Utopian / Dystopian Narrative

Posted on November 28, 2021 by grace reid

A Utopian Narrative
The sun begins to appear as the blinds retract. My sign that it is time to wake. The locally grown coffee beans are brewing my first cup of the day. I hear a familiar voice calmly amplified throughout my home, welcoming my family to a new day. We call him Ernest. He tells us the weather and recommends two outfits that would be suitable, based on our schedule and closet inventory. I’m relieved that I don’t need to make these decisions.

Ernest, is kind enough to turn off the lights when we leave a room, adjust the heat so we don’t waste our stored energy. Adjust the blinds for temperature control, water and nurture the plants according to the data they are emitting. He does all of the little things that my parents had to remember to do when they were my age. He will even indicate the appropriate dosage of antidepressants needed according to many years of data collected on my mental health, correlated weather data and predicted trends. I’m grateful for the small adjustments that make managing my mental health and my life easier for me.

After the kids are off for a day of land-based eco learning, Ernest prepares me for the day. To start, I have a virtual collaboration session over my morning coffee and breakfast that is projected in my home office. I love engaging with colleagues in this way. We are a diverse group of people working together to design a new virtual learning opportunity for students. We bring students together from around the planet to better understand the current needs of our planet, based on the most up-to-date information from global scientists and the UN.

Next up, is my morning run, where I am unplugged from work and today I choose whether to run with my virtual running coach or to have a virtual run with my sister. Today, my biometrics indicate that I’m able to run fast and I’m going to tap into my coach to optimize the benefits.

After my run, I have time for a shower before my class. I’m currently learning how to harvest native herbs and enhance the ecosystem of my soil. My class is located at my neighbour’s garden today, where we will also be sharing a meal with the latest harvest from our various greenhouses. We learn from the current science and innovative practices that are being shared on our learning network at a rapid speed. We are also eternally grateful for the elders who work to guide us, sharing the indigenous knowledge and perspectives, that guide our learning and inform our work.
The community is learning so much about the advances in micro-farming and we are on the cusp of being completely sustainable.

This afternoon, I have scheduled time to visit a virtual learning space in town. If I’m out front at 3:00 I can hop on the 3:02 Huber, which will have me at the school for 3:10. We’ll explore the latest big data analytics to help the Individual Education Plans according to the latest data recommendations for each learner. Ernest is wonderful at chiming my watch when it is 5:00 pm to inform me it’s time to head home for my family dinner.

When I arrive back home, I hear my children chatting about their daily adventures learning about local plant diversity, and what they designed at school. Ernest dims the lights and informs us our dinner will be ready shortly.

As we gather around the table, we’re grateful for the time we have together and our collaborative efforts to contribute to our community. We end our day with vegan ice cream and our favourite VR movie.

Tomorrow will be another day of energy spent in the right places, working towards a better future for the planet and humanity.

A Dystopian Narrative:
I awake to wait for The Assistant to signal it’s time to get up. The Assistant is the latest in a long line of virtual home personalities (I use the term ‘personality’ loosely). I’m hoping this one is better than the last, which fizzled out only a few weeks after arriving. I am determined The Assistant watches and judges me constantly, or at least that’s how it feels. We are mandated to have a personality in our homes, I can’t afford a decent one. So this is what the government installed.

When the cold air blows in my face and the sheets are pulled from my bed. I know I have no choice but to place my feet on the concrete floor and start the dreaded day. I hope this is a coffee day. I really have no choice in the matter. It depends if there is any left. We have very little left in our home that can be consumed and The Assistant orders our rations based on the government projections which is not promising.

I hop in the concrete shower, I have two minutes and I hope it’s a warm water day.

I hear my children, eating the colourless, white concoction that has become our staple. The latest heat dome robbed any hope of eating something from the earth.

The Assistant indicates it’s a level two mask day and the pollution index requires a mask filter be changed at noon. I pack the kids’ bags with the forecasted air quality and heat in mind and send them off on their hoverboards. They should have enough battery, the ‘Brown Out’ was only part of the night.

The Assistant tells me to hurry up and sign in to my virtual meeting. I’m working with colleagues trying to salvage the remaining soil in our province. The dissolution of mandatory ecological practices has devastated the western provinces. The government has assigned me to work on the problem.

I look out the window and it’s grey. More grey than I have ever seen. The pollution and dusty dirt blend together with little distinction. The meeting is postponed due to ‘unprecedented’ weather conditions in the east and an unretrievable satellite signal.

