Links: My post for Task 8; Simon’s post for Task 8

I chose to link Simon’s post because we have similar choices from the 27 songs. Among the ten pieces of music we chose, five were the same. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to dive deeper into Simon’s post to find the similarities and differences between our song-choosing criteria.

Tool used

We are both using WordPress on UBC Blogs, so the content-authoring capabilities for our sites should be similar. However, we use different themes, resulting in differences in the end-user interface. For example, his theme’s background and text color are white and black, respectively, while mine is reversed. Also, the text size for my theme is larger than Simon’s, which means my post would appear longer but easier to read on devices with smaller screens. Moreover, the “recent posts” and “recent comments” sections for his theme always appear at the right of the blog content regardless of the changeable page size, making it more convenient for users to check other posts.

For this task, we both primarily used text to present our criteria for choosing the ten pieces of music. I used a Genially interactive map to show the songs I picked and the countries they are from. Simon mainly used text to show his selections and brief reasons, as well as his reflection on this task.

Song list comparison

Criteria comparison

Similarities

1. Universality

We both included the universality of music in our criteria. Simon believed these songs must feature meaningful and universal themes that transcend language and culture. I thought universally understood music would have a better chance of being understood by a wide range of potential extraterrestrial life forms. Therefore, we chose simple and intuitive music unrelated to specific linguistic contexts.

2. Human values

We both appreciated universal human values. Simon mentioned “love, hope, and unity” (Worley, 2023), while I thought of “love, cooperation, and empathy” (Wang, 2023). I believe that incorporating aspects of human values can help represent the best aspects of humanity.

3. Cultural diversity

Both of us paid attention to revealing humans’ cultural diversity. In order to present a more comprehensive representation of human expression, experiences, creativity, and culture, we were mindful to add recordings from various geographical areas.

4. Balance between instruments and human voices

Simon aimed for “a balance between instrumental and vocal recordings” when choosing songs (Worley, 2023). Same for me, I included five songs with human voices and the rest with different instruments. If extraterrestrial life forms have the capacity for audio communication, including human voices and various instrumental sounds could serve as a connection point.

Differences

Iris – Mathematical foundations

In the case of communicating with creatures with no hearing or living in different time scales, adding music with mathematical foundations enables an additional way of communication (Taylor, 2019). Both Bach’s and Beethoven’s music was highly twined with mathematics; I only picked Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony for personal preference and avoiding repetition.

Iris – Music genre diversity

To ensure sending a record with a highly diversified music genre, I included Jazz and blues, Rock and Roll, popular music, classical music, and pieces tied to specific cultural contexts. I believed adding various types of music would increase the chance of being comprehensible to many potential recipients.

Simon – Positive and uplifting

Simon claimed that music with positive and uplifting tones should be prioritized because “these recordings have the potential to bring joy and inspiration to those who encounter them” (Worley, 2023). I agree that expressing peaceful intent might serve as a foundation for building a positive and cooperative relationship.

Simon – Opening message

In addition to the ten pieces of music he chose, Simon suggested that an opening message should be added at the beginning of the record, explaining critical information about Earth and the purpose of sending the record.

References

Taylor, D. (Host). (2019, April). Voyager golden record. [Audio podcast episode]. In Twenty thousand hertz. Defacto Sound.

Wang, B. (2023, October 18). Task 8: Golden Record curation – Bingying (Iris) Wang-ETEC540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540bingyingwang/2023/10/18/task-8-golden-record-curation

Worley, S. (2023, October 25). ETEC 540 Task 8 Golden Record Curation Assignment | Simon Worley Blog site ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/sworley/2023/10/25/etec-540-task-8-golden-record-curation-assignment/

Links: My post for Task 6; Richard’s post for Task 6

I chose to link to Richard’s post because I understood his emoji story immediately after reading it. The fact that we both chose famous stories to complete this emoji task might be a good starting point to compare and contrast our tasks and reflections. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to dive deeper into Richard’s post to see if the points we made in our posts support one another.

Tool used

We are both using WordPress on UBC Blogs, so the content-authoring capabilities for our sites should be similar. However, we use different themes, resulting in differences in the end-user interface. For example, Richard’s page layout is more centralized than mine, resulting in a more concise end-user interface. His theme’s background and text color are white and black, respectively, while mine is reversed. Also, the text size for my theme is larger than Richard’s, which means my post would appear longer but easier to read on devices with smaller screens. Moreover, the “recent posts” section for Richard’s theme always appears at the right of the blog content regardless of the changeable page size, making it more convenient for users to check other posts.

