ETEC 540 Site For Greg Patton

“Simon Stålenhag (b. 1984) is the internationally acclaimed author and artist behind Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood. His highly imaginative images and stories depicting illusive sci-fi phenomena in mundane, hyper-realistic Scandinavian and American landscapes have made Stålenhag one of the most sought-after visual storytellers in the world.”   

https://www.salomonssonagency.se/simon-stalenhag   

For this speculative assignment I decided to re-interpret two of Simon Stålenhag’s paintings as examples of the relationship between advanced technology and human culture.  I am completely enthralled with his artwork and the mix of futuristic technological ideas and the everydayness of the backgrounds.  I hope you find these stories enjoyable and thought-provoking. 

https://www.simonstalenhag.se/bilderbig/ark_tess_big.jpg

Recording taken from surveillance mic in Smart Refuse Unit #14807; 8:38pm April 3/2054.  Two voices heard: Simon (last name unknown) and Lang (no last name). 

Simon: You comin’ to watch this?  I thought this was your favourite show… 

Lang:  Meh… I’ve seen this episode like a million times.  Besides, the clouds are starting to bug out and they haven’t turned on the powerplant exhaust outputs so I bet we get about two thirds of the show, tops before you can’t see shit. 

Simon:  Always so negative Lang… come sit down, shut up, and enjoy the light show. 

Lang: (Sighs) Whatever.  Ever since they cut public access to cable and started broadcasting TV outside in the sky, I’ve kinda tuned out.  No choice anymore… 

Simon:  Well how else are you going to get people to go outside smartass?  It’s bad enough that we have to stay away from everyone because that virus is so easy to catch, but locking ourselves inside all day and night kinda sucks ass.  I’m stoked that we are allowed out to watch TV from 8-10; I can’t stand staring at the same walls all the time.  And to get away from the family!!  C’mon, you can’t stand being around Mom and Dad anymore than I can.  “Lang, take the garbage out.  Lang, go to the grocers and pick up these items.  Lang, someone is knocking at the door.  Answer it while we go in the shelter.”  We have no freedom man… they just tell us what to do and we blindly obey…  makes me sick. 

Lang:  Remember that time I got home from the store and we’d glued that fake dog shit onto my shoe and your parents saw it and started losing their shit and rushing around for their masks and everything?  Fuck man, that was priceless… I can’t believe they didn’t kick me out of the house after that.  It took us like 30 minutes to calm them down. (sound of both laughing) Who knew dog shit would be so scary? 

Simon:  Yeah, or that dogs would be the main carriers of this fucked up disease.  Man, I miss Gordon.  He was such a great dog… always ready to go hang out and play fetch at the park.  So fucking pissed we had to put him down… so pissed. 

Lang:  You know your parents had no choice; it was the fucking law!  What were they going to do?  Let him go so he could be like these other bug carriers roaming around spreading disease everywhere they piss and shit?  Had to be done man… had to be done.  Now, you just gotta become a cat lover like me.  Right Bert? (Cat meow heard) 

Simon:  You and that cat… unbelievable.  How can you even like that thing?  It barely acknowledges your existence… only reason he’s here right now is because he knows you have a can of food for him in your pocket.  Cats are messed… 

(Sound of can being opened) 

Lang:  Here ya go big guy… eat up.  Yeah, whatever, Bert has been with me from before I moved in with you and that’s… what?  Four years ago?  Five?  I don’t know, I’ve lost count… it’s all a blur.  Like the show you’re watching! (laughs) 

Simon:  Five years smartass… Thank God you moved in.  I was ready to throttle Mom and Dad by then.  Just the three of us and no one else to really hang with.  And Dad is so pathetic at video games… I mean at least he tried and shit, but man he would just sit there and bash buttons and end up trapped in the corner.  I can’t even count how many times I had to mercy shoot him in the back just so we could keep moving. 

Lang:  Probably as many times as I’ve had to do it to you, sloth boy.  Sometimes you are so slow at moving forward!  My God!  It’s like you get ADHD in there… Hey look!! Shiny object!  Was that a squirrel?  (Laughing heard)  

Simon:  Whatever douche, just because I still have to use a controller and you get to jack straight into the system… not fair dude, not fair. 

Lang:  Hey, just using the skills God gave me to kick your ass a little more efficiently, that’s all. 

Simon:  Speaking of kicking, remember that time your left knee gave out and you went and had it replaced, but they gave you the wrong model leg and it was like 3 inches too short?  That was priceless… you walked around looking like you were that disco star from that movie… what was his name?  Joel?  

Lang:  John… John Travolta.  And for your information, I loved that swagger I had then.  Worked well with the ladies, let me tell you. (Laughter heard from both) 

Simon:  I’m sure it did… just like that sexy nose of yours. 

Lang:  Hey now, take it easy on the beak.  I’m sensitive, mother fucker. 

Simon: Hey, I’ve never asked you, but why do you think you ended up with that white monstrosity?   

Lang:  Thank you for asking Simon, but it’s not a monstrosity; it’s my Pinocchio nose.  You see, every time I tell someone that you’re cool it grows just a bit longer.  It actually started out as an indent… 

Simon:  Ha ha… so fucking funny. 

