The following are my posts comparing my colleague’s text technologies posts with my own.
Both Alison and I used our manual script assignment as a way to display our written texts. Alison’s post on “Handwritten Story” is an excellent example of a possible journal entry. When compared to my own entry “Welcome to my diary,” we both discuss some personal items that really reflect the time we are in.
Allison describes the COVID crisis as life-changing, she also reflects on her most interesting part of her days being the walks to mailboxes. I also found the comparison remarkably similar that we both mention birthdays. Alison’s fiance’s birthday was coming up, and I reference my own as well. We both mention working from home, our friends/family, and the quarantine in different ways. But the similarities between our two posts were wild.
Our experience was similar in both our journal entries and our descriptions of the experience. We both state we use manual writing for internal thoughts, and the difficulty in knowing our word-count at the end. Both of us tool pictures of our entries. The tools are similar and the experience is similar. We even both wrote in cursive, which is uncommon for both of us.
In terms of literacy, the manual writing challenge shows that both Alison and I know how to write in cursive (something students nowadays are rarely taught) and how, at times, we prefer to write manually for our own reasons. I like to think both of our pages were legible. However, Alison’s image required some zoom-ins before I could read it.
In conclusion, Allison’s journal could have well been my own. I would be very interested in a collection of journal entries from multiple sources during the COVID quarantine, to see how many other’s experiences I can relate to.
The Pseudonym and Controversy of JK Rowling – (Interactive Component)
Instructions – To view the Interactive component open the Zipped File and view “Story.html”
If Lera Brododitsky is correct and language shapes the way we think, how does writing in a male pseudonym change the way author JK Rowling thinks? There is a long history of female writers who have used a male nom de plum to have their writing published and read. In the 19th-20th century Milan male pseudonyms were used because “patriarchal censorship applied to supposed female values and qualities”[1] However, Joanne Rowling published the Harry Potter series in the 1990s-2000s and it turned into a billion-dollar industry. Why did she choose a male/gender-ambiguous pseudonym when she was not facing censorship and could have her books published as a woman? In this post, we will further explore the use of the masculine and gender-ambiguous pseudonyms used by JK Rowling and explore how it affects her works.
Joanne Rowling identifies herself on her Twitter page as J.K Rowling[2]. On Twitter, the social media site, she is free to write and retweet what she wants. It is categorized as the third type of computer-mediated communication as defined by Baron.[3] The content on her Twitter site, as viewed in 2020 is a mixture of retweets of children’s pictures for her The Ickabog book, as well as the source of the anti-trans controversy. Let’s briefly review the history of this controversy, the BBC[4] reports it began on June 6, 2020, the date J.K responds to an article from devex[5] saying “I’m sure there used to be a word for [people who menstruate]. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”[6] Due to the surge of negative responses, it surged many other tweets shortly after, see image below for details.
Many celebrities and well-known figureheads spoke out against JK’s tweets on Twitter; including many of the actors who portrayed her characters in Harry Potter. However, for many trans people, especially the fans of her and her books, this was an incredible hit. I want to look further into the other works of “Joanne Rowling” to see if there are any hints of her understanding between sex and gender, as well as her use of masculine or gender-neutral pseudonym identities.
Firstly, Twitter is not the only source of JK’s writing online. On her blog: jkrowling.com, Rowling wrote a nearly 4000-word essay on “sex and gender issues.”[7] In this essay, JK states the controversy began in her “support of Maya Forstater” in December 2019, who lost her job due to transphobic tweets. From this essay, she states “speaking as a biological woman, a lot of people in positions of power really need to grow a pair.” Although, in context, she states this tongue in cheek. She finishes the sentence dismissing any biological way for our species to do this. However, many know that it is possible to surgically do this. Furthermore, she is stating she wishes people (including ciswomen) were more masculine. This is interesting to say when she has many tweets defending her position that transwomen and transmen are not legitimate.
