This assignment is to visit your colleagues' web spaces to read, absorb, and ponder their engagement with the course and the means by which they display this engagement in comparison with your own.
You will then choose 6 items from 6 different sites that link, in some way, to your experience. Post these links in a separate "page" on your own site complete with a summary and reason (reflection) for the link.
In including these links to others' sites, you will want to be deliberate and thoughtful. When choosing a section to link to, think about why and how your content connects. Note that this connection could be adversarial—your colleague may present a foil to an argument you have made, for instance. Or, they may have created a completely different rendering for similar content.
Some questions to consider when you summarize and reflect upon your links:
How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authouring and end-user interface?
What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?
What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague's textual architecture and how does this affect one's experience of the work?
How do the constraints of the course design manifest in your architectural choices? How have you responded to the pedagogical underpinnings of this course design in your own web space?
The goal of this task is to create a web of interconnection between all the different content created by the students in ETEC 540. As such, we encourage you not only to make your own connections but to visit and review the connections being made by your colleagues on an ongoing basis. You may make as many links as you wish but only six are required to fulfill the terms of this assignment.
This assignment is an ongoing project that, ideally, should start from about Week 2 or 3.
We expect that you will visit your colleagues' sites on a regular basis AND contribute to them (via comments, co-authoring, annotations, etc.) as a part of your participation grade.
Sage Capogreco - Manual Writing Task
How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Sage’s manual writing task was different from mine right off the batt because she talks about how difficult it was for her to even find lined paper in her home. Her world is organized digitally. Mine is too, in many ways (phone alarms and reminders, digital calendar, etc) but I have never fully let go of the physical. I’m a sticky note person, and I still prefer to physically write my reminders and many of my notes. Sage also tasks about how many more mistakes she makes when writing my hand, with much crossing out and rewording. I’m the opposite, I’m such a fast typist that my hands go before my brain has finished processing thoughts, so I must go back and fix things. When I’m writing, my hand is slower, it gives me time to think through and be more deliberate in my writing.
What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
Sage chose to use UBC blogs, and I chose Wix.
How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?
I use Wix, which I have found to be much more customizable compared to the UBC blogs, but also more complicated and less user friendly. For example, the UBC blogs automatically include a comment section, which, until I sat down to do this assignment and started looking at peoples UBC blogs, I didn’t realize I had forgotten to include in my own Wix website (oops!). Then, when I went to add it, I couldn’t figure out where to do that, so I had to google it. But then the written directions on the Wxi Help section weren’t clear enough, and I finally had to resort to watching a short Youtube Video. All this to say that the end-user interface on the UBC blogs is much more streamlined. BUT I got to turn my comments box blue and add the use of emojis, so to me, the extra steps and effort were worth it. I also think that the ability for me to give my audience the ability to “like” or use an emoji rather than simply typing a comment makes it more accessible and fosters more authentic content-authoring.
4. What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?
I think my site privileges a less experienced internet user. The UX design on mine is more in line with a higher quality website, something that most people would be familiar with navigating. For example, my site has a clear navigation bar, and within the “assignments” tab, you can easily choose one class to filter by, or scroll down through a series of posts with clear titles and images. Sage’s UBC site hasn’t really been edited yet, all the assignments are on one page, and there is still a “sample page” linked in the navigation bar. All that being said, my ability to use Wix is a literacy as well. Building websites isn’t easy, even with comparatively simple site-builders such as Wix or UBC blogs.
What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague's textual architecture and how does this affect one's experience of the work?
Both Sage and I probably got similar comments on this assignment, which was that we need to link our work to the readings haha. Sometimes I get so swept up in the excitement of getting to do a creative IP that I don’t think to link to the readings. One thing that did come to mind with Sage’s work was what Bolter (2010) referred to as “prewriting” (Bolter, 2010, p. 33), Sage talked about how she found it difficult to lay out her thoughts while writing physically, while I found the opposite. I’ve always hated pre-writing, since I often find that my final product changes very little from what I originally put down.
