Author Archives: youngkby

Task 8: Golden Record Curation

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  1. “Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38
  2. Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55
  3. Peru, wedding song, recorded by John Cohen. 0:38 (mostly vocals)
  4. Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30 (instrumental)
  5. Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor. 2:55
  6. Georgian S.S.R., chorus, “Tchakrulo,” collected by Radio Moscow. 2:18
  7. Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conductor. 4:35
  8. “Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05
  9. Bulgaria, “Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin,” sung by Valya Balkanska. 4:59
  10. Mexico, “El Cascabel,” performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14

I started by reading the list of songs. I immediately highlighted Johnny B Goode and moved it to the top of my list. This is such a classic and from one of my favourite movies. I then continued going through each song and identifying where in the world they were from. I wanted to have representation from as many countries as possible. I would have included all of the Bach and Beethoven however I didn’t think I should. I also wanted to have some instrumental with varying instruments and some lyrical. I will admit that once I felt I had at least half from across the world I then went with my personal preference and which songs stuck out to me most. In this case, Abby Rumsy seems spot on that what is archived or chosen to be kept is in fact arbitrary. I chose based on little criteria or logic and therefore I am sure no one in our course has curated the same 10 songs.

Music from Earth.Links to an external site. (n.d.). NASA.

Rumsey, A. (2017) Abby Smith Rumsey: ‘Digital memory: What can we afford to lose?’, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBrahqg9ZMc (Accessed: 07 July 2024). 

 

Task 7: Mode Bending

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Reflect on the potential benefits and challenges of engaging in mode-changing and describe your own redesign process.

The New London Group showed all the many ways that meaning can be represented. Through this task we are representing the first task of the course where we introduced ourselves to the rest of ETEC 540. What is in our bag shows a lot about us and what we place meaning on in our lives. Instead of reading out the items in my bag, I chose to represent them with a noise for each object. I wish I was a musician who knew how to mash up sounds however I had to resort to recording Youtube clips. Therefore this task took me longer than I would like to admit.

I think the benefits of mode-changing are engagement for students or people who gravitate to different representations of information. This could also be more accessible for certain people with varying backgrounds or difficulties with written texts. However, where I can see a challenge is in how it is interpreted. Especially after my recording, I am not sure people would necessarily be able to interpret exactly what is meant by each sound. Another challenge I see is knowledge of required equipment. I struggled for a few minutes just trying to determine what method of recording I could use. Changing modes is interesting ang engaging but more so if it does not require even more time to prepare.

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

Task 6: Emoji Story

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In today’s digital age, screens have become the primary medium through which information is presented and consumed. As a result, I thought this task would be easier than it was. I found I had to leave out huge amounts of detail so my description is just key words. In order to understand this story someone would have to be able to interpret both the literal meaning of some emojis and the symbolic meaning. “Words are (relatively) empty entities…This is the task we call interpretation, namely interpreting what sign the writer may have intended to make with this signifier” (Kress, 2005, pg 7). This became clear after trying to identify the meaning of my classmates emoji stories. I as the reader interpret the symbols by assigning them meaning based on the context, trying to decipher what the writer is intending. However, as Kress (2005) mentions, it is harder to interpret images which have so many more meanings than specific words. I found myself able to pick up on some phrases or have a decent idea what the show may be, however I could not decipher some plots. I relied on a combination of syllables, words, and ideas because there were not enough emojis to stick to only one of these strategies. I started with the title because I knew I would need to repeat these emojis often throughout the story and I quickly realized that I might have chosen a difficult show. Hopefully someone can identify it! The first and very important emoji is a bit blurry which also does not help…

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

Task 5: Twine Task

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Survival of the Secondary Teacher (9).html

This task involved creativity which is something I find a bit daunting. I was going to opt out of this one however I decided to challenge myself and complete it. I chose a topic that was relevant to me, my occupation, and I wanted to try and add some humour to it. I should note that I love teaching and I actually find my days super enjoyable so this Twine is not an accurate depiction of every day…only some of them. I started by watching the ‘how to’ video and then played around with the tool. Once I got the idea of it I began my story. I think if I was to do it again I would have more of a plan written out. By the time I had come up with a concept I liked I was almost done a first draft. I think my idea would have been stronger if I was to do it again. 