Lang:  I know, I’m a master.  (Pause.  Sound of shoes scuffs)  From what I get, way back in the day, there was a harsh plague in Europe that killed mass amounts of people.  So docs back then didn’t know shit about it so they would totally bundle up and wear these crazy masks that looked like bird beaks.  They were super weird looking, but I guess if you saw that coming towards you it meant help was on its way.  I think that’s where they got my design; I’m helpful, right?  I run all your parents crazy errands outside so they don’t have to risk being infected like other people and I get to hang out with you and chill and do whatever.  They see me coming and they know that I’ve taken care of business.  I’m kinda like man’s best friend but with way cooler clothes and a shitty attitude… which I learned from you, dumbass! (Sounds of both laughing) 

Simon: Yeah, who knew I would be such an influential trendsetter!  Maybe for the next model they won’t allow them to be so open to learning how to act from their owners. (Pause)  Dude… you’re way better than Gordon.  You’re my best friend.  I don’t know where I would be if you hadn’t come along, man.  I was getting into a dark place in my head… this virus shit sucks so bad!  I miss just hanging out and shooting the shit with friends.  But… we get to do that so that’s cool.  You fucking rock Lang; don’t forget it. 

Lang:  Are we going to kiss now?  Because I ate a shit load of garlic for dinner… dude, you’re awesome and I feel pretty lucky to be part of your family.  As messed as your parents are, they love you… or they wouldn’t have brought me on board!  (Laughing heard from both)  Annnd… the clouds are gone!  Let’s head back and play some vids.  Come on Bert!  Time to kick it inside! 

Simon: Yeah, alright.  Just don’t shoot me in the back again, ok?  Last time you did that it zeroed me out and I lost all my shit. 

Lang:  I promise nothing! 

(Laughter can he heard fading away) 

  Recording Terminated 

https://www.simonstalenhag.se/bilderbig/by_roadwork_1920.jpg

Recording taken from Zoom Virtual Archives – Data #78614518: Audio of meeting between Henry Maranda, Director of Operations for Duracom Inc., Dean Sampson, Program Manager for Project Gaslight, and Fred Mallery, chief engineer for Project Gaslight. Meeting took place at 10:17am on October 21, 2055.

Maranda: Alright Sampson, what is so important that you had to pull me out of my meeting with the Venezuelans? We have the potential to make billions down there and I still have a lot of negotiating to do before we can get boots on the ground. Make this quick.

Sampson: Good morning sir. Sorry for interrupting you, but I wouldn’t do it unless it was of the utmost importance so that’s…

Maranda: Hold on… who else is in this meeting? I don’t recognize them.

Sampson: Ah, that would be Fred Mallery sir. He is the chief engineer for Project Gaslight. I asked him to join us as he is responsible for finding the flaw…

Maranda: Flaw? What flaw? And catch me up to speed on Gaslight… I know it has something to do with employee productivity but I’ve been so busy with this Venezuelan project that I’ve lost touch.

Sampson: Right… ok. Well, with the onset of this new pandemic we started researching ways in which to keep our employees both working on site and safe from infection. As most of our drilling and resource production takes place away from urban centres, we started looking at ways to keep our employees from traveling back and forth from home and work, thus minimizing infection occurring through people outside their work bubble. Gaslight was the answer. Instead of a crew working an eight-hour shift and then travelling home, they don their headsets and the virtual ocular manipulators replicate the restive state of a normal eight-hour sleep cycle in just two. The employee, ready for another day, takes off their headset, eats the nutrition pouches we supply them, and continues with their work. This drove our productivity rates through the roof as we were completing projects well ahead of schedule and were able to promise completion dates far better than our competition.

Maranda: Right, right… I remember. Gaslight has been quite the boon for the company. And now you’re telling there’s a flaw?

Sampson: Well… yes. You see… maybe I should get Mallery to step in here.

Mallery: Oh, hi… I mean good morning gentlemen. Let me begin by saying it is a great honour to speak with you Mr. Maranda. I have admired your work with neophysicality for…

Maranda: Cut to the chase Mallery.

Mallery: Right. (sound of a cough) So what we have noticed in the past week or so is a dramatic drop in productivity from our Gaslight crews. Actually, as of 1:43am this morning, productivity has hit zero.

Maranda: Excuse me?

Mallery: All job sites are presently at a standstill. No one is working.

Maranda: Don’t tell me they all want to unionize because I will go find workers who will be more than happy to…

Mallery: No, it’s not that. It has to do with the headsets.

Maranda: What? They don’t want to wear them? Listen, these people fully knew what they were signing up for when they took these positions, and they are being thoroughly compensated. If we need to fire a crew to show the rest we mean business…

Sampson: No, it’s not that they don’t want to wear the headsets. It’s that they won’t take them off.

Maranda: What the hell are you talking about?

Mallery: You see, Gaslight is designed around idea of resting an individual’s senses and body though intense virtual euphoria. The subject is surrounded by what they see is their ultimate dream and while they experience this sensation, their body rapidly recovers from the trials of the workday. A side effect, and one we thought beneficial, is that the worker experiences a euphoric feeling at the two-hour mark, which makes them feel even more refreshed and ready to return to work. What we didn’t anticipate was that if they left the headset on after the two-hour mark, the euphoric feeling stayed, though slightly diminished, and then returned with more intensity every two hours. Even without the dream sequence happening, workers are choosing to leave the headsets on for the euphoria.

Maranda: So get someone out there and rip those things from their heads!

Sampson: It’s not that easy. Each headset has been individually set up for each worker and only recognizes their fingerprints and biowaves. Someone else rips it off and it may send a shock through the virtual optics and destroy the wearer’s vision… or brain… we’re not sure.

Maranda: What do you mean “you’re not sure”??!

Mallery: Addiction was never taken into account when we came up with Gaslight. Quite the opposite, we thought that crews would absolutely refuse to wear the headsets. Hence why we were so happy with the euphoria side effect.

Maranda: So what you are telling me is that I have crews of workers across the globe standing around doing nothing like fucking zombie addicts?! Oh my God… how many work sites did we install Gaslight into?

Sampson: Ummm… all of them.

Maranda: What?