References
Bolter, J. D. (2010). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. Routledge.
Jocelyn Chan - Voice to Text Task
I chose Jocelyn’s Text to Voice post because I was really impressed with her work. She is always incredibly thorough and articulate and I really enjoy reading her assignments. She always leaves me with something more to think about that I might not have considered.
How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Jocelyn’s assignment was different from mine because she chose to do more of a “stream of consciousness” dialogue, whereas I went with a story/piece of gossip. She talked about struggling to fill the time requirement, whereas I could easily have gone into more detail and had a hard time keeping it short enough.
What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
Jocelyn used UBC blogs and the tool she used for her voice to text was the Dictation function of the Messages app on an iPhone. I used WIX to post my work and created my voice to text using a random app I downloaded (I deleted it afterwards and can’t remember which one it was specifically) because I didn’t like the android voice to text options on my phone.
How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?
The content-authoring capabilities for our sites are similar since Wordpress and Wix are both blogging platforms, however, my experience with WIX is that it allows for a certain ease of use because it pairs down some of the tools compared to Wordpress. I chose Wix for my blog because of this, I like the user interface better and find that it allows me to be more creative without having to deal with extra tools. For the UBC blog, I chose to keep all the posts very concise and more or less the same format. The title at the top, the description of the task and sometimes links to the readings, a photo, and then my work and the bibliography. Jocelyn has spent a lot more time curating each of her posts, they are full of images, often include detailed additions such as mind maps, and she does an excellent job of chunking her responses under clear headings.
What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?
Jocelyn and I both use English as our primary language. Both of us live in BC, as Jocelyn said in her original post “Irrespective of whether I’m communicating using oral or written language, the language I use is “the product of [our] culture” (Haas, 2009, p. 15). My thinking itself is influenced by my understanding of the culture through language.” (Jocelyn, 2022) We are both living within a certain cultural context that means we “speak a similar language”, with a deeper understanding of each other's regional dialects, etc. Because I lived in Vancouver for four years, I recognize the places she is referencing in her text, and she would recognize some of mine as well.
What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague's textual architecture and how does this affect one's experience of the work?
Jocelyn mentions her “thoughts on the parallel [she] sees between unscripted/scripted stories and painting/photography. [She] values “systems thinking” (The New London Group, 1999, p. 67), “utilization of available discourses” (The New London Group, 1999, p. 88), and “pattern recognition … to act flexibly and adaptably in context” (The New London Group, 1999, p. 84).” (Jocelyn 2022)
Unfortunately, this is one of the assignments that I didn’t link strongly to theoretical underpinnings, although at the time I was thinking about the discourse around “gossip” and the way our society thinks about gossip because I had just been listening to the “Normal Gossip” podcast by Kelsey McKinney (2021). This could definitely link to Jocelyn's comments about unscripted/scripted stories and the way that we tell stories in speech versus in writing as well as the way that society privileges those formats differently.
References
Chan, Jocelyn. (2022). Task 3: Voice to text. Jocelyn's webspace ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/jocelync/task-3-voice-to-text-task/
Haas, C. (2009). The technology question. In Writing technology: Studies on the materiality of literacy (pp. 3-23). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203811238
McKinney, K. (2021). Normal Gossip on Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/normal-gossip/id1597761181
The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92. http://newarcproject.pbworks.com/f/Pedagogy%2Bof%2BMultiliteracies_New%2BLondon%2BGroup.pdf
Jade Lee - Attention Economy
I chose Jade's task because her headline caught my mind and I just thought it was so funny! I'm sure we all felt that way trying to deal with the Dark UI program.
How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Right off the bat, Jade and I had very different experiences with the fake program. I was able to complete it in 6 minutes and 28 seconds and she was not able to complete it at all. She said that “after watching the timer head into 10 minutes with figuring out how to “properly” complete the first page for the FIFTH time, I was mentally done.” (Jade, 2022)
What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
Jade chose to use UBC Blogs, whereas mine is Wix.
