#1
Joseph Villella, Task 10: Attention Economy
https://blogs.ubc.ca/jvillella540/2022/07/21/task-10-attention-economy/
Joseph and I had a similar experience with this task as we both found it enjoyable and entertaining, Where our experiences differed seems to be that his focus was more so on the practical applications of manipulative design interfaces where as I was more concerned with the frustrating user experience.
I appreciate how Joseph pointed out that the exercise was a good demonstration of the dangers of blindly clicking boxes and giving permission without really thinking things through. Organizations can easily fool end users into accepting terms and conditions that are not favourable to them or even installing malicious software on their devices if we don’t pay close attention to what it is we are agreeing to.
We both highlighted the cultural norms of certain colours an layouts leading to specific responses- for example, green means yes, red means no. Joseph’s post had me thinking that if a bad faith actor chose to do so, they could exploit these norms an manipulate end users into agreeing to terms or accepting conditions that the otherwise would not have. I also appreciate how he points out that we can combat these shady practices with early intervention- educating children at an early age.
#2
Jessica Presta, Task 11: Detain/Release
https://blogs.ubc.ca/jpresta/2022/07/31/task-11-algorithms-detain-release/
I enjoyed reading Jessica’s write up on her experience with the Detain/Release program, mostly because I feel it differed from my own quite a bit. I think that Jessica approached the task with a great deal of skepticism, and it sounds like she put a great deal of thought into her decisions.
My own experience was a bit more “by the seat of my pants” so to speak, as I found myself making decisions rather hastily and allowing the AI to do most of the thinking for me, particularly towards the end.
Jessica highlights some fantastic resources in her post that really speak to the dangers of relying on AI for decision making processes such as this. We both noted that bias can be hard-coded into algorithms, but only Jessica pointed out the potential for racist profiling before completing the exercise, where as in my post I note that I didn’t really consider the possibility until after the fact.
My take away is that it’s important to approach important tasks intentionally, do your research beforehand and be aware of potential biases before making your decisions- it’s not enough to simply acknowledge them after the fact. I feel that if nothing else, Jessica would make a better lawyer than me.
#3
Melissa Santo, Task 3: Voice to Text
https://blogs.ubc.ca/melissasanto/2022/06/20/etec-540-task-3-voice-to-text/
One thing Melissa and I have in common is that we both neglected to verbally add punctuation to our audio records. However, she points out this mistake right away, mentioning she thought of it as soon as the task finished, whereas I didn’t know that was a standard practice until… well, until I read her post just now.
Both Melissa and I highlight some standard errors in our text, which I think is to be expected using this sort of technology. One difference between our assessments is that Melissa focused a bit more on the technical aspect of the exercise, where as I was more focused on whether or not the technology got the general feel and theme of what I was trying to communicated.
We also both were more or less just speaking off the top of our heads, and we both chose an emotional story to tell. Melissa and I both noticed that the technology does a poor job of conveying feeling, which is a major limitation to the technology. Reading her post caused me to reflect a bit on this point, how as technology advances it still lags behind the human experience. I think this is especially true when it comes to analyzing the written word, something that both Melissa’s post and my own make a point of conveying.
#4
Jacey Bell, Task 6: An Emoji Story
https://blogs.ubc.ca/jaceysmetcollection/2022/07/08/task-6-an-emoji-story/
I chose to link Jacey’s task for this part of the assignment because the second I saw her emoji story I knew without question which movie she was talking about (UP, 2009).
Jacey’s contribution really helped me realize how communicating with images- in this case emojis- can be a totally valid and useful mode of communication, it just all depends on context. “Reading” through her post, the title of the film was immediately obvious, and only required one emoji. The plot was fairly easy to convey as well. I think this is because the film itself is very visual and light on dialogue. Additionally, it’s a pretty well-known movie and I’m personally very familiar with it. I think she did a great job of conveying the plot through the use of images.
Contrasting Jacey’s task to my own, it’s a world of difference. The novel I chose, “White Noise” by Don DeLillo, is almost the exact opposite of the film “Up”. My novel is very dense with a great deal of dialogue and very little imagery. It also doesn’t have much plot, it’s more focused on themes and ideas. As such, I think my post makes a great foil to Jacey’s- it’s an example of a work that cannot be easily communicated through use of images.
Again, my take away is that mode of communication is highly contextual. Some modes work very well in some cases, but don’t work well at all in others.
#5
Jane Wu, Task 9: Network Analysis
https://met.for.education/?p=337
I had some technically difficulties accessing the Palladio app, but the course instructor was kind enough to take some time to share the data with me via Zoom. Although I was grateful for his assistance, I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to dig around with the data on my own. With that in mind, for this linking assignment I wanted to be sure I selected a classmate who was able to access the data to see how our experiences differed.
Jane did a great job of pulling a lot of useful information out the raw data that was provided. She came to a similar conclusion as the rest of us- that there were some consistencies in song selection across groups and individuals. However, the community she was in (1) made some different selections than what I observed when shown the data. Percussion and Night Chant were both present in her community’s top selections. My analysis was from a broader perspective, looking at all the communities, where I noticed a greater emphasis on tracks that are more contemporary and familiar in western culture- Johnny B Goode, Beethoven’s 5th, and Melancholy Blues.
I think it just demonstrates that the same data can be manipulated in many different ways, and there are a multitude of conclusions that can be drawn. I’m not sure I agree with Jane’s observation that “the graph did not tell us anything about the people that made the choices”. From my perspective, the data gave us a cultural context to the people making the choices. I think the preference for contemporary songs performed in the English language is indicative of the cultural background of the participants. I do agree that more data is needed, and we would need to better categorize the data before making any strong conclusions.
#6
Amanda Botelho- Task 1: What’s in My Bag?
I thought Amanda’s contribution was very interesting and I chose it as my final link because it stands as a contrast to my own submission. Whereas I had very few items in my bag, Amanda’s is packed pretty full. She’s prepared for emergencies, and has tons of essentials to get her through the day. By comparison, I travel pretty light. One thing we had in common is that both of our bags included items that say something about where we’re from.
But the main thing I noticed is that while the contents of my bag are all for personal use, Amanda has items on hand for others. Blue tokens that she uses in the classroom, Kleenex for her niece and nephew, ID to access her school and classroom.
This got me thinking a bit about the nature of people and what you can tell from the contents they have on hand. I’m a pretty solitary person, but my impression from reading her submission is that Amanda is outgoing, social and always ready to help others. I also think it demonstrates how the contents of our bags are fluid- they change according to our life circumstances. For example, this week I’ll be visiting my own niece and nephew in Calgary, so I’ll be brining presents, books and yes, maybe even Kleenex.
Our original submissions were just a snapshot of a single point in time, but I think if we were to do this task every term, the contents would always tell a different story.