Mallery: Preliminary numbers were so enthusiastic that the Board decided to implement Gaslight across the board. It really is quite the invention when you…

Maranda: Shut up. Let me think… (quite a long pause) Ok, how do we fix this? Tell me your ideas… I know you didn’t come here without knowing some way out of this. Let’s hear it.

(Another pause)

Mallery: Well, there is one sure fire way for this to end. We wait for the batteries in the units to die. This will then release all workers from the headsets with no complications whatsoever.

Maranda: Perfect!! I knew you would have an answer… so how long until the batteries die?

Sampson: Well, (cough heard) as we used our most advanced batteries for Gaslight, we are looking at about six to seven months.

Maranda: Jesus Christ…

Sampson: And on top of that, the workers aren’t eating or drinking fluids so they will waste away to nothing and die if we don’t send crews to each site to monitor them and make sure they are properly nourished. If even one dies… the lawsuits…

Maranda: Stop… just… stop. (a beeping is heard) That’s the CEO calling. She wants an update on all our jobs. How am I going… what do I? Alright… you two organize crews to go to each site and start figuring out what we need to keep everyone alive. I will go talk to the CEO and inform her of the “flaw” in Gaslight. Then I think all of us better start getting our resumes in order. Jesus Christ…

Mallery: Again sir, it is an honour to finally…

Call Terminated

“Gold Leader: It’s no good. I can’t maneuver.
Gold Five: Stay on target.
Gold Leader: We’re too close.
Gold Five: Stay on target.
Gold Leader: Loosen up!”
Star Wars (1977)

I have no idea why, but after hearing about this “User Inyerface” project this quote got stuck in my head. And I found it really helped; through the attempts at setting up my password and uploading a picture and, slowly, extremely slowly, watching the help window slide down out of view I kept reminding myself that it’s not worth getting frustrated and to just stay on target and get through. It wasn’t until I had to prove that I was human (my family is overjoyed that I now have proof!) that I started to lose it. Choose all things that are glasses? Before my career in education, I was a licensed optician (I made prescription glasses) so this task to me seemed simple. Pictures of glasses? Check. Pictures of drinking glasses? Well… those ones are tumblers, but sure; check! Now pieces of glass? No, that is not glasses!! And then I failed. Choose all things that are light? Lightbulbs are light… fires let off light… a feather is light I guess… but that bike? Well, it’s a road bike, so it’s lighter than my mountain bike, but it looks like it’s steel so it’s not very light compared to my carbon road bike… lighter than a car though.
It was the absolute absence of a black and white answer that killed me. And with nothing on the line short of my existence as a human no less! The last screens were all personal opinions (and I’m pretty sure it didn’t matter what you chose, you were doing all those screens) and when it told me that I had not proven my humanity yet and try again! that I really started to lose my focus (stay on target) and second guessed my answers (stay on target!).
When we interface with sites on the web, we expect our interactions to be smooth and easy; instructions should be clear and concise and transitions between screens should be fluid. Everyone has gotten so used to what these screens will look like that we don’t read them anymore; we scan and quickly fill in the blanks as fast as possible to move on. The answers to prove you are not a robot are black and white (look for star wars characters to prove you are human) because it is a step in the process and not something we are suppose to put time into reflecting on if that bike really is light. Personally, I have a hard time dealing with sites that have spelling mistakes, especially professional or consumer sites as they PAY people to look out for these (and I bet my carbon road bike that we have all come across sites with one or two of these dark patterns in them and still finished our transaction), that if I was to come upon a checkout window as complex as this “User Inyerface”) I think I would happily close the window up and continue searching.
I’d stay on target.

As I have said previously, I found the task of curating the Golden Record playlist from 27 songs down to 10 a challenging task, so I thought that analyzing that data would be a somewhat daunting task as well.  But I really enjoyed using the Palladio App and seeing ways in which I could manipulate the results and devising different ways to analyze the curation data and it sparked some ideas for this assignment.  I chose to look at five different manipulations of the data.

1. Modularity_Class

Before I started manipulating the different inputs or rearranging nodes, this was the first dimension I brought up.  It put me in a group with two other people (Erin and Ravneet) where we had a modularity agreement of 7 out of 30 songs . All three of us shared three songs together.

“Modularity is one measure of the structure of networks or graphs which measures the strength of division of a network into modules (also called groups, clusters or communities). Networks with high modularity have dense connections between the nodes within modules but sparse connections between nodes in different modules.”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modularity_(networks)#Modularity

The program had decided that the three of us had the densest connections together when looking at the entire community as a whole, with the least amount of sparse connections.

2. Most Similar

I wanted to know who had the most similar playlist to me, so I then went through each source (person) and put them with me to see who I had the most connections with.  Binal and Jasmine both shared six songs with me, while together we shared eight out of our ten songs together.  I found this really interesting as though I do not know Jasmine, I work with Binal!  Even though we talk daily (and not just about class), we never discussed our lists until after the assignment was handed in.  Binal and I are quite different at work; she is a fantastic teacher with a keen scientific mind and a love for helping students while my attributes lean towards the English and Socials subjects and I don’t teach much at all now that I am in an administrative role, yet we get along really well and have collaborated on assignments for other courses very capably (at least I think so!) and she is definitely someone I would consider a good friend.  So looking at this data made me wonder if maybe there is a connection between compatibility and music; maybe if I met Jasmine (Hi Jasmine!) that we would get along quite well too.  This led me to my next choice…

3. Least Similar

Melissa Drake and I share two songs out of lists: The Magic Flute and the Senegal Percussion.  Now, if I go with the assumption I made in my previous analysis, would this make Melissa and I incompatible?  In this instance, I have met and worked with Melissa in another class and have found her to be a totally awesome person.  But it would be interesting to sit and find out how much we have in common or how compatible our personalities are.  But, I think this data needs to be taken with a grain of salt as we are really looking at a small community and you have to wonder how reliable the data is on such a small sample size.

