1. Speak an unscripted, 5 minute long story into a voice-to-text app. Unscripted means that your story should not already exist in a written format. Think of this as simply talking to a friend and telling them an anecdote. Except, in this case, your “friend” is the microphone of your device.

In order to “write” this text, I used Google Voice-to-Text which was built into my Android phone. I put a timer on for five minutes and began to speak until the timer was up. Luckily, this timer matched up nicely with the ending of my impromptu rambling, which focused on some unfiltered thoughts about a novel series from my childhood that I reconnected with yesterday. The program’s interpretation of my story is transcribed below. 

I’ve been thinking for a while about what I would like to talk about for this story but since I couldn’t think of anything in particular I decided to just talk about the books I read yesterday. My when I was a child I read this book series called another birth that I really really loved but unfortunately I was never actually able to find the fourth volume of the series and bookstories. Since my parents were never fans of actually ordering books online for me I just have to live the rest of my life never knowing what happened in that final volume. That made me really extremely upset because I really love that series. Thankfully now a week ago I thought of the series and realize that I had the first three volumes of my shelf and thus I decided that it was time that I finally got my closure and then you what happened in the fourth book. So I order the book online and on Thursday it arrived at my house. Yesterday evening I decided to sit down and binge through the entire series and it was such a lovely experience. The books are definitely meant for children. They are not the most engaging to me now as an adult reader. However I think that there are a lot of things that are still so wonderfully captivating about the series and I really appreciate being able to get the closure that I really wanted as a child. One thing that truly struck me was the care was this one character. Her name is Mistral and she is a lovely creature a lovely person but what really struck me about her character is just what she represents. In media you don’t often see pregnant women being used as a main character unless if the woman is going to be representing some form of grief I find especially when it comes to things such as sci-fi pregnant women are so often associated with this fear and loss of the baby as a source of drama and as a source of tragedy. But Mistral on the other hand is a character who deals with their pregnancy in a really interesting way she is very honest about the fact that she is pregnant and that she is scared to take the same risks as her peers. Although she initially thinks that what they’re doing is nothing but a game to when she actually realizes the stakes of the situation she bows out. However eventually she ends up joining everyone else and fighting on the battlefield and she ends up being one of the main Warriors who takes a stand and there’s something so refreshing about seeing a pregnant woman depicted as a source of strength and as a role model and a mentor in a story while still being given this trust and the opportunity to act as a warrior in a way. I don’t know I just really appreciate how much agency they give her in the story and yet at the same time they are very practical in stating that she needs to take care of herself and if something happens she needs to escape for very reasonable you know causes in order to protect her child. It’s just not something that I feel like I seen very often in sci-fi media so it’s been on my mind for the last 24 hours as I’ve been sitting on these four books that I tore through yeah I think I like her a lot more than I did when I was a child.

2. Using the written task as it is (DO NOT EDIT YOUR TEXT!), identify and analyze what you got, using the following questions as a guide:

• How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?
• What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?
• What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them “mistakes”?
• What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?
• In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling? 

This text deviates from the usual conventions of written English in numerous ways, all of which may be seen as ‘mistakes’ if it were to be scrutinized as a formal piece of writing created through writing rather than as an impromptu oral text. First off, there is no punctuation other than periods, leading to a written excerpt which feels flatter and more meandering than it would have been had it had other written indicators for tone, movement, and expression. This is caused by the fact that in order for punctuation to appear, one must actually state the desired punctuation into the microphone. With periods at the end of each sentence, I found it to be a simple task to simply state “period” once my thought was complete. However, the natural breaks in my diction, my rising and falling intonation, and my smaller utterances and pauses, were not predictable. Therefore, I did not know when I needed to add in other punctuation points such as commas, exclamation marks, and semicolons to aid the future readers of the written copy.  

There are numerous grammar mistakes from when the program was unable to pick up the word which I had spoken. This left certain parts of the story feeling disjointed; occasionally, the program picked up the entirely wrong word, which only adds to that confusion. As this was unscripted, there were definitely interjections and rambling phrases (such as “I don’t know”) randomly appearing as I spoke into the microphone. Some of my habits in speech, such as the repetition of adjectives and adverbs for emphasis, are not normally considered ideal in written text, and thus I would normally edit my writing to be more varied and engaging unlike the form presented here.  No formatting, such as paragraphs, is present to ease the reader through the written text. All of these errors gives this excerpt the feel of an aimless, unedited, and perhaps ‘unprofessional’ text when compared to traditional writing conventions. 

