The definition of “a technology”, excerpted from WINSTON “Children of Invention Revisited”, p. 3: “Instead, we will think of technologies as consisting of several distinguishable but interacting aspects:

skill, techniques, human activity-forms, or sociotechnical practices;
resources, tools, and materials;
technological products, or artifacts;
ends, intentions or functions;
background knowledge; and
the social contexts in which the technology is designed, developed, used and disposed of.

These six aspects are present in every technology.”

Be able use these six (6) aspects to define the technology of a) your cell phone (“cell phone technology”) and either b) a pair of eyeglasses (invented in Pisa, Italy at the end of the thirteenth century) (WINSTON, Landes article, p 29-30) or c) a central power plant (the first one for electricity started up in 1881)(Wikipedia: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation

Electricity generation]], “History”)