, oval can be arranged to suggest hierarchical relationships
Different colors -- full range -- can relate theme or concepts

Create tool -- can create horizontal, vertical, and diagonal connections or links between ideas or concepts
Notes --  you can add notes to any concept.  You can hide the notes so they appear only upon signaling
Rearrange your diagram into different organizational shapes -- left or right tree, top down or bottom up trees, web, etc.

Can use templates for class lessons for language arts, science cycles, social studies cause and effect, teacaher lesson plan, thinking flow diagram, thinking goal setting, etc.

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Appendix D.  Footprints of Time: PowerPoint
Apply Moore's Law to evolutionary time and to Kurzweil's Law of Accelerating Returns
What is the relationship between time and development of technology?

 http://iris.nyit.edu/~rslotnic/Foundations/Footprints.ppt
 

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Appendix E: Calling All Luddites
Why are we starting to lose our technological edge?
        

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: August 3, 2005


I've been thinking of running for high office on a one-issue platform: I promise, if elected, that within four years America will have cellphone service as good as Ghana's. If re-elected, I promise that in eight years America will have cellphone service as good as Japan's, provided Japan agrees not to forge ahead on wireless technology. My campaign bumper sticker: "Can You Hear Me Now?"


I began thinking about this after watching the Japanese use cellphones and laptops to get on the Internet from speeding bullet trains and subways deep underground. But the last straw was when I couldn't get cellphone service while visiting I.B.M.'s headquarters in Armonk, N.Y.

But don't worry - Congress is on the case. It dropped everything last week to pass a bill to protect gun makers from shooting victims' lawsuits. The fact that the U.S. has fallen to 16th in the world in broadband connectivity aroused no interest. Look, I don't even like cellphones, but this is not about gadgets. The world is moving to an Internet-based platform for commerce, education, innovation and entertainment. Wealth and productivity will go to those countries or companies that get more of their innovators, educators, students, workers and suppliers connected to this platform via computers, phones and P.D.A.'s.

A new generation of politicians is waking up to this issue. For instance, Andrew Rasiej is running in New York City's Democratic primary for public advocate on a platform calling for wireless (Wi-Fi) and cellphone Internet access from every home, business and school in the city. If, God forbid, a London-like attack happens in a New York subway, don't trying calling 911. Your phone won't work down there. No wireless infrastructure. This ain't Tokyo, pal.

At the City Hall subway stop this morning, Mr. Rasiej plans to show how one makes a 911 call from the subway. He will have one aide with a tin can in the subway send a message to another aide holding a tin can connected by a string. Then the message will be passed by tin can and string up to Mr. Rasiej on the street, who will call 911 with his cellphone.

"That is how you say something if you see something today in a New York subway - tin cans connected to someone with a cellphone on the street," said Mr. Rasiej, a 47-year-old entrepreneur who founded an educational-technology nonprofit.

Mr. Rasiej wants to see New York follow Philadelphia, which decided it wouldn't wait for private companies to provide connectivity to all. Instead, Philly made it a city-led project - like sewers and electricity. The whole city will be a "hot zone," where any resident anywhere with a computer, cellphone or P.D.A. will have cheap high-speed Wi-Fi access to the Internet.

Mr. Rasiej argues that we can't trust the telecom companies to make sure that everyone is connected because new technologies, like free Internet telephony, threaten their business models. "We can't trust the traditional politicians to be the engines of change for how people connect to their government and each other," he said. By the way, he added, "If New York City goes wireless, the whole country goes wireless."

Mr. Rasiej is also promoting civic photo-blogging - having people use their cellphones to take pictures of potholes or crime, and then, using Google maps, e-mailing the pictures and precise locations to City Hall.

Message: In U.S. politics, the party that most quickly absorbs the latest technology often dominates. F.D.R. dominated radio and the fireside chat; J.F.K., televised debates; Republicans, direct mail and then talk radio, and now Karl Rove's networked voter databases.

The technological model coming next - which Howard Dean accidentally uncovered but never fully developed - will revolve around the power of networks and blogging. The public official or candidate will no longer just be the one who talks to the many or tries to listen to the many. Rather, he or she will be a hub of connectivity for the many to work with the many - creating networks of public advocates to identify and solve problems and get behind politicians who get it.

