Writing this journal entry was a somewhat cathartic exercise, as I normally don’t write down my meditative thoughts when I am trying to self-reflect. Normally, I just let the thoughts bounce around in my head and try to acknowledge them individually before letting them go, so the practice of “pinning” it down on paper was oddly relaxing. I normally type rather than write by hand, for several reasons; I find it more deliberate to type, easier to edit, and somewhat obviously from the image above, easier to re-read! That being said, I do find it faster to write by hand; when I was doing my undergraduate degree, I wrote all of my lecture notes and class notes by hand, because it was easier to keep pace with the lecturer than to try and type at the same speed. I remember having a conversation with my literature professor several years ago about the speed at which I write, when I turned in my end of semester in-class final exam (3 hand written essays for which we had 2.5 hours to complete) in 35 minutes. I know I did well on the test, but he did comment on the “presentation” of my hand writing, which apparently has not gotten any better, looking back. As to editing and correcting mistakes, I tend to not do so with my hand-written work. If there is a misspelt word or an error in syntax, I tend to leave it as is, as I tend to write in a very stream-of-consciousness way. In this regard, my choice of medium absolutely plays a role in how I edit; when typing, I take the time to re-read, edit, and alter what I have written in order to ensure it is clear and concise, whereas when I write by hand all of that goes straight right out the window. I think both forms of written communication have their merits: speed aside, I think there is a level of genuine identity that comes across in hand-written works that can be overly sanitized in typed formats; mistakes, messy writing, and an overall different aesthetic feel have their place in the realm of written communication. Typing may be more efficient and cleaner, but it can strip away the “voice” one can find in hand-written works.

As for my attempt at using a self-generated “mechanized” (see- sponge with ink painted onto it) typing, there are several things that can be learned from my experience. Firstly, when using a stamping method, make sure you write everything backwards, otherwise you end up with ETIRW instead of WRITE. Secondly, use a sponge with a denser material, so the letters are legible instead of a blotchy mess. Lastly, use more ink, so the letters actually transfer onto the intended surface, instead of staring back at you at the end of your attempt with a slightly accusatory look on the sponge and not on the paper. With these lessons out of the way, I think I am ready to bring mass-produced print media to the world. Look out Johannes Gutenberg, I may be a few centuries behind you but boy am I coming for you quick now! In all seriousness though, the process was challenging, time-consuming, ill-suited for the task at hand, and in general just a pain. The onset of mechanized writing certainly has opened up the possibilities and accessibility to a much broader audience in regards to written communication and publication.

My transcribed ramblings can be found here, using Otter.ai

Based off of this unedited recording of what, for all intents and purposes sound like a crazy person yelling about aliens living in the walls, there are several inaccuracies and mistakes on the conventions of how I speak and what is written. It deviates from written English in that sentence structure is just straight up gone; it reads almost like “A Pickle for the Knowing Ones“, a famous (or infamous) piece of literature from the early 1800’s written by an “eccentric” rich man who utilized random capitalization, terribly misspelt words, and my favorite of all, almost no punctuation (a convention that was so bemoaned that he later released a second edition of the book, whose last pages he then filled with an assortment of punctuation for the reader to disperse as needed throughout the book themselves). The parallels between my transcribed recording and Timothy Dexter’s insane ramblings is too hilarious to not be a little bit scary. As to what is “wrong” with the transcription, there are a few things that leap out. Firstly, there is no pacing. I speak with a very deliberate cadence and speed, and that is just completely absent in this transcription. Secondly, there are several spelling mistakes: Dr. Boroditsky is suddenly Dr. Borden Ski and I feel kind of bad about that. That being said, there is the very real possibility that when listening to me speak, an audience may mishear me due to a lisp, me not enunciating properly, or simple miscommunication so I cannot fully fault the program for its spelling. The most common mistake in the transcript is the grammatical construction of what I had said; there should be more punctuation, and many more line breaks as I paused for several seconds throughout to get my thoughts in line before I continued rambling. For what the ai got “right”, however, is the fact that I did indeed say all of these things; there are inaccuracies and misinterpretations of what I said vs what was written down, but by and large it is a faithful transcription of the words that I spoke into my microphone. I do not think scripting what I was saying would have made any difference; the ai obviously struggles with pacing and punctuation, and taking even more deliberate pauses and breaks to hammer home when a period is needed vs a coma seems like it would work sporadically at best. To touch briefly on how oral storytelling differs from written storytelling, with the above experience as a framework, the most significant difference for me is the tone. Inflection, pausing for dramatic effect, all of the conventions of voice beyond simply the raw data that is passed by speaking is lost in written storytelling; there are written conventions that can approximate or generate similar effects (I said YOU go kill him vs I said you go kill HIM) such as emphasis, but there is a marked difference between telling a story and how you emphasize the important bits versus how you writer a story emphasizing the important bits. the same is true for this transcript; you cannot tell just from reading it the parts that I put more emphasis on, and what parts I just breezed through.

