Monthly Archives: July 2022

Task 11 – Detain/Release

As a true crime documentary enthusiast, it is no surprise to me that I was heavily engaged in this task. The resources to go along with this task particularly piqued my interest and the task itself left me mind blown and questioning my own thinking while also leaving me with an increased sense of both discomfort and awareness. I particularly enjoyed listening to the podcasts that provided insightful information into real life examples of how predictive software works.

While completing this task I found myself feeling conflicted with many of my decisions as I did not feel I had enough information to make a just decision. I also noticed that the statement for prosecution rarely recommended release and when it did I typically agreed with its response. However, the majority of the scenarios recommended detention which left me feeling even more conflicted with many of my decisions. The criteria I had to go off of was minimal for a decision that carries such heavy results and consequences. This task opened my eyes in many ways to the unjust decisions that are made every day by large corporations that the public rely on and speaks to how much we rely on technology and its systems to solve our problems.

It is evident that everyone who uses the internet is affected by algorithms and upon understanding and thinking about algorithms in its simplest forms as, “a set of instructions for which to solve problems” it is particularly terrifying to think about in regards to topics of legal issues and crime (Malan, 2013). The ways in which crime prediction software is carried out was both surprising to hear and not in many ways and also reminded me of the constant ways people are rated and categorized, including with credit scores, insurance premiums, etc. For instance, the location of where your vehicle is parked overnight will affect your insurance premium. Similarly, this predictive model focuses on the geography instead of the individual and these measurement tools do not capture the ‘full picture’ of individuals (O’Neil, 2017). In addition, hearing about the different quota systems in place and strategies to achieve quotas was rather disturbing and reminded me of how my friends and I used to joke about being extra careful on the road towards the end of the month when cops were needing to make their monthly ticket quotas.

O’Neil, C. (2017, April 6). Justice in the age of big data. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from ideas.ted.com website: https://ideas.ted.com/justice-in-the-age-of-big-data/

TED-Ed. (2013). What’s an algorithm? – David J. Malan.

Vogt, P. (n.d.-a). The Crime Machine, Part I.

Vogt, P. (n.d.-b). The Crime Machine, Part II.

Task 10 – Attention Economy

GUI (https://userinyerface.com/) manipulated my attention and responses in many ways. According to Brignull, “deception is evident in various guises in user interfaces on the web today” (2011). This task definitely forced me to pay close attention to what each section of the game was asking and in order for me to complete my reflection, I worked my way through the game twice. The first time I was so focused on getting through the game that I forgot important details to include for my reflection. In addition, I believe this task would’ve been significantly easier to get through if I had a separate computer mouse as the keyboard mouse definitely slowed me down. Furthermore, I had my fiance and brother do this task as well and I had the best time, just saying :P. This could speak to my attention span, the amount of time I spend using technology, as well as my current experience in a text technologies course.

The functions within the GUI that especially stood out to me were the ones that inconvenienced me the most. The timer stood out to me first as I initially thought the time was decreasing instead of increasing. When inputting my personal information, having to backspace existing characters was time consuming and inefficient as well as inputting the street name and number separately. In addition, the GUI required manual clicking of the arrows to increase or decrease the address number. My address number is 80 which means I clicked the arrow 80 times, but what if my address number was in the hundreds or thousands? On this page, I also noticed it was difficult to input my exact age with the sliding scale and I kept sliding to the age that is one year before or after me. The flags were displayed in black and white which required me to spend extra time on finding the Canadian flag and I also noticed that the months of the year were in alphabetical order which you don’t normally see and which I found to be inconvenient. Furthermore, when selecting the images to authorize that I am not a robot, I noticed that it required me to read between the lines. For example, the word “checks” had a variety of different images associated with it including a check mark, engine check, etc.

Brignull, H., (2011). Dark Patterns: Deception vs. Honesty in UI Design. Retrieved from: https://alistapart.com/article/dark-patterns-deception-vs-honesty-in-ui-design/

Task 9 – Network Assignment Using Golden Record Curation Quiz Data

The various functions in the Palladio application showed an interconnected web of data that can be visualized and interpreted. In doing so, this task required extensive analysis for my reflection and made me realize how time-consuming it can be to interpret graphs. One thing that stood out to me was how interconnected our song choices were yet my song choices seemed to overlap with each of my classmates’ at least once. I also noticed that there was one song that was only chosen by one classmate which made me wonder why. When I narrowed down my search to those in my assigned community, I noticed that there were many (four) song choices that were only chosen by one student. In addition, I also noticed that these songs that were chosen by just one member of the community, sounded vastly different from each other.

Our selection of song choices differed for many reasons. Ultimately, I believe that our experiences, interests, values, etc shaped the similarities that were presented in the Palladio application. Our musical choices are influenced by a variety of different factors and people use music for a variety of different reasons. Therefore, I do not believe the graphical visualizations are able to capture the reasons behind the choices. As a viewer, we can make our own connections and assumptions about the data but to understand the reasoning behind the why would require the viewer to have more information. In addition, there is no way for the viewer to validate their assumptions about the data collected.