After the reading on hypertexts I was immediately remembering a game I played in middle school. We would start on the same Wikipedia page and then someone would tell us the code word we had to get to. Using hyperlinks we would click through “a network of interconnected writings” (Bolter, 2001), in order to land on the code word first. I am used to navigating the web like this. I utilize hyperlinks for researching and understanding, I also use it in my lesson plans and daily calendars. Although I use them often, I noticed I still followed a linear form of writing. “A common goal of writing for printed publication has been to create a perfect hierarchy”(Bolter, 2001). Although I tried to branch off into different story lines I found it hard to focus on a web of connections rather than the linear. Overall, I am happy I learned how to use Twine. I appreciate that it is not the same discussion post or essay assignment but rather something different. I also think the tool would work well in my classroom for a creative assignment. 

Chapter 3Links to an external site. of Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Task 4: Potato Stamp

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Overall this task was very humbling. I thought it would be an easy process however as evident through my potato (yam) printing it did not go well. First of all I did not have any potatoes so I was off to a tough start. I then didn’t have one large enough to write 5 letters…so I ended up with 3 which was challenging enough for me. It was challenging to create a precise line or outline the stamp. It actually took me over 30 minutes just to create the stamp. I am not a very patient person so it took a lot of will power to not switch to the other optional task and scrap the stamp altogether. The letters I chose had both straight lines and curves. Originally I thought the curves would be harder but the straight lines were no easier. The lowest point of the potato stamp creation was realizing I had not mirrored the image so it was legible once stamped, ultimately making my stamp useless.

It took me a lot of time and effort to create my 3 letter word it. This was upfront work that once I was printing paid off in efficiency. Now that I created that word I would not have to do it again therefore speeding up the mechanization of writing. It also standardized the print. As long as I had the same amount of paint on the stamp it always turned out essentially the same. This is beneficial in many ways however it also removes the creativity or personalization that handwriting has. This made me think about typing and its benefits to cursive writing. Easier to read regardless of who wrote it and more efficient. However, there is something so human and personal about receiving a cursive written note. I always feel this nostalgia when I read my grandmas old recipes. If these were typed they would not be the same. Overall, this assignment demonstrated the benefits of the mechanization of writing through a very simple task while highlighting some downfalls. A potato stamp or cursive writing not cannot be easily adjusted or changed. Does this mean that through mechanization and speed we are losing careful consideration and thoughtfulness of our words? I know if I had to create stamps to communicate through text, I would show extremely purposeful consideration for each and every word used. 

Task 3: Voice to Text

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Oral Story

On Thursday I had a women’s league basketball game I was on my way from coaching and so I was running out of gas I didn’t notice until about halfway to my basketball game and I looked down at my gas tank and realized that I was on one bar and of course I was not very close to getting to the gym I started to panic and coasting try not to use my AC I put my windows up even though I have no idea if that actually affects my gas use and then I took a wrong turn because I was thinking about my gas and instead of getting to the gym quickly and ensuring that I didn’t run out of gas I actually prolonged my travel time luckily I made it to the gym and I chatted with all my teammates about the situation and how far I may be able to get on my gas tank our basketball game went well we played a current UBC basketball player and she was playing against all of us old ladies and it was really fun to see someone that is currently in University playing where I was quite a while ago we ended up winning the game by 15 points and it’s just a really nice social fun atmosphere where I get to see all of my friends and get a good workout in after the game I had to map where the nearest gas station was and a teammate followed me while I got to it I felt like I was about to fully run out and it was the closest I’ve ever been but luckily I made it to the station paid an astronomical amount for gas and filled up my tank and then drove home and called my sister to decide what was for dinner and we made omelets with lots of cheese I had a nice delicious bubbly water and then we watched our favorite reality TV show after that I went to bed for much-needed I woke up the next day I’m super sore because I’m now not as young as I used to be and my knees always get a bit sore after playing overall not a bad Thursday night

The story above has not been altered in any way after the speech-to-text process (using https://speechnotes.co/). Grammatical and spelling mistakes are all included as originally seen.

