Linked Pages:
Evelyne’s Predicted Text Tweet
Indee’s Golden Record Curation
Julia Underwood’s “Putting Pen to Paper”
Website Reviews:
Julia Underwood’s “Putting Pen to Paper”
I chose to link to Julia’s blog that relates to task 4, as her experiences were quite different from mine. She used this task as a way to explore an activity she asks her students to perform. Unlike me, she writes with pen and paper regularly, so her experience was less painful than mine. While the pain was the main drawback to manual writing for me, Julia’s main drawback was error correction. We both seem to prefer computerized writing for formal writing, however, Julia still enjoys the place of manual writing. I really appreciate Julia’s positive and mindful experience with manual writing, as it is almost an extreme opposite to me. I can understand the connection she has to pen and paper, as that was once the mode I had to use. However, I think computerized writing is a true gift. There are some gaps in technology that have not quite replaced all of the things that we do with pen and paper, such as a convenient way to make quick lists or notes on the go, but I have adapted and I am certain that invention is just around the corner.
Julia’s website utilizes the Wix platform. It has many of the same features of UBC blogs/Wordpress, such as blogs, comments, menus. One of the major differences I notice is that it is much more visual. Instead of a menu of links to recent posts, there is a widget tile that displays a portion of the blog. In this way, it seems the Wix platform privileges visual over textual literacy, whereas my site privileges a textual literacy over a visual. The one major negative I see with the Wix platform is the advertising, which is common is the freemium website builders. That said, the advertising is for Wix, not based on an algorithm that mines your browsing history, so it is a little less distracting distraction.
Julia’s navigation on this site is very simple and similar to how I chose to set up my site. She is simply using a blog, as opposed to creating pages or sorting the assignments into sections. This design privileges content, as opposed to authors or topics. By limiting the sorting options and minimizing the organization, it puts the content up front and centre. The downside is this design can be hard for others to locate specific information without browsing through the contents of the site. Using tags or topics could give the content navigation a boost, but risks privileging the tags or topics. I use tags to organize my site, particularly because it is being used for 2 courses. As my tags are related to the courses, that means I am privileging the course the content belongs to, as opposed to the content, tag, or topic.
Anyways–check out Julia’s site!
I have chosen to link to Helen’s mode bending assignment because it is an incredibly interesting reinterpretation of the What’s in the Bag? Assignment. Coming in at just 46 seconds, it is simple, short, and creative. The descriptions she gives of the items are poetic and with the use of sound effects, it allows you to use your imagination to picture the contents of the bag. Similar to my mode bending, Helen’s uses an audio mode primarily. We both list the contents, but the way we chose to interpret them are very different. Helen gives life to the items themselves with rich description and poetic tricks. For me, the contents were not as important as the collective story they told. While Helen focused on what the items were, I framed the items in terms of my own identity and what they said about me.
Helen uses the Wix platform for the website. The front page of the site has tiles for each of the blog post, which is very visually appealing and easy to navigate. The posts are sorted with most recent at the top, which similar to my website, prioritizes new content over topics or tags. No menus or other features are enabled, so the focus of the site is unmistakably the content. While I appreciate the conservative use of features, this can make complicate navigation. For example, the mode-bending article links back to all posts. However, to listen to the assignment, it takes you to another page that lacks an option to get back to the original article or main page. This end of the line page can detract users from exploring other content on the website, privileging the mode bending audio above all else. This is very different from my website, as I use menus, categories, and other widgets, so one can navigate to any other blog at any navigation point on the website. Further, one can scroll through all blog posts on one page in my site, while users only have a tile view on Helen’s. While both views prioritize content, the use of tiles prioritizes individual blog topics, while my blog is more of a running journal with the option of viewing individual posts on their own page.
Anyways, check out Helen’s mode bending assignment and the rest of her creativity on her page!
Indee’s Golden Record Curation
I chose to link to Indee’s Golden Record Curation, as her opinion of the pieces included in the Golden Record is very similar to mine. Like me, she observed that many of the pieces were eurocentric and lacked diversity. I find this interesting because I have read a few other classmates posts for this assignment and she is the first to comment on this. Ultimately, though, her selections were very different from mine. Coming from a classical music background, she made her selections based on their musical merit. My selections, on the other hand, were an attempt to balance the selections by removing some of the eurocentrism. I have to admit, I know very little about classical music. While I play several instruments and have good musical knowledge, classical has escaped me. Likely this is due to the types of instruments–the instruments I play are more oriented towards jazz and rock. And this likely impacted my dissent of the Golden Record collection, as I find it so strange how “Johnny be Good” is the best rock song they could muster up in 1970, or let alone, as a representation of North American contributions to music. In this way, I think both Indee and my selections were based on our musical training–hers as an inclusion, mine as an exclusion.
Like me, Indee is using UBC’s wordpress platform for her website. However, the template she is using is quite different and displays her blog as tiles on the front page. She does not have any menu or category menu widgets, so the focus on only on the blog. The blog is sorted with the most recent posts at the top, prioritizing newest posts over other items. The tile view gives attention to individual topics, which is different than my website as one can scroll through all of my blog posts on the page, or utilize one of the side menus to navigate to different posts or categories. While one must chose a post to go into at one time, I appreciate that one can navigate to other posts through a right and left navigation buttons. Of all the blogs I have reviewed in this course, this is the first time I have noticed such a feature and appreciate it because it would make the site mobile friendly. Links back to the main menu are available from all individual posts, making the navigation intuitive.