JK explains that there are four reasons she decided to speak up against trans activism. I want to go through each item and provide a counterargument. Firstly, Rowling uses her charitable trust supporting female prisoners and for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse to support spaces “where transwomen should not be allowed”. Using this reason, one can conclude that Rowling believes that transwomen are perpetrators of domestic and sexual abuse rather than the victims of it. Although, the data and rates for transgender violence against trans people are “scarce and unreliable.”[8] One study states this is because of treatment by police, “whose transphobia is pervasive and well-documented.”[9] Furthermore, because of their status as transgender, domestic abuse scenarios are more likely to be “characterized…as mutual combat,” because the victims do not “fit into that model.”[10] So JK is placing herself in the role of someone who distrusts transpeople in favor of protecting ciswomen and children. However, transwomen are as much at risk, if not more so of sexual and domestic abuse. Transwomen are often denied access to shelters, who claim (like JK) that “transsexual women can never be women because they were socialized as boys/men, and consequently, have experienced, learned, and exercised male privilege . . . [which] is intrusive and why ‘women’s-only spaces’ were created to begin with.”[11]
Rowling’s second reason is that she is concerned for the children. I argue that there is very little cause for concern. Opening a world where children can express themselves as they like and be happy with who they are is hopeful and invigorating. Rowling’s third argument references freedom of speech. Rowling references Trump during her “freedom of speech argument,” who oddly enough also tweets messages that hurt people. Words can hurt impressionable people, Rowling should do more research, especially before posting hateful tweets to 14.3 million Twitter followers, some of them, young impressionable children.
Finally, Rowling reasons that she is concerned for those who have detransitioned. Rowling tweets stories of people who have detransitioned, however, Stonewall.org also references a story of someone who detransitioned because of the transphobia they faced.[12] Therefore, of all the trans issues and concerns, she is concerned for the less than 1% (0.3%) who have reported to have detransitioned.[13]
While we discuss her blog, her identity and naming preferences are used within her “About” section. Rowling defines herself as Joanne Rowling only when defining when she was born[14]. Throughout the entire “About” page, she calls herself Jo or JK, never Joanne. It is interesting that someone who is so interested, and openly misunderstanding trans issues, has what could be compared as her own “birth/dead name,” and be repeatedly interested in identifying herself as more masculine, or at least gender-ambiguous, using her name.
Secondly, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter book series is a very different medium than her blog or twitter page. There have been many before me who have criticized Rowling for her display of females and femininity within the series. Her lead character is male and is often used as her viewpoint throughout the series. For example the consistent shaming of Hermione in her relationship with Viktor Krum. At first, it is done by Ron, then his mother within Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Then at the mere mention of a kiss between Krum and Hermione in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ron stops talking to Hermione for weeks and actively avoids her, even though the relationship had ended years prior. Furthermore, Ginny who begins dating boys is also shamed by Ron “D’you think I want people saying my sister’s a — “.[15] In fact, one of the cruelest characters throughout the series is Dolores Umbridge the epitome of femininity, described many times “wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head.” [16] Throughout the novels feminine characters are only redeemed when they display characteristics such as bravery, athleticism, or morality. It seems the feminine characters need “redemption” and are judged in a very different way than the males are. However, JK Rowling does understand the difference between sex and gender during a polyjuice scene. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, many female (and male) characters turn into Harry as a ploy to confuse some death eaters. During this scene, although they all have male genitalitia and a male body both Hermione and Fleur still use the pronouns “she.”