This was the bag that I carried with me for a month whilst backpacking through Scandinavia this past spring (2023). going clockwise from top center to bottom left the items are as follows: airPods Pros, External Battery Charger + Multi-Head Cable, Small Red Moleskine Notebook, Glucometer, 2 Ballpoint Pens, SoloStar Admelog Injector, Daily Planner Notebook (2023), Snap-On Multitool, Glasses Case w/ Prescription Sunglasses, Novel (Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things collection of short stories), and the backpack itself.

My daily need for the items in this backpack varies; on the extreme end of the spectrum, the SoloStar Injector and Glucometer are both daily requirements, without which life would get extremely interesting and possibly more difficult. On the opposite end of the spectrum of need are the notebooks, pens, novel, and headphones, all of which are certainly more of a luxury than a need. In the middle ground lies the external charger, the sunglasses, and the multitool, as each have their uses depending on the situation they find me in (is it sunny out? Do I need to fix something? Is one of my electronics low on battery?), but in the right circumstances they are extremely useful.

As to how these items may be interpreted as “texts”, I think they carry quite a bit of information about me; from the medical items one could “read” that I am a diabetic and as such my daily routine is probably slightly different then a non-diabetic individual. From the electronic and electronic-adjacent items such as the headphones and charger, one could read my affinity for tech, but also potentially my socio-economic status and a level of privilege that I am lucky to inhabit. One could also deduce some information about me regarding items not in the picture; due to the cable style and the brand of headphones, one could assume that my personal phone is an iPhone or that I use apple products in my personal life. From the notebooks and novel and pens one could infer a preference for reading and writing, and in more detail possibly a preference for analog writing instead of typing as there are pens and notepads but not computer or tablet (though I could also prefer to write on my phone, so maybe not). As for a cultural reading of these items, one could glean an insight into literary culture and music culture from the book and headphones, but beyond that I enjoy fiction these items are fairly open-ended. They are not visible properly in the photo, but there are several patches and pins on the backpack itself that pertain to different nerd cultures and heavy metal bands, so one could glean an insight into that and infer a potential for counter-culture, though current nerd culture and music trends are a little more difficult to encapsulate fully.

As to the “Text Technologies” of the items I carry around with me, they say that I have a proclivity for both digital and analog communication, and that I keep pace with a technological society but have some reservations (I carry wireless headphones and an external charger, but also a notebook and pen).

Lastly, for the interplay between the “Private” contents of the bag and the “Public” persona I occupy compared to the reading of these items holds relatively true to form for myself (I think). I am an outwardly nerdy and social person, and I tend to wear a lot of what I am feeling on my sleeve (hence the patches and pins), but if you have a conversation with me I hope to bring across my love for literature and learning, as well as music (in line with the novel, notebooks, and headphones), as well as my willingness to go outside and get my hands dirty if the need arises (hence the multitool and sunglasses). Most people that get to  know me know I am diabetic, as I am not shy about measuring my blood sugars or giving myself an injection in public, so the medical items are not surprise either.

My name is Cody Peters, and I am a UBC student in my final semester of the MET program. I currently reside in Burnaby, B.C., Canada, on the unceded native lands of the Musqueam, squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. I am an avid consumer of written and digital media, in that I love reading, playing in videogames, and I spend a fair bit of time in digital spaces and communities. I look forward to learning about the intersections of tech, text-technologies, and the shifting spaces of reading and writing in the digital age!