How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?
Jade chose a dark theme for her website, whereas mine is a light theme. I always think it’s very interesting to see which people prefer. I personally go for white, bright, colourful sites and replicated that feel with my own blog. Perhaps Jade is someone who prefers to work at night, and so likes her computer or phone screen to be in a dark mode, or maybe she finds the contrast easier to read.
What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?
- We both use english for our posts.
- Jade and I structured our posts similarly, with one main image at the top, related to the theme of the post, then text below. They are visually similar in that way.
What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague's textual architecture and how does this affect one's experience of the work?
What really drew me into Jade’s post was her idea of attention. She mentions that the exercise made her think of how much she clicks on without thinking of it and possibly signing up for something accidentally (Jade, 2022) and how these UI interfaces are created purposefully to take advantage of users (Brignull, 2010). This was different from my conclusions. I viewed this task as a way to make us frustrated with technology, and saw these dark Ui tactics as outdated due to the increasing use of more subtle manipulations. We both agreed that humans are easily manipulated and need to be careful and aware online (Tufekci, 2017).
References
Brignull, H. (2011). Dark Patterns: Deception vs. Honesty in UI Design. Interaction Design, Usability, 338.
Lee, Jade. (2022). Task 10: Attention Economy. Jade’s webspace ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/msjadelee/2022/07/20/task-10-attention-economy/
Tufekci, Z. (2017). Zeynep Tufekci: We’re building a dystopia just to make people click on ads | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_we_re_building_a_dystopia_just_to_make_people_click_on_ads
Amanda Botelho- Emoji Story
How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
I couldn’t figure out what movie Amanda was trying to show, but I think it’s less because of her writing and more because I don’t usually watch sports movies. A quick google made me guess that it might be “Hustle” with Adam Sandler (mostly because his character has a beard haha).
Amanda was focused on the visual aspect of her story, whereas I was focused on the emotional aspect, using more “emotion” emojis, versus Amanda’s preference for “action” emojis showing movement or scene changes.
We both referenced Bolter, though she talked about how the “images come before the text” (Amanda, 2022), linking it to Bolters comments that young readers “follow the story and become accustomed to the linearity of reading before [they] can actually decipher the letters that constitute alphabetic writing” (Bolter, 2001). Whereas I Was referencing how Emoji’s are meant for context, not full thoughts; “such icons [emojis] are meant to put the verbal text in context, as the writer tries to enforce a univocal interpretation on prose that is otherwise open to many interpretations.”(Bolter, 2001)
What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
Amanda chose to use UBC Blogs, whereas mine is Wix.
Amanda is one of the few students in the course who has formatted her UBC blog noticeably differently, adding colours (green, dark blue) and a bitmoji of herself. Her index is easy to use and navigate.
How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?
It looks like Amanda used Apple Notes to display her emojis. Therefore, she used the Apple emoji keyboard. I, on the other hand, used emoji’s from android and Whatsapp, since those are the ones I’m familiar with. When I tried to do the task using an online simulator, I got frustrated with the different emoji selection than what I’m used to and ended up copy/pasting from my Whatsapp desktop app.
What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?
Cultural and linguistic diversity
I'm assuming that Amanda’s movie has some characters of colour in it, based on her emoji choices, whereas lady and the tramp only has white and white-coded characters in it (except for the very racist “chinese” siamese cats).
Some of the emojis we used might have different cultural meanings in other countries, leading to different interpretations of our stories.
Language
We both use english for our reflections, but because our emoji stories don’t use words, it would allow non-english speakers to potentially understand it.
Both our emoji stories move from left to right, so speakers of Asian languages might not be as immediately able to understand the emojis.
References
Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print.
Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410600110
Botelho, Amanda. (2022). Task 6: Emoji Story. Amanda Botelho ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/webspace/2022/06/26/task-6-emoji-story/
Trista Svennes- Golden Record Curation
I chose to do Trista’s Task 8: Golden Record Curation because of her thoughtfulness and explanation of her song choices. She includes several thoughtful ideas about the task and how she chose to filter the songs.
