This week I found myself connecting to Trista’s post.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540trista/2022/07/21/task-10-attention-economy/

We both noticed the way in which we had to read every word and every line on each page in order to complete the game. She highlights Bringnull (2011) statement that designers, based on psychological insights, can easily use dark patterns to deceptively manipulate users in business owners’ interests. I found this also connected with Harris’s (2017) TED talk that identified how peoples’ thoughts are being steered in such a way that we end up thinking about things we hadn’t planned on effectively losing agency over controlling our lives the way we want to. As a human race we need to begin acknowledging this fact and intentionally focusing our attention on things that drive our value systems and supports our goals. I appreciated how Trista highlighted the subtleties of how our attention is being focused elsewhere in small enough ways that we allow it or don’t deal with it, such as an inbox full of junk mail that we don’t unsubscribe to. She points out that it is easy to attend to the game but much more difficult to attend to these same issues in our everyday life. I am in absolute agreement with this. We often give our attention to things that are easy instead of saving it for what we truly care about!

Reference

Brignull, H. (2011). Dark Patterns: Deception vs. Honesty in UI Design. Interaction Design, Usability, 338.

Harris, T. (2017). How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention?language=en

https://blogs.ubc.ca/gkadawong/2022/07/03/task-7-mode-bending/

I found Georgia’s mode bending post very interesting! She redesigned the task by creating a poem about what was in her bag. This was a completely different approach than my own. I explained the story behind different items in my bag where she left her bag much more open to interpretation. Georgia does express in her reflection that this could ultimately create confusion. I enjoyed her poem and guessed what items may be in her bag based on my own experiences of an active outdoor lifestyle and some of her other descriptions. My guess is that the items are different than what I am picturing. It begs the question though, do the items themselves matter in this case? From the poem I was still able to discern that she is active, outdoors, snacks often, connects with family, teaches, and that the bag is full and heavy! This redesigned task fits in with the idea I pulled from the New London Group (1996)that we are part of multiple life worlds and that our identities have multiple layers that are complex and related to each other (p.71).  Georgia’s poem depicted how her bag held the key to these multiple layers and created a picture of how they are all jumbled and packed together to form who she is. Her post made me think about how I could use the same technique to share my multiple life worlds and identities.

References:

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

I enjoyed Trista Svennes’ Twine story!

Task 5: Twine Task

I found I had a similar process to her. We both needed to figure out the program first, struggled a bit with the flow of elements, moved to paper and pencil, then back to twine. I enjoyed the moving gif’s she used. That was not something I had even thought I could add. Her point about creating the Twine in a similar fashion to a lesson plan, with the end in mind, was important for me too. I find it very difficult to plan how to get somewhere unless I know where I am going! Although the sounds I used in my Twine story were simple, I did find that playing Trista’s Twine without any sounds made for a much different experience. I also agree that I want to learn more about using Twine before attempting to create another story.

Task 6 – An Emoji Story

This link is with Georgia and her emoji story post. I appreciated that we had a similar approach in using words and ideas to convey our messages. Where I struggled to use the emoji keyboard on my phone, she used the emojikeyboard.io website to find what she was looking for. We both reflected on the multiple meanings that images can convey and our attention to choosing the best image for the idea. She made a good point that the keyboards we use today are consistently updated to reflect more accurately the society we live in. We both feel there is potential in the classroom to use emojis with students. At my school we currently use emoji based charts for students to share how they are feeling. This could expand into helping our diverse learners communicate in different ways.

Sage Capgreco’s post on manual scripts resonated with me.  https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540sagecapogreco/2022/06/11/task-4-manual-scripts/

I chose to do potato printing for this task, while she chose to manually write a script. I agree with her thoughts on why she chose to move from manual writing to predominantly digital writing; the ease with which to correct mistakes or edit work, the ability to effortlessly save work/thoughts, and the insurance that my writing is legible! Even as I type this post, I have my eyes closed while I collect my thoughts and type what I am thinking. Then I go back and insert words or fix mistakes.

She touched on the concept of time. Writing is a lengthy process in comparison to typing. Making a print with a potato was also a time consuming process. Machines have made the creation of text easier. Bolter (2001) claims that each new technology sets out to be better than the one before it (p.26). This is certainly true for both the computer replacing manual script and the printing press replacing more primitive printing such as experienced through attempting to make potato prints. I am incredibly grateful for both inventions!

References:

Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2^nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

This link is from the voice to text assignment. I found Jade Lee’s post to resonate with my experience and extend my thinking.

Task 3: Voice to Text

I appreciated how she analyzed the program itself and made the connection to the classroom. I used Speechnotes as well and didn’t think about how my proximity to the microphone would make a difference in the accuracy of the text output. There were many substituted words in my text that may have been different if I was speaking directly into the microphone. Her example of understanding the technology she was asking students to use is important especially when we think about how we are assessing students. There could be errors or omissions that are not really the fault of the student but make a big difference in our assessment of them! The connection to accessibility for students is both practical and important to consider.

I appreciated her connection between oral story telling and digital media. Social media is focused on oral storytelling with the help of images. I do wonder how scripted some of the stories we see really are and if there are components that are used to help the stories be more organized.