Author: Meg

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Final Project – Describing Communication Technologies

An Evolution of Recipes

~ The Original Algorithm ~

 

Scroll down to view the entire graphic or click the arrow at the top right to expand it. 

 

You can view can also view my infographic online. By accessing the infographic online you can play my video demo for Chocolate Chip Granola Bars, by clicking on the video to play through YouTube.

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This final project was one of the most meaningful projects I’ve done in my short time in the MET Program. I fell like this project is a true culmination of the content and processes I learned in this course. I hope that it piques your interest about the impact of recipes past, present and future. My goal with each project I complete in this program is to link back to my Foods classes. My hope is that I can translate all of the concepts I learn back to my classroom and make meaningful changes there.

I thought that the infographic would be the best way to showcase all of my research and reading on the topic of recipes, but as I worked my way through the project I began to second guess myself. I really struggled to narrow down the limited text I could put on the infographic. I didn’t realize how difficult it was to choose just a few pieces of information to display while trying to highlight the amount of work that went into the project. I have limited personal experience making infographics, using Google Slides/Docs and Piktochart in my classes, so I chose Canva because I had never used it before.

I wanted my infographic to touch on key concepts from throughout this course, so it is designed as a timeline from the beginning of text, to a question for the future.

I highlighted family recipes from both my and my husband’s families. The recipes included encompass 4 generations of families, dating back to the late 1800s. I also included an updated video demo I started for my Foods classes during our online teaching this past Spring. I wanted my infographic to be polished and not include cartoon-like images or content.

 

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Linking assignment #6 – Twine speculations

For my final linking assignment, I am comparing Carla’s Task 12 with my task 12. I have chosen to link with Carla’s speculative future because we both chose to use Twine to deliver our narrative. While unsure of Carla’s rationale to use Twine for this task, I thought Twine was the perfect platform to easily showcase multiple narratives.

Carla’s Twine was a captivating narrative. Her speculation of Andre and Maya’s interpretation of this experience in this course led to very different futures. While Andre’s Xcell concept is frightening, there is something believable about it! I appreciated Maya’s rationale thought – it is quite like my own ideas in that they aren’t too far fetched! The highlight of the Twine though was the fun speculation that Ernesto will soon be the MET program director! I guess his scholarly lurking finally paid off!

Carla’s Twine was more story-like than mine. I tried to keep the writing concise on each page and supplement with sound effects and photos. I enjoyed the effects Carla chose, but did find that when the hyperlink was mid-paragraph, I would sometimes click the link before I read everything! And then there was no back button and no restart option at the end. This meant I needed to re-open the link to go through the game again to choose Maya after first choosing Andre to get the job!

Looking through Carla’s blog, her posts show exceptional thought and clarity for each task. Her posts are well written and always supplemented with a video, link or relatable gif/meme. I think I remember in one of our first video conferences she mentioned that this is her last MET course. I just began this program in January, so I have often looked at her posts and seen the experience and insight she brings in from the other courses she’s taken.

When reading her introduction to her blog, she mentions the unexpected twists and turns yield the most rewarding experiences. I wonder if she is referring to this program and her experiences throughout her journey. In only 8 months, I’ve already seen these twists and turns (being in the middle of a pandemic probably helps with this!).

Carla’s blog layout is similar to mine, with a running list of posts on the main page, allowing easy access to each by scrolling down the page. I appreciate how she also organizes her blog with the menu across the top of the page. Her mutlimodal posts make use of many of the affordances of WordPress – hyperlinks, video integration, etc.,  all leading to a rich experience for the reader.

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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!(!!!)

The struggle is real …

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!(!!!)

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Task 12 – Speculative Futures

Simple Food Movement

– a speculative fiction about food processes of the future –

Please click the full screen icon in the lower right to play the game in full screen.

 

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This task was another attempt in the Twine rabbit hole. I have learned a lot since my last attempt – I am able to include name personalization, speech and additional photos. I also finally figured out how to embed the game in my blog, instead of just a link to the file.

I struggled with the story-telling aspect of this task, but I feel as though I’ve captured a possible future with a mandated meal program to combat food security.

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Linking Assignment #4 – grammatical issues with predictive text

I found myself constantly nodding as I read through Robin’s Task 11 analysis. We shared many of the same thoughts and frustrations during this task. We talked about the pulling of words from texts messages (we both had the word “lake” come up), how we struggled to string together a proper sentence and our frustrations on having ads pop up in social media after performing a Google search the day before.

Robin did feel like some of the predicted sentences sounded like some of her ramblings, while I felt like mine were nothing like my true thoughts. She also had emojis pop up in her predicted text, while I did not. Maybe this was all due to the fact I have a new phone and Robin has been using hers regularly to communicate with friends, family and students. I also wonder if my predictive text would have turned out differently if I had written it in the Notes app like Robin did instead of as a text.