For this task, we both primarily used text to present our reflection on the emoji story-making. Also, we used outside emoji makers to complete the story and inserted a screenshot into our post. I believe Richard applied emojis from another system than iOS because his emojis appeared simplified with a highly uniform style.

Content

Themes we both discussed

1. Using top-down processing

Top-down processing is a cognitive and perceptual process that involves using existing knowledge, experiences, and expectations to interpret new sensory information (Cherry, 2023). Instead of letting the readers interpret the emoji stories based solely on their sensory information, Richard and I made use of top-down processing by choosing popular stories that most people are familiar with. Since readers already knew the storyline, the possibility for them to understand our emoji stories was maximized.

2. Limitations to emojis

We both discussed the limitations of emojis during the emoji-story-making process. Richard mentioned that “symbols, while efficient for instantly conveying a whole meaning [are] however, inevitably ineffective building out and pointing to specific complexities” (Payne, 2023). I found that emojis, as an intersection between words and image depictions, possessed the downsides of both. For instance, applying emojis to convey the meaning of more complicated or abstract concepts is challenging. Also, there is a limited number of emojis to use.

3. Readers’ interpretations

Both I and Richard believed our peers would find it easy to understand our emoji stories due to familiarity. In addition, Richard believed that “people in many cultures might be able to grasp the meaning quickly” even if they did not know the story (Payne, 2023). Aligning with his opinion, I expected that my peers (with various cultural backgrounds) might explain my emoji task in “various but similar words” (Wang, 2023).

Emoji stories comparison

1. Theme choosing

Both of us chose our story theme based on how easy it would be to visualize and its popularity. By choosing a famous story that most people know, we tried to minimize the possibility that our peers get confused when reading the emoji stories. In addition, Richard noticed that the brief storyline made completing this task “incredibly advantageous” (Payne, 2023).

2. Relied on words and ideas

Both of us relied mainly on words when completing this task. We used direct-related emojis for specific concrete words. For example, pig, wolf, and house in Richard’s story and mermaid, princess, and boat in mine.

For verbs and abstract concepts, we used combinations of emojis to convey the ideas. For example, we both used the “SOS” emoji to represent “in danger.” Moreover, we used right-pointing arrows to represent story progression.

3. Order and position

We both used left-right and top-to-down sequencing for our emoji stories, and the passage of time in our stories followed the emoji-writing directions. Moreover, for each emoji chunk, the first symbol represents the actor of the following movements, aligning with Kress (2005)’s claim that being first might indicate being the cause of a behavior. The difference is that Richard used punctuation (colon, comma, ellipsis, and ampersand) to help explain the storyline, while I relied mainly on space and right-pointing arrows.

References

Cherry, K. (2023). What is Top-Down Processing? Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-top-down-processing-2795975#:~:text=Top%2Ddown%20processing%20involves%20perceiving,to%20interpret%20new%20sensory%20information.

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

Payne. (2023, October 13). Task 6, An Emoji Story | Rich 540 Text Technologies. Retrieved October 20, 2023, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/540rp/2023/10/13/task-6-an-emoji-story/

Wang. (2023, October 10). Task 6: An Emoji Story – Bingying (Iris) Wang-ETEC540. Retrieved October 20, 2023, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540bingyingwang/2023/10/09/task-6-an-emoji-story/

Links: My post for Task 5; Louisa’s post for Task 5

I chose to link to Louisa’s post because we both appreciated Bolter’s (2001) idea that traditional books with single orders of sections and pages are linear, hierarchical, and static, whereas hypertext provides a story network that is multiple and associative. So, diving deeper into Louisa’s post would be interesting to find the similarities and differences between Twine games and game-making experiences.

Tool used

Louisa uses Wix, whereas I’m using WordPress on UBC Blogs. Based on my experience with Wix, I see some content-authoring differences between these platforms. Wix provides website-building tools and hosting for users’ websites, while WordPress offers users more control over their websites’ hosting. Therefore, people using WordPress are responsible for setting up and managing their hosting environment. While both platforms provide a wide range of templates and themes, WordPress is more flexible and extensible, allowing skilled users to customize websites, add plugins, and modify the code.