Reflection

For this exercise I found myself speaking differently than I normally would if I was telling this to a friend. I found it difficult to just come up with a story on the spot which is why my story is so boring and seemingly about nothing. If I had time to script the story, it would make more sense and flow much better. What is “wrong” with the text is the punctuation. I spoke with pauses however the written text does not account for this making it an entire run on sentence. I consider these mistakes because without the punctuation it impacts the story and how I intended to share it with the listener. This could change the meaning or message that I was conveying. I also notice with other voice to text applications that often words are autocorrected to choose words that are proper English words but which make little sense in the sentence. If I had scripted the story it would have been much more logical with less repetition and more polished because I could revise it as I went. This made it clear how much oral storytelling differs from written storytelling. Oral first of all does not require the listener to be literate. The story can also be adjusted to suit the specific audience so there is the ability to make it more personal or interesting based on who is listening. This is not the case for written stories however the benefit to written is that they include more description and detail to make it more interesting to read. “Writing is generally done more deliberately than speaking, so finished written pieces are much more carefully crafted than a typical spoken sentence” (Gnanadesikan, 2011). Reading what I was saying I really noticed I almost gave no description like I would through writing. The largest difference to written and oral storytelling is that written can be read verbatim rather than from memory. As Walter Ong (2002) discusses, reciting something of great length verbatim is impossible for the human brain. So, although it could be memorized and recited verbatim, by writing it down it ensures each reader would get the exact same information no matter how many times my uninteresting and monotonous story was read.

References:

Gnanadesikan, A.E. (2011). The first IT revolution. In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet (pp. 1-12). John Wiley & Sons. 

Ong, W.J. (2002). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the wordLinks to an external site.. Routledge. (Original work published 1982).

Linking Assignment

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Link #1

I was drawn to Shannon’s blog because it was visually appealing, easy to navigate, and told me immediately what her story was about. I find it hard to engage with material that I do not connect with however, in Shannon’s oral story she spoke about her dog. I also appreciated that we had similar experiences with the task while she also made points that I had not thought of. In a course that is exclusively online, I enjoyed looking at someone else’s work to see what their MET experience looks like.

Link #2

I chose to respond to Joti’s post because it was similar to my experience in a way that made me feel more comfortable in this course. I think it is easy to doubt yourself sometimes. I made an error with this potato stamp and although it was a very small and seemingly silly error, I found that reading Joti’s similar experience made me feel connected to my peers. Since this course is entirely online and there are no standard discussion forums I enjoyed reading peoples blogs in order to feel a part of the great group.

Link 3 https://jotisingh.weebly.com/tasks/mode-bending#comments

I commented on Joti’s post because I thought it was really creative and I had not used the tool she chose before. I also thought that she spoke to a practical side of the task which resonated with me and my daily life as a teacher. Her combination of multimodal elements, such as audio and interactive components, highlighted innovative ways to enhance student engagement and communication. This approach aligns with my interest in exploring new digital tools and methods to enrich my teaching. Additionally, Joti’s reflections on the technical and cultural aspects of the task provided valuable insights into how these strategies can be applied effectively in an educational setting, prompting me to consider how I might incorporate similar techniques into my own work.

Link 4 https://blogs.ubc.ca/texttech540/2024/08/04/task-12-speculative-futures/#comment-15

I wrote this comment because Lachelle’s story really hit home for me. The way it showed a future where climate disasters have isolated people and limited real human interaction made me think about my own fears about environmental collapse. It reminded me of how isolated and disconnected many of us felt during COVID-19, where virtual connections often felt hollow in comparison to in-person interactions. Reading her story made me realize how important it is to appreciate and make the most of our ability to connect with people face-to-face. It’s a good reminder of what we might lose if we don’t take care of our environment and to appreciate the freedoms we can often take for granted.

Task 2: Does Language Shape The Way We Think?

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As I watched Lera Borditsky’s (2017) lecture, I was surprised by some points she made, interested in others, and related personally to a few. I am not bilingual and have actually struggled in learning other languages. In my teaching I have not taught an EAL course, however I do try to make adjustments to my lessons to better accommodate students whose primary language is not English. This lecture had me thinking primarily about those students, trying to put myself in their shoes.

[05:05] Why do some languages not have numbers or colours? It is interesting to think how often these are used to describe or understand something. Perhaps these cultures do not value these as much and may rely more on estimation or practical values rather than exact numbers.

[11:32] How people organize time. This is another concept I had never thought of before this lecture. Perhaps a very narrow minded outlook, I just assumed this was somewhat universal. I found it interesting how the language you read (left to right etc) impacts how you organize time. I particularly liked her example of the logo for diapers being read differently in Arabic. A small example that points to the potential for much greater misunderstanding across cultures.