4. “Classical” Music

I use the term classical loosely here, like in a record store where they put everything under certain large genre labels, but one thing I noticed right away with the Golden Record playlist was the abundance of classical pieces.  By my definition of classical (European Classical) there are eight tracks of music; this is quite a lot of a playlist that is suppose to represent all the music of the Earth.  There was some justification made in the podcast we listened to, that classical music is very math-like and there is a chance that extra terrestrial life may understand mathematics. (#65, Voyager Golden Record. Twenty Thousand Hertz)  But that made me start to think about biases and stereotypes in regards to music. I think there is a bias in our culture that “smart, educated” people enjoy classical music (and jazz tends to get thrown in there as well), while others enjoy the “simpler” sounds of pop music (this would encompass country/hip hop/rock too).  This playlist actually reinforces this bias; to be blunt, a bunch of smart scientists got together and made a playlist with eight out of twenty seven tracks coming from the classical genre.  And twenty out of twenty-one students from our class chose at least one song for their playlist, and some would argue that, as we are in a Masters program, we all fall into that highly educated bracket that appreciate classical music.  Interesting…

5. American Culture

Examining the euro-centric bias of classical music made me want to look at another cultural assumption.  Within the Golden Record playlist are three songs that could be argued as forbearers to American Jazz, Blues, and Rock music.  American culture, with music being a part of it, is one of the most dominant cultures on Earth, and this influence can be seen within the curation data.  Seventeen people out of the twenty-one chose either Melancholy Blues, Johnny B. Goode, or Dark Was the Night; eight people chose two songs, and one person chose all three.  This was a substantial amount, but it wasn’t as big of an impact as the classical pieces had (though they did not take up as much of the playlist).  How come?  Could it be that these songs, as the ancestral beginnings of these music genres, sound dated and not as “valuable” to keep as others?  I know myself that I found Johnny B. Goode as not the example of rock/pop that I would choose; the spacecraft was launched in the late 1970’s and there had been an abundance of examples of rock/pop that I would have thought more suitable to be immortalized (there was this small band called The Beatles I think that may have had a hit or two).  Could this also show the fleetingness of rock music compared with the stalwart music of the classical genre?  Do “smart scientists” always go back to the roots of a culture instead of immortalizing more modern?  More food for thought.

I love how the analysis of the data has allowed for more questions and examination in regards to the choices made; this could be such a powerful tool when it comes to political or societal analysis.  I think the only real drawback is making sure the community participating is big enough to mirror the results for a population.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modularity_(networks)#Modularity

Episode 65, Voyager Golden Record. Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast

“Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do’s and don’ts. First of all, you’re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.”

Rob (John Cusak), High Fidelity (2000)

This assignment brought me back to my younger years when I worked (volunteered really) in my friend’s record store in Nanaimo. We listened to EVERYTHING that came into the store and critiqued, lambasted, and relished all of it. As long as it was in the store, we could listen to it. Now, I have Spotify… it is what I used to find the songs on the Voyager Golden Record (there was a playlist!) because, as big as my collection is, it did not have all those cuts. Spotify is expansive! But… I have records that are not on it; quite a few actually. This brought back Abby Smith’s article “Why Digitize?” and the notion of digitalizing everything.

“Depending on the policy of a library or archival institution, the original of a scanned item may or may not be retained after reformatting.” Smith (1999)

A big part of the story behind a record is that artwork that graces the covers and inside of an LP. Time and effort go into that process and I believe that it is becoming a dying art form as we all enjoy music digitally without stopping to take in the entire package (I can still remember the first time I saw my Dad’s copy of The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers with an actual zipper built into… I still have it!) like the artist expected. Just because we have digital copies of something does not mean that the original should be discarded and forgotten.

So, back to our assignment, I found this “curating” quite a hard assignment as not only am I judging one artist’s work over another without really any knowledge about a lot of these pieces, I am tearing apart some pretty smart people’s mixtape. I decided in the end to go with the easiest knowledge base I could think of: I went with songs I liked and felt I could connect with. And in that there are biases: I’m not a fan of voice-only tracks (I actually prefer instrumental music), classical music with loads of instruments (symphonies) tend to make me zone out, my parents’ favourite music obsession when I was young was collecting Mozart operas (and listening to Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band on repeat… sigh, thanks Dad) so I have a sentimental attachment, I really enjoy music that is different, with strange sounds or instrumentation, and I think both Louis Armstrong and Glenn Gould are musical geniuses. So, with all these biases completely on my sleeve I went and chose my ten. Which leads me to another quote:

“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.”

Rob (John Cusak), High Fidelity (2000)

My Voyager Golden Record Mixtape

“Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05

Japan, shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (“Crane’s Nest,”) performed by Goro Yamaguchi. 4:51

Senegal, percussion, recorded by Charles Duvelle. 2:08

Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48

China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams,” performed by Kuan P’ing-hu. 7:37

Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30

Solomon Islands, panpipes, collected by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service. 1:12

India, raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho,” sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar. 3:30

Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor. 2:55

“Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15

(Most of the writing for this was done while listening to The Beta Band’s 3 EPs… which will make sense if you have seen High Fidelity.)

Reference:

Smith, A. (1999). Why digitize? Retrieved June 15, 2019, from Council on Library and Information Resources website: https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub80-smith/pub80-2/

“The concept of Design emphasizes the relationship between received modes of meaning  (Available Designs), the transformation of these modes of meaning in their hybrid and  intertextual use (Designing), and their subsequent to-be-received status (The Redesign).”  