Our end-user interfaces appear different, too. Louisa presented all her tasks on one page, while I used separate pages to show specific tasks. Also, her page is equally divided into two sectors with different colors, with the left showing the task title and the right displaying task content. In contrast, my task content follows the title vertically, appearing at the center-left of the page. Our text sizes are similar; both are appropriate for reading on any device.

For this task, we mainly used text to reflect on the game-making process. In addition, I added pictures to help explain my words and inserted an online version of my Twine game for a better user experience.

Content

Themes we both discussed

1. Differences between books and hypertext

We both appreciated Bolter’s (2001) ideas about the differences between traditional books and hypertext. I mentioned that “compared to traditional books with single orders of sections and pages, hypertext provides a story network” (Wang, 2023, para.1). Louisa noted that printed text is hierarchical and static, while hypertext is multiform, connected, and responsive to readers.

2. Interactivity of hypertext

We both talked about the interactivity of hypertext. Louisa said hypertext allows readers to interact with the story and choose different options. I tried to give my readers “the illusion of control” by letting them choose their preferred links (Bolter, 2001, p.43).

3. Twine is user-friendly

We both mentioned that Twine is a user-friendly tool for creating interactive, nonlinear stories. “Twine stories using only text are fairly simple to navigate” (Green, 2023).

Differences between our reflections

1. Experience using Twine

Louisa mentioned in her post that she has used Twine previously in various courses, while this was my first time using Twine to make a text-based game. Louisa also found adding images alongside text is more complicated than she remembered. I searched the online tutorial and followed the detailed steps to insert images in my game.

2. How we come up with the storyline

Louisa said that her story was “produced out of a stream of consciousness on [her] part” (Green, 2023). In contrast, I came up with my story topic based on my psychology background and laid out a network of ideas with the aid of textbooks.

3. Opinions about game-playing

Louisa talked about her experience playing The Temple of No and shared her opinion about game playing. She enjoyed the casual language and the “escape from the real world” feeling experienced in the game, which she thought was important for game-playing (Green, 2023).

Twine Game

Please click on the interactive elements below for details (text and images).

References

Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Green, L. (2023). Tasks | UBC Met ETEC 540 Tex. Ubc Met Etec 540 Tex. Retrieved October 12, 2023, from https://louisaagreen.wixsite.com/ubc-met-etec-540-tex/tasks

Wang, B. (2023, October 4). Task 5: Twine Task – Bingying (Iris) Wang-ETEC540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540bingyingwang/2023/10/04/task-5-twine-task/

Links: My post for Task 4; Jill’s post for Task 4

I chose to link to Jill’s post because we share similar thoughts regarding typing on keyboards and writing by hand. However, we have different opinions about the difficulty of this writing-by-hand task. So, I thought it would be interesting to dive deeper into Jill’s post to find the similarities and differences between our experiences.

Tools used

We are both using WordPress on UBC Blogs, so the content-authoring capabilities for our sites should be similar. However, we use different themes, resulting in differences in the end-user interface. For example, Jill added an “About Me” side window on her site (right above “recent posts”) so readers can see her self-introduction when reading the task posts without needing to go to the home page. Her theme’s background and text color are white and black, respectively, while mine is reversed. Also, the text size for my theme is larger than Jill’s, which means her post would appear shorter, while my post might be easier to read on devices with smaller screens.

For this task, we both primarily used text to represent our commentary on the manual script. In addition, Jill added a “Writing vs Typing” table using Canvas below her text to outline why she prefers typing.

Jill scanned her writing and inserted the images on her site. In contrast, I used Genially to create an interactive image with a zoom-in function and typed text of my written reflection in case site visitors cannot read my handwriting.

Content

Themes we both discussed

1. The inequality in sports.

In our reflections, we all talked about inequality in sports. Jill mentioned that many coaches only want to win and pick favorites; they do not follow the “equal play time” rule. For example, taller volleyball players can stay on the court even after making mistakes, while short kids get subbed out immediately (Schmidt, 2023). In my reflection, I talked about the inequality in e-sports, in which males dominate. Women face risks from game playing and the whole game industry.

2. We type way more than write by hand.

Jill said she normally types and has very limited situations where she writes by hand. Even though I used to be a handwriting person, I do not normally write by hand these days.

3. The ways to correct written mistakes.

We both cross out mistakes and rewrite them correctly. Jill also erased mistakes (since she used a pencil) and directly squished some forgotten words in sentences.