Lastly, the name Robert Galbraith was used as a pseudonym for the Strike novel series. The pseudonym was created because JK Rowling wanted the works to be judged on their own merit.[17] Furthermore, on NPR, Rowling states that Robert Galbraith is a “very real person to [her].”[18] Rowling imagines a craggy ex-military man working in private security. Rowling also enjoyed being under the pseudonym and wished she had longer being “Robert” stating “[she] was never going to out myself.”[19] Rowling switches genres and uses her pseudonym to make her books more adult and appealing to a new adult audience. “It’s easy to understand how [Rowling] would find it liberating (even necessary) to assume a new identity [when switching genres].”[20] Other authors, Ruth Rendell and John Banville have done this in the past when switching genres, however, their pseudonyms remained the same gender. Rowling could have any name to remain anonymous, however, she chose to have an unarguably masculine name, furthermore, she created an incredibly masculine backstory for her pseudonym, partially to provide an excuse to not appear in photos. However, like with the Harry Potter series, she chose a male name to appeal to male audiences. Why does Rowling assume that male readers will only read her works if she is using a male pseudonym? Rowling states she “enjoys having another persona” and will continue writing as Robert.[21] Rowling again plays with pseudonyms to provide her with the freedom and flexibility of gender and opening audiences for her.
The content in the Robert Galbraith novels are sexist and repeatedly objectify the female characters. For example, when describing in Cuckoo’s Calling a “whodunnit” novel, when describing a possible suspect, Ciara Porter, a friend of the deceased, multiple times her nipples are unnecessarily described. “Her pale pointed nipples were clearly visible” and “unhampered view of small white breasts and pointed shell-pink nipples.”[22] Now this is a supermodel, a sex-object so even if the narrator/lead character could not help describing her breasts in such detail, this cannot be used as an excuse for the ways the lead character interacts with a maid leering at her backside multiple times throughout the novel as well. In addition to the many times, he thinks unsavory thoughts and gawks at his female assistant throughout the novel. The lead character is not portrayed as an anti-hero, throughout the novel he is portrayed as a war hero, “respectful employer,” and a great private detective. My question remains, does the male pseudonym give JK Rowling more freedom to sexualize and objectify women throughout her thriller novel?
In conclusion, although JK Rowling has communicated anti-trans messages widely, she herself consistently portrays herself as masculine or gender-ambiguous when writing her books. Her pseudonym Robert Galbraith and her use of her initials JK Rowling opened her audience and allowed her to write books without the male gaze, and without having to be a “Female author” in the same way others have been critiqued. Rowling gives herself the freedom to identify professionally with any gender, and although does not classify as trans. The hypocrisy of her discrediting trans people for their identities is dangerous and counterproductive. I will end with a quote from Emma Watson, the actress who portrayed Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film adaptations. “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”
[1] Matkovic, R., & Habrle, T. (2015). Female Authors under the Mask of a Male Pseudonym-Some Approaches to Revealing Authors’ Gender. European Journal of Language and Literature, 1(3), 69-76.
[2] Rowling, J.K (n.d.). J.K Rowling. Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/jk_rowling
[3] Olson, D. R. (2008). The cambridge handbook of literacy Cambridge University Press.
[4] Anonymous. (2020, 11 June). JK Rowling responds to trans tweets criticism. UK: BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53002557
[5] Sommer, M., Kamowa, V., & Mahon, T. (2020, May 28). Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate. devex. Retrieved from devex: https://www.devex.com/news/sponsored/opinion-creating-a-more-equal-post-covid-19-world-for-people-who-menstruate-97312#.XtwLnv0aEeR.twitter
[6] Rowling, J.K (n.d.). J.K Rowling. Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1269382518362509313
[7] Rowling, J. (2020, June 10). J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues. Retrieved from JK Rowling: https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/
[8] Greenberg, K. (2012). Still hidden in the closet: Trans women and domestic violence. Berkeley J. Gender L. & Just., 27, 198.
[9] Greenberg, K. (2012). Still hidden in the closet: Trans women and domestic violence. Berkeley J. Gender L. & Just., 27, 198.
[10] Greenberg, K. (2012). Still hidden in the closet: Trans women and domestic violence. Berkeley J. Gender L. & Just., 27, 198.
[11] Greenberg, K. (2012). Still hidden in the closet: Trans women and domestic violence. Berkeley J. Gender L. & Just., 27, 198.