"One elected official by himself can't solve the problems of eight million people," Mr. Rasiej argued, "but eight million people networked together can solve one city's problems. They can spot and offer solutions better and faster than any bureaucrat. ... The party that stakes out this new frontier will be the majority party in the 21st century. And the Democrats better understand something - their base right now is the most disconnected from the network."

Can you hear me now?

Also see Friedman's book, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century.

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Appendix F.  US Falling Behind in Telecommunications

SEPTEMBER 6, 2004    •  Editions:  N. America | Europe | Asia |  Edition Prefered

 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

 Commentary: Behind In Broadband


 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/Commentary

Behind In Broadband
New policies are needed to help the U.S. catch up

 Love. Tears. Romance. Like millions of other Japanese, Midori Kato has been transfixed by the Korean soap opera Winter Sonata. But the 42-year-old freelance editor started watching the weekly drama even before it became available on broadcast television in April. Instead of watching on her TV, she logged on to the Web over a blazing 100-megabit-per-second broadband link. The video is just as crisp as her TV screen, right down to the tears on heroine Choi Ji Woo's cheeks. "I'm hooked," Kato says.

 Don't expect to share in the travails of Winter Sonata's lovers anytime soon. That's because the U.S. is becoming something of a broadband backwater, a place where almost no one can do what Kato and millions of other Japanese take for granted. Many Americans may think that the U.S. is making progress because the number of broadband Net links continues to climb, but that misses the bigger picture.

 The U.S. has steadily fallen behind other nations, both in terms of the share of the population with broadband and the speed of those connections. Consider this: In 2000 the U.S. ranked third in broadband penetration among the nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development. Last year it dropped to 10th place. That's behind recognized leaders such as Japan and Korea, as well as countries like Belgium and Canada. "It's ridiculous that the U.S., of all places, is so far behind in this key measure of economic development," says Tim Johnson, publisher of London's Point Topic, which analyzes world broadband trends.

 At stake are more than just the bragging rights. Broadband is the foundation upon which entire new generations of technology will be built: full-motion video, Web-based medical care, more sophisticated Internet telephoning, and online gaming. Already, companies abroad seem to be using their robust broadband markets to gain an edge on U.S. rivals. Korea's NCsoft Corp. has come out of nowhere to become a tough contender in multiplayer online games. The City of Heroes game it launched this year has become one of the most successful online games in the U.S., while competitor Electronic Arts is struggling to create a multiplayer hit. "Given its experience in Korea, NCsoft may have an edge," says analyst Joseph Laszlo of Jupiter Research.

 That's why the U.S. is in dire need of stronger leadership in broadband. The country is alone among developed nations in not having a comprehensive broadband plan. Both President George W. Bush and Democratic Presidential candidate John F. Kerry have pledged to tackle the issue after the election. But so far, their proposals, such as refraining from taxing consumer Web-access services, are modest.

 Worse, current U.S. policies have the country moving backward. Look closely at the evidence: What helped the rollout of broadband in Korea and Japan were not massive government subsidies, as some believe, but policies that allowed vigorous competition. In particular, those countries forced the incumbent phone companies to let startups use their networks at reasonable, government-set prices. Those startups, especially Hanaro in Korea and Yahoo! BB in Japan, waged fierce battles against giant rivals, driving prices down and speeds up. "Competition is the No. 1 [reason] why one country grows faster than another," says Sam Paltridge, the OECD's telecom analyst.

 On this score, the U.S. has blown it. This summer the Bells won an eight-year battle to stop competitors from using their networks at deep discounts. That prompted AT&T (T ) and MCI Inc. (MCIP ), which had been using the Bells' lines, to retreat from the consumer markets. "The holy jihad war of telecom between the incumbents and the competitors" has delayed broadband in the U.S., says former U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman William E. Kennard, who favored the Bells' leasing obligations. Now, most markets are cozy duopolies, at best, where consumers can get broadband only from a phone or cable company. The result is that U.S. consumers can pay $35 or more for a 1.5-megabit-per-second connection, compared with Yahoo! BB's price of $25 for 26 megabits.