4. Our choice of media influences how we edit.

Jill claimed that “The media [she] used definitely impacted the lack of editing in [her] work” (Schmidt, 2023), while I mentioned that “paper and pen made editing more troublesome” (Wang, 2023). The advantage of using a pencil is that Jill could erase the small mistakes. However, when making a structure mistake, crossing out is the most common way for handwriting, just like Jill did by crossing out a whole paragraph.

5. Differences between writing by hand and typing; we prefer typing.

She created a comparison table to lay out the differences, such as time, accuracy, editing, and memory. I also explained why I prefer typing: it is less physically demanding, faster, more efficient, and more accurate. In conclusion, we both prefer typing.

Differences between our post (Jill vs. Iris)

1. Reflection topic: Youth sports vs. E-sport hegemony

I believe our identity differences influenced our choices of reflection topics. Jill is a mother of three who enjoys sports, while I’m a single woman who likes to play video games.

2. Difficulty of the task: difficult vs. not difficult

Jill mentions that planning the script is time-consuming and that wishing to produce error-free work made her think much harder before writing. In contrast, my muscle memory, experience of practicing handwriting, and motivation to write made this task not too difficult for me.

3. Biggest difference between typing and handwriting: time vs. editing

I believe our past experience differences led to our different opinions on this question. Jill took time and thought to plan before writing because she “had to determine how many lines 500 handwritten words would take” (Schmidt, 2023). I knew it was about 200 words a page, and my handwriting was fast due to writing practice. Therefore, time is not the biggest problem for me.

New ideas

Jill: Written words can be considered an extension of the human brain (Lamb & McCormick, 2020); she remembers more when handwriting.

Jill: Double-spaced writing can make editing easier.

Iris: Digital information management is more efficient.

Iris: Multimedia features are another advantage of typing.

Iris: Writing and editing a draft can be a choice for creating an error-free text.

References

Lamb, R., & McCormick, J. (Hosts). (2020, May 26). From the vault: Invention of the book, part 1Links to an external site. [Audio podcast episode]. In Stuff to blow your mind. iHeart Radio.

Schmidt, J. (2023, October 1). Task 4- Manual Script | Jill’s ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/jillmet/2023/10/01/task-4-manual-script/

Wang, B. (2023, September 21). Task 4: Manual Scripts – Bingying (Iris) Wang-ETEC540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540bingyingwang/2023/09/21/task-4-manual-scripts/

Links: My post for Task 1; Laura’s post for Task 1

I chose to link to Laura’s post because several of our items and themes are similar, and some are very different, which I felt resonated and interested when reading her post. I found Laura’s sense of humor passing from her text fascinating and wanted to dive deeper into her post.

Tools used

We are both using WordPress on UBC Blogs, so the content-authoring capabilities for our sites should be similar. However, we use different themes, resulting in differences in the end-user interface. For example, her background and text color is white and black, while mine is reversed. Also, the text size for my theme is larger than Laura’s, which means it would take longer to read one line on her site, but my post would appear longer.

For this task, we both primarily used text to represent our introduction and ideas about text and technology. In addition, Laura added a photo of herself (very cute!) and stuff in her bag, while I used an interactive image to demonstrate my personal belongings.

Content

Themes we both discussed

1. Items in our bags act like implicit “texts.”

Both of us agreed that items in our bags provide implicit cues about who we are, the places we inhabit, the culture we engage in, the activities we take up and so on. For example, Laura mentioned that her belongings reflect her “engagement with mathematical, digital and written literacies on a daily basis” (Orlowski, 2023).

2. Smartphones play a major job in communication.

Mobile phones are essential tools for creating, storing, and transmitting information. We use smartphones to communicate with people and systems, access information about finances, enjoy recreational activities, etc.

3. Keys and wallets represent financial literacy.

Laura claimed that her keys and wallet symbolize her responsibilities in her financial life, including bill payments and house security. I, too, mentioned in my post that my wallet and keys represent my “knowledge of personal finance, including saving, investing, budgeting, and managing debt” (Wang, 2023).

4. Awareness of personal health is essential.

We both pay attention to personal health and hygiene. Laura carries a water bottle, chapstick, perfume, sanitary napkins, and other health-related items with her daily. I also mentioned that the pills, perfume, and mask I tote represent my health literacy.

