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Task 9 – Network Analysis: The Curated Golden Record

It took a while to understand how to effectively utilize the Palladio network, and harness the filtering tools to reveal exactly what I was looking for, but once that was complete, it was clear how much information was available for network analysis. Evoking some of the language from graph theory, it seems as if this exercise was a simple multigraph utilizing a variety of nodes and links (as opposed to its multiplex counterpart). It’s also clear that this was an undirected and unweighted graph, and thus we can only rely on the sum total of links a node has in order to determine the degree of connectivity.

Some statistics and analysis:

There were 27 tracks on the Golden Record, and 21 participants in this curation exercise.

I shared an average of 4.65 common songs with my peers.
Marwa and I chose 70% (highest rate of commonality) of the same songs, while Sarah and I shared only 20% (lowest rate of commonality). Between a community of the three of us, for instance it seems we could only agree on a singular song: “Percussion (Senegal)”.

The song with the highest degree of connectivity was “Percussion (Senegal)” at 76% of participants.
- There are fourteen songs categorized as “Folk” or “Cultural” which makes up roughly 52% of the total music on the Golden Record. Every participant picked at least one Folk style song.
  - Of them, Percussion Senegal was chosen an average of 10.64 times (76%), Flowing Stream 9.24 times (66%), Crane’s Nest 7.98 times (57%), Tchakrulo, Types of Flowers, and Panpipes & Drums all 5.88 times (42%), Wedding Song 5.32 times (38%), Azerbaijan Bagpipes, Night Chant, Morning Star, and Izlel de Delyo all 4.62 times (33%), Solomon Panpipes and Pygmy Girl’s Initiation both 3.22 times (23%), and finally Men’s House Song 2.66 times (19%).
The song with the ‘lowest degree of connectivity’ was “String Quartet No. 3 in B Flat” at 9% of participants.
- There are seven Baroque/ Classical style tracks on the Golden Record’ which makes up 26% of the total music on the Golden Record. Nineteen participants (91%) picked at least one Classical style song.
  - Of them, Symphony No. 5 was selected at an average of 3.29 times (47%), Fairie Round 2.94 times (42%), Well Tempered Clavier 2.52 times (36%), Magic Flute 1.82 times (26%), both the Brandenberg and Gavotte at 1.47 times (21% respectively), and String Quartet at 0.7 times (10%).
Of the Top 10 songs with the highest degrees of connectivity, 50% represent music from the continent of Asia, 30% from North America, 10% from Europe, and 10% from Africa.
- Of these 10 most commonly selected songs, I chose 80% of them in my curated Golden Record. Does this simply reflect my superb music taste? (Definitely not) Is it more of a reflection about my ability to predict what others will choose? Perhaps it indicates something about the criteria I chose to select these songs?

That final statistic prompted me to think further: What criteria did my peers use when selecting their chosen songs into their own Curated Golden Record? I felt it pertinent to review my own criteria. To me, this is the most glaring piece of information the data does not divulge. Despite the commonalities and differences between my peers, there is no indication of why our choices are similar or dissimilar. This is a significant factor to consider: Although we may have selected, or not selected the same song, we may have made this decision based on completely different reasons and criteria. Thus, in spite of the fact that we may have been grouped into certain communities based on our song selection, we may have been grouped there for completely the wrong reasons.

For example, let’s take the rock n’ roll classic Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry. I chose to prescribe to a criteria that eliminated the societal significance certain songs had, presumably because these factors would be arbitrary to any extraterrestrial intelligent life that happened upon my Curated Golden Record. Instead, I focused on a thoughtful variety of songs that demonstrated unique and distinct genres, and plethora of instruments, and a certain diversity in location on planet earth. Alternatively, someone may have included Johnny B. Goode because of the immense cultural and societal value it holds; Chuck Berry was one of the first African-American rock n’ rollers, a revolutionary in his own right, and often considered the father of this particular musical genre. Although we may have came to the same selection, our pathways to reach that destination were exponentially different.

