ETEC 540 Linking – Page 2

June 25, 2022

Linking task 4: Potato printing — Emily

Links: My post for Task 4 · Emily’s post for Task 4

I chose to link to Emily’s post because we took similar approaches, but I had prior knowledge whereas Emily figured it out along the way. I had reflected on existing vs. new knowledge in my post, so I thought it would be interesting to dive deeper into this through Emily’s post!

Themes we both explored:

1. Choosing letters consisting of straight lines only
2. Mirroring the letters
3. Alignment of stamps
4. Evenness of ink
5. Putting letters together

Click here to view image in full size · The approach to this image was inspired by Xanadu (Nelson, 1999)

How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?

I think Emily’s experience differed from mine specifically around mirroring the letters (theme #2 above).

I also noticed that many of the other students in ETEC 540 did not mirror their stamps initially.

The need to mirror the stamp was almost implicit in me. As I’m reflecting again now on where I acquired this knowledge, in addition to my previous experience with block printing, I’m remembering that I also have a stamp with my Chinese name on it from when I went to Pre-K in Hong Kong. I believe the school had them made for all the students, and they were used to stamp our names onto our work. I’m thinking this may have to do with the fact that there are often many strokes in Chinese letters, so stamps would make it easier for the teachers to label our work. I’ve always seen that my name on the stamp itself is mirrored, and it stamps the right way.

If I were to assume that most Chinese people have stamps of their names from when they were kids, I wonder how this may influence the results if this task were done by students in a Chinese university.

What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?

- For our blogs: We’re both using WordPress on UBC Blogs.
- For our posts for Task 4: Emily and I both used text and images for our posts. We also both documented our processes even though that was not part of the expectations of the task. I enjoy learning how things are made and really appreciated Emily sharing her thought process and photos in her post.

How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?

I imagine the content-authoring capabilities for our sites are similar since we’re both using WordPress on UBC Blogs. However, we’re using different themes, which results in differences in interface:

- Navigation panel: Emily chose a theme with a left navigation panel, whereas mine is on the right. This got me wondering whether a left, right, top, or bottom navigation is best considering user experience, and from a quick search it looks like a left navigation is generally more user-friendly (Bailey, 2006), but it also “depend[s] on [the] context” (Bakusevych, 2021).
- Display of comments: Emily’s theme does not have nested comments (like in Erin’s theme), but it does state what the comment is in response to, i.e., ‘posted [date] at [time] by [name] in reply to [name of original commenter]’, which I think helps make it easy to follow.

What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?

I will leverage two key themes of The New London Group’s (1996) article A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social future — cultural & linguistic diversity and modes — in exploring the literacies of our sites and posts.

Cultural & linguistic diversity

- Language (similarity): Emily and I both use the English language for our posts.
- Being a parent (privilege in Emily’s site): Emily mentioned that she created the potato stamps with her two kids. I do not have children, so I imagine Emily has much more knowledge and experience raising children than I do. I especially appreciate that it was Emily’s eight-year-old who pointed out that straight letters would be easier to work with, to which Emily responded positively in an encouraging and supportive manner. This makes me think of a leadership trait that I learned from a leadership course at Stanford Continuing Studies, on ‘mom-ness’ (Ireland, 2020). Here are some of my notes from the course on the mom-ness leadership trait:
  - - Dichotomy of traits, love and devotion, and development of teams, paired with ruthless protection of turf
    - Example: Good, experienced parents who instinctively know how to…
      - Teach and develop talent over time
      - Reprimand without completely deflating egos
      - Model and convey values
- Background in visual art (privilege in my site): I explored this both in my original post and in my reflections above so I won’t expand on this here, but I can see how my background in visual art influenced my post and site.

Modes

- Visual design (similarity): As mentioned above, Emily and I both documented our processes and included the images in our posts. One slight difference is that I included timelapse GIFs to show more of the process, but I think Emily’s static images were also very clear.

What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague’s textual architecture and how does this affect one’s experience of the work?

