My Daily Needs

Selfie: Garth leaving the office

I’m a hybrid worker in government who works only 1-2 days per week in our office building. That means that when I commute to the office I have to carry most of my equipment and many of my personal supplies in my oversized bag—with the exception of my personal cellphone.

I do not have a permanent desk anymore since I began teleworking during and after the pandemic, nor do I have a locker anymore for my personal items and electronic devices.

The following is a numbered legend with details about the items in the above photo:

1. My wide computer bag with wheels and a telescoping handle. On the streets of Victoria I always look like a tourist when I am pulling this along the sidewalk.
2. My Lenovo notebook computer, provided by my employer before the pandemic.
3. Wireless keyboard. My own. My notebook’s keyboard is not an affordance for my large fingers.
4. Wireless mouse and mousepad (I am not a fan of the track pad).
5-8. USB port, power cord, headphones with mic and charging station. I often keep a cellphone charger in my bag, too.
9-10. A coiled notepad, sticky notes and pens. I still need to write in analog sometimes.
11. My access card and lanyard to wear around my neck. It always flaps around when I walk.
14-15. My reading glasses (3.00 magnification) and lens cleaner.
16. A mini-calculator. I don’t need it until I need it.
17. Wet Ones wipes, for cleaning stains on my shirt and just about everything else.
18. Small zipper pouch for pocket change and other forgotten artifacts.
19. A variety of condiments and utensils in a plastic bag to use at lunchtime.
20-25. Various personal comfort and hygiene items.
26. An umbrella for myself but, more importantly, to keep my equipment dry.
27. Chewing gum. why not?

My Items as Texts

How might these items be considered “texts” and what do they say about you, the places you inhabit, the cultures with which you engage, and/or the activities you take up?

One of the Oxford etymological definitions of the word text is from Latin textus, “that which is woven, web, texture” (OED Online, 2023).  The items 1-8, 11 and 16 in my bag are weaving a story about a digital worker in the 21st century who is fully mobile but still must travel to points of online connectivity and electrical power to be able to access networked technology, information and people. The analog writing tools 9-10 (the pens and paper products) reveal that there are still opportunities and needs for analog communication in certain contexts. The personal items show that I have human needs that are part of my digital working life. What is missing from the bag, perhaps, are items that represent my family (such as photos), mementos from my travels or certificates and diplomas about my accomplishments—these might be on the desk of a full-time office worker but there is no room for them in the spartan spaces of my bag.

(n.d.). Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved September 6, 2023, from https://www-oed-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/dictionary/text_n1?tab=etymology#18738443

Thinking about the title of the course, what are the “text technologies” in your bag, if any? What do these items say about how you engage with language and communication?

The predominant and most valuable item in my bag is my notebook computer, which enables me to read, write, speak, listen, watch, create, share and analyze through information technology and Internet connectivity. This powerful device is the most important communication tool in my work, even though there is a social element of online and face to face communication with my colleagues. I am interested in the etymological links between the words “text” and “technology” because technology is starting to provide communication tools that may eventually make written language (text) become an archaic and inefficient medium for communication and information sharing.

What do the items in your bag say about the literacies you have?

I think the items characterize me as a digitally literate professional with specific IT skills and competencies and they imply that I have a formal education and at least some advanced technical knowledge and training.

How does the narrative of the (private) contents of your bag compare with the narrative produced by the image you have of yourself or the image you outwardly project?

Every item in the bag is what I would consider my essential professional and personal needs for a day at work in a shared office environment, which suggests the image of a very focused and task-driven worker. However, the bag and the items within it carry almost no clues about my relationships at work, my relationships with my immediate family and friends, my cultural background or even my creative activities or my spiritual practices. It is basically a toolkit that says little about who I am (the person you see in the photo above), my history and my personal life apart from my daily work.

What would this same bag have looked like, say, 15 or 25 years ago?

If I were carrying a similar bag 25 years ago, I would have had similar equipment as I was using an IBM laptop with low bandwidth Internet connectivity at that time, but the laptop and the accessories or peripheral devices would not have been wireless, so although the outward appearance would have suggested a similar kind of mobile digital worker, there  would have been many more limitations and even hindrances to network connectivity that would have made me reliant on an telephone cord for dialup connectivity along with cable-tethered devices (such as a phone and a printer). also, I might have had some physical books or manuals as well in the bag.

How do you imagine an archeologist aiming to understand this temporal period might view the contents of your bag many years in the future?

If my bag and its contents were well preserved for 1 thousand years, for example, I suppose that they would understand the extent of our information technology in my era. They might conclude that my bag was the 21st century equivalent of other trades workers carrying their toolkit with them  but might wonder why there was a need for me to travel with these items in my bag since the computer was connected to a virtual private network. Perhaps they would conclude that there may have been social reasons for doing so, that people still wanted to gather face to face even thought they could meet online if they chose. Ironically, my most important electronic device than my Lenovo notebook computer would not even be in this bag as I always carry it on my person—my Google Pixel 7 smartphone.

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