Nice work Kayla! I really enjoyed listening to your slidecast and thought it provided a great overview of the history of GMOs. I liked how you began by discussing the biology behind engineering hybrid forms of plants, and thought it set up the rest of your slidecast very nicely. You did a good job of explaining how the various values of society led to the development of this practice. Also, I found it interesting how the different wars influenced the spread practice of genetic engineering. I didn’t know that GMOs became prominent as a result of World War II. The only suggestion I have is that you could have focused a little more on the previous technologies that existed prior to GMOs and how they were necessary in order for GMOs to be invented. Overall, you slidecast was well put together and I thought you covered the topic in a thorough manner that was easy to follow and understand.
Good job explaining what GMO’s are at the beginning. Your slidecast was clear and easy to understand. I liked how you used the running theme of how the values of each period influenced the development of GMOs. You also did a good job connecting your topic to the broader themes of the class like Kranzberg’s Law that invention is the mother of necessity. I really like how you explain how major events such as World War I and the Cold War have influenced GMO technology. You do a great job of avoiding determinism by placing GMO technology in its historical context and showing that people, as well as social and political events, affect technology. I like how you dedicated a slide to separating the political context from the social context. I thought this slidecast was really good, so I don’t have many critiques. However, one thing that might have been helpful is if you labeled some of the pictures that you used, or talked more about what the pictures are during the slidecast. Overall, you did a great job. I learned a lot!
I think you did a really good job! The explanation of how modern GMOs specifically refer to transgenic crops was a good start to the presentation, and all of your explanations were clear and chronological. I liked the inclusion of Mendel understanding genes by breading pea plants. I also think that you did a great job of incorporating the themes of the class by talking about how genetically modified crops reflect the values of efficiency, ease, and durability, and that these values became especially prominent during WWII. It emphasized the fact that agriculture is not at all separate from industrialization. One thing that I think that you could have talked about more is some of the opposition to GMOs, or the idea that they should be clearly labeled (like the Flavr Savr tomatoes in the 90s). In all, I feel like your slidecast provided an excellent explanation for why the current use of GMO’s was not inevitable, but rather the result of a gradual historical progression.
Over all, this slidecast was extremely well done. Everything was very clearly articulated, and I also liked how specifically you kept to a linear timeline, but also managed to avoid sounding deterministic by explaining the entire historical context of each agricultural advance. I do wish that you had spoken more on the origin of the terms transgenic and GMO, as well as some of the modern pushback on the widespread use of GMO’s today, since it could be argued that a lot of the modern values placed on GMO’s comes from the movement away from using them. On the whole, however, I did think that this slidecast was very well done. From a technical aspect your speaking speed was just about perfect, and you clearly articulated all of your points without any noticeable stuttering or major speed issues. I have to say I learned a lot from this slidecast, and once again say, well done!
This was really good, you had a lot of great and interesting information in here. I like that you defined exactly the GMOs you were going to talk about, but still took the time to explain the basic form of the technology. You used the context of WW1 & 2 and the Cold War really well; it added a lot of substance to how we have gotten to the GMOs as we know them today, plus it’s always a context that’s fun to hear about. An underrated compliment that I’ll give is how you used the images with your presentation. A lot of times people just stick pictures that match what they’re talking about, but the images don’t add anything to the presentation; you could turn the screen off and still get the same amount out of it. You utilized your images, referred to them, and made them apart of your presentation– I appreciate that. My critique is that early on you referred to a Kranzberg Law, but didn’t quite explain it, you just stated it. Remember that these videos are intended for a larger audience than just our class.
Great slidecast! I thought you had some very interesting points and I learned a lot. I found it particularly interesting that GMO processes are utilizing more transgensis procedures. I also was very surprised to hear that during and after the cold war, crops were being genetically modified to promote resiliency. This is ironic because today we don’t consider industrial agriculture to produce very resilient crops, as there is very little genetic diversity. In addition, patent law and intellectual property rights have played a surprisingly large role in the development of GMOs, especially in who is using these GMOs. This may be a part of a larger story of the rise of commercial agriculture. To add to your slidecast, if you had more than 6 minutes and 40 seconds, it would have been interesting to discuss the modern world’s changing sentiments towards GMOs. Today, many people (in Europe especially) will not consume or grow GMOs because of possible negative health effects. Overall, your slidecast was very interesting!