Task 8 – Golden Record Curation

Top 10 Choices:

Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40
Mexico, “El Cascabel,” performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14
“Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38
Japan, shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (“Crane’s Nest,”) performed by Goro Yamaguchi. 4:51
Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55
“Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05
Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48
Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20
Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, “The Fairie Round,” performed by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. 1:17
“Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15

When choosing my top 10 pieces of music from the Golden Record, I found myself instantly gravitating towards songs that sounded familiar to me. I also chose songs with softer melodies and/or had a relaxing tone to it. I found myself fast forwarding through songs that had more of an intense beat to it and did not sound comforting. I often find comfort in music which could explain why I didn’t find the songs that had an intense and frightening beat to it sound comforting.

Link 3 – Jade Lee Task 6

LINK 3 – Jade Lee Task 6 Emoji Story

https://blogs.ubc.ca/msjadelee/2022/06/26/emoji-story/

Jade similarly relied on ideas to conduct the emoji plot and found it challenging to come up with an emoji title. I also found it difficult to communicate the plot using emojis and Jade and I used similar strategies to do so. For example, the use of the arrow emojis were helpful in following the plot and only using key symbols to depict the plot allowed for a better understanding and less confusion. I also found that for both of our plots, the reader needed to have been familiar with the movie/tv series first in order to figure out the emoji plot. I was able to figure out the ideas behind Jade’s emojis because I am currently watching this TV series.

One difference that stood out to me was our selection in the plots we chose to convey. I chose to use the last movie I watched where Jade chose to use a popular TV series that she felt people would know.

Link 2 – Trista Ding Task 4

LINK 2 – Trista Ding Task 4 Manual Scripts

https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540trista/2022/06/11/task-4-manual-scripts/

Trista chose to write a journal reflection for Task 4 and reading Trista’s ideas and the reasoning behind the reflection gave me deja vu. Trista’s ideas were very similar to my own when I did this task, I felt like I was reading my own reflection. Similarly, Trista also chose to write her reflection in pen and mentioned that she would just cross out any mistakes or tear out the page in her journal entries because she views this type of writing as informal. I also found it interesting that Trista’s main difference that she commented on between mechanized and manual forms of writing was efficiency as this was the exact word that I used. Mechanized and manual forms of writing are both regularly used by Trista and I and it depends on the task itself for which form of writing we choose to use.

One difference that stood out to me was the way we presented our reflections. I chose to write both my journal entry and reflection manually while Trista wrote her journal entry manually but reflection mechanically. Another difference is the way we presented our manual pieces of writing. I chose to individually take pictures of each page of my journal so my classmates could read the entry in comparison to Trista who posted her journal entry in more of a private way where you aren’t able to read the journal entry.

Link 1 – Erin Duchesne Task 3

LINK 1 – Erin Duchesne Task 3 Voice to Text

https://blogs.ubc.ca/erinduchesneetec540/2022/06/09/task-3-voice-to-text-task/

I personally connected to Erin Duchesne’s Task 3 Voice to Text Application. I found a lot of similarities in the way we defined mistakes in the voice-to-text application. We both described our text as one big run-on sentence and reflected on the importance of speaking clearly when using voice-to-text applications. Despite the many mistakes that were present in both our written texts, we were pleased with the accuracy of the written text. In addition, I appreciated Erin’s comment about how pausing when speaking doesn’t translate to a period in written text and how unnatural it is to say “period” when speaking orally.

One difference that stood out to me was the way we chose to write our reflections. Erin made it very clear what question she was responding to by writing out the question and then responding. This made it straightforward for myself to read. When I did my reflection I responded in a way that to some extent, requires the reader to read between the lines. Another difference was Erin’s experience with voice-to-text applications. This was Erin’s first time using a voice-to-text which differs from my own experience. Although we had very different experiences with voice-to-text applications, our experiences with this task were seemingly quite similar.

Task 7 – Mode Bending

Through this poem, I invited my listeners to interpret the items in my bag in their own way and to pick up on clues that tell about myself and what’s in my bag. I chose to use a playful form of audio communication to invite my listeners to reflect on the potential benefits and challenges of using different modes of communication.

Some potential benefits of using audio in playful ways that come to mind are the agency the listener has in how they engage with and connect to the content. They also do not need to be literate to listen to the audio and can still connect to it in their own unique ways. Some potential challenges of using audio in playful ways that come to mind are the open ended nature of it causing confusion rather than connection. Listening to audio may not be as straightforward as reading written text and require existing knowledge in order to read between the lines. In addition, the digital divide was brought up in Dobson and Willinsky’s paper, which is critical to consider when designing appropriate learning spaces (2009).

We are living through an increasingly digitized world and understanding how information can be best transmitted is critical to consider when designing learning spaces. When considering the mode in audio form, it’s important to consider what information should be included and how information should be presented that varies from text in written form. For example, speaking clearly and slowly for listeners would impact their ability to connect to the voice speaking to them. In other words, you tell your story in different ways depending on the audience and the mode of transmission which needs to be considered when designing multimodal learning spaces that provide multiple access points for students. Mode bending is an ongoing process when designing learning spaces and the way information is presented can influence engagement, connection, and overall understanding of the material. When considering educational designs and changing the mode of administration it’s important to consider both the mode as well as the audience and what mode works best for learners (Kress, 2005).

Dobson, T. & Willinsky, J. (2009). Digital Literacy. Cambridge Handbook of Literacy, Retrieved from: https://pkp.sfu.ca/files/Digital%20Literacy.pdf

Kress, G. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning, Computers and Composition. Vol. 2(1) 5-22.