I run on the treadmill. I miss running outside. My lungs can no longer handle the pollution. I turn on my sun lamp in hopes that some artificial vitamin D will penetrate the depression that I cannot shake. I have no medication left and I don’t care enough to try and get more.
I’m hungry.
I feel faint.
I walk around the concrete room for a few minutes and decide I should try to locate some food for our family. Maybe something has arrived in town.

I ask ‘The Assistant’ to arrange my transportation. The estimated time of arrival is 1 hour. It will then take me 45 minutes to get to town, the Hubers are struggling to hold a charge these days and they need to stop frequently to get a boost.

In town, my mask makes it hard to breathe and I gave my last filters to the kids. I walk through the market looking for hints of green or red, anything to indicate a sign of something that has come from the earth. I scanned my only entrance to town pass yesterday, and I hope I’m not caught.
When I finally arrive, I see nothing.
There are even fewer vendors than before.
My heart hurts. I have a sadness that is unimaginable.
Even the vending machines that once had artificially cultured vegetation, are now empty. Glass broken, and nothing left but codes on empty shelves.

My wrist buzzes.

It’s The Assistant.

I need to line up to get the Huber, so I’m home for the kids.

It’s dark when I arrive home. The house is cold, the kids are staring at the latest news and I can tell they are tired. Deep in their soul, tired.

I know there was one small carton of ice cream left in the freezer. I grab spoons and we eat in silence. The Assistant reminds me I shouldn’t eat it and the fridge is now empty.
It announces that data indicates the stores won’t have food for some time now and we will regret our decision.

We eat anyway.

Linking Assignment

Posted on November 24, 2021 by grace reid

Linking-Assignment-Comments Download

Implications of Algorithms

Posted on November 22, 2021 by grace reid

This task surprised me. Initially, I was grateful for the identity being blurred, however, I did note that one might still make decisions based on whether the individual was a person of colour. Gender was also revealed, and that too may hold bias. I began by having a mental inventory of my hard lines in terms of releasing and detaining. Are they at risk of being violent? Are they likely to re-offend? However, as the Jail capacity and fear indicators changed, I began to make decisions that didn’t align with my values. I released more people, knowing that this may put others at risk.
Additionally, the lack of data doesn’t allow for an in-depth representation of who the person is. The algorithm provides a one-dimensional response to a complex and layered problem. Moreover, the simulation may say whether a person is supporting a family but doesn’t explore whether they do so sufficiently or meet the emotional and physical needs of their family. An individual may be providing food but maybe abusive or neglectful in another capacity. The indicators would benefit from elaborations to help one make a more informed decision. Moreover, if a person is arrested with drugs, is that referring to some personal use of marijuana or selling crack in a local park? The information is vague and misleading.
Finally, the jail capacity is a troubling value to be at the top. Several factors might contribute to an at the capacity facility. Perhaps they don’t have a large enough facility in comparison to a given population. Judicial decisions made on behalf of a given population need to be made in relation to the crime and not on whether there is room in jail.
I see benefits and enormous risks in such algorithms. In using data to inform decisions, one must ensure that the information is all-encompassing, free from bias and representative. Moreover, the way decisions are made and represented needs to be precise. For example, when the simulator indicates ‘Fear,’ what does that even mean? Fear for whom?
There are real consequences to ‘broad strokes’ when it comes to gathering creating data for algorithms. Organizations need to ensure data collection platforms allow for clear and bias-free engagement separated from potentially persuasive features.

Lit Sync Podcast

Posted on November 21, 2021 by grace reid

540-Podcast-References-1 Download

Reflection: This was an interesting, insightful, and borderline painful task for me. To clarify, I am passionate about digital literacy. My job is to support and encourage it in our school district and I live and breath it day in and day out.

The stretch for me was, listening to myself talk about it. This format of delivery was insightful for me. I talk fast and A LOT! I could not believe how long I spoke for and it was challenging to listen to. I messaged our group, with red cheeks, instantly. I thought a lot about whether to cut huge chunks out or to leave it.

Ironically, I started thinking about exactly what we chatted about in the podcast. The process of learning is messy, we learn through the doing. So with that in mind, we left it as it was. Knowing that this was my first time doing this, I made some personal next steps which are to try it again, slow down, and be more concise on my talking points.

I have gratitude for the opportunity to try something new and feel this discomfort. I look forward to trying podcasting again and growing from this experience.

Press HERE: Navigating Dark Patterns

Posted on November 14, 2021 by grace reid

Have you ever read the childrens’ books

These are joyful books to read with learners. The author invites you to press and mix the various images on the page to see if you can predict the outcome which is revealed on the following page. Much like how we navigate ourselves online, we make predictions and choices, doing what we believe is being asked of us assuming it will lead us with our desired result. Eventually we stop reading the cues, knowing we can make assumptions and it will work out okay.