[12] Medcalf, K. (2019, October 7). Dispelling myths around detransition. Retrieved from Stonewall: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/dispelling-myths-around-detransition
[13] Danker, Sara; Narayan, Sasha K.; Bluebond-Langner, Rachel; Schechter, Loren S.; Berli, Jens U. (August 2018). “A Survey Study of Surgeons’ Experience with Regret and/or Reversal of Gender-Confirmation Surgeries”. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – Global Open. 6: 189. doi:10.1097/01.GOX.0000547077.23299.00. ISSN 2169-7574.
[14] Rowling, J.K (2016). About. Retrieved from JK Rowling: https://www.jkrowling.com/about/
[15] Rowling, J. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury.
[16] Rowling, J. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury
[17] Rowling, J. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury
[18] Galbraith, R. (2020). About. Retrieved from Robert Galbraith: https://robert-galbraith.com/about/
[19] Rowling, J. (2015, 11 02). J.K. Rowling On Her Nom De Plume Robert Galbraith. (D. Greene, Interviewer)
[20] Rowling, J. (2015, 11 02). J.K. Rowling On Her Nom De Plume Robert Galbraith. (D. Greene, Interviewer)
[21] Nolan, T. (2014). Book review: ‘the silkworm’ by robert galbraith; J.K. rowling’s pseudonym was leaked by a gossip to the media. is it coincidence that her new mystery satirizes london’s literary set?. New York, N.Y: Dow Jones & Company Inc.
[22] Galbraith, R. (2018). About. Retrieved from Robert Galbraith: https://robert-galbraith.com/about/
[23] Rowling, J. (2013). Cuckoo’s Calling. United Kingdom: Sphere Books.
Speech to Text gives us an excellent opportunity to laugh a bit at technology. In this post, I want to compare my experience to Tamara’s. Both Tamara and I talked about stories that meant a lot to us. I talked about my vacation to Ecuador with my best friend, and Tamara talked about her relationship with her dog. Tamara used Speechnotes to record her transcript, whereas I used Camtasia. Camtasia generates the text from a pre-recorded audio file, so perhaps that explains why my transcript was terrible.
From reading Tamara’s transcript, I definitely can get the “gist of [her] story.” It is the story of how she got her dog, Doug, and how meaningful he is in her and her family’s life. I think it is a very sweet story, and I would love to have heard the audio from this story as well. Her dog is clearly a meaningful being in her life, and has provided some support as she has gone through the MET program, lying and her feet. I also wanted to thank Tamara for sharing her beautiful Doug picture with us because that visual provided me with a further connection to her aural story.
In comparison, my transcript… is a mess. I ensured I included the audio file for this very reason. To ensure that if no one could understand my transcript, you could atleast hear me tell my story of the time I went to Ecuador. The transcript I shared made little to no sense, even to myself. Aural stories can be incredibly meaningful, which is why both Tamara and I chose stories that meant a lot to us. However, in this case, the technology I used failed me tremendously. Tamara’s, although imperfect, was atleast understandable. Mine, on the other-hand, was 1428 words of pure nonsense. However, it included some great quotes such as: “that’s a young north of the equator,” “the older bearded climb over the landslide,” and “2020 hourse of troubled.”
In conclusion, this task really proved how much the tool you use affects the result, technology matters. However, for aural stories to really keep their meaning and their importance, I think they need to remain in an aural form, instead of using text to speech. If I had listened to Tamara’s story audibly, I think I would have gotten more out of it, specifically the meaning and the emotion of the story. However, when it is delivered as a speech to text file, the lack of formatting means I need to spend more time investigating the meaning, as opposed to listening and understanding.
Today I will be comparing the following two entries: Brian Lam’s “Fate” Exercise, with my own “Workplace Ethics and Compliance” exercise.
