Task 7 asks us to change the semiotic mode of Task 1. Task 1 was a picture representation of a common bag that we carry along with its contents, that are meant to be representative in some way of who we are. I have changed the semiotic mode to an aural one, and provided a description of my bag and its contents by recording the sounds they make when in use. Please have a listen:

Are you able to guess at all what the bag is, what any of the contents are, or what its purpose is? Does this recording give you any sense of who I am or anything about me? Listening to it myself, knowing what everything is, I think largely I would be unable to identify most of the objects, but there are a few that have very specific sounds that should give away the bag itself and its purpose if you recognize them.

The audio serves to help create an entirely different mental picture of the bag and its contents. I think on its own, it is not as useful at identifying the items than the picture was, but certain sounds seem to generate a more visceral emotional response when you hear and recognize them than a spoken description or image can. There are some other advantages to the audio versus the picture – compared to an image, if one were to only have the audio of the bag and its contents, you might be able to get a better sense of the materials that the items are made from. The fasteners also make distinctive noises that may not be clear on an image. I think the most powerful semiotic mode is a combination of modes embracing the multiliteracies (The New London Group, 1996) that we all posses – if I had combined the audio and the image along with a verbal description, you would get a much better sense of the contents. Even listening, then looking at the photo, and then listening again, you can likely identify most of the sounds, even if you didn’t get them at first. I think the most powerful aspect of modern text technologies is the ability to combine them with other semiotic modes and literacies – visual, audio, tactile, etc.

Here is a link to the original task if you would like to know what you listened to: Task 1: What’s in your bag?

How does your narrative about me and my bag change now that you know what it is?

Here is the title and brief synopsis of the plot of the last movie, TV show, or book I watched/read, in emoji form:

edit: I lost my emojis when I published this post, apparently WordPress doesn’t like them, so I had to redo it and post it as a picture:

I found this oddly challenging! I relied more on trying to find emoji representations of words, but that often didn’t seem possible, so in some cases tried to capture an idea more than a singular word. It does seem like emojis are much better able to portray concepts or ideas rather than singular words, with some exceptions. I did start with the title, because that seemed like the place to start. I think this is because that is how I am used to things working. I always know the title of something before I begin reading or watching it – it is how most media is structured, and so becomes the default starting point for me. There wasn’t a thought process about it, as it is so ingrained in me.

I didn’t choose the work based on how easy it would be, and actually found it rather difficult! Perhaps I would have been better off choosing something more straightforward with an easier to convey plot.

I’m not completely comfortable with emojis. I do use them in normal day-to-day texting, but to a rather small degree – generally just to convey straightforward emotion. I resisted using emojis for a very long time, due to a feeling like they were a lesser form of communication. This bias eventually gave way to practicality and convenience – emojis are much faster to use, and can provide emotional and contextual content to a message very easily. For example, they can convey when something is meant to be humorous, which is not always easy to capture in a short text message – sarcasm especially does not translate well to short texts. I now have no issue using emojis in casual conversation, and find them quite helpful and useful, but do not have the same fluency that I see in some people who can utilize them for more than just emotion and tone representation. I think this made this task a bit more difficult – if I was a regular user of more than just the variations of the smiley-face, I think I could have better represented the plot of the media that I chose. I think this is a really clear representation that this is a new form of language in many ways – it requires new skills to become adept and fluent at both understanding and using it.

Here is my first attempt at a Twine game, which I have titled “Pandemic Haircut!”:

PANDEMIC HAIRCUT!

Creating this game and using Twine was actually quite easy and fairly fun to do. The layout and functionality mimics both basic html programming, which I have some basic knowledge in, as well as the general structure of word processors and layout processors. The layout of a Twine game is essentially a concept map or flowchart, and anyone with basic experience with that should understand it. Some quick Googling gave answers to allow some slightly more involved Twine mechanics like revealing text on the same page when clicking on other text. The linking system between pages of the game is also essentially the same as what many blogs use (including WordPress that this blog uses).

I found that the ability to branch and link the story naturally leads to a kind of ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ type of game, although one could easily make a more linear and traditional ‘turn-the-page’ type of story. The ability to link back to previous pages, and link several outcomes to the same page leads one to make certain types of decisions and structure the story in a certain way – I found it leading me towards a certain type of humor. It makes me wonder what the structure of a traditional book, or older non-computerized games, does to the type of stories being written and told? How much of our writing and it’s inherent structure is dependent on the medium and the assumptions it causes?

For Task 4, I wrote a diary entry:

I almost exclusively type when I write, and almost never write by hand. I think this may be obvious from the neatness and legibility (or lack thereof) in my writing. I did find this task somewhat difficult, as I haven’t written this much by hand in a very long time. I found that it took longer, as I can type much faster. My hand also started to hurt a bit by the end! I actually used to have very beautiful cursive, as I was required in elementary school to write everything in cursive, and was required to practice regularly. Once I got to high school, however, it was no longer required, and I decided to switch to printing for some reason. By university, typing was standard, and my skill at writing by hand deteriorated steadily from then on.

When I made a mistake, I either crossed or scribbled it out, or tried to go back and write over it and squeeze in missing letters, for example. I essentially did not edit my work, and had to think a bit more about it before putting it to the page, but it does also limit the editing that I could do. If I wanted to do more than extremely minor word changes, I would need to rewrite the entire document. Writing by hand decreased the amount of editing that I normally do substantially.

The two most significant differences that I found between typing and writing by hand are speed and ease of editing. I could have typed this same thing in half the time, and I also would have been able to edit it and improve the grammar, structure, and overall flow. I certainly prefer typing, as I feel that it produces a better end product faster. The fact that I am much better at it than writing by hand plays a big part in that, as it is much easier to read what I type than what I write by hand due to my poor handwriting skills!