When we were to define what we thought text was I wrote that it was a string of morphemes.  I soon found this definition to be very limited.  Once I thought of what it means I came up with the idea of this picture.   I took this picture because it shows reminds the variety of meanings for the word TEXT and how much it has changed.  We can see here text as in a passage in the bible, text as words, and the newest meaning of text as a message you send on your phone. It is very interesting to see how many different meanings this small word has taken on.

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Technology for the Serious, for the Childish, for the Old, for the Young..

shadow-02

T echnology is a channel of expression.
E ntertaining and frustrating simultaneously.
C reating creative expression as one of it’s purposes
H elping others to see, write, read, listen, smell, breathe, eat, walk and experience the world.
N owhere but everywhere
O rders information and ideas
L earning to use it is all part of the process
O des to technology exist
G asping to keep on top of the technology trends
Y es, technology can be overrated, overestimated, underrated, underestimated…

This image and poem represents technology because it resembles a sense of fun and of the nature of technology. It can be designed for one thing but used for something entirely different. It can be meant for the Serious, for the Childish, for the Old, for the Young, for Nothing, for Everything and for the Past and for the Future.

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Text – Iris

soul / 心

Text

The text on a page, on a screen, on a rock, on the sand is always more than what it says.
Energy to create text comes from an inner motivation to express
Xin is the Chinese pinyin for heart 心 and heart 心 is embedded in expression
The text comes from someone, somewhere in time and somewhere.

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Iris Chan – My Introduction

The Mani Mantra 玛尼石上的六字真言

This picture is a snapshot of The Mani Mantra. This mantra is common in Buddhism and it is representative of the deity involved with compassion. I chose this image because it resembles an important aspect of text and technology. The development and the spread of text/technology is very much connected to the idea of religion. Whether in spreading the word of the heavens orally or not, the passing on of the sacred is a genuine need for passing on knowledge. As a mantra, the purpose of it is to be recited out loud. The purpose of this recording could be both for documentation but also for decorative means. From the material used in this image it illustrates how far text/technology have come especially when we now look at in 2010. The ways text is presented, the ways text is used through technology and the idea of texts are all means of expression whether it be our words, the words of prophets, or the words of history.

Introduction

My name is Iris Chan and I am currently working in education as a teacher and administrator amidst an offshore school in Beijing. I am very excited as this is the last course I am taking in MET! Yippy! The end is near! My interest in this course is one of interest as this was one of the reasons I began my program 4 years ago. The course author Teresa Dobson was one of my teachers in my Education program. I was just beginning my teaching career with UBC when I met her. She inspired me with her interest in literacy and I began to look at what other courses she taught. I came across this course in MET and started to ponder about enrolling in an online program. After further discussion, I had a chance to further discuss the MET program and started my application process. Wanting to take the course, for some odd reason, it never fully went through either for my timetable or the semester. Now as I am at the end of my MET journey, I realized this setup was perfect. It would be a great way to end my program with the course that started it all. I was always interested in reading and writing. I am very excited to take the course. Since school has just begun, I have had many distractions and situations. This post is coming a bit late but I am now fully back into the swing of things. I can’t wait to immerse myself in text technologies and see how it can take me further into my understanding of text as it is today.

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Multiple Meanings of Text

Originally I created a Wordle for this assignment (which I have still posted). However, when I came to the Weblog I notice that another classmate had already done something similar.  Instead I have created a Webspiration mind map. All of the key words I noticed on my Wordle I have also placed into Webspiration. Since I am working with my schools to implement Universal Design for Learning, I thought it would be appropriate to include another representation of the definition (Rose & Meyer, 2002).  As you can see, my Webspiration mind map provides us with the words and a visual.

Just to recap how my Wordle was created. When I was thinking about the definition of “text”, I could not think of just one.  I think that this image created in Wordle represents the various definitions of “text.”  It captures the complexity of the word.  There are some key words that emerge when you look closely at various definitions of “text.” This particular Wordle was created by copying and pasting various definitions of text including my personal definition of text.  When examining the Wordle you notice the key words that define “text” such as words, written, sentences and original. These words are all part of the definition of text.  It is these words that provide us with a clearer understanding of the word “text.” After a week of pondering the meaning of text, it appears to me that text consists of words that are put together in a meaningful way. 

Melanie

References

Oxford English Dictionary (1989). Retrieved on September 15, 2010, from http://dictionary.oed.com

Merriam Webster (2010). Retrieved on September 15, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/text%5B1%5D

Rose, D.  H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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Technology is Text

inspiration Challenge #23 - Snowflake

Text is like a snowflake. Each text (be it a letter or a song or a picture) has an intricate pattern or design and its own uniqueness. We take those snowflakes and build a snowball. Then, we build a snowman. Technology is like a snowman. Eventually, the snowman melts and fades away. But, with the next snowfall or season, we build a bigger and better snowman, based on the model of the previous year’s snowman. Each year, we give him fancier buttons and a cooler hat. But no matter how big our modern snowman gets, he is still made up of the original, tiny snowflake.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/puppaluppa/4259006509/

Irene

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Star Wars and Imagination

Packed in like sardines

Technology is Imagination. While we generally think of technology as being scientific and science as formulaic technology is actually creative. Think about the processes of inventing a lightbulb or telephone, or computer. It’s through the the use of the imagination that technology comes about.
This picture of many R2 units reminds me that technology is much like the creation of a movie, they both require imagination. Also you use technology to create a movie. As well, in Star Wars, the producers had to use their imagination to come up with the technology portrayed in the movie. I think that Star Wars is a good representation of technology.

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Bill and Educational Technology

YouTube Preview Image

Listen to Bill’s answer at 5:40.

When Bill speaks, people listen. Cultural icons influence our society in a variety of ways. When Bill Gates says that the best education will be available on the web in five years, it brings the issue to the public.

Why I feel this is significant is because it leads to several questions for educational practitioners. The important one is not necessarily if his prophecy is true, but what it means for our education systems. Do we have a responsibility to lead this change? What will our role be? And the questions of accreditation?

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Technology from a Kid’s Point of View!

YouTube Preview Image

As a K-6 educator, I am curious about the meaning of technology to children.  Many teachers are the aware the significance of pre-assessment.  When I learn about where my students are at with regards to technology, I gain a better understanding about how to teach them technology.  In my everyday personal experience I have learned that there are various definitions for technology in a classroom. However, from this clip, it is apparent that this particular ten year old understands technology to be change.  As we have read in our readings, Postman (1992) mentions how technology is change. He explains how we cannot avoid this change and that every single individual needs to deal with technology.  I definitely agree with this.  Technology does create change.  Even at a young age students are able to articulate this important concept. 

Melanie

References 

Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York, NY: New York

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Understanding the Questions

We can understand a text only when we have understood the question to which it is an answer. But since this question can be derived solely from the text and accordingly the appropriateness of the reply is the methodological presupposition for the reconstruction of the question, any criticism of this reply from some other quarter is pure shadow boxing. It is like understanding works of art. A work of art can be understood only if we assume its adequacy as an expression of the artistic idea. Here too we have to discover the question which it answers, if we are to understand it as an answer. This is, in fact, an axiom of all hermeneutics: we described it above as the “fore-conception of completeness.” (p. 370)

Gadamer, H. E. (1990). Truth and method. (2nd rev. ed.). New York: Crossroad

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