 To have any hope of joining the world's broadband vanguard, the U.S. must create a viable third competitor. The options are few. Congress is unlikely to force politically powerful Bells to share their networks, even though lawmakers are expected to rewrite the telecom industry's regulations next year.

 Much more promising is the rivalry that might be sparked by new, inexpensive wireless technologies. Chief among these is WiMax, expected to be available next year. WiMax is expected to zip bits through the airwaves as fast as 75 megabits per second and cover areas as wide as 30 miles. Because the equipment needed to cover a small city can cost as little as $100,000, WiMax could open the door to a stampede of contenders. Already, it's winning the backing from the likes of chip giant Intel Corp. and cellular pioneer Craig O. McCaw.

 Bush and Kerry both favor making airwaves available for the new technologies, but there's one hitch: The best radio spectrum for wireless broadband isn't available. It's being used by TV broadcasters for analog transmissions. The broadcasters have been given another set of airwaves, for digital TV, but they're not eager to forfeit their freebie. If Bush and Kerry want wireless technology to spark more competition, they'll have to make the politically difficult step of taking on the powerful broadcasters.

Rural Reach
 Federal and state governments can provide other incentives to create a third rival. One way is for lawmakers to pass a bill now pending, sponsored by Senators John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Me.), to let companies expense equipment costs when they build networks of at least 20 megabits a second. A U.S.-backed bond program would encourage municipalities to build their own fiber networks and then lease them to upstarts. And government can attract broadband to sparsely populated regions without tax dollars by creating pools of local buyers -- a measure Canada has adopted to reach its vast rural expanses. For instance, a U.S. Veterans Administration hospital, acting as an anchor tenant, could corral a group of local businesses and nonprofits to entice a phone, cable, or wireless company to serve them.

 There are plenty of U.S. defenders who say the nation need not fret. After all, broadband is becoming more widely used. And the Bells are promising to build faster networks. Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ ) is spending billions to install fiber lines as fast as 30 megabits per second in 3 million households by the end of 2005. Plus, some argue that other countries have an advantage in broadband because their populations are more densely packed and therefore cheaper to reach.

 But excuses never make good policy. If the U.S. is not to lose out in the global race for the next-generation Internet and the new businesses it can spawn, change is needed. The country must create vigorous competition to drive the low prices and high speeds that can usher in a prosperous broadband economy.

By Catherine YangWith Moon Ihlwan in Seoul and Hiroko Tashiro in Tokyo

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Appendix G.  Kryder's Law:  Increasing Hard Disk Capacity and Decreasing Size
July 25, 2005
The doubling of processor speed every 18 months is a snail's pace compared with rising hard-disk capacity, and Mark Kryder plans to squeeze in even more bits
By Chip Walter
 
Over the years there has been a lot of talk about Moore's Law and the way that doubling the power and memory of computer semiconductors every 18 months has driven technological advance. But from where Mark Kryder sits, another force is at least as powerful, perhaps more: the cramming of as many bits as possible onto shrinking magnetic hard drives.

The 61-year-old engineer might be on to something. Since the introduction of the disk drive in 1956, the density of information it can record has swelled from a paltry 2,000 bits to 100 billion bits (gigabits), all crowded in the small space of a square inch. That represents a 50-million-fold increase. Not even Moore's silicon chips can boast that kind of progress.

Kryder is not denigrating the importance of faster computer processors, but he says, at the very least, both digital elements need each other. Without the continual squeezing of bits onto ever shrinking hard drives, the world of information as we know it today, and tomorrow, will come to a grinding halt.

Information storage has been Kryder's bailiwick most of his career. As founder and director of Car-ne-gie Mellon University's Data Storage Systems Center and now as chief technology officer at hard-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology, he has often spearheaded the breakthroughs that have increased hard-disk densities (and accelerated their corresponding drop in price). But these days, he says, altogether unexpected trends are afoot: smaller, high-capacity drives are spawning not only new products and applications but entirely new industries.

"Who would have predicted the success of hand-held digital audio players?" Kryder asks. "We completely missed seeing the iPod coming." Now, he points out, "disk drives are appearing in GPS systems for automobiles and enabling us to record and playback HDTV on TiVo and digital cable systems."

Such devices may relegate Moore's Law to secondary status. "Today the density of information we can get on a hard drive is much more important to enabling new applications than advances in semiconductors," Kryder remarks. Without them, Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store would not have sold hundreds of millions of songs and on-demand TV would still be a pipe dream.

