I’ve selected an image that has 2 narratives:

1)

Today is Tuesday, November 22, 2050, here’s what is in the headlines in the Vancouver Sun “Unknown item, Caution Around Olympic Village”

People in the community of Olympic Village have encountered a bizarre item that has appeared in the community.

People have noticed it is some sort of an orange rectangular piece of item that has not moved since spotted in the community.  People have searched for #unknownorange #nosound #keepchildrenaway

Todd (in the headphones- pictured in the photo) commented, “Many of us have tried to turn on this item, but we seems like there is no activity of this item. It doesn’t blink anywhere and no on button. Perhaps it has already died when it arrived.”

Those that have stood around to speculate, wonder if this piece of item is from the future, as no one can recognize it.

If you see #unknownorange and can recognize it, please comment and bring peace to our community.

2)

Today is Tuesday, November 22, 2050, here’s what is in the headlines in the Vancouver Sun, “A Book FOUND! Historic Item from the past”

People in the community of Yaletown gathered around the Roundhouse area as people noticed an orange item that appeared. Many gathered and pondered where this item came from.
Todd (in the headphones- pictured in the photo) commented, “I think I may know of this item. There’s an old photo of my great grandma, who used to own a little shop in Gastown, I think that’s where I have seen this.”

The community was concerned for their safety and wondering if this item was a threat but a retired historian from UBC shares, “I am certain that this item causes no threat. The name of the item is a book, it was once used as a reading material. There are only 1,000 of these books left in our city, but it is scattered around, and they are hard to find. They are a rare item that today’s people no longer use. I am surprised that an item like this has been neglected.”

If you are interested in learning more about this item, you can contact UBC’s historian by #retiredUBChistorian who will dm you.

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Many artwork similar to this piece surfaced the web few years back and I wanted to share it. It allows people to reflect on how much we have distance ourselves from books or physical items, once used everyday. Although technology has made lives convenient, easy, and simple to complete tasks and communicate, it pulls us further from books and talking to people face to face.

It’s something to think about the future and how reading will feel, smell, sound different in the future. I remember reading old books- how the old pages felt, the smell of old books, and the sound of each page turning. Similar to cassette tapes, VHS, and CDs. They are a thing in the past 🙁 I loved buying new Disney VHS, and looking through the CD albums- they had photos of the artist with lyrics.)

Times have changed and so much of the technology we use does have 1 real benefit:

  • Saves physical space- (all the Disney VHS took up SO much space that my dad had to get another self.) Netflix, mp4 files take a different form of space, but saves us from storing it in our homes. Technology and the changing of space… Hence the title of the course- Text Technologies: The Changing Spaces of Reading and Writing !Maybe the experiences won’t change that much… but rather it is the space that is really changing.

ETEC 540 has been the best course out of the 8 courses. This is my second last course of the MET program, and I am very happy to end with such an amazing course. The tasks were always fun and engaging. I always looked forward to each assignment and editing my own blog was something new for me. It was also really neat to check out other blogs and see how people designed their pages.