I agree that the sentences that were predicted are nothing that I would post online. The thoughts seem to the lack the flow of natural speech (in addition to the crazy grammatical issues). I too am very careful with what I post online, knowing that as a teacher I can be under close scrutiny.

Doing some “scholarly lurking” of Robin’s blog I found that many of her posts were concise and to the point, but left me wanting to hear more about her thoughts on the tasks. Was this purposeful? Or do they seem more concise because of the text associated with the theme? Regardless, I enjoyed reading her posts because they were insightful yet easy to follow, as I’m still trying to get back into reading and understanding academic language…. We are both using WordPress, so I found her site easy to navigate.

In her analysis of our Task 9, she appears to have mis-read the map of the links between the choices that we and Tyler made. We did only have 6 songs that all three of us picked, but there was an additional song that we each had in common with each other, and then two songs no one else picked. So we each only had 7 songs in common with one other person. I think this speaks to the intricate nature of the Palladio program and the dense web it created – things were overlapping and hard to visualize until you pulled it apart.

In general, I think that Robin’s experience in adult education leads her to a different approach to tasks that I do as a high school teacher. Her clear and concise posts are directed at the reader to process efficiently, while my posts are more deliberately laid out in individual thoughts. I find that teenagers need things broken down and segmented as they still aren’t great at interpreting information that isn’t clearly outlined. But I’m guessing this could be the same for adults too!!

 

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Task 10 – Attention Economy

Well – all I can say is do NOT attempt this task on your cell phone …

Attempt #1

Once I opened it on my computer, I quickly became really good at ignoring the “extras” on the screen, but restarted a few of times after clicking the “wrong” boxes. I was getting a bit frustrated, so I even took a quick break to help my son make his breakfast! It took me a long time to get past the first screen and I still don’t really know what I put in my password that let me through.

The feeling of panic while completing this was definitely compounded by the ticking timer. From reading the Dark Patterns link in the assignment description helped me gain some insight into what would be needed – time, thorough reading and attention to misleading headings.

I was elated when I completed it – I knew some were having a horrible time getting through it! So now my competitive instinct kicked in – can I complete it faster???

Attempt #2
Attempt #3
Attempt #4! Under 2 minutes? Good enough for me!

After attempt #4, I did feel awesome! I was interesting to go through each page and attempt to exactly replicate what I did the previous time – I did use some random letters and numbers at times to make things faster, but the first screen was still the hardest to get through when putting in the password!

In terms of this Attention Economy, it is something that I am constantly talking about with my Foods classes – many don’t understand that companies buy space at grocery stores. The foods designed for young kids are placed lower on the shelves to draw their attention. As a parent I know I have probably spent hundreds of dollars extra at the grocery store over the past 10 years because of my kids incessantly asking for some candy, “fruit” snack or crappy toy. And it’s not the healthy kids food that’s at their eye level!

It is a bit unnerving that if you search once on your phone for a specific item, you start to see ads for it constantly on your social media sites. The amount of information that is stored, shared and used for companies to direct their advertising is scary. It’s definitely something that I will need to make sure my children understand sooner rather than later ….

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Brignull, H. (2011). Dark Patterns: Deception vs. Honesty in UI Design. Accessed from https://alistapart.com/article/dark-patterns-deception-vs-honesty-in-ui-design/ 

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Task 9 – Network Assignment using the Golden Record

The multiplex network of our class.

What a jumbled mess … when I first opened the Palladio program and uploaded our class file I honestly just stared at the screen for a bit. After not being able to make much sense of it, I started to zoom in and out, finding clarity when I could recognize names of classmates and songs. I started to see their links.

Just me and my connections.

When I looked at only my own name, the graph became easier to understand. As described in System Innovation’s video “Graph Theory Overview” (2015), I recognized these undirected graphs – that connections, or edges, between the nodes have no direction. Our names are linked to the songs we chose and the songs are linked to our names.

The multiplex network small group connection.

Looking at the smaller group I was put in on Palladio, I noticed that Robin, Tyler and I shared 6 songs – not bad considering there were 27 to choose from! There were other adjacent relations between songs and one other person. Oddly symmetrical was the fact that each of us had two songs that neither of the other two picked.

ETEC 565S – Digital Gaming group comparison!

Intrigued looking at the relations between members of the group I was assigned, I wanted to compare my choices with another group. Seeing as we were just about to start the ETEC 565S summer institute, I grabbed my project group to compare our choices. The visual layout of this multiplex network was beautiful! We only share one song in common so it appears that the network is resonating from the node of “Night Chant“. 