The New London Group. (1996), p. 81 

The process of my redesign of Task One, What’s in Your Bag?, was more challenging that I thought it would be.  Transforming the assignment from a traditional text explanation of a visual picture to something else seemed easy at first; a quick PowerPoint of everything in my bag and their uses or a podcast of myself describing the contents.  But then I went back to the idea brought up by The New London Group of trying to ensure that individual differences are not barriers to educational success (The New London Group. (1996), p. 61).  If I redesign in a purely visual form, how does that help students who are visually impaired?  If I redesign in a purely audio form, where does that leave students who are visual learners or English language learners who need the scaffolding of a visual representation as they are learning?  I remember French class in high school, where we would listen to tapes of French being spoken, and I was lost.  But when our teacher switched to a video and visuals were used to show representation of the words I started to understand more.  It was this blending of these modes that I thought would be most beneficial to a student, so I fell on the idea of a video.  Then, stepping back and watching my kids cemented it. 

My kids watch videos to learn (yes, they watch videos to laugh at epic fails and see people do weird dances too but let me have this).  Owen has taught himself origami by watching YouTube videos and has recently developed an origami slinky that not only descends the stairs like the old spring but rotates as it works its way down.  Abby supplements her Band classes on the flute with more lessons online and has become very proficient at it.  I won’t even mention how many times we have searched online for a video about a topic they about at school and wanted to know more.  I myself have started recording Jamie Oliver shows and attempting to cook meals (and… patting myself on the back here, I’m getting to be an ok cook!).  Videos seem to me to be a good example of The New London Group’s idea of “multiliteracies” (The New London Group. (1996), p. 63). 

I knew I couldn’t do this alone so I gathered the professionals that were surrounding me; my family.  But as we worked on this project, I tried to keep in mind the ideas of PostFordism (The New London Group. (1996), p. 66) and collaboration with my kids.  Yes, I was in charge, but when it came to the things each kid took on, I stepped away and let them tell me what their “vision” was.  Owen came up with the set, the personality of his character as my sidekick (he meant business), and sound effects, while Abby had carte blanche when it came to the sign and the filming of the video.  Allowing them the opportunity to take a lead on certain things, instead of me telling them what to do, may have been more time consuming, but I believe the sense of accomplishment in the end and how proud they were of it when it was done was genuine and completely worth it. 

Granted the redesign was definitely more time consuming than the traditional text assignment, I felt that it has more opportunity to benefit more learners with its multi-modal concept.  Especially in an age of technology where anyone with a Wi-Fi connection can watch videos and learn about a plethora of subjects, we need to meet students on the level of learning they are accustomed to and not try to make them revert back to the stand and deliver model that most of us grew up with and kept us from being true collaborators in our learning. 

By the way, I paid the kids in pizza… 

The New London Group.  (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. (Links to an external site.)  Harvard Educational Review 66(1), 60-92. 

I had a pretty good idea what recently-watched movie I was going to attempt to “emoji-ize” while I was reading the articles this week… and then I came upon this quote:

“Representation and communication are motivated by the social; its effects are outcomes of the economic and the political.  To think or act otherwise is to follow phantoms.” Kress (2005), p. 6

This immediately brought to mind this piece of graphic design:

This is an iconic poster; political in its inception, it has also influenced the artist economically as they and their form of art became more famous (or is it infamous?) after the release of this and broke into modern culture.  I also found it completely ironic that this graphic designer’s chosen form of art actually make them and their fellow artists a form of a phantom (I might be giving too much away here).

“Graphic designers sought to show that a combination of word and image offered an experience that was more authentic than the conventional printed page could offer alone.” Bolter, J. D. (2001), p. 70

We all know there were numerous articles written in support of Barak Obama in his bid to become the 44^th President of The United States.  But this perfect blend of word and imagery, with the boldness of the picture combined with the colour palette (red, beige, and blue) and the single word “HOPE”, had more impact within the American culture than most written news stories did in 2008.  It came to represent the 2008 Presidential race and is a perfect example of the “Breakout of the Visual”. Bolter, J. D. (2001)

I have digressed (sort of) from my emoji movie.  This is a little bit more of an obscure movie but, after the epiphany I had above, I knew this film was the right one for this module and I wanted to attempt it.  I started with the title; with this film I couldn’t think of where else to start.  I relied on a combination of breaking words into syllables, swapping an emoji for an entire word, ignoring an article, and hoping (praying really) that some would get a few pop culture references.  As per usual, I had professional help from my son; and his aid really showed me the differences between our generations.  Even at eleven years old, and a very basic chat app on his Ipod, he was quick with coming up with what emoji could entirely replace a word, yet when I switched to syllables, actually breaking down the written language, it was I that came up with the emojis.  I really felt like this title chose me after I had read both articles and I wholeheartedly recommend it… once you figure it out!

Another aside: I drove to Mt. Seymour this morning for my weekend bike ride.  As I turned off the highway onto Mt. Seymour Parkway, I came upon road construction and a sign showing the speed and how much over the posted speed limit (40 km/hr) you are going.  The sign started blinking 43 km/hr; I ignored it as 3 kms… come on!  The sign then switched to a sad face emoji.  I immediately started to slow down and feel guilty.  I then thought, “Why?  Why does that face have that effect on me, and obviously other people?”  I just thought that this was such a bold example of how emojis are so powerful and absorbed within our new modern culture and that they are a language unto themslves.

Spaceship of Death!