But to Kryder, these new services are just the beginning. Now tiny, capacious hard drives are replacing low-capacity flash memory cards, which use electrically charged transistors rather than moving parts to record information. Soon hard drives will migrate into phones, still cameras, PDAs, cars and everyday appliances. "In a few years the average U.S. consumer will own 10 to 20 disk drives in devices that he uses regularly," Kryder predicts. These advances are forcing manufacturers to become much more nimble as their markets expand. Optimizing a drive for an Xbox or an automobile's diagnostic system is very different from creating a razor-thin, rugged one-inch drive for a flip phone.

Kryder began exploring digital storage in the 1970s as a postdoc at the California Institute of Technology. Later he spent five years at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where he researched bubble memory, which records data by magnetizing small circles on gadolinium gallium garnet. When he joined Carnegie Mellon in 1978, Kryder continued his bubble memory work, but it became clear that the technology, used in cruise missiles and other niche applications, faced as obstacle as a mainstream product: gadolinium gallium garnet was expensive. When the fledgling personal computer industry made the hard drive its storage device of choice, Kryder switched gears, assembled a conference of hard-drive industry gurus in 1982, and asked them to name their greatest research needs. Next he persuaded businesses such as IBM and 3M to support an effort to develop those technologies. The result in 1983: the Magnetics Technology Center (MTC), the only operation of its kind in the U.S. For the next five years, the center incubated increasingly efficient hard-drive technologies, while cultivating the field's top thinkers.

But the MTC tended to react to what the industry wanted, Kryder says, rather than pushing the envelope. So, in 1987, after discussions with the National Science Foundation (NSF), he worked to create an organization that set a technological agenda. In 1990 the MTC became the Data Storage Systems Center (DSSC), one of a handful of NSF-funded engineering research centers. Kryder immediately set an ambitious goal: demonstrate hard drives that could store four gigabits of information in a square inch of disk space. Back then, four billion bits represented an enormous leap. Densities at the time hovered around 100 million bits. But in just four years the DSSC had met the new benchmark, a 40-fold increase.

By 1998, when Kryder joined Seagate to form its advanced research center, the DSSC had set an even loftier target: crowd 100 gigabits into a square inch by the early 21st century. In 2005, just seven years later, Seagate began shipping 110-gigabit drives. Inside of a decade and a half, hard disks had increased their capacity 1,000-fold, a rate that Intel founder Gordon Moore himself has called "flabbergasting."

But now current hard-drive technologies are hitting a new wall. Hard disks typically store bits of information using a tiny head that flies across the surface of the disk and magnetizes billions of discrete areas in horizontal space that represent zero or one, depending on whether they are facing clockwise or counterclockwise. The magnetized areas are becoming so small that it is difficult for them to remain stable.

Kryder and his team are reviving a method called perpendicular recording to fix the problem. It flips the charges north to south, permitting the use of stronger magnetic fields in media that can store smaller bits. Seagate's Pittsburgh lab has already prototyped this approach, which should pack in at least 200 gigabits per square inch within the next two years. Ultimately, Kryder thinks perpendicular drives will record 400 or 500 gigabits within four years. Because that is nothing more than a blink in the world of hard drives, Kryder has already set his next goal: a terabit per square inch, and he has tapped the 100 Ph.D.s at Seagate to work up still more exotic recording systems to make it a reality.

One project tackles a new method called heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), which uses a burst of heat so the drive's head can more easily magnetize even smaller surfaces. When the disk cools, the magnetic field stabilizes. Beyond that he foresees patterned media recording, which would theoretically allow drives to magnetize 10 times more information.

Surprisingly, his team will not be working on holographic storage, considered by many as the ultimate storage technology. Holography uses all three dimensions to store data, and the goal has been to stuff a terabit into a space the size of a sugar cube. But Kryder predicts that in another six years or so, hard drives will reach the terabit benchmark, at which time they will be smaller and cheaper than holographic systems.

Kryder isn't predicting where all these tiny drives lodged everywhere will lead. The big question for him isn't so much how to crowd more bits on drives, but understanding how those drives will shape the industries of the future.

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