ETEC 540: April Huang

Prompt: Describe or narrate a scenario about a gift found a century into a future in which society as we know it has come apart. Your description should address issues related to identity and elicit feelings of fascination. In the year 2124, as the world lies in disarray, a group of scavengers uncovers a mysterious gold box buried beneath the ruins of an old library. Surprisingly well-preserved, the box is adorned with an intricate five-ring pattern and bears the inscription “Phryges”. Inside, the scavengers find several artifacts from the past:…read more

The detain/release simulation was quite intriguing. Even after listening to the podcast with CompStat fresh in my mind, it was challenging to make inform decisions and rely on gut instinct or through an unbiased opinion. The information and colour-coding for “fail to appear,” “commit a crime,” and “violence” influenced my judgments and decisions. A high risk in these areas made me more likely to detain rather than release. While arresting someone with a warrant might feel justified, further information often reveals a more complex situation. This highlights how biases and…read more

When I first started this game, I was reminded of a flash game I played when I was younger: The Impossible Quiz. Truthfully, as soon as I began, I was filled with anxiety and worry. I wasn’t sure how the game would unfold and the countdown timer and the flashing boxes didn’t help at all. The “Hurry up, time is ticking” message was definitely unhelpful. The first two pages seemed relatively simple. Creating a password that met the guidelines and selecting or deselecting the boxes were straightforward tasks. I quickly…read more

Palladio is a new tool for me, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. After loading the existing file into Palladio, I was presented with a graph that visualizes the connection data for the participants and their top ten selections of music from the Golden Record. For example, if two participants have similar music selections, they are connected by the specific “target” (music track), and regardless of where the nodes are, the relationship stays connected. One of the first things I noticed was the location of my node and the…read more

One of the initial challenges in selecting music from the Golden Record was shifting my mindset from choosing wedding music (as I’ve been curating playlists for my upcoming wedding) to selecting music that was diverse, culturally significant and features a variety of instruments. I decided to choose pieces that were diverse, culturally significant, and showcased a variety of instruments. Initially, I found some of the initial tracks off-putting, but I realized they were chosen to reflect a rich cultural diversity. While I tried to include music from various parts of…read more

Reflection Redesigning this task was enjoyable because it gave me the opportunity to use a program I’ve been wanting to explore for another class. It made me think about how I wanted to visually present the clues, especially since conveying them through audio alone can pose challenges. For example, the tin can generated a lot of noise, but without additional description, it was difficult to guess specific details – many things come in a tin can! In comparison, the phone produced clear sounds that were easily recognizable without any explanation…read more

Bolter (2000) suggests that modern digital media often prioritize visuals over text. Creating an emoji story initially seemed easy to do since it involves using visuals to represent different aspects of a narrative. However, I found creating this emoji story to be more challenging and time-consuming than I anticipated. While I may use emojis in text messages or emails to convey meaning or emphasis, crafting an entire narrative with emojis proved quite difficult. I considered other movies and TV shows that could be explained through emojis and noticed that dependent…read more

ETEC 540 – April Huang.html This was my first-time using Twine, and being the classic choose-your-own-adventure games, I was reminded of games such as the “Impossible Game,” where sometimes I was hesitant of what may happen when I clicked the options! When I created my game, I aimed for simplicity, envisioning how a Grade 1 student (since I’ve been focused on report card writing, that’s where my mind was) might write their stories, while also adding a conversational tone to make it more engaging and personal. I realized that it…read more

Unscripted Text The other day I went on a dogo adventure with my Milo and my cousin’s dog to sign. I realize that when we got there I really didn’t want my love to go into the water because every time he gets in the water, he doesn’t really swim, and instead he’s more of a let stand in the water and get my entire body wet and muddy which would require a shower but not actually swim and release some energy which is what my owner would love me…read more

SAR School for Advanced Research. (2017, June 7). Lera Boroditsky, how the languages we speak shape the way we think [Video]. YouTube.