However, ‘dark patterns’ or nefarious designs may manipulate users. The game User Inyerface reveals, how naive or passive we may be when engaging with the user interfaces. Below is a summary of my experience.

User Inyerface proved to be a frustrating. After much persistence, I threw in the towel when I finally decided I must NOT be human in the last (maybe it wasn’t) part of the game.

I realize how much I take for granted in terms of engaging with the user interface. From tapping on highlighted buttons without reading to clicking on texts that look like links, assuming that a blank field doesn’t require deleting before typing, and to just knowing that months will be listed chronologically.

We are trained to engage with technology and ‘read’ the text of screens in a specific way. We’re coded to click, skim, predict without critical thinking. The final struggle was the ‘checking you are human’ page. (Full transparency), I still have no idea whether it was a bow, as in tie or a bow like an encore, or if glasses referred to those you drink from or the ones you wear on your face… and don’t get me started on the circles! Moreover, were the photos correlated to the boxes above or below?

Not only are we trained with clicks, but with the directionality of how one reads a page and progresses through screens. The age slider is a perfect example because it was disorienting on the bottom left and not to the right of the screen. It was almost invisible until I had to search for it.

One takes from this activity that the way we ‘read’ or ‘decode’ in networked spaces is presumptuous. Predictable behaviour becomes a target for advertisers through ‘manipulated’ experiences. We take for granted that we are in safe digital spaces and that the defaults protect us. When, in fact, strategic and deviously designed interfaces capitalize on how one reads and engages with online texts.

Finally, knowing that one must be mindful of how data allows developers to design spaces leaves me curious about how human behaviour might translate to next-generation text and technologies? How might humans become savvier in navigating digital platforms? And finally, how might we establish safeguards to protect users from designers with ill-intent?

They All Saw a Cat… I think

Posted on November 7, 2021 by grace reid

What story is data sharing? What story is it not showing? What attributes, facets and interactions are highlighted and why? What is the intention of unveiling the story? When considering data, one is reminded of how perspective shapes what story we want to share and how it is received.

When diving into perspective with my learners, I always start with Brendan Wenzel’s, They All Saw a Cat. Read below by @simicrane.

Data, when curated and worked within a space such as Palladio is three-dimensional and non-linear. I was so intrigued by the interconnections the data shared and how the facets worked together. How were the smaller communities decided? Were they random? When decomposing the interconnections, I looked for the nodes with less connectivity and wondered why that was?

I wondered if the data would look different with data collection done elsewhere in the world in a non-university cohort. The nodes were the most visually telling to me because they drew my eye in. When I pulled the nodes apart with my curser, I recognized the visual connections with more ease. The other questions that I had in looking at this data were based on what criteria people used to shape their opinions. Were their choices based on a memory or connection to a song or a genre of music? An extension of that, when an individual is indifferent to music, is choosing it an accurate reflection of their perception?

Golden-Record-Graph Download

Perception tells this data story. As individuals, we choose the experiences, biases and data to form our decisions, and the data isn’t capable of depicting an entire narrative.

To explore this more within a context I was more familiar, I used an existing Excel Sheet from our team of educational consultants and put it into Palladio, to see if I could better understand what a different set of data might share.

Consultant-data Download

Looking at the depicted data, I can see the interconnectivity of our team’s work. I can see the number of people we are working with and the areas of learning we are focusing on. However, the data is still black and white, lacking the depth, real world context. It doesn’t portray the nuances of each school, the schools’ goal, or the intentionality of all those involved. One may look at one node and draw a conclusion, but without the back story, and a deeper awareness of the bigger picture, misguided conclusions could easily be drawn.

One needs to be cognizant that a data set is the merely the beginning of a story. Within that there are biases, perspectives, and variables that may not be accounted for. The way data is presented shapes a narrative. The story unfolds between the each node and with every edge. The obstacle is for one to continually ask, what isn’t being told in a narrative, what is missing? Are there better questions we can ask?

Palladio is a valuable tool to help one start asking bigger questions. It’s a captivating opening paragraph to a really great story with many different interpretations.

Intergalactic Golden Record

Posted on October 31, 2021 by grace reid

How might one choose just ten songs from the golden record? What criteria guide your decisions? In imagining the beings who might engage with this technology, my ideas shifted. Initially, I thought about collective identity and how we might communicate the human experience (on earth) to an-‘other’ being. My remaining choices lived in the theme of evoked emotion and movement. Is there a feeling that is communicated in a piece, and might that feeling transcend language? Moreover, movement is a universal human experience. Which left me wondering how specific elements might pull one (human or other) into movement?

The thread in my choices begins with communicating our collective identity and then shifts to inviting a shared experience of feeling and movement.