Scripting this story would have made all the difference in regards to its ability to adhere to the conventions of written English. I find that I am far more eloquent in written text than I am in spoken language due to a variety of reasons. For one, I am an avid reader and writer, and oftentimes can read and write at a speed which my spoken words could never match; two, as I grew up with a speech impediment when I was younger, my written language developed into sophistication far earlier than my oral language, for which I had to focus on mastering pronunciation with a severe stutter rather than mastering complexity of spontaneous oral language. Had I scripted this story, it would have been much more organized in terms of the structure of the content. The language utilised would be more diverse and thoughtful. There would be a greater emphasis on tonal indicators through punctuation, and repetition and interjections would be eliminated unless used stylistically. Overall, the story would have been written, formatted, and edited to ensure that a reader would be able to implement my own narrative inflections, emotions, and reflections into their internal read of the story as closely as possible. 

In this way, oral and written storytelling are extremely different. The pitch, speed, volume, and tone of one’s voice carries a large portion of the weight in regards to oral storytelling; rather than just the words themselves, it is this mode of delivery which truly creates an impact on the audience. Even if the language is not “perfect” as defined by prescriptive grammar rules, these additional sonic elements in the performance of an oral text allow for the audience to immerse themselves into the narrative. As explored in the readings for this week, language originated in oral tradition, and spoken word is the natural, authentic way of communication which has existed for as long as the human species. Writing, however, is far newer. In writing, one needs to find other ways to replicate these inflections in order to convey the message of the author correctly. Punctuation creates rhythm, emphasis, and flow; paragraphs create organization and structure; spelling and grammar create a schematic for language which anyone fluent in the language can follow; and stylized formatting can highlight portions of text to draw attention. By utilising these conventions in written text, written storytelling is able to recreate that oral speech internally to convey the emotion, information, and intention of a message.

References

Gnanadesikan, A.E. (2011). The first IT revolution. In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet (pp. 1-12). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444304671.ch1

Schmandt-Besserat, D., & Erard, M. (2007). Origins and forms of writing. In C. Bazerman (Ed.), Handbook of research on writing: History, society, school, individual, text (pp. 7-26). Routledge. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.4324/9781410616470

Haas, C. (2013). The technology question. In Writing technology: Studies on the materiality of literacy (pp. 3-23). Routledge. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.4324/9780203811238

Ong, W.J. (2002). Chapter 1: The orality of language. In Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word (pp. 5-16). Routledge. (Original work published 1982). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203426258

Prompt: Introduce yourself to the instructor and your peers in ETEC 540 by taking a picture of an array of items from a bag you commonly carry. This task is meant to get you thinking about why you choose to transport such items with you.  

 

What’s In My Bag?

My name is Anne, and I’m a secondary school teacher in Richmond, BC. The bag which I’ve chosen to analyse is the little backpack purse which I take with me everywhere besides when I go to work; it is rather light currently due to the fact that the school year has just begun, so I have moved many things to my work bag. Despite this, throughout the year, this small bag is reliably always the one I take with me whenever I need to go anywhere, regardless of the occasion. It sits on the small armchair in front of the door to my cosy little apartment, always ready for me to throw my keys in and head out on an adventure. I’ve had it for two years now, and it has been quite reliable.

Within this bag, I always pack the same items: whatever novel I am reading at the moment, a reusable shopping bag, my wallet, lip gloss, perfume, a granola bar, a foldable umbrella, a reusable mask, a sunscreen stick, and some tools for homework grading like my favourite style of pen and highlighter. There are no digital texts within my bag, although nearly everything within my bag has some sort of text which has been digitally produced and printed. However, I will note that I did not include my cellphone and my headphones, which I always keep on me; as they are usually within my pockets and not items which I think of packing in my bag, they were excluded, although they are indispensable to any trip I take.

Text Technologies

In examining these items, it is fairly clear that the only true traditional “text” is the novel. Currently, it is a science fiction supernatural horror series that I’ve been making my way through, although my progress has been fairly slow due to having all my mental “reading space” be taken up by consistent coursework for the past year. The book itself is printed, with illustrations by my favourite artist sprinkled across a whole page every few chapters. Each of these illustrations is a joy to explore and analyse in relation to the fantastic prose. On a surface level, however, it is hard to detect the nature of my choice of books as I always wrap them in a protective canvas case covered in mathematical formulas. I suppose that this, too, is a type of text, as these designs need to be printed out by digital technologies onto the canvas. The fact that I chose this cover amongst all of the others available across Amazon (from which I ordered the cover originally) does indicate a level of mathematical literacy. The cover always makes my students groan when they witness it as they do not understand my love for math despite being a humanities teacher.

The reusable floral-patterned shopping bag has no text within it other than a printed materials tag, indicating its 100% polyester composition and a set of wash instructions told through symbols. These instructions, as minute as they are, require an understanding of the universal symbols utilised in similar clothing tags. The word “polyester”, however, appears in English, French, Italian, and Spanish, indicating the global market to which this product must have been marketed. 

