Linking assignment #5 – speculative food futures

For this link I’ve chosen to explore Helen’s Task 12, as compared to my task 12 we, because we both speculated about the future of food in 2050.

Helen’s restaurant of the future requires two health scan options – one is almost similar to the current Covid-19 scanning some places are doing now and the other is far more in depth, accessing health records. I didn’t go into as much detail about health requirements for my Simply Food Movement, other than there is little choice for food options, but any changes must be physician approved. I like that she has included health concerns (like diabetes), pregnancy and allergies. These are things that I didn’t include in my future.

Helen’s infographic is well laid out, making her ideas easy to follow. While the visual works well on it’s own,  she also includes a full reflection and links to this week’s readings. Her reflection helps to give more insight into her thoughts behind the task. 

Both of our speculations draw on current changes happening in our food system today. This helps to make our speculations believable, which I have found makes it easier to follow. (I am not a fan of the speculations that are too far fetched – I’ve never been a fantasy fan for that reason!).

We also both used the same “story” as a base for our speculations and relied on subtle changes for show the two narratives. I find this particularly effective as it made the narrative easier to follow. For mine, I didn’t see the point in creating two totally different pieces – I liked that I could link the two and show two perspectives. This is what I liked about Helen’s – it is totally believable that restaurants will (and already have started) change to become more tech-savvy and intuitive to personal preferences.

In looking thorough Helen’s blog, I came across her final project on the exclamation mark. I resonated with me because I am one of those people who uses a lot of exclamation marks! While I don’t often use them in work emails (emails to colleagues or parents) or in my course work, I do (over?) use them in texts and occasionally in my comments on blog posts. I loved this visual as it is a constant struggle for me!(!!!)

Helen’s blog is well laid out, with headings for each of the assignments in the course, creating an organized way to access her tasks, links and project. I have put all of my assignments as a running thread of posts, as I have limited experience with blogs and I went off of the recommendation to not put things on separate pages.

Looking thought Helen’s tasks, I appreciate her use of various media – infographics, photos and screen-casting presentations. This media makes her posts eye catching and easy to follow. Great work!(!!!)