- Me: I enjoy making connections across my knowledge (I also explored this in my linking post for Task 3), and especially appreciated The New London Group’s (1996) factor of “Transformed Practice in which students transfer and re-create Design of meaning from one context to another” (The New London Group, 1996, p. 83). I think this shows up in the way I structured my reflection for Task 3, with the headings ‘Existing knowledge (and its influence)’, ‘New knowledge (through trial and error)’, and ‘Connecting knowledge (and the evolution of technology)’.
- Emily: Emily created the stamps with her kids and used the word “we” throughout her post, which makes me think she is great at taking a collaborative and supportive approach to learning.

How do the constraints of the course design manifest in your architectural choices? How have you responded to the pedagogical underpinnings of this course design in your own web space?

I would like to take this opportunity to iterate the mind map I created for my other linking posts (linking post #1 – Task 2; linking post #2 – Task 3) in response to this same question.

Updates:

- I lined up all posts related to the same task vertically. In other words, all posts related to Task 1 are in the same ‘column’, all posts related to Task 3 are in another ‘column’, etc. I’m hoping this makes it easier to see the number of connections made across each task.
- I moved the connections for Task 4 from the right to the left, to leave more space on the right for posts related to the upcoming tasks.

Click here to view mind map in full size

References

Bailey, B. (2006, April 1). Navigation: Left is best. Usability.gov. https://www.usability.gov/get-involved/blog/2006/04/left-navigation-is-best.html

Bakusevych, T. (2021, March 2). Top vs side navigation: Which one is better for your product? UX Collective. https://uxdesign.cc/top-navigation-vs-side-navigation-wich-one-is-better-24aa5d835643

Ireland, C. (2020). Leadership by design: Using design thinking to transform companies and careers. Stanford Continuing Studies.

Nelson, T. H. (1999). Xanalogical structure, needed now more than ever: Parallel documents, deep link to content, deep versioning, and deep re-use. ACM Computing Survey, 31(4). https://doi.org/10.1145/345966.346033

The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92. http://newarcproject.pbworks.com/f/Pedagogy%2Bof%2BMultiliteracies_New%2BLondon%2BGroup.pdf

June 24, 2022June 25, 2022

Linking task 3: Voice to text task — Agnes

Links: My post for Task 3 · Agnes’ post for Task 3

I chose to link to Agnes’ post because I found her sharing on “feeling that [she] had to make [her] stories short” in her childhood to be fascinating (Agnes, 2022), since I might say I felt the opposite of that in my childhood. It makes me wonder how our different feelings on this may be reflected in our styles of communication now, including our experiences with this task. I will reflect on this further below.

Themes we both explored:

1. Tool used
2. One-way storytelling
3. Content of verbal vs. written communication
4. Expectations of communication skills
5. Punctuation
6. Incorrect words captured
7. Speed of speech
8. Lack of tone in text

Click here to view image in full size · The approach to this image was inspired by Xanadu (Nelson, 1999)

How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?

Agnes shared that as a child, she felt like she had to “make [her] stories short and to the point … to keep the attention of [her] family members” (Agnes, 2022). This stood out to me because when I was a child, I enjoyed spending time on my own — usually to make ‘art’ with traditional and digital media, learn to create websites, or play video games — and appreciated having less attention.

I wonder how this may have influenced our styles of communication, including our experiences with this task. Looking at our posts for Task 3, I’m seeing that Agnes considered when the technology may not be appropriate, whereas I leaned into the technology almost as an extension of my own abilities. I wonder if this may have be sparked by our feelings from childhood, where Agnes appreciated connecting with people, and I appreciated exploring technology independently.

What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?

- For our blogs: We’re both using WordPress on UBC Blogs.
- For our posts for Task 3:
  - Agnes included an image of a person (of herself?) using a recording app, which I think adds a human element to her post and reiterates that it is a person leveraging technology. I wonder if this extends on my hypothesis above of Agnes being more people-focused than I am.
  - I included relevant icons in my post to help make it easier to understand the text, which, upon reflection, seems to allude to my appreciation for web design.

How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?

- Profile picture: Agnes chose a theme that has a space in the top left corner for a profile picture. My theme does not have this.
- Left vs. top navigation bar: The theme Agnes chose uses a left navigation bar, which contains the menu, search bar, recent posts, recent comments, archives, and categories. On mine, the menu is fixed at the top, and the rest are scattered across a second column and the footer. I find the left navigation to be cleaner. *Update: After this post, I looked into customizing my widgets and moved the navigation to the right.

