Student Affairs On-Line The on-line magazine about technology and Student Affairs Gary D. Malaney - Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst Editor Stuart Brown - StudentAffairs.com Executive Editor

Join our mailing list!    First Name        Last Name        School        Email            ©2007    StudentAffairs.com    All Rights Reserved	BOOK REVIEW Retooling: A Historian Confronts Technological Change Williams, Rosalind H. (2002). MA: MIT Press. List Price $27.95, 272 Pages Review by Peggy Holzweiss Assessment Coordinator, Student Life Studies Texas University - College Station, TX peggy-h@tamu.edu Posted: February 10, 2003     Student Affairs Online, vol. 4 no. 1 - Winter 2003 After reading Rosalind Williams’ book “Retooling:  A Historian Confronts Technological Change,” the chosen title provides a misleading glance into the thesis.  Instead of technological change, Ms. Williams makes a convincing argument for technology being woven so deeply into the social fabric that one cannot experience a change in technology without also experiencing a change in relationships with others.  She uses her experience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to provide a case study of how one campus undertook what was considered a purely technological change and instead provided a better understanding of human interactions for the campus community.   Ms. Williams’ thesis is not controversial and does not require a lot of persuasion to accept.  Too much time is spent focusing on the MIT engineering disciplines and their numerous faculty and departmental pursuits during the time of change.  While one or two examples would certainly prove a point, Ms. Williams spends three chapters defining various engineering departments, explaining the territoriality of faculty members, and discussing the philosophy of engineering curriculum.  Engineering is certainly integral to the very existence of MIT as a place of higher learning, but the emphasis on this specific campus division is unnecessary to prove her argument.  While unnecessary, her narrative is still very interesting, especially to the layperson.  And anyone who has ever worked in higher education, regardless of discipline, will certainly relate to Ms. Williams’ examples of the processes and structures of change as well as the irony that pro-technology faculty members can be resistant to technological change.   The real “meat” of the book follows the lengthy narrative of the MIT engineering division.  In the fourth chapter, “Technology and Community,” Ms. Williams succinctly describes the challenge facing higher education:  how to keep up with the advances in technology and educate students about an ever-increasing information base while simultaneously maintaining, even building, a community of valuable personal interactions.  While the chapter does not provide answers, it does provide a clear look at the chaos that abounds within higher education.  For example, Ms. Williams discusses the tragic death of a freshman after a night of drinking at an on-campus fraternity house.  The death occurs while the campus is in the process of making numerous technological changes to existing buildings and discussing adding new buildings, mostly for academic pursuits.  The student’s death sets off a dialogue about campus priorities.  Ms. Williams describes the process undertaken as well as the faculty, staff, and student perspectives, all of which are enlightening and valuable.   The only time Ms. Williams’ seems to stumble in an otherwise reflective book is when she descends into discussing gender differences in a technological world.  This fifth chapter seems oddly out of place when the majority of the book describes shared experiences based on changes made at MIT.  While men and women certainly have differences in how they deal with change, her arguments here seem more like a political stand for women in predominantly male environments and the way they are treated.  The statements are stale and recycled and contribute little value to her thesis.    Ms. Williams redeems her argument in the last and best “post-script” chapter that describes how MIT was affected by the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.  Her story-telling style takes you to the campus as students, faculty, and staff come together to make sense of the attacks, both from a technological standpoint as well as a societal one.  It is here that she puts the finishing touches on her idea that changing technology means changing society.    In terms of useful reading, the chapter on “Technology and Community” (Ch. 4) and “Coda:  Living in a Historical World” (Ch. 6) would help any Student Affairs department or division prepare for technological change.  The information will provide a clear perspective that may help guide the process of change and provide a glimpse into how people will react to the changes.  The rest of Ms. Williams’ book merely provides a reminder to Student Affairs professionals that our faculty friends experience the same ebb and flow of change as we do.   Printer Friendly Version