Task 1 – What’s In My Bag?

My name is Carlo Trentadue and ETEC540 is my final MET course before I round out the program! Born and raised in Toronto, I moved out to the west coast in 2018, where I currently work as an educator and member of the administrative leadership team at a private school in Vancouver. 

I chose the bag I use on a daily basis and let me say firstly, I’m thankful for this exercise because it prompted me to do a thorough cleaning and reassessment of my need for some of these items. Most of the contents of my bag permit or enhance my daily responsibilities. For example, the laptop is central to my work as it affords me communicative abilities through email, academic organization and management, and overall connectivity to the digital world. The day timer and manuscript folder reflect a non-digital type of literacy, in a more literal sense, and provides me a platform to keep personal and professional events in order. I believe these to be representative of the ‘standard literacies’ we should be equipped with in today’s professional working society.

An interesting “text” I’ve considered here is the gym gear. It represents a literacy that is unique in comparison to the other digital technology pieces in this bag: a type of physical literacy. Subsequently, I think the masks evoke a type of literacy as well; one that symbolizes the current spirit of the times and the willingness to participate and demonstrate awareness in the circumstances we find ourselves in with respect to the current public health climate. It’s clear that many of the pieces in this bag have literal text on/in them, but I feel that text, in a way, is more than letters and words, rather it’s a reflection or symbol of understanding and communication. 

There is an abundance of digital, print, and physical technologies in this bag. Of the one’s considered text, I think the most overwhelmingly obvious aspect is that most, if not all, are written in English. There is, however, a number of printed technologies (ie – stickers, packaging etc.) that reflect some degree of multicultural exposure. The gift cards have both English and French writing, while one of the stickers from Costa Rica is in Spanish. Zooming into the computer decals proved to be interesting as one indicates I am on #TeamPixel. I found this quite telling – Not only does this text reflect a mobile and technological literacy, it also asserts acumen in a specific software or operating system and claims there may be competitive circumstances involved. Centred in the image is a brown leather folder that houses a manuscript I’m currently collaborating on with a partner. 

Truthfully, I think the narrative constructed by the contents of my bag are consistent with the narrative represented in the image I outwardly project. I also think it’s easy for me to say that, and would be more interested to hear what others think when they glimpse a photo of me and compare their impressions with that of what’s in my bag. 

This bag certainly would not have looked the same 15 years ago – I think the digital technologies would look a lot more archaic, and that there would be an overwhelming amount of text technologies present, like textbooks and notebooks. Alternatively, if an archeologist were to assess these contents many years in the future, I feel the most glaring object in terms of defining our current cultural spirit would undeniably be the mask. The mask reveals that there is a potentially fatal threat in our daily lives that we are battling through. It symbolizes safety, commitment to others, respect, and to some degree a willingness to sacrifice for the greater good.

Ultimately, I can’t help but think that future archaeologists would think many of the current cutting edge technologies that I house in my bag to be archaic in themselves. It will be interesting to look back on this image in 20 years and reassess the text, the technology, and my thoughts regarding.