4 Replies to “The Future of Aircraft (Jimmy Hoffmann)”
I enjoyed the topic of your slidecast. You did a good job explaining the aircraft in the images, and you compared the technologies to those we have today. This was good, however you didn’t place the technologies into a historical context. I felt like most of the images were more of a description, instead of an analysis. I wish you had given more of an explanation about the motivations for the new technologies, including the values represented by the images and the time in history in which they were predicted. I think if you had added more historical context about the time period when these images were predicted, then it would be easier for the listener to understand why people believed the images represented the future of aircraft. Lastly, I would suggest slowing the pace because at times it was hard to understand every detail, and in some slides you did have extra time. You did a great job describing the technology and discussing why it may not have been adopted; however more historical context would improve the slidecast.
Overall, I liked this slidecast. You showed many different examples on how both the Soviets and Americans were viewing flight technology at the time, and how in some cases, they were technologies that weren’t too far off from what we have today. The amount of propaganda throughout these images is also astounding, and I found it interesting to think how some of the propaganda depicting supersonic Soviet planes would probably go on to influence the United States to build better, faster supersonic planes. It is clear that all of these ideas of planes, bombers, and fighters are all concepts that didn’t come into fruition, so I think it was fair to include the Star Wars and Star Trek visions of future flight, especially visions of space travel (even more especially after we landed a man on the moon) show the ambitions that people had in trying to seek better and faster ways of travel. I think your comments on nuclear power in planes were very contextually relevant, but the earlier concepts I think were a bit difficult to explain thoroughly for those times. At the same time, these ideas were so farfetched and undeveloped at the time that it really does show how far people were willing to take their ideas (like actual flying saucers, really?). Some of your transitions weren’t very smooth, but I liked how you tied the evolution of these crazy ideas together.
Hi Jimmy, I’m impressed by how much you knew about the different types of aircrafts that you talked about! You really took the time to go into detail about each and every futuristic aircraft concept. I liked how you were able to discuss which ideas were not feasible and why. I thought this added an interesting dimension to the slidecast and makes the point that while futuristic designs are nice in theory, it isn’t necessarily easy or practical to actually develop them. One thing I wish you had focused more on was the context that spurred these futuristic aircraft ideas. I think if you could spend a little more time on how and why people thought that these technologies would be better than the existing ones, it would be easier to follow and understand the story behind the evolution of various aircrafts. This, however, is a very technical topic, and I thought you handled that aspect of it extremely well. Overall, I found your slidecast very informative and certainly know a lot more about planes and rockets!
This slide cast does a great job at presenting two different visions of future air travel; military and consumer ideas. You do a great job at showcasing how different societal contexts have influenced these ideas. You might want to contrast these views and discuss how societal concerns were expressed through them, particularly in the age of the cold war. Something that might be interesting would be to look into would be the Concorde airliner, a supersonic passenger jet in the late 20th century. I would also spend more time discussing how society reflected its values in their projections of future aircraft, as opposed to focusing on the technical feasibility of each concept; a lot like the drawings of future Russian jets. Overall great job!
I enjoyed the topic of your slidecast. You did a good job explaining the aircraft in the images, and you compared the technologies to those we have today. This was good, however you didn’t place the technologies into a historical context. I felt like most of the images were more of a description, instead of an analysis. I wish you had given more of an explanation about the motivations for the new technologies, including the values represented by the images and the time in history in which they were predicted. I think if you had added more historical context about the time period when these images were predicted, then it would be easier for the listener to understand why people believed the images represented the future of aircraft. Lastly, I would suggest slowing the pace because at times it was hard to understand every detail, and in some slides you did have extra time. You did a great job describing the technology and discussing why it may not have been adopted; however more historical context would improve the slidecast.
Overall, I liked this slidecast. You showed many different examples on how both the Soviets and Americans were viewing flight technology at the time, and how in some cases, they were technologies that weren’t too far off from what we have today. The amount of propaganda throughout these images is also astounding, and I found it interesting to think how some of the propaganda depicting supersonic Soviet planes would probably go on to influence the United States to build better, faster supersonic planes. It is clear that all of these ideas of planes, bombers, and fighters are all concepts that didn’t come into fruition, so I think it was fair to include the Star Wars and Star Trek visions of future flight, especially visions of space travel (even more especially after we landed a man on the moon) show the ambitions that people had in trying to seek better and faster ways of travel. I think your comments on nuclear power in planes were very contextually relevant, but the earlier concepts I think were a bit difficult to explain thoroughly for those times. At the same time, these ideas were so farfetched and undeveloped at the time that it really does show how far people were willing to take their ideas (like actual flying saucers, really?). Some of your transitions weren’t very smooth, but I liked how you tied the evolution of these crazy ideas together.
Hi Jimmy, I’m impressed by how much you knew about the different types of aircrafts that you talked about! You really took the time to go into detail about each and every futuristic aircraft concept. I liked how you were able to discuss which ideas were not feasible and why. I thought this added an interesting dimension to the slidecast and makes the point that while futuristic designs are nice in theory, it isn’t necessarily easy or practical to actually develop them. One thing I wish you had focused more on was the context that spurred these futuristic aircraft ideas. I think if you could spend a little more time on how and why people thought that these technologies would be better than the existing ones, it would be easier to follow and understand the story behind the evolution of various aircrafts. This, however, is a very technical topic, and I thought you handled that aspect of it extremely well. Overall, I found your slidecast very informative and certainly know a lot more about planes and rockets!
This slide cast does a great job at presenting two different visions of future air travel; military and consumer ideas. You do a great job at showcasing how different societal contexts have influenced these ideas. You might want to contrast these views and discuss how societal concerns were expressed through them, particularly in the age of the cold war. Something that might be interesting would be to look into would be the Concorde airliner, a supersonic passenger jet in the late 20th century. I would also spend more time discussing how society reflected its values in their projections of future aircraft, as opposed to focusing on the technical feasibility of each concept; a lot like the drawings of future Russian jets. Overall great job!