Conduct research on a piece of technology that has become obsolete (either largely or totally). You will then put together a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation to discuss your findings.
Your presentation should discuss:
- What the technology is. Where, when, and by whom it was made. What was the problem it was meant to solve, and how did it solve it?
- What other attempts had there been to solve this problem? Are there “dead-end” innovations that were tried and failed?
- What were the obstacles that had to be overcome to make this product? Was it hard to put together (like the transistor was)? Were the materials rare? Was it fragile?
- What impact did this new technology have? What did it change about the culture and economy into which it emerged?
- How widespread was this technology’s impact?
- What were the limitations of this technology?
- What technology eventually replaced this obsolete technology? Who made it and when?
- What did the new technology do better/differently than the old technology?
- How long did it take the new technology to displace the old technology? What was the impact of that change?
- Are there still uses for the old technology? What are they?