What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?

Cultural & linguistic diversity

- Language (similarity): Agnes and I both use the English language for our posts.
- Regional knowledge and vocabulary (potential difference): Agnes mentioned she moved from Ontario to Saskatchewan. I’ve never been to either of those provinces (aside from a layover at the Toronto Pearson Airport), so I imagine Agnes is much more familiar with Ontario and Saskatchewan than I am. On the flip side, if Agnes is not familiar with BC, then she may not have had Nanaimo bars or know how to pronounce ‘Coquitlam’. I’m not familiar with some of the places Agnes referenced in her post (e.g., Nipissing University, Bradford, St. Mary’s School, Estevan), and I’m not sure if or how that might be affecting my understanding of her post. Similarly, in my post I referenced several major streets in Vancouver, and I wonder how those might affect her understanding of my post if she’s not familiar with Vancouver.

Modes

- Visual design (difference): As mentioned above, Agnes uses photos with people on her site, whereas I have been using graphics. I think the use of photos with people evokes more of a human element in Agnes’ site.

What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague’s textual architecture and how does this affect one’s experience of the work?

- Me: In my post I mentioned my thoughts on the parallel I see between unscripted/scripted stories and painting/photography. I value “systems thinking” (The New London Group, 1999, p. 67), “utilization of available discourses” (The New London Group, 1999, p. 88), and “pattern recognition … to act flexibly and adaptably in context” (The New London Group, 1999, p. 84), and I think the last paragraph in my post lightly hints at that.
- Agnes: In her post Agnes mentioned that “[i]n oral storytelling, the information communicated is often collaborative” (Agnes, 2022). Her reference to collaboration suggests to me that she values collaborative learning, which is incredibly important in today’s world.

How do the constraints of the course design manifest in your architectural choices? How have you responded to the pedagogical underpinnings of this course design in your own web space?

I would like to take this opportunity to iterate the mind map I created for my first linking post in response to this same question.

Updates:

- For easier viewing, I moved the connections related to Tasks 1-3 to the left, and Tasks 4-6 remain on the right.
- I also added hyperlinks to each of the connections, so viewers would be able to jump directly to the posts, if they wish.

Click here to view mind map in full size

References

Agnes. (2022, June 12). Task 3: Voice to text. Agnes’s webspace ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540ag/2022/06/12/task-3-voice-to-text/

Miami Dolphins [@MiamiDolphins]. (2022, June 10). #MiniMic x @HollywoodVon [Video attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/MiamiDolphins/status/1538937472985489409

Nanaimo bar. (2022, March 23). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nanaimo_bar&oldid=1078748111

June 24, 2022June 25, 2022

Linking task 1: What’s in my bag? — Erin

Links: My post for Task 1 · Erin’s post for Task 1

I chose to link to Erin’s post because our items and themes are similar, but Erin also reflected on how “[her] tendency to travel light is very much the same when it comes to other aspects of [her] life” (Duchesne, 2022), which really resonated with me. I found this point fascinating and wanted to dive deeper into Erin’s post.

Themes we both explored:

1. Essentials only
2. Item: Keys
3. Digital, paper-free
4. Item: Extra mask
5. Social connection
6. Items are representative of own image
7. Technological literacy
8. Similar to items from 10-15 years ago
9. Reference to location

Click here to view image in full size · The approach to this image was inspired by Xanadu (Nelson, 1999)

How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?

Through her post I learned that Erin and I have many similarities, as highlighted in the image above. As for differences:

- Location: She’s in Edmonton; I’m in Vancouver
- Undergrad: She went to University of Alberta; I went to UBC
- Work environment: She works in-person (I gathered this from her references to her lunch bag and school keys); I work remotely
- Job: She’s a grade 1 teacher; I work in organizational learning

From these, I imagine Erin has more experience than I do with cold weather, meal prep, and interacting with children. On the other hand, I may have more experience with rain, making instant noodles (probably! haha), and interacting with experienced professionals.

What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?