(right click)

My strategy for making my twine was simple: I cheated.  I brought in an expert to help me with the whole process because I knew that they  would have great ideas for a story and they’re pretty knowledgeable around a computer.  The ringer is my 11 year old son, Owen.  The minute I showed him the example Twine, he wanted to help me with mine, and I am not turning down any opportunity to spend time with my kids.  How did I know he would have good ideas for this assignment?  His two favourite gifts from his birthday and Christmas: 

We chose space as the theme as he had been playing an online game called “Among Us” a lot and was really into space.  He had designed a boardgame loosely based after the videogame; that is where the three main characters came from as they are game pieces for it.  Please don’t ask why one is a Pirate and one has a pumpkin on his head… that’s pure Owen; the boy is imaginative.  As we worked our way through the story, we decided that not all endings will be happy; far from it.  There are four possible endings, and only one allows the character to live.  This brought us back to the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books; I always found that there were way more opportunities to perish than live in those books (I could be wrong and just have a poor sense of making choices) and found that to be part of the attraction of reading them.    

The hypertext linking was definitely like going down a rabbit hole.   We could have kept linking off of branches and been completely carried away from the actual plot into a whole other subplot quite easily.  I think that is one of the benefits of hypertext within online reading; it can take the reader off on a whole other tandem that they may not have known about.   Link that access to curiosity with the real time speed of the internet and you have a powerful tool for information. 

A complete aside: if anyone really loved reading the Choose Your Own Adventure books, I highly recommend the board game.  There are lots of little pieces and it takes some time getting used to it, but it ends up being a collaborative choose your own adventure.  It’s pretty fun watching the members of your family try to come to a consensus on the next move… and they aren’t looking at their devices!! 

Task 4 Writing Enlarged

Do you normally write by hand or type? Did you find this task difficult or easy? Explain.

All of my formal writing, especially for work, is done on a computer. But I still do all my notes and rough drafts by hand. I leave numerous post-its around my desk to remind me of things; that sounds old school, but I find that I pay attention to them more than just throwing a note in my phone. I am also not a very good typist; I’m 2 to 3 fingers max so I do find that handwriting is a lot faster for me to get my thoughts out.

What did you do when you made a mistake or wanted to change your writing? How did you edit your work? Did your choice of media play a part in how you edited your work?

Seeming as I thought of this as a rough reflection, I didn’t go back and edit my work. I did make mistakes however, and what I usually do is try to fix it on the paper; add a letter where I forgot one, fix a spelling mistake, or ultimately cross out a word and redo it. A funny thing: I started this assignment and finished the first paragraph when one of my kids came in and took me off task (they wanted to play chess). Once I came back to my paragraph, I quickly read it over and noticed that I had missed words. Small ones, the ones you just automatically say when you read something even if they aren’t there. I decided to start over again.

What do you feel is the most significant difference between writing by hand and using mechanized forms of writing? Which do you prefer and why?

The most significant difference between these two for me is speed. I write quite quickly; hence why I sometimes end up missing some words. My typing skills are lacking so I am not a fast; my wife can type between 90 to 100 words a minute and makes me feel tremendously inadequate. I also like the feel of holding a finished copy in my hand. I think this is because I am an older guy and haven’t embraced technology to some of the younger generation’s degree. One of my favourite smells in the world is the smell of secondhand bookstores, where I love hanging out in and adding to my shelves; I also have a large record collection in my basement. The pen I use for the majority of my writing was the first gift my in-laws gave me for Christmas. The feeling of having something in the end still resonates with me; I can’t entirely entrust myself to technology with my writing. Plus, I really love my pen!

“Testing 123 alright this seems like it’s going to work so I am doing my spoon speech to text my name is Greg fountain and this is the first time I have ever tried anything like this IPhone yeah I’ve used or seen students use it and they tend to like it so I found this a little awkward to start with so I decided to put music on in the background which is kind of calming me down because I’m sitting talking to a computer so yeah so I put on a jazz album now it’s not that old Dave Brubeck album so it’s instrumental so that this won’t pick up any any words or anything like that um yeah so I’m going to start just by I was going to discuss what my favorite part of the weekend was or is but yeah no I have always kind of done oral things I was did acting and things like that when I was younger so there shouldn’t be as hard as it is but it just feels awkward when I was young I used to I used to listen to stand up comedy alot Bill Cosby was one of my favorite ’cause I would get my dad’s old records and listen to them actually I taped them all so I could listen to them in my room late at night I know even talking about Bill Cosby nowadays seems a bit taboo with everything that’s gone down with him but those always be give me to me it allowed gave me some confidence in using my voice ’cause I would pretend I was doing standup and an with an audience and trying to make them laugh and that’s what decks come through even now when when I used to teach but now I don’t teach as much as vice principle and my weeks are filled with administrative duties and new things to do with the school that we just moved into in the West brand new high school lots of glass I’ll lots of lots of deficiencies and things like that which I am in charge of at the new school so by the time we hit Friday I am ready for a break and that’s what I was going to talk about but I’m find that Friday Friday evening is not what the Friday evening used to be back when I was quite a bit younger of you’re so happy it’s there and now you’re going out with your friends or you’re doing something on a date or something like that Friday evening is basically going to bed right after the kids go to bed ’cause you were exhausted from the weekend and all the stuff that’s piled on you during the week that you just kind of want to shrug off overnight so you go to bed early and try to sleep in at least I try to sleep in but for me asleep in his seven o’clock which isn’t too bad I’m pretty excited about that but then I find that you still have work on your brain and your body is still a bit stressed and you’re still thinking about things so I find or I’ve noticed that it’s usually like I’d say that weekend really starts to actually kick in around Oh my favorite part is by about 4:30 4:30 Saturday nights I cook I try my hardest my wife’s amazing and she cooks most of the week because I don’t get home until probably like six 6:30 so she does an amazing job during the week so I’ve taken it upon myself to try to cook Saturdays and Sundays of Saturdays my first meal that I usually try to cook and I’m trying my absolute hardest to cook as healthy as I can and this might sound cheesy but I I firm believer in’s Jamie olivers cookbooks and I used one all the time he has called 15 minute meals or something like that and I don’t cook in 15 minutes I’m not I can’t multitask like that I burn the house down but I the meals are so good the kids love them we love them so I usually kick into a meal around 4:35 o’clock start getting everything ready and then once they start doing that everything from the whole last week just kind of goes away it’s nice and put some music on my wife will come in and help the kids will be around well one of the kids my youngest one will be there ’cause he still grade 7 my daughter’s grade 9 so she’s upstairs on her phone chatting with friends or looking at Instagram or something like that she comes down a bit later we find that at that point the whole stress of the week just starts to go away while we start to gathering start cooking it’s such a good feeling and then we try really hard in our family to have family time Saturday evening so it’s usually will play it board game or will will watch a movie or we play a game on we have a Nintendo switch that has four player board game kind of deals on it where we all play together even though again my wife amazing that she’s not the greatest video game player in the world so yeah I will do that and then in the evenings after the kids go to bed we in my life and I either get to watch a show or just sit back on the couch with it drink him read our books and just kind of relax for a bit and not worry about anything and then to bed the next morning it starts to fade I usually get up early Sundays and because I usually go for a mountain bike ride almost always go for a bike ride which is an amazing stress relief tune another way of not thinking about anything to do with work but usually by the time I’m coming home from that or if I’m on my way there ’cause I usually have about somewhere between half an hour to an hour drive to get to a place where we’re going work starts to see back in what’s up for next week what do I have to do you know all those things that are coming especially with the uncertainty of what next year will look like we’re already starting to plan for that all that kind of fun stuff starts to come back in and usually and again I cook Sunday night as well but I find Sunday night dinner not is not as fun as Saturday nights because things other things start to see back in your starting to think about gotta get the kids to bed early I’ve got stuff that I mean I need to get together after dinner to bring to work tomorrow yeah it’s just not as not quite the same so my favorite part absolutely favorite part of the weekend is that probably from 4 4:35 o’clock Saturday until I wake up and get in the base well I’d say when I start to come home from my mountain bike my mountain bike ride on Sunday that it’s just such a it seems like such a small time ’cause you have two days and you kind of broken it down into a lot smaller overtime but one of those are the things that I really I love to remember about with my weekends OK I’ve gone through 2 songs on my Dave Brubeck album here so I am going to say that this is done and bid everyone font farewell”