Moreover, because there was a 10 song limit to our Golden Record selections, there are underlying implications regarding excluded songs. I suppose the ‘null’ choice can be reflected in the data (neither effectively or positively), but only in comparison to other participants who selected. By not including a song, essentially the data has disallowed you from associating with a given ‘community’. With only 10 songs to pick, I simply had to be ruthless in which tracks I chose to include. I suppose there was also criteria for my non-inclusive music list as well: tracks that sounded somewhat similar or utilized the same instruments, songs of the same genre, songs from the same global area etc. I didn’t pick Panpipes and Drums or Night Chant, for example, but I would have if I had 11 songs to choose!

The community membership of the top ten most commonly selected songs.

The act of including or omitting in itself is inherently a political act. When I peruse Twitter in between bouts of work, I often notice staunch supporters of the idea that “teachers should never reveal their political positions or ‘indoctrinate’ youth with various political ideologies”. Truthfully, I believe the act of teaching itself is often political – For example, we teach from a mandated curriculum created by a governing body; it’s different from other curricula around the globe. Should we not then develop a universal curricula? It’s often best to tackle these types of issues head one, discuss them, formulate opinions on them, rather than hide from adversity and sweep unwanted conversations under the rug!

Code.org. (2017, June 13). The Internet: How Search Works . Retrieved from https://youtu.be/LVV_93mBfSU

Systems Innovation. (2015, April 18). Graph Theory Overview . Retrieved from https://youtu.be/82zlRaRUsaY

Systems Innovation. (2015, April 19). Network Connections . Retrieved from https://youtu.be/2iViaEAytxw

Task 8 – What Can We Afford to Lose: The Golden Record

What Can We Afford to Lose?

When considering what musical selections to include on my 10-track abridged version of the Golden Record, I was encouraged to use Abby Smith Rumsey’s characterization of digitizing material as a sort of determining compass: Of these 27 tracks, which one’s can we afford to lose? Which ones have long-term value? How can we distinguish these tracks from ‘noise’ and ‘signal’?

Consequently, this begs the question of what considerations need to be made with respect to developing a criteria that can assist in determining what exactly it is we can afford to lose in this endeavour. Smith Rumsey’s article Why Digitize delves briefly into some of the iterations of criteria that already exist in regard to digitizing certain materials. There is one element that stands out to me as most relevant for my purposes:

Creation of a “virtual collection” through the flexible integration and synthesis of a variety of formats, or of related materials scattered among many locations (Smith, 1999).

With this in mind, I set out to apply this criteria and curate 10 tracks that incorporated a variety of forms (manifested through instruments, vocals, genres, or a combination of multiple elements) and representative of a variety of locations. It was difficult, but I also thought it pertinent to eliminate any specific cultural, ethnic, or social significance to any music track partly due to the fact that if any intelligent life were to stumble upon these sounds, they would presumably be unaware of those underlying factors.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

LOCATION

TITLE

ARTIST

PERFORMED BY

Germany / United Kingdom

Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Opus 67: I. Allegro Con Brio

1808

Ludwig van Beethoven

Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Otto Klemperer

India

Bhairavi: Jaat Kahan Ho

12th Century

Hindustani Classical Music (shastriya sangeet)

Kesarbai Kerkar (vocals) with harmonium, Tanpura and tabla accompaniment

There are a total of seven Classical/ Baroque style tracks on the Golden Record. I felt it was important to have some representation in my ten. Symphony No. 5 by Beethoven is perhaps one of the most familiar pieces of music of all time. My partner said it was “planet earth’s theme song” and that was a convincing enough argument for me. But truly, Symphony No. 5 appeals to the “synthesis of a variety of forms” criteria as it incorporates a diversity of instruments like woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings. Similarly, Jaat Kahan Ho utilizes a harmonium and tabla, but more importantly, it contrasts ‘European’ classical music with “Asiatic” Hindustani Classical Music. Ultimately, our extraterrestrial brothers and sisters will presumably be able to enrich their understanding to study these images in new contexts (Smith, 1999).