[15:05]  It is almost hard to understand how many different ways language can be understood and represented. For example, the use in some languages to utilize cardinal direction or more exact location. As someone who has never taught EAL this has me thinking about my students and how I may better be able to support them when they are learning English within my courses.

[24:00] I thought this discussion on language attributing different gender to certain words really interesting. Most notably, the underestimation of threat that hurricanes with female names pose. I personally relate to gender impacting how people perceive you in both personal and professional arenas. This shows just how engrained these gender stereotypes are in society.

[35:00] Mathematics is often seen as the universal language however she makes it clear that it is different around the world and in different cultures. I found it very hard to believe that some languages do not have words for exact numbers. I am respectful of others and their backgrounds however I am wondering if this could this be linked to lack of education or do they find no need for this type of language? However, if you have not learned or experienced this type of communication, you must not be able to think about numbers and quantities in the same way? It is hard to even imagine how different my daily communication would be without numerical texts and communication.

[45:00]  Language allows us to think about the world differently but we do not often think about these difference. This is very true and applicable to schools and teaching.

[57:00] I think this is my biggest take away from the presentation. An audience member asked “is texting changing language?” Borditsky (2017) responds stating that language is continuously changing and evolving. This change in communication that texting and other social media forms bring are not something to be afraid of as this shift through generations is inevitable. I think this was a very informative lecture that opened my mind to looking at language and how it is extremely connected to the way we think.

 

References:

Boroditsky, L. (2011). How language shapes thought. Scientific American, 304(2), 62-65.

Task 1: What’s In Your Bag?

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My name is Kristjana Young and I am a secondary school teacher in the Coquitlam school district, currently completing my 3rd and 4th courses of the MET program. For this exercise I picked the bag that I carry around all day. To and from work, and while completing errands. This bag carries my necessities for work and leisure and represents my responsibilities, hobbies, and is a glimpse into who I am. 

Some items this bag includes are:

  • Cell phone
  • Laptop
  • Wallet
  • 2 sets of keys
  • A cosmetics/medical items bag with items such as a toothbrush, Tylenol, etc
  • Sunglasses
  • Dog treats
  • Nespresso coffee pods
  • Hand sanitizer and lip balm
  • Granola bar

These items speak to who I am as well as the activities I engage in. Dog treats (and my dog who wanted a treat) show I am a dog owner. This also represents my need for physical activity and being in the outdoors. I often find dog treats in different pockets and it reminds me of these times with her which I really enjoy. My key lanyards are both representative of different times in my life. One of the school I am currently teaching, and one of UBC, the school I currently attend. Additionally it connects to one of the areas I most dedicated myself to, basketball. This UBC athletics lanyard is a reminder of the time and energy I put into competing at the university level in basketball and these spark amazing memories of my time playing. I then was lucky enough to compete for team Canada junior teams and finally end my career playing professionally in Germany. Now my basketball days are behind me while I turn my focus to volunteering at the high school level, connecting me to not only my students but also my past.

My laptop is my connection to my responsibilities both at work and in school. I carry this around and find time to complete necessary work during down time. The Nespresso pods also indicate coffee is a necessity as both a student and teacher! As I am always on the go I need to ensure I have coffee travelling with me as well as a quick snack.

The text technologies in my bag are numerous. They include my iphone, laptop and ear buds (not pictured). These text technologies show that I interact more with digital texts and communication. I definitely listen to podcasts and audio books more than I would read or write text on paper. Those articles I do read for school are all transported through my laptop. There are more subtle examples of text technologies all throughout my wallet on the different cards and receipts. Although even much of the purchasing or commercial engagement I participate in is done through my cell phone or computer applications. For example, ordering my Nespresso pods is done through digital apps and communication.

15 years ago most people’s bags would have had less advanced technology such as laptops or cell phones. The ones they would have may have been larger and heavier or would be replaced with notebooks, pens/pencils, and erasers. My personal bag would be traded in for an athletic bag. My laptop would be replaced with basketball shoes and a water bottle and a notebook filled with goals and training plans. My social calendar would be replaced with tournaments, training sessions, and physiotherapy appointments. It is exciting to think about the changes over the last 15 years. What will my bag look like in the next 15 years? How will technology have changed?

I think the private contents of my bag are similar to the narrative I have of myself and the image I outwardly project. I am an organized, hardworking, and social person. I think my laptop, telephone, and receipts would portray this image accurately. However this picture is just a glimpse or snapshot into one’s life, there is of course more complexity to people than the items in their bag.