Well now, that was quite the experiment! As I tried to say in the above voice to text, I don’t use this option on my phone or anything else so this was all new to me. Of course, the first drastic thing I noticed that deviated from written English is the complete lack of punctuation. I did open up another document and experimented after with saying the punctuation at the proper spots (comma) but as this was suppose to be an oral story, and that is definitely not something I would do if I’m telling a story to a friend (exclamation mark), so I didn’t do it. I think that what has always attracted me to oral traditions is that gentle reading of the audience and knowing where and when to put pauses in for emphasis and where things need to go like stream of conscious so that listeners can grasp more insight into the story. “Umms”, “yeahs”, “like”; these are all words people tend to use for pauses in stories, to gather where they are and where they are going, and they are not used really in written text unless it is during character conversations, either to others or with themselves.

Another deviation from written English the lack of paragraphs (like I just did!). We tend to structure our writing into concise chunks of information; each chunk contending a certain thought or situation somewhat separate from the last or next. I look at the speech to text and quickly want to break it up into paragraphs as I feel that will make it make more sense and not look so daunting to the reader.

There are quite a few things wrong with the conversion, my favourite being my new pen name: Greg Fountain (I sound like a spy), but I really like what is right. The main idea of the story is present there for the reader (my “happy-time” during the weekend), and even with the jargon mistakes, word mix ups, and the loss of inflection and quiet laughs and pauses, I feel the tone of the piece is still there.

Scripting it would have changed the story; but I actually want to discuss what is meant by “scripted”. If I had scripted it as in wrote it all down and read it word for word, I argue that this would not count as a traditional oral story; it would be a written story that is being read. I am not taking away from that either! A family tradition of ours is to listen to Allan Maitland read “The Shepherd” on CBC at Christmas time. He was a master story teller, as was Stuart McLean on The Vinyl Café, but it isn’t quite the same as sitting around a campfire telling improvised ghost stories. Scripting the story and then putting it away and going from memory would be definitely closer to the more improvised, straight from the hip, approach I took. I remember when I used to volunteer with my father in community theatre there was a gentleman who had memorized some of W.O. Mitchel’s short stories about “Jake and The Kid”. He would sit on a stool on the stage and recite them to the audience (I was the lighting guy). As I saw him perform this over three weeks, I can attest that it was different than straight reading; he would change where he paused for emphasis, he made mistakes, he forgot things and came back. But unless you had seen the performance on several occasions you would never know. If I had undertaken this approach, I think the text would have been more disciplined: I had an idea of where I was going, but also let thoughts that organically came up take root and move what I was saying in their direction. With a script the piece would have been more focused.

I think that leads us to a main difference between oral and written storytelling. Once the written story has been published, there is no changing that form. The reader may change the story in their mind (characters pictured differently, pauses contrastly interpreted, but the story, for lack of a better term, is set in stone. Sit around with a bunch of people discussing a topic (fishing, biking, trips, etc) and invariably you will have everyone start telling stories. It is at this time a neat “game” starts to happen: the “One Up” game. The next story has to be a bit bigger than the last; the fish bigger, the jump higher, the trip more bizarre. Oral stories have that ability to morph into what is needed to keep the audience listening. It is this fluidity with embellishments that captures the audience into listening to stories they may have heard before, as that 8 pound trout may all of a sudden become a 15 pound bass and that 2 feet of air I pulled off last weekend becomes 10.

And so, again, I bid you a font farewell!

Greg Fountain (Super Spy)

Hi! I’m Greg Patton and this is my bag.