My wallet is filled with cards covered in texts in multiple forms; beyond the surface of the cards themselves relaying information about banks, libraries, store reward programs, and identification, the chips in my bank cards are meant to link to digital banking systems, and the account numbers and barcodes on almost every card connect my identity to my accounts across various services. A few Canadian bills of various denominations are always tucked into the back just in case I need cash, shining in English and French embedded as part of the currency’s counterfeit prevention features. 

The mask and the umbrella only have labels representing their makers and brands. The mask’s tiny label tucked into the left hem reads, “Norwex Baclock: Improving Quality of Life”, while the strap upon the umbrella says “Lewis N. Clark”. No other information on materials, make, or care are provided upon these products.

The lip gloss, sunscreen, and granola bar all mainly contain labels and ingredient lists, although only one product here should actually be consumed. The granola bar and lipgloss both contain English and French labels as these products are meant to be distributed in Canada. The sunscreen, however, only has English written upon the printed label. This style of sunscreen is originally from South Korea, although I’m not sure if this particular product is a knock-off or not; still, the lack of French makes sense when noting that this was an internationally-shipped product ordered online. Strangely, there is a QR code upon the sunscreen stick’s label as well. Before this assignment, I never actually tested what this digital text, which is so indicative of our modern age where all information can be easily compressed into QR codes to scan for ease of access, was meant to provide to the users. I previously believed I would be led to a product page on their website. Instead, the QR code on the label only opened up a text note upon my phone with the product number with no further comments. Why this QR code is included is a mystery.

I always mark student work using the same brand of pen: a purple Pilot V5 Hi-Tecpoint rollerball ink pen. It reads as such upon the pen itself, containing no other text but a numberless barcode which can be scanned for individual sale. The highlighter brands vary for me, however; I run out of them fairly quickly. I am not entirely sure what brand this is, as the pen itself has no printing upon it. Why I carry these two items with me when this bag is neither big enough to hold any A4 paper nor my laptop, I am not sure. It is more just a habit to always have these items with me than any actual need for them in the circumstances during which I use this bag.

The only item completely free of any kind of writing is my travel-sized perfume bottle. It is simply metallic purple with a tiny window to show how much product is remaining. Even when I bought this bottle, I remember the pack in which it arrived containing no instructions whatsoever, leaving it up to the consumer to figure out how to fill them up. 

Reflection

The contents of this bag paint the image of someone who is generally on-the-go and always prepared. Hungry? Here’s a snack. Need a touch-up? Light makeup and toiletries are all you need. Bored? Here’s a novel. Need groceries on the way home? Here’s a shopping bag. Is it starting to rain in the always-drizzling Lower Mainland? Enjoy the umbrella. Had I done this activity in two months time, there would have also been a pair of warm gloves within the bag accompanying the umbrella.

I do believe this to be a fairly accurate depiction of who I am normally; if I had done this activity with my larger work bag, there would be even more items which support this, such as lozenges for coughs, painkillers, a notebook, and more, alongside all the things within this small backpack. This penchant for preparation has not changed for over a decade, stemming from much travelling and touring for orchestras and aviation when I was a teenager; thus, I am always ready to pick up my gear and head on the road with an enjoyable book to keep me company. 

The globality of the contents of my bag would likely be a key point to any archeologist who stumbles upon this bag. The umbrella is American; the snack is Canadian; the pen and novel are originally from Japanese companies, although both products were printed and made in the USA; the sunscreen is based on a Korean make; and the mask is from a Norwegian brand. These indicate that I have access to the global marketplace, showcasing the interconnectedness of the economy and production of daily items. There are various languages on the products, which indicate multilingualism on my part, as there is no way to clarify that I only speak two out of the four languages found in the contents of my bag. Had this been my work bag, that would have been much easier to specify as I always have English and French texts with me.

It is strange to witness just how little text is present on items aside from my novel. The need for basic literacy is present in examining almost every single item, as text exists in written, visual, or symbolic form; every item within my bag has, at some point, interacted with text-based devices, requiring textual input in order to complete production. Despite that, the only item whose meaning relies upon its textual contents is the novel itself. I suppose this fact is so startling to me as literacy is (for good reason) such a vital part of education, and yet, it is so apart from our physical daily lives beyond small textual exchanges if not intentionally included in our daily routine in the form of reading material. In contrast, digital text upon phones and computers is far more prevalent in our modern age. The constant interaction between the physical and digital world requires the swift navigation of the borderlines of all forms of textual literacies in order to make meaning in combined textual contexts, rather than in the individual labels and symbols which mark any given item. In isolation, my bag is scattered, random. In combination, however, a story emerges from within- life is simple and peaceful, and despite being busy and on-the-go, I can take on whatever comes my way.