Global Materiality:

Currently CCD technology (250-thousand Pixels) cost between $10-30 depending upon the complexity of the device and quality of its components (Ochi et al. 3). However, in 1980 a 120-thousand DPI CCD cost over a thousand dollars (Ochi et al. 3). The reason for such a dramatic decrease in cost is due to the changes and advances made regarding software chips and microtechnology. Because smaller chips were developed this allowed a smaller circuit board area for the CCD, which simultaneously decreased noise and reduced cost through less materials needed (Ochi et al. 4). This is also resultant from the rise of Asian manufacturing companies which were able to produce devices at lower production cost due to the reduced rate of wages. Exploitation of Asian workers occured frequently in the 1980s and 1990s and still continues today. "By the mid-1970s there were about a million workers employed in the offshore electonics assembly industry in Asia, about 90% women" (Ly 181). Therefore not only do these devices illustrate the problems of unfair worker treatment but propose this exploitation through gender bias. As technology advances and interfaces become seamless the gendered aspect is also erased. In thinking about this relationship between culture and technology, "it has been a part of human experience since that first cave painter, but we've had a hard time seeing it until now" (Johnson 2). But how do we hold international corporations responsible for worker's rights? What impact does this have on the resultant culture? Does the gender of the workers influence the types of technology emerging?