“MODERN” BAND MUSIC

*LOCATION*	*TITLE & DATE*	*ARTIST*	*PERFORMED BY*
United States	Johnny B. Goode 1958	Chuck Berry	Chuck Berry (vocals, guitar) with Lafayette Leak (piano), Willie Dixon (bass), and Fred Below (drums)
United States	Melancholy Blues 1927	Marty Bloom and Walter Melrose	Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven
Mexico	El Cascabel (The Little Bell) 1957	Lorenzo Barcelata	Antonio Maciel and Los Aguilillas with Mariachi México de Pepe Villa/Rafael Carrión (conductor)

North America is well represented in the “Modern” (I use this term incredibly loosely) Band Style Music category. I grouped these tracks together primarily because they embodied the most recent forms of music on the Golden Record, and thus I considered them modern (?). Consequently, these songs all require fewer individuals with fewer instruments when compared to the likes of a symphony for instance, which is why I distinguished this category with ‘band’. I felt that these tracks best represented three distinct genres of music: jazz, rock, and mariachi, all of which employ a variety of novel instruments.

FOLK MUSIC

*LOCATION*	*TITLE & DATE*	*ARTIST*	*PERFORMED BY*
Georgia	Chakrulo 8th Century	Georgian Polyphonic Choral	Georgian State Merited Ensemble of Folk Song and Dance/Anzor Kavsadze (director) featuring Ilia Zakaidze (first tenor) and Rostom Saginashvili (second tenor)
Bulgaria	Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin 17th Century	Bulgarian Folk Song	Valya Balkanska (vocal), Lazar Kanevski, and Stephan Zahmanov (kaba gaidi – Bagpipes)
Australia	Barnumbirr (Morning Star) and Moikoi Song 1962 (recorded)	Australian Indigenous Song	Tom Djawa (clapsticks), Mudpo (digeridoo), and Waliparu (vocals)
Benin	Cengunmé 1963 (recorded)	Traditional African Music	Mahi musicians of Benin

Perhaps the most difficult category to curate was the Folk Music category – There are 14 tracks on the Golden Record considered as folk music, so it was only natural that this category be the largest. I felt it necessary for Australian Indigenous music to be included on here, principally due to the unique sounds it creates and it’s nativity to Australia. These same reasons can be applied to Cengunmé as it is an almost completely percussive song and Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin because of its distinctive mix of vocals and bagpipes. Finally, there is just something beautiful about the polyphonic choral arrangement of Chakrulo that just hits different.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

LOCATION

TITLE & DATE

ARTIST

PERFORMED BY

Japan

Sokaku-Reibo (Depicting The Cranes In Their Nest)

18th Century

Arranged by Kinko Kurosawa

Goro Yamaguchi (shakuhachi – bamboo flute)

The final category is one I characterized as “Instrumental”, particularly because there is a singular instrument and artist. I thought this song was reflective of a different Asiatic influence, and while most, if not all, of the above songs incorporated a number of different musical elements, this song was singular in its approach (bamboo flute).

Smith Rumsey, A. (1999, February). Why Digitize? Retrieved June 15, 2019, from Council on Library and Information Resources: https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub80-smith/pub80-2/

Smith, Rumsey, A. (2017) Digital Memory: What Can We Afford to Lose

Task 7 – Can You Hear What’s In My Bag?

Here’s what I came up with for this weeks Task Redesign: ETEC540 – Can You Hear What’s In My Bag?

For me, this task was most definitely the most difficult encountered in ETEC540 thus far. It wasn’t because of the challenge of bending the mode of expression and meaning (although that did pose an interesting provocation), rather it was wrapping my head around the theories informing this practice. It seems to me that the underlying conditions of multiliteracies are heavily (but not entirely) dependent upon postmodern style thinking; I am still not entirely convinced of its principles.