How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Like Trista, I also found this task very challenging, I also was totally overwhelmed by the number of choices and my lack of qualifications to be choosing! Abby and I both referenced Abby Smith’s video talking about how “difficult [it is] to determine the value of things and decide what deserve to be preserved for the future” (Trista, 2022). However, my approach to choosing was very different from hers. Trista went with songs that were purely instrumental, while I was looking for female voices first, and female instrumentalists second. We were both trying to be inclusive, but in different ways. Trista wanted to be ““as inclusive as possible”, and include music originated from different cultural group geographically” (Trista, 2022) while I was hoping to shine a light on the lack of gender representation in the original tracks.
What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
Jade chose to use UBC Blogs, whereas mine is Wix.
Trista’s website is very plain, no images, not even her name is anywhere on the website. I had to go back to the students web spaces homepage and look to see who had authored the site. I think throwing in an image would have gone a long way to breaking up the white monotony of the page.
How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?
Navigation: Trista has her index on the right side, while my site uses a top bar
Design: My page shows my interest in design and art, with content from multiple classes, images of myself and images to go with every blog post. Trista’s website has no image and very basic design.
What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?
Language
- Both of us use english
- Her song choices are mostly instrumental, making them understandable to all, while mine are mostly vocal, making them unintelligible to most.
References
Brown University. (2017, July 11). Abby Smith Rumsey: “Digital memory: What can we afford to lose?”. YouTube. Retrieved July 9, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBrahqg9ZMc&t=671s
Svennes, Trista. (2022). Task 8: Golden Record Curation. Trista Svennes ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540trista/2022/07/09/task-8-golden-record-curation-assignment/
Zoe Armstrong - Speculative Futures
I was really excited to look through my classmates' different speculative futures for this assignment! I wanted to know if we had similar ideas or totally different views of the assignment. Zoe’s task 12: speculative futures assignment really stood out to me.
How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Zoe created two stories based off of a drawing she made of “Eddie” the “world's first Ai teacher’s assistant”. Her utopia is actually quite similar to mine, Ai has taken much of the everyday grind work out of teaching, working in tandem with human teachers to support students not just students learning, but their social and emotional growth as well.
Where our ideas diverge is the dystopia. We both suggested that teachers would be replaced by AI, but my dystopia is centered on the idea of social surveillance and “the Panopticon broken free of [its] physical architecture” (“Smartphones and Social Media,” 2021). Zoe’s dystopia is a school where student absences have risen by 75% and “school counsellors were overwhelmed with the demand for support” (Zoe, 2022), whereas in mine, the social credit system would ensure that students come to school regardless of whether or not there are support systems in place.
What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
Zoe chose to use UBC Blogs, whereas mine is Wix. Our post format is almost identical, a large title, an image, and the writing below.
How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?
Navigation
- Our navigation is similar, most of the UBC blogs have the navigation on the right side, but - Zoe has changed her to be a banner at the top, similar to mine.
Design
- Zoe has gone with an all-white theme, similar to my own, however there are a lot more pops of colour in my pages because previous blog posts are displayed at the bottom of my pages and they all include images.
- There are many different fonts and font-sizes on my page, whereas Zoe's are mostly simlar font types and all within a close size range.
What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?
Language
- Both our posts are in English
Education
- Both our posts center around what education will look like in an “elementary model” classroom with approximately 24 students.
- Both posts draw on the readers familiarity with educational norms
- My "report cards" especially draw on this, since the language of assessment included in the slides would be more impactful and meaningful to an educator.
References
Armstrong, Zoe. (2022). Task 12: Speculative Futures. Zoe Armstrong ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/zarmstrong/2022/08/04/week-12/
Smartphones and Social Media: A Mass Surveillance Dystopia. (2021, October 30). Academy of Ideas. https://academyofideas.com/2021/10/smartphones-and-social-media-a-mass-surveillance-dystopia/
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