Hello, I’m Lianghui Zhang (or you can call me Helen). After graduating from UBC computer engineering, I started to work in my hometown Beijing. I have worked in a large technology company for a few months, and now I’m working in a small company as a data analyst and teacher for part of our professional development program in data analysis.

For this task, I took a photo of my work backpack. Here is a list of all my items from top left to bottom right:

– Alcohol wipes from two brands. One brand is “Xinxiangyin” with the label “New packaging. Skincare wipes that contains APG cleaning molecules and lemon and seaweed extracts. Softly clean the skin and deeply moisturize it. One piece.” The other is from the restaurant “Song Fa” with labels “established in 1969. Singapore Bak Kut Teh”;

– Annual ticket for visiting the local parks. The cost is 100 yuan. And it lists the terms and conditions for using it, “1. Visiting range: Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Zhongshan, Beihai, Jingshan, Taoran Pavilion, Zoo… 2. During legal holidays and cultural events, you need to visit the parks with tickets according to the park rules. 3. Restricted to entering the main park entrance, not for special locations. 4. Only the ticket owner can use it. Limited to two usages per park per day. Reselling the ticket is prohibited. 5. Time limit: 1/1/2020 to 1/31/2021. Recharge is necessary for extended use”;

– ID card;

– The access card for my apartment’s main entrance. The first line says “Prevent and control the epidemic, everyone is responsible”. And it is followed by the “Guanghuaxincheng Community residents access card”;

– Band-aid labeled with “tear from here” on the left side;

– Pen;

– Packet tissue labeled with “This is not normal daily tissue. This is BANBU (it has a similar pronunciation to bamboo). From simplistic and moderate living style. New (as opposed to recycled) bamboo tissue that feels like cloth”. I didn’t choose it because of its branding though. I chose it only because it was cheap;

– Portable power bank for my phone;

– Face masks labeled with “experience Beijing”, a giveaway for shopping at the subway grocery store;

– Apartment and office keys;

– Work laptop with earbuds, mouse, and charger.

Normally, I would leave my laptop at work and carry a much smaller bag. I’m working from home this month due to the new quarantine policies for COVID, so I still have my work laptop here. COVID also influenced my other carry items. The alcohol wipes and tissue are used for cleaning my desk at work and my hands. The expired park ticket is in my bag, but I did not visit any park in 2020; reservations and the limitations on the number of visiting people are preventing me from utilizing the ticket well. ID card is necessary for doing the COVID test that we do every day now. Face masks are still mandatory in public places. Sometimes the strap breaks, so I usually carry a backup in my bag. The mask would not be in the bag in the pre-COVID era. And hopefully, COVID will go away, so I don’t need to carry it around anymore (the stripped “experience Beijing” masks are cool to wear though).

Another item that I carry with me every day is my phone. It is used to take this photo, so it is not in the photo. In a sense, it is still evident as the power bank is carried to prevent it from dying. My phone’s battery life is relatively short. The power bank can largely reduce my anxiety.

Text technologies

There are both print and digital text technologies in my bag. Laptops and phones provide digital reading and writing spaces. For example, I use my laptop to store documents, write reports, and make presentations. And I use my phone to read news and novels. They are also used as the main communication device to express my ideas and feelings to friends, families, and co-workers. The communication can take the form of synchronous (Zoom meetings, calls) or asynchronous (texts, emails, and social media). Earbuds help me focus on the most important message in noisy public spaces for these synchronous communications, so it is also a text technology.

The ID card is both a print and a digital text technology. The ID number is printed on the physical medium, but it is only meaningful when it is connected to the large database to identify the corresponding person. If there is no digital database storing the bijection relationship between the number and the person, it becomes impossible to communicate the person’s basic identity (name, age, address) with this printed card. The parking ticket looks similar to the ID card, but it works differently to my knowledge. The ticket owner’s information is not digitally stored, so the only way to match the user to the owner is to manually compare the photo to the face. The photo is a text in the sense that it is used to communicate the person’s identity. And the camera used to take the photo is also a text technology because it is a practical art to facilitate communication.

The pen is clearly a writing tool. In addition, the packaging of the alcohol wipes and tissue serves as a mini advertising sign. They are also text technology that helps communicate the brand’s trustworthiness to its consumers.

Archeologist findings

The archeologist will notice that I live in China or a country that speaks Chinese. The most valuable findings will come from my phone as it reveals both my personal life and a snapshot of the way people communicate with each other at this time. If the digital device dies, they can still find out more correct or misleading information about my culture, values, and favorite food by looking at my choice of alcohol wipes and tissue.