My qualms do not reside in the expression of multimodalities (ie – visual, auditory, linguistic, tactile, gestural etc). I think these are fairly straightforward and reasonable. I believe we are able to form a more holistic interpretation as we incorporate more and more modes of meaning. It’s more about the interpretation that the meanings created by these modalities are unbound to any type of hierarchy of reasonable comprehension. Cope and Kalantzis assert:

“What the meaning maker creates is a new design, an expression of their voice which draws upon the unique mix of meaning-making resources, the codes and conventions they happen to have found in their contexts and cultures. The moment of design is a moment of transformation, of remaking the world by representing the world afresh” (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009).

This is all well and good, and I do believe that, in my case for example, I have drawn upon a multitude of meaning-making resources, the conventions available to me, and have transformed an old representation into new. But to draw upon the postmodern position, and say that my interpretation is one of infinite and therefore is relevant only on a subjective level is somewhat foolish. Despite the fact there may be infinite means of interpretation, there remains only a finite number of reasonable interpretations. I cannot conjure up any idea of what societies would look like if there were no objective truths embedded within human meaning making.

Cope and Kalantzis use an example of a student who is unable to ‘get’ the culture of writing due to that student’s cultural, ethnic, or social makeup and that multiliteracies can be used as a type of entry point to literacy. This is absolutely the case, however, educators often understand this as a strategy of elimination: that the student’s subjectivity trumps the requirement to improve his/her writing or meet some type of success criteria, catering to that student’s other multi-modal strengths, without addressing or building upon the weakness. This is absolutely not to say that the students’ subjective output isn’t significant or important, however, culture dictates the social hierarchies of competency, and educators are doing their students a disservice by skirting the requirements and not equipping them with the basic tools necessary to climb and participate in it.

Consequently, how does multimodalities and it’s postmodern foundation stand up to pedagogical assessment/ self-assessment practices? I struggle with comprehending how it’s possible to assess a subjectively constructed artifact with an objective criteria. How is it possible to agree upon a common success criteria if every participant’s success criteria is interpreted differently? There must be a reasonable and commonly agreed upon interpretation. For example, the following image is an success criteria from my partner who teachers elementary French:

Let’s take Comprehension (Does the story make sense) – If we are going to embrace a pedagogy that dictates subjective meaning is ‘representing the world afresh’ and that everyone’s unique perspective and interpretation is ‘acceptable’ then on what grounds does an educator have to assess the comprehension level of a student? This submitted representation needs only to be fully comprehended by them and them only. Overall, I take no issue with the surface level notion of multi-modalities and the importance of incorporating it into pedagogy, however, I am wary to fully embrace its underlying theories particularly due to its proximity to postmodernism.

With respect to my own project:

Evoking the New London Group, I have appealed to hybridity and intertextuality in my mode-bending project – I’ve drawn attention to the complex ways in which meaning can be constituted through the relationship between various modes and have articulated novel practices and conventions between modes of meaning (New London Group, 1996). In this case, I’ve chained together a number of modalities to permit the viewer/reader to construct an interpretative meaning. For example, the linguistic representations of a water bottle differs exponentially once we depart from the Latin based languages, yet the sound reflective of the water bottle stays stagnant and unchanged across cultures. The visual interplay between the photo of the physical water bottle and an emoji-style reconstruction also challenges the reader/viewer to negotiate some semblance of a reasonable interpretation between the two.

As an English teacher, these ideas prompt me to think about the futures of narrative reading and writing: Will the classic characterization of the ‘book’ one day transform into a multi-modal form whereby the relating of a story will utilize auditory, linguistic, spatial, or gestural features? To what extent does this already exist in, let’s say, virtual reality?

Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (2009). Multiliteracies: New literacies, new learning. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4:3, 164-195, DOI:10.1080/15544800903076044

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