We both used Twine for the assignment, however, Brian did an excellent job of embedding his twine task onto a Wix page, so that I did not need to download the zipped file. This makes the activity more accessible. Brian’s exercise was a narrative story, similar to a “choose your own adventure,” in which I can end up married and “liv[ing] happily ever after” or in the hospital “with amnesia.” This narrative style reminds me of a freestyle video game or dungeons and dragons, in which you decide what choices you make, but not the consequences.
In comparison, I focused my twine assignment to be more focused on compliance training. I created scenarios for teaching purposes, to teach potential employees (learners) different policies and procedures. I imagined a scenario where you need to train a new employee. Using my twine assignment, I mimicked a corporate gamified scenario.
Twine gives us a lot of freedom to create a world of our own. Giving us an endless amount of choices and narratives. We see the limitations of twine in the design. It is a very simple design, and in my experience, it was incredibly difficult to add images or sounds to enhance the activity. Therefore, many of the twine outputs, including Brian’s and my own look very similar. However, it is in the content where we are able to be creative and make it our own.
In conclusion, I enjoyed seeing how Brian’s assignment compared to my own. An aspect of the assignment was to use the Twine tool, so the tool itself was the same. But seeing how Brian incorporated that into a Wix site so he could control the output was interesting. In addition, his use of a narrative story vs. a corporate compliance training gave it a very different feeling. Brian’s activity was enjoyable to go through because you were the lead character and walked through the story itself, making decisions and feeling like you needed to uncover a mystery, discovering your own “Fate.”
Speculating our futures are always difficult, but someone I noticed do an excellent job with it was Alanna. Her creative use of storytelling through an audio file is incredibly enlightening. The sigh before “Time for today’s English Lesson” tells everything. I think we have all encountered eLearning that sounds disengaging and robotic. Her speaking with the computer throughout the lesson is an excellent example of frustration with AI. It reminds me of support calls to large organizations where it takes 20 minutes to speak to a real human and the frustration during the wait. When I compare this to her second speculative podcast, the sigh before “What did I ever do before a personal chef” is incredibly telling of what we all want when we get home. Someone to do the housework for us, after we have done a hard day’s work.
My own post used poetry and stock images to get my point across. I focused on innovations in the environment, healthcare, and aviation. I used some creative writing to create poems and use some stock images to make them more visual. Alanna and I used different tools and had a very different focus. Alanna used written explanations, combined with her podcasts, to express more about the future, even the “happy” future with chefs cooking for us may not be good for us, due to “skill degeneration.”
Both of our posts captured the future in different ways. Alanna used audio to create real-life scenarios that I am sure everyone in the class can relate to. It is incredibly relatable because we are all students and we all need to eat at the end of a long day. Her use of sighs is incredibly emotive and able to reach the listener more. It captures the moment, I felt frustrated in the first podcast and relaxed (and a little jealous) in the second. Generating an emotional response from listeners is an incredible way of taking that speculative future one step further because we can hear it, and we can imagine it happening to ourselves.
My post is more visual, and I hope my poetry is able to create an emotive response, as some poetry does. However, I think I would need to reach a point of experience and skill as a poet in order to reach that level. More training may be required in this case. In conclusion, I am incredibly impressed by Alanna’s use of audio to illustrate scenarios for her speculative future.
The Golden Record curation assignment was a wonderful opportunity to review our musical choices against our classmates’. In this entry, I want to compare Tyler Graham’s entry, with my own. The first thing that stands out is the tool used. Tyler has used a podcast, similar to one of the resources provided for this assignment. I respect his use of sound for the golden record task, as it provides us with a way to listen to his experiences. Tyler approaches this assignment very differently than me. He looks at the class as a whole, 66% who chose Chuck Berry vs 20% who chose Blind Willie Johnson. Tyler outlines the difference between Black and White Culture as it pertains to music, the historic relevance of Blind Willie Johnson, and his influence on Chuck Berry. Tyler also does an amazing job of then connecting his curation, and the classes’ curation, to the BLM movement and the push to promote Black art and Black artists. Tyler recognizes the influence of Black Culture on the majority of music genres, including the “greats” like the Beatles. Tyler also uses a graphic to display the history of music in a visual way. Again referencing the importance of black culture on music (See below).