Anyways, check out Indee’s site and work!
I chose to link to Jennifer’s Twine task because the way she documents the assignment is a great resource for anyone who might want to try their hand at twine. Not only does she describe her rationale and the story she is trying to tell, but she also includes a print screen of the twine map and describes the different options available. When I see this, I think I could have detailed my assignment more, so that it could also be a resource to others (as I just posted the link to my actual twine task). Her twine task is interesting and simple. While I tried to make mine as visual as possible and created a bunch of custom images for it, she used colour and movement. Her use of movement and colour applies focus to the story. My use of image enabled me to tell an absurd and unlikely story. Further, we both used the same template, as it enables forward and back navigation buttons, which allows for easier navigation, and I think, makes it more likely for people to explore and try all of the options.
Jennifer also uses UBC’s wordpress platform. The template she uses is different. Instead of having a main page where users can scroll through all blog posts or select tiles to view blog post, she utilizes a top menu where users need to navigate through the different tasks in the course. This architecture prioritizes the assignment over content. Someone unfamiliar with the class would not know what task 1, 2, 3 etc.. would mean until they navigate through each page. Jennifer’s site has few other widgets enabled–one can view recent comments from a side menu and there is also a search bar on each page. This design really forces users to use the top menu. Another feature is the use of a stable image on each page, which makes the website visually appealing. However, it is a very large image, so it detracts from the content on the pages, as users need to scroll to view. Once the user scrolls past the image, they cannot no longer view the top menu, which could complicate navigation for some people. For these reasons, the design seems to prioritize the image over the content, while most other designs place a priority on the content.
Check out Jennifer’s Twine task as it is a blast!
Evelyne’s Predicted Text Tweet
Evelyne’s predicted text tweet is very similar to my predicted text post, as she experiments with different platforms to see the variance between predictive text algorithms. While I found a tool that allowed one to generate predictive text based on different texts (eg. John Keats vs Bob Marley), her experiment explored how different tools we use regularly generate different predictive text suggestions, for example, twitter is different than google. In her post too, she discusses how google is now creating search algorithms for other companies, like yahoo, suggesting that the future may limit our results even further. Her line of thinking is very similar to mine. Not only do I think it our choices are being limited, but choices are being limited by the biases of the designers (who are typically white males). Evelyne also mentions how most people are not aware of the differences between different algorithms or that they are limiting our results. Her line of thinking is similar to my post, as I think there needs to be a deeper understanding amongst the general population of how algorithms work and how our data is being used. As consumers, we need this understanding so that we can make informed choices about our data and the ways we engage online.
Evelyne’s utilizes the Wix platform for her website. Unlike the UBC wordpress platform, Wix allows Evelyne to create a more customized website. Her home page organizes her blog in tiles, which appear to be organized with the oldest posts at the top. However, it is unlikely that most visiters would notice that they are organized by date, as there are no dates, but rather I am inferring this based on the topics. The tiles include a representative picture and topic name. As the tiles only have the image and the topic, the organization privileges the topic, as opposed to the currency of information like my blog. In addition to the tiles, there is a top menu under a “More” button, which also links to the different pages on the website. The “More” button is a bit hard to find, so it really forces users to use the tiled display on the main page. Within each post, there are navigation arrows at the top, so one can navigate through the posts. As the navigation arrows are at the top, it forces users to scroll back to the top once they are done reading to either move on, or go back to the main page. Evelyne’s website is an intuitive and professional-looking journey of her ETEC 540 experience.
Brogan’s Speculative Future post is a choose your own adventure style story of what the future may look like in 30 years. Unlike my vision, the future he depicts is quite different, driven by increased integration of social media, techno-assistants, and social ranking. His vision is dystopian, while my vision is may even involve higher levels of optimism. What is interesting with his vision is that it focuses on the social, while I think it will have more to do with existing alongside robotics and learning to be comfortable with it. Another difference is I think the future will continue to be driven by marketing and consumerism. While Brogan’s narrative definitely had elements of this, the main driven seemed to be social ranking. Interestingly, one of the commonalities seems to be that we do not think the changes will be hugely significant, but rather developments of technologies and structures that already exist.
Brogan uses his own domain, so it is hard to tell which platform he uses. It is definitely more flexible than a wordpress platform, as the features and look/feel seems to be quite customized. Similar to my blog, Brogan’s blog presents posts with the newest content at the top. By doing so, new posts are privileged over older content. Selecting content based on topic is difficult when organizing content based on date, as one needs to scroll through blog posts to determine the topic. However, with the use of side menu’s one can draw attention to content in different ways. Brogan uses a side menu to display a blog archive list, so users can see older content easily by the title of the article. I use a similar feature to display recent posts in a side menu, as well as a menu by tag. Brogan also utilizes a top menu, which can be used to navigate to different areas of the website, such as his portfolio. His website is very user-friendly, with all of the conventions of what one expects in a blog, enhanced by his broader website project.