My Top 10 Play Golden Record List:

Greetings in 55 Languages
United Nations Greetings/ Whale Songs – Various Artists
The Sounds of Earth – Various Artists
“El Cascabel”- Performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México
“Melancholy Blues” – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven
The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No. 1 – Glenn Gould
“The Fairie Round” – Early Music Consort Anthony Holborne of London/ David Munrow
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BMV 1047: I Allegro – Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter conductor
Sokaku-Reibo (Depicting Cranes in Their Nest) -Japan Shakuhachi
Navajo Night Chant, Yeibichai Dance – recorded by Willard Rhodes
“Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E Major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux

Soundscape: What’s in My Bag

Posted on October 24, 2021 by grace reid

When considering the translation of an image over that of sound, one must consider the translation of technologies. Some images are simple to identify in that the items are universally recognizable through sound. Additionally, what code is used to translate the articles? Are the consumers familiar with the chosen literacy? How are objects contextualized? What literacies are accessed to do so?
When considering the categorization used by The New London Group, in their article, A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures, one might consider the audio design (whether to use music or sound effects), Spatial Design (how the items are used in specific spaces), and how the literacies are interconnected.
Soundscapes enable a different kind of semiotic capture. How might we hear electricity? Or the sound of fresh air to represent gum. What song do I hear when I see the wildflower journal?
Rethinking What’s in My Bag through the lens of sound deepens my sense of meaning-making. I connected items to words and then searched sounds for those words through my browser. I had never considered the sound of electricity or the shifting of a hand along paper when writing. There are nuances and possibilities in how these items are seen, and changing of the prescribed literacy allows those affordances to be more transparent.

Press the link to hear my Bag Soundscape: https://youtu.be/37MwF5oJlDE

Futures, D. S. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1).

An Emoji Story

Posted on October 17, 2021 by grace reid

The process of writing about the last series I watched on Netflix was challenging. Articulating complex emotions and the layers of the plot with simplistic emojis takes a level of consolidation and synthesizing while also requiring that one chooses images carrying meaning. I synthesized more significant ideas and themes within the Netflix series to make my way through the task. I began by translating the title first. Although it was, seemingly, simple, perhaps that was the result of having already drawn a connection between the words and what I was trying to communicate. The challenge with using images to share, is ensuring the visual representation is translatable to others. Additionally, my instinct was to write the script in one long linear stream of consciousness. A left to right progression or direction of time. This reminds me of Lara’s Boroditsky’s (2017), Ted Talk, How the Languages we Speak Shape the Way we Think, when she shares how time is communicated differently in various languages. Between the thematic strategy of choosing emojis and the ‘scrolling’ way I instinctually wrote them, I believe, there is a required social comprehension of a chosen ‘text,’ in order for a task such as this to be successful.

Additionally, I see a lot of connection to the act of sketchnoting (something I love to do) and how it requires a deeper understanding of context in that it asks one to find connections and make meaning. On a micro level, the individual consuming the text, needs to edit and decode possible nuances of images and their relationship to the others in order to effectively comprehend the presented ideas.

Kress states (2014), that there are affordances, potentials and limitations to various modes (p. 5).I have a new appreciation for emojis, as a mode of text and the metacognition required to use them. It’s a literacy that sets tone, conveys meaning, and, at the very least, punctuates.

Boroditsky, L (June 2017). [Video]. How the languages we speak shape the way we think.

Kress (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Compositions, Vol. 2(1), 5-22.

Manual Script: Mechanization of Writing

Posted on October 3, 2021 by grace reid

The task of writing with a pen on paper, in my Dad’s office, about his books, on one of the yellow pads that he always has on hand is unusually calming. I notice I write slower, and more mindfully in cursive. If I make an error I can make it less obvious with the curve of the letters. I remember doing this as a reluctant writer as a kid. I knew if my writing was messy someone wouldn’t see the spelling errors as easily. When typing I can edit and rely on the functionality of the pairing down processes after. This is not a luxury with pen and paper. There’s a permanence that comes with it. I think this lends itself to how we engage with writing (pen and paper). We make decisions about permanence, audience, and intention. I’d say it feels braver writing on paper, even though we know the digital world may be more powerful, making things easier to share. Perhaps there’s a different level of ownership when you physically create letters with a pen. Maybe it’s a kind of vulnerability, as the pen acts as an extension of who we are.

I’ve never thought about this distinction before, but I am becoming more aware of the digital and non-digital spaces that I use and how the intention varies with the genre (not sure if that’s the right word … don’t get me started on my thoughts on words and word choices now…that’s a whole new rabbit hole).