Nice work Kayla! I really enjoyed listening to your slidecast and thought it provided a great overview of the history of GMOs. I liked how you began by discussing the biology behind engineering hybrid forms of plants, and thought it set up the rest of your slidecast very nicely. You did a good job of explaining how the various values of society led to the development of this practice. Also, I found it interesting how the different wars influenced the spread practice of genetic engineering. I didn’t know that GMOs became prominent as a result of World War II. The only suggestion I have is that you could have focused a little more on the previous technologies that existed prior to GMOs and how they were necessary in order for GMOs to be invented. Overall, you slidecast was well put together and I thought you covered the topic in a thorough manner that was easy to follow and understand.
Good job explaining what GMO’s are at the beginning. Your slidecast was clear and easy to understand. I liked how you used the running theme of how the values of each period influenced the development of GMOs. You also did a good job connecting your topic to the broader themes of the class like Kranzberg’s Law that invention is the mother of necessity. I really like how you explain how major events such as World War I and the Cold War have influenced GMO technology. You do a great job of avoiding determinism by placing GMO technology in its historical context and showing that people, as well as social and political events, affect technology. I like how you dedicated a slide to separating the political context from the social context. I thought this slidecast was really good, so I don’t have many critiques. However, one thing that might have been helpful is if you labeled some of the pictures that you used, or talked more about what the pictures are during the slidecast. Overall, you did a great job. I learned a lot!
Kayla,
I think you did a really good job! The explanation of how modern GMOs specifically refer to transgenic crops was a good start to the presentation, and all of your explanations were clear and chronological. I liked the inclusion of Mendel understanding genes by breading pea plants. I also think that you did a great job of incorporating the themes of the class by talking about how genetically modified crops reflect the values of efficiency, ease, and durability, and that these values became especially prominent during WWII. It emphasized the fact that agriculture is not at all separate from industrialization. One thing that I think that you could have talked about more is some of the opposition to GMOs, or the idea that they should be clearly labeled (like the Flavr Savr tomatoes in the 90s). In all, I feel like your slidecast provided an excellent explanation for why the current use of GMO’s was not inevitable, but rather the result of a gradual historical progression.
Over all, this slidecast was extremely well done. Everything was very clearly articulated, and I also liked how specifically you kept to a linear timeline, but also managed to avoid sounding deterministic by explaining the entire historical context of each agricultural advance. I do wish that you had spoken more on the origin of the terms transgenic and GMO, as well as some of the modern pushback on the widespread use of GMO’s today, since it could be argued that a lot of the modern values placed on GMO’s comes from the movement away from using them. On the whole, however, I did think that this slidecast was very well done. From a technical aspect your speaking speed was just about perfect, and you clearly articulated all of your points without any noticeable stuttering or major speed issues. I have to say I learned a lot from this slidecast, and once again say, well done!
This was really good, you had a lot of great and interesting information in here. I like that you defined exactly the GMOs you were going to talk about, but still took the time to explain the basic form of the technology. You used the context of WW1 & 2 and the Cold War really well; it added a lot of substance to how we have gotten to the GMOs as we know them today, plus it’s always a context that’s fun to hear about. An underrated compliment that I’ll give is how you used the images with your presentation. A lot of times people just stick pictures that match what they’re talking about, but the images don’t add anything to the presentation; you could turn the screen off and still get the same amount out of it. You utilized your images, referred to them, and made them apart of your presentation– I appreciate that. My critique is that early on you referred to a Kranzberg Law, but didn’t quite explain it, you just stated it. Remember that these videos are intended for a larger audience than just our class.
Kayla,
Great slidecast! I thought you had some very interesting points and I learned a lot. I found it particularly interesting that GMO processes are utilizing more transgensis procedures. I also was very surprised to hear that during and after the cold war, crops were being genetically modified to promote resiliency. This is ironic because today we don’t consider industrial agriculture to produce very resilient crops, as there is very little genetic diversity. In addition, patent law and intellectual property rights have played a surprisingly large role in the development of GMOs, especially in who is using these GMOs. This may be a part of a larger story of the rise of commercial agriculture. To add to your slidecast, if you had more than 6 minutes and 40 seconds, it would have been interesting to discuss the modern world’s changing sentiments towards GMOs. Today, many people (in Europe especially) will not consume or grow GMOs because of possible negative health effects. Overall, your slidecast was very interesting!
-Olivia