Hello, my name is Jennifer and I am completing this exercise from Leduc, Alberta.
I am not a purse person so I chose my digital bag and took a screening shot of my phone. Some interesting things in my digital bag include:
Libby is an app I use to listen to audiobooks and is hooked to an Edmonton library card. TRAC is for the Leduc and regional library that I use to get physical books through interlibrary loan. I have been going through the Outlander series on audiobook for the last six months and now reading in paper the Lord John associated novels (as I can’t get them on audiobook). My audiobook listening has switched to the Irish Country series and A Song of Fire and Ice series. Audiobooks force me to slow down and helps me consider the text as it follows the slower pace of the narrator. The narrator can also help to add to the text through character voices and helps the listener to immerse in the story. However a poor narrator can make a great text unbearable to consume. The class module indicates that a looser definition of text may also include oral forms (Pena, 2022). Thus audiobooks could be seen as a text created through technology (recording software). Libraries are traditionally full of texts but modern libraries have also become a place where individuals with no other means of access can access technology like computers, internet, and 3D printers.
Spotify is a music app where I like to make my own playlists, some based on genres but others on broad themes like drudgery (a mix of songs about work and/or otherwise has the steady beat of a working song). The app also uses AI technologies in its recommendation algorithms. Recently the app has added real time lyrics to the songs which adds more text and helps to reflect on the message of the song.
Reddit is the app I spend the most time on. I love the variety of information and exposure to different things it provides. I also use it to keep abreast of things happening in my province, the world or just in my favourite shows. Reddit comments can be considered an interactive or collaborative part of the post (text) built by users around the world joined by common interest using technology.
Our Groceries like reddit creates a collaborative text possible through internet technologies however in Our Groceries it is between known users and used for a particular purpose (grocery shopping). I use this app often with my husband as it is easy to maintain and easily brought to the store.
Find my Friends is used regularly in my family and is used to start oral or text conversations as we snoop on each other or to help plan the day. For example my grandma might text me and ask how my day was at the zoo or I might check if my husband has left work. In this case the app is a technology that encourages text creation at times.
My screen background is typically a darker mountain scenery as I am sensitive to the amount of light on screens due to frequent headaches/migraines (always have my phone on dark mode for example).
What does my bag say about me? The text on the various apps and folders shows I am an English speaker, the LG app says that I have at least 1 LG appliance (a washer and dryer that notify me when they are done), the library apps indicate I like to engage with texts, and the screenshot being from the 20th (calendar app) and me finishing this assignment on the 28th indicates I am a procrastinator who struggles to motivate herself to stay ahead in class. The prominence of certain apps (not within a folder) indicate they are more commonly used or important to me.
Literacies evident in the bag include:
- Health literacy (health folder, health records app)
- Digital literacy (digital bag indicates use of phone, diverse apps installed, use of technology for everyday tasks evident)
- Reading and Writing literacy (variety of text based apps that require writing, library apps)
Bag Narratives. This digital bag represents me relatively holistically compared to other bags I could use (my swim bag, my inspection bag, or my work laptop bag). When I normally introduce myself I typically talk about my career as well but that does not come into play in my digital bag as I have a separate work phone. I also typically over emphasize non digital activities like baking, board games or aqua-fit, when the reality is my screen time (or actually just my reddit time) is much higher than those activities.
Looking backwards and forwards. Back 20 years ago this bag would have needed to be much larger and included a computer, a watch, a recipe book, radio, bookshelf, notepad, filing cabinet, and camera. The ease of use and transport would be much more difficult as well. In the future, they may be surprised at having to access a device outside of the body for these functionalities as we become cyborg like or may be unable to open an ancient technology given mass destruction of technology and texts through world disasters (depends on how your glass is filled).
References
Pena, E. (2022). Thinking about Text and Technology [Lecture Notes]. https://canvas.ubc.ca/courses/96890/pages/1-dot-5-thinking-about-text-and-technology?module_item_id=4377770
Nice to meet you Jennifer! I think this is our first course together!
I really like your take on this exercise with the “digital bag”. I definitely think the apps that a person uses and how they organize these apps could give us some insight into the person themself.
Your thoughts on the narrator in audiobooks sparked a thought for me — similar to theatre, narration can be thought of as an “interpretation of a text” (Peña, 2022). I haven’t considered this before.
I also appreciate that you alluded to the evolution of libraries as text, technology, and culture evolve! Similarly, I’ve always been impressed with how Indigo/Chapters has evolved to keep up with its customers.
Your reference to Reddit makes me think about what upvoting and downvoting may have evolved from. Are they essentially cheering and booing from other contexts?
I have to say I’m a little jealous of your smart LG appliances! That must be so convenient. How do you find the app? I appreciate a smart home — I have smart lights, a smart lock, and a smart air purifier/monitor. A smart washer/dryer is on my wish list!
You mentioned that you highlight your non-digital activities to others but that you probably spend more time on Reddit — do you go on subreddits for baking, board games, or aqua-fit? If you do, I think that absolutely counts as spending time related to those activities!
I really enjoyed your post and am looking forward to getting to know you better through this course! 🙂
References
Peña, E. (2022). [1.5] Thinking about text and technology. In ETEC 540: Text Technologies: The Changing Spaces of Reading and Writing. The University of British Columbia.
Thanks for sharing your task 1. It is a fascinating peek into your digital footprint, and I enjoyed how you integrated the key themes of the course into your post. Your apps seem to fall into three categories: entertainment, information, and communication. All three categories are woven together so seamlessly.
While I am a fan of podcasts and reading, I just haven’t embraced audiobooks. I quite enjoy my e-reader, and don’t require the tactile nature of books, but for whatever reason I have yet to jump into eBooks. Out of interest, I just checked, and discovered that Adobe Reader provides a read out loud function that reads PDF text. Might try to convert some epubs and pdfs to test out this function although not sure it will be as good as a professional unautomated book reader.
When I think about my own connection to technology and text/information, I often fear the same things as Postman describes in Technopoly. “New technologies alter the structure of our interests: the things we think about. They alter the character of our symbols: the things we think with. And they alter the nature of community: the area in which thoughts develop” (Postman, 1993, p.20).
Just the other day, I was reflecting on the types of mobile phone I have had over the past twenty years from thick “un-app-ed” bricks to fancy touch devices that are far more powerful than the first computer I ever used. As the functionality of mobile devices evolve, so does our reliance on them as tools to communicate and interact.
References
Postman, N. (1993). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology (1st Vintage Books ed.). Vintage Books.
I agree. It was definitely a major change in my life when I switched from a text/call only phone to a smart phone- I was a pretty late adopter in 2014. It was amazing how much I could do with my phone. However smart phones are particularly addictive for me compared to other devices and my screen time has definitely increased since having one. You should definitely try an audiobook with a professional narrator- Listening while completing other mindless activities can be really enjoyable!
I agree with what you said in your manual writing task about how difficult it is to write in a linear way. I find that because we have become so accustomed to moving things around we have trained our brains to think about writing and its structure differently. We view it more as a puzzle than a timeline which can be difficult when manually writing a longer piece.
Thanks Katherine. Having just finished a paper as my final project it was a prime example of working extremely non-linearly. I agree that this may be due to the affordances of word processors as I don’t remember a strong desire to write non-linearly in elementary school but it is unclear if that is a developmental thing or a result of using word processors to draft a writing piece. It could be a cool study to compare writing processes of those who typically write manually versus a word processor.