In comparison, my entry was written. I used a screen capture of the results of my “Group 7” and then discussed the similarities and differences of our choices. I went through each choice referencing my classmates’ blog entries, including Tyler’s. Tyler talked about the whole class, where I just looked at a subset. I think his use of the podcast when discussing music is brilliant, because he is using an aural tool for aural art. I kick myself for not thinking of it. Although the end result, makes me think he has better recording tools than I do. The embedding of the podcast is clear in terms of user-interface. The only issue may be for those hard of hearing, so a transcript of the podcast may have added to the accessibility.
Tyler’s history with the record is clear. Both in his curation post and his original post, he describes his introduction to the Golden Record assignment. He references the “listening party” he attended at a friend’s home. The theoretical underpinnings of our post were both about Culture. Tyler focused on the BLM movement, whereas I focused on worldwide diversity. I recognize that “as a musician” Tyler probably has a lot more experience with music. Therefore the history he presents and the musical elements he references taught me a lot when I was reviewing both of his entries. I wanted to ensure that all countries were included in the capsule, whereas Tyler focused on historical relevance and the music itself.
For my first linking assignment, I wanted to compare the emoji stories of Christopher Lam’s (displayed on the left below) with my own (displayed on the right below). I wanted to compare the two because we both chose to tell the Harry Potter story using emojis.
Firstly, the title, I used “nerdy” “lightning bolt” to display Harry Potter, I also used emojis to show it is a book/movie. Instead, Christopher took a different approach, using “boy wizard” the “+” to indicate “and,” plus “wizard – infinity – diamond” to mean philosophers stone, which gives you eternal life. It was incredibly smart approach. Similar to mine, we went through the plot points and different scenes to describe the movie.
We both displayed our work as png files, as the blogs.ubc.ca did not allow most emojis to be published. Therefore, the results look very similar. Christopher’s approach with the multiple emojis is incredibly well done. Where I use words to help the emojis be interpreted, Christopher does not need them. He shows the different scenes with incredible perception and indicates Voldermort with “bad – snake – ghost – wizard – no – nose” every time throughout the script. Whereas I try to used 1-2 emojis to indicate characters, Christopher used 6, adding more clarification.
Throughout the script, Chris uses multiple emojis to indicate forests, celebrations, and more. It adds clarification and emphasis to different scenes. Christopher described his experience as “incredibly difficult” and began with the plot, my process was very similar, because as stated in my previous post, “my title was extremely complex to create using emojis.” Clearly, we both faced some challenges when creating our stories, but we responded with either more emojis (Christopher) or words (Me).
If Christopher and I were in a contest for who delivered the better emoji story, I would have to give it to him. His emojis tell the story clearly with an emphasis on the different plot points. As a fan, my only complaint is some of my favourite scenes were excluded, the sorting hat scene, the first sighting of the mirror of Erised, and the quidditch games. However, I am still in awe of his representation, and I remain very proud of myself for my interpretation too.
I think we can all imagine two very different futures for humanity, in regard to technology. The study of algorithms and advertising can lead us to some dark places, but technology has the ability to solve a lot of our problems as well.
Below is a visual representation of the two poems I wrote. One contemplating a negative future “Invasive Technology” and the other contemplating a positive future “Innovative Technology” both reference some technologies we use today and are written ABBA style with 7 syllables per line.
I hope you enjoy this visual/written representation.
Well, that was incredibly aggravating. As an instructional designer, I try to make instructions for tasks incredibly clear. This was anything but that. From having “Select All” and “Unselect all” in random places to having years in no particular order. Going through this “game” really shows how little I want to read, and moreover how familiar I am with filling out forms. I think we all have gotten used to doing it in a specific order. All I can say is that I am so glad that the Carlton dance is there to make me extra happy that I have finished this game!