A definite downfall of these groupings is that the rationale for choosing a song is not considered. For example, I chose the 10 songs that I liked the most and/or had a positive memory that the song reminded me of. In speaking with some classmates, they chose some songs that they did not like to include in their 10. This means that even though there are relations between nodes (people and their song choices) it does not mean that these people necessarily have similar interests or things in common.

This has implications for networking search functions on the web because when people are searching for something, they may be broad in their search terms. This may link their search to information that does not align to their idea of the topic they were searching. These relations between nodes (search terms) could be very arbitrary.

These assumptions about relations has far reaching implications. From a political standpoint, just because two people have the same political affiliations does not mean that they have similar views, ideas or interests. More research would be needed to determine if they had anything else in common.

Lastly, out of interest, I looked at the songs instead of the people to see which ones were picked the most and the least. The most popular song chosen (by 17 people) was The Fifth Symphony which is not surprising given its popularity in popular culture. Interestingly, all of the 27 Golden Record songs were chosen – at least once. And only one song  had just one person pick it: Men’s House Song. I thought I’d link it here so it could maybe get a bit more play! After listening to it again, I still don’t think I would include it on my short list …

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System Innovation. (2015, April 18).  Graph Theory Overview. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82zlRaRUsaY&feature=emb_logo

System Innovation. (2015, April 19).  Network Connections. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iViaEAytxw

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Task 8 – Golden Record Curation

Looking and listening through the Golden Record, it was so difficult to narrow the 27 recordings to 10. Considering this was sent into space over 40 years ago, these recordings are very much a snapshot in time. I believe was one of the pieces that made this task difficult. Also, many of the tracks are recordings that we just don’t hear regularly in mainstream media here in Canada.

But, like Dr. Smith Rumsey discussed in her lecture “Digital Memory: What Can We Afford to Lose” (2017), we need to look at the past to determine what is needed for the future. These songs have helped to lay the foundation for music as it is today.

I chose my songs based on personal connections and memories. Very few of these songs do I listen to today. The first five songs I chose include some of the classical tracks on the record. While I don’t normally listen to classical music, ever since my first year at UBC in 2000, I have listened to classical music while studying, completing assignments or working on report cards.

  1. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor.
    • The light tones of the flute make this an easy “studying song.” To be stereotypical, most girls played wind instruments while I was in high school band, but I didn’t want to sit in the front (see #8 below for my choice of instrument).
  2. Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux.
    • I would love to be able to play the violin and admire the few friends I have that play.
  3. Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano.
    • I took piano lessons for many years as a child. I still love hearing the impact of light touches on the keys.
  4. Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor.
    • This is a classic. I love the progression and feeling from just the first four notes.
  5. Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina, performed by Budapest String Quartet.
    • A smooth romantic song, this was one that had in my regular study music rotation.
  6. “Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry.
    • I love classic rock so this was an easy choice. A true “classic”.
  7. “Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson.
    • As a fan of the blues, the slide guitar in this song is beautiful. His smooth humming adds a solemn tone to compliment the guitar.
  8. “Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven.
    • The brass is what gets me with this song. I played the trombone for 7 years and still pick out the notes behind the trumpet! While I haven’t kept up with playing, I still love the tone of brass instruments.
  9. Navajo Indians, Night Chant, recorded by Willard Rhodes.
    • I was lucky to get my first teaching job in Lillooet, BC in 2005. A community rich in indigenous culture and history, this song reminds me of our many events we hosted at the school to ensure the local songs and dances were remembered.
  10. Mexico, “El Cascabel,” performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México.
    • This track reminds me of nights at Las Margarita’s on 4th Avenue in Vancouver during my earlier years at UBC! There was often live music from a corner of the room setting a lively mood.

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Click here for a playlist of the Golden Record.

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Reference:

Brown University. (2017). Abby Smith Rumsey: “Digital Memory: What Can We Afford to Lose?”. Accessed via YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=FBrahqg9ZMc&feature=emb_logo

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Task 7 – Mode Bending

I struggled with this task a lot this week. With the very brief assignment description on Canvas, I just didn’t know where to start. Luckily I had already read the New London Group (1996) article last semester, so the re-read made their concepts and ideas easier to understand.

When I didn’t know how to approach this task, I was drawn to Figure 1 from The New London Group (p. 83) of the metalanguages to describe design elements and modes of meaning. Knowing this task was to be auditory, I used a few sounds effects and a snip-it of music, but felt the need for something else.

As I looked around while I was sitting in my “bag”, I was drawn to the colours surrounding me. I decided that would be the perfect compliment to my podcast-style recording.

I hope you enjoy the cheeky nature of my post and that it gives you a bit more insight into who I am!

 

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

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