Hi everyone! My name is Sage Capogreco. This is my third semester in the MET Program. I am based in Ottawa while working and learning remotely. I am very excited to engage with you all this semester!
It has been a few years since my undergrad in History at the University of Ottawa, and since then, I have been working at the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO) where we produce courses aimed at ministry of education officials around the world on topics around educational sector planning. It has been a great experience building my skills in learning design and working on some interesting topics in educational planning, such as early childhood education and disability-inclusive education sector planning.
Now let’s see what’s in my bag!
Here is a list of my bag items in order of most to least useful:
- My blue rescue inhaler – Essential life saving medicine in case I find myself in the presence of a cat/dog or having laughed too hard after a big meal.
- Sunglasses
- Cloth face mask – Still getting a lot of use out of this one.
- Tote bag – for impromptu grocery shops
- Wallet (I use Apple pay so this is mostly just to hold all of my unused gift cards)
- Tinted lip balms
- Hair accessories
- Wet wipes
- Kleenex
- 10 year old pop rocks candy – I keep holding onto these waiting for the best moment to open them.
- She/Her pin – currently gathering dust because I cannot attach it the the leather of my purse
- Various items meant for the trash (bus tickets, paper straw, used wet wipes)
Text technologies
A lot of the text technologies in my bag are analog, though the trace of technology is apparent. Almost all of my items have printed text on them for various purposes. The Kleenex, lip balms and Pop rockets all have text that aims to explain (and also to market) the product. All of this text would have been produced and designed using different softwares, and were brought into the world via a large-scale production model.
A few items have other interesting uses of text technology. Namely, All of the gift cards in my wallet use chips to ‘talk’ to payment processing systems. Similarly, my bus tickets QR codes to ‘converse’ with the proof of payment devices. They also have text that show the time limit associated with that ticket.
My Rescue inhaler also has has a label printed specifically for me from my pharmacists, with information on dosage and prescription info.
Finally, My ‘She/Her’ pin is the most minimalist of my purse ‘text’ objects. Though it is interesting to note a few things here. First, that the pin was produced by a local artist, through a service that will take art and add it to various items (like pins, stickers, tote bags etc). The text and surrounding art was produced by hand, the end product (the pin) was produced with the help of technologies. The pin also represents a statement of identity, so while it has a very small amount of text, it speaks louder volumes about myself than other text in my purse.
From an outside perspective, these items say a lot about me. In relation to text technologies, an outsider could make the assumption, that I am literate with the necessary resources to live comfortably. I engage in our material culture, which is highly text-based and where the line between physically printed text and the digital world is very fine with a lot of interaction that goes unnoticed on a day-to-day basis.