So, yes I do carry a bag to and from work, but it basically carries a computer, charger, water bottle and lunch, so I thought I would go with a bag that I actually spend time thinking about what it contains. This is my biking bag (I like to think of it as my adventure pack or enduro bag, but my daughter quickly brings me back down to earth with the pronouncement, “It’s a fanny pack!”) and I wear it whenever I go mountain biking on the amazing trails surrounding me in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. I do not wash this bag; it is strictly utilitarian and once the mud is dry it all falls off anyways. Other than my helmet and bike, this bag is one of the more essential things I need when I am out biking.

What is in my bag? Item and justification
• Truck keys: Better to keep them with me than in the ignition.
• Ear buds: Last ride I did was a solo one so I listen to music… but at a lowish level so I can still hear bears.
• Wallet with license, credit/debit cards, and some cash: Again, probably better with me than in the truck. Also, if for some reason I get hurt and need medical assistance my care card number is there.
• Small pump: Always good to have to keep the tires firm.
• Cell phone: Great to use in emergencies, but also with the app Trailforks, it is my guide to areas and trails I haven’t ridden before.
• 2 Tire levers: In case I need to take my tire off and put in a tube (I run my tires tubeless).
• CO2 cartridge: A quick and easy way to inflate a flat.
• Multi-tool: Useful for tightening just about every bolt on the bike and as a makeshift bottle opener after the ride is over.
• Nuun hydration tablets: Especially on a long ride I like to keep these handy to throw in with a water refill to help keep the electrolytes level up. I have a friend who just pops them in their mouth and chomps on them. I think they may have broken one too many helmets…
• Spare gloves: In rainy, cold weather like now it is so nice to put on dry gloves before you start heading down the trails.
• Extra water bottle (is held on outside of bag, but I’m counting it): I have become very mindful of staying hydrated so on longer rides I will bring both a bottle in a cage on my bike and this bottle in my pack.
• Small container with Advil and/or Tylenol (extra strength): Pain killers definitely help take the physical sting out of a crash.
• Protein bar (half eaten): Along the lines of hydration, I try hard to stay ahead of feeling low on energy and bars definitely help with that (though last ride I obviously wasn’t that hungry…)

Now, what do these items say about me? I would believe that they would tell people:
• I am active.
• I am active outdoors; all year long.
• I live somewhere where it is possible to be active all year long.
• I am prepared: both to take care of myself and my bike.
• I live within driving distance of where I use this bag and will drive longer distances to enjoy this activity (water bottle is from Whistler).
• I am employed, as my license has an address of a house on it, so I can afford accommodations, I have a credit and debit card from a financial institution so I must have some good credit, and mountain biking is not an inexpensive sport to get into (I won’t go into the prices of my bikes… yes, that is plural).
• I use technology while taking part in this activity; be it either mapping trails or listening to Bluetooth headphones.
• I tend to be more functional with my belongings; the bag is dirty because cleaning it will not make me a better rider, the gloves were bought on sale so as to save some money instead of choosing more expensive fabric pattern, the multi-tool is older and rusty yet still works so does not need to be replaced, I could throw away the half eaten bar and replace it but prefer to keep it even though I couldn’t tell you what it tastes like, and my phone is covered in a Life Proof case that is quite bulky and awkward but is completely water proof and shock absorbent.

If you examine the contents of my bag through the Greek definition of text as a creation and then further extrapolate that to the notion that text is technology, then everything in my bag is a text. They are functional creations that aid me in my adventures in the woods. Some can be seen as quite “low tech” (tire levers are basically a strong bent piece of plastic), but I would like to look at an example that would be seen as higher technology. My phone has become a vital piece of text for me when I go on my rides. Yes, it does it’s basic functions as a communication device with other people and as an emergency connection if aid is needed. But it has opened up another language for me in the form of cartography. The app Trailforks allows me to map out rides at different locales using a language that I quickly understand: take gravel road (purple trail) up to trailhead (green, blue, black, or red) and then start riding down, being mindful of bridges, jumps, and gaps (icons on the digital trail). Riders will also leave notes about descriptions and conditions of trails and alerts if trees have fallen and blocked them. To a non-rider, or trail hiker, this language may not make sense or be entirely helpful, but for me it has become something that I take part in before every endeavor out into the woods.

I’m a Vice Principal and that notion always brings forth the image of Asst. Principal Richard Vernon from Breakfast Club or Principal Edward R. Rooney in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; suit wearing, hard-nosed, yet somewhat bumbling. When I actually think about it, my bag does reflect my outwardly projection, which is quite a far cry from John Hughes’ narrative of a school administrator. I find myself far more function over fashion; I worry way more about how the school runs than how people perceive me. Given the choice between giving a tour of our new school to senior administrators and helping a teacher get their projector functioning I will always choose the later. I tend to find my image as more down to earth; worrying about if everything is running well.

Now, if you had asked me 25 years ago to look in my bag things would be different. It would still be a bike bag; just not a mountain bike one but a commuter bag. It would be full of books, food water, and dress clothes as I commuted to my full time job as an Optician in North Vancouver during the day then out to UBC for night courses to complete my degree. Again, this bag would be primarily functional, but way more cumbersome, yet still vital to the success of the activity at hand; graduation.

I can only hope when the future Indiana Jones, whip in hand, stumbles upon my enduro bag (fanny pack) that he can devise that the person who owned this bag was someone who loved being outside on some sort of basic transportation that did not need highly technical tools to keep it working. With a closer examination of the contents he may hypothesize that this outdoor experience could be enhanced with the use of some text technologies that were apparent on their communication device and which showed the use of communication through lines and colours. That this person cared more for what the contents of the bag could do for them than what the bag could represent as a symbol in their culture. Function over fashion.