- For our blogs: We’re both using WordPress on UBC Blogs.
- For our posts for Task 1: Erin primarily used text and a photo, whereas I used text and an interactive image. I find Erin’s post very clear, and I’m now thinking that text and a photo would’ve been sufficient for my post as well. I think my decision to create an interactive image may have been influenced by my background in visual art and design.

How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?

- Displaying number of comments: The theme that Erin chose displays the number of comments for each post under its title, which makes it easy to see the level of engagement with the post. This is not displayed in the theme I chose.
- Nested comments: The nested comments in Erin’s theme makes it easy to see responses to comments. My theme has nested comments as well, but with significantly less indentation, which makes it more difficult to see how the comments relate to one another.
- Text size: The text size for my theme is larger than Erin’s. On desktop, this results in an average of 11 words per line in my posts, and 17 words per line in Erin’s. This means it would take longer to read one line on Erin’s site, but my posts would appear to be longer.

I also appreciate that Erin has set up links to her assignments in the top navigation of her site. This makes it easy to locate her posts.

What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?

Cultural & linguistic diversity

- Language (similarity): Erin and I both use the English language for our posts.
- Being environmentally conscious (privilege in Erin’s site): In her post Erin mentioned she “cares about sustainability” (Duchesne, 2022), which is reflected through some of her reusable items, as well as her mention of not having paper in her classroom. I absolutely do care about the environment, but admittedly there’s always more that I can do, and it sounds like Erin is more literate than I am in this regard. I wonder if her literacy on sustainability would be reflected in her upcoming posts, and from a quick look I see that the word she chose for her potato print was ‘world’!

Modes

- Visual design (similarity): For my site, I try to use headings, dividers, and images to help increase the clarity and readability of my posts. I see that Erin makes good use of headings as well.
- Gestural design (privilege in my site): For my post I created an interactive image to describe my items, which unintentionally speaks to my passion for interactive multimedia. This is also reflected in my post for Task 5. In realizing this now, I will identify more opportunities to create interactive multimedia for my upcoming tasks.

What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague’s textual architecture and how does this affect one’s experience of the work?

Site

I think someone experiencing my work would find it clear what points I am making, whereas someone experiencing Erin’s work would find it easy to understand the connections across her points.

- Me: Further to my reflection earlier on the people Erin and I interact with respectively, I’m thinking my work environment may have influenced the way I communicate. I work in the business sector, where most people I interact with are constantly multitasking, so I have to ensure my points are crystal clear. In both verbal (on-the-spot or otherwise) and written communication, I typically start by stating the point I would like to make, following with an overview of the supporting arguments, and then expanding on the arguments. In written communication, I also leverage headings and bolding to help make my text scannable so people can easily focus in on what matters to them. I’m seeing now that this may have carried over to the way I write these posts!
- Erin: I find Erin’s writing to flow very nicely — it feels to me like I am following a cohesive train of thought. Her transitions across points are thoughtful, and her writing flows very smoothly as a result.

Post – Task 1

- Me: One of the themes I explored in my post was the idea of ‘backups’, made possible with technology. With work, I’m also a huge believer of having multiple points of entry and flexibility in learning and development, made possible with intentional use of technology, in order to help make the learning as valuable and effective to the individual as possible. I’m realizing now that there is a parallel here!
- Erin: It seems to me that Erin’s post takes a more guided approach and uses storytelling, which I imagine would be very effective considering the age of her learners.

How do the constraints of the course design manifest in your architectural choices? How have you responded to the pedagogical underpinnings of this course design in your own web space?

The one constraint I can think of is the inability to easily see all the links created through all linking assignments, although that is a limitation of the World Wide Web now, as Nelson warned in 1999 (Nelson, 1999).

To help take a step towards closing this gap, I identified all the posts created for the linking assignment so far and visually connected them through this mind map. However, please note that this approach is closer to the Memex (see Bolter, 2010, p. 35; Trevor Flowers, 2016) and not Xanadu (see Nelson, 1999):

Click here to view mind map in full size

References

Bolter, J. D. (2010). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410600110

Duchesne, E. (2022, May 16). Task 1: What’s in your bag? Erin Duchesne ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/erinduchesneetec540/2022/05/16/task-1-whats-in-your-bag/

Trevor Flowers. (2016, June 19). Memex #001 demo [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW4SS_9nXyo