5. There were fewer text technologies 15 years ago. 

The bags we had 15 years ago both contained fewer text technologies. Laura communicated mathematical information solely based on slides and projectors, while I only had school supplies, such as textbooks, pens, and notebooks.

Similarities and differences 

Please click on the interactive elements below for details.

References

Kapur, R. (2019). Types of literacy. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332875093_Types_of_Literacy

Orlowski, L. (2023, September 13). Task 1: What’s in your bag? | ETEC 540 Blog by Laura Orlowski. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540lauraorlowski/2023/09/13/whatsinyourbag/

Wang, B. (2023, September 8). Task 1: What’s in your bag? – Bingying (Iris) Wang-ETEC540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540bingyingwang/2023/09/08/task-1-whats-in-your-bag/

Yang, L. (n.d.). Yin + Yangster. Yin + Yangster. Retrieved October 4, 2023, from https://yangstercomics.com/

Links: My post for Task 2; Jerry’s post for Task 2

I chose to link to Jerry’s post because we have the same native language (Chinese). For this “Does language shape the way we think?” task, I thought it would be interesting to find similarities and differences between two people’s ways of thinking, especially when they speak the same language.

Tools used

We’re both using WordPress on UBC Blogs, so the content-authoring capabilities for our sites should be similar. However, we’re using different themes, resulting in differences in the end-user interface. For example, Jerry’s background color is white and the text color is dark grey, while mine is reversed. Also, the text size for my theme is larger than Jerry’s, meaning my post would appear longer.

For this task, we both primarily used text to represent our reflection. In addition, Jerry inserted the original YouTube video, while I used several images to help explain my words.

Content

Themes we both discussed

1. Different cultures use different directions to represent time.

We both discussed how different language speakers use different directions to represent time. Jerry mentioned that “this was something new I learned from watching the speech” (Chen, 2023). Because of my psychology background, I knew this phenomenon before watching the video. In my post, I tried to find the relationships between traditional Mandarin handwriting (vertical writing) and Chinese speakers’ representation of time (using a vertical axis).

2. Our experience learning English as a second language.

We both used our experience learning English as our second language to relate to Dr. Boroditsky’s claim that language shapes people’s thinking (SAR School for Advanced Research, 2017). As multilingual learners, our ways of thinking have changed after speaking English most of the time every day.

3. Changing how people talk can change how people think.

We both agreed that learning a new language changed how we think. Jerry emphasized grammar confusion when speaking different languages, while I talked more about my changed value, which is more aligned with individualism now.

4. Language influences what people pay attention to and how people process information.

We both agreed that language use can change information processing and what people pay attention to. Jerry related to his teaching experience as he used different wording to emphasize more important content. I emphasized the way different language speakers describe events influences their following memory.

5. The number-counting system is different across different cultures.

We both mentioned the Chinese number-counting system, which differs from the Canadian one. I mentioned in my post that “Chinese number system is relatively straightforward, and the names for numbers are highly regular” (Wang, 2023). Jerry used hand counting as another example to show that even body language differs across cultures. Jerry mentioned using “a one-hand counting method for representing the first ten numbers, and the classmates and teachers were very confused” (Chen, 2023).

New ideas from Jerry’s post

Jerry mentioned that Chinese standard greetings are asking whether you’ve eaten. I haven’t thought about this phenomenon when writing my post. Indeed, in China, people greet others by asking whether they have eaten breakfast, lunch, or dinner, depending on the time.

In Jerry’s post, he said that when he speaks Mandarin after using English the majority of the time every day, he sometimes uses incorrect grammar that would be correct in English. I highly emphasize Jerry’s experience. Moreover, I sometimes use English words when speaking Mandarin due to tip-of-the-tongue (failing to retrieve the corresponding Chinese words).

I appreciate Jerry’s idea that language is ever-changing and that new generations use existing words to mean new things. Due to cultural, technological, or societal changes, words often acquire new meanings over time. A representative example that came to my mind is the meaning of “6” in China. Its meaning changed from the original number six to an auspicious representation, then to modern Mandarin slang, which means “amazing, excellent, unbelievable, impressive.”

References

Chen, J. (2023, September 17). Task 2 | ETEC 540 – Jerry Chen. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etecjerrychen/2023/09/17/task-2/

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

Wang, B. (2023, September 9). Task 2: Does language shape the way we think? – Bingying (Iris) Wang-ETEC540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540bingyingwang/2023/09/09/task-2-does-language-shape-the-way-we-think/