Author: Mark Fawdry

Final Project Describing Communication Technologies (Infographic Poster about Predictive Text)

References

Linking Assignment

Item 1

My link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/markfawdry/2026/01/10/task-1-whats-in-your-bag/ 

Samuel’s link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/themusicallyinclined/task-1-whats-in-your-bag/ 

Summary and Reflection

I chose to link my “What’s in your Bag” task to Samuel’s due to the initial similarities I noticed. Both Samuel and I present textual items that reveal the importance we place on staying organized. I also noticed that our bags contained digital and analog texts, prioritizing communication in multiple ways. As I looked closer at our items, I noticed some key differences in our stories. Despite feeling like my bag had too many items, the contents seem minimalist compared to the larger assortment of things in Samuel’s bag. Samuel’s written entry also focused on the bigger picture of how the typical contents of a bag have changed historically. My focus was primarily on my personal story and how the items connected. Even though Samuel and I are both using WordPress, I found it interesting that our blog posts had such different appearances. My post highlighted the written text with straightforward staging, while Samuel’s staging felt more integrated with his written text and cohesively designed. 

Both of our written entries prioritize both digital and practical literacies, however Samuel also has an emphasis on musical literacy. I found this interesting because I was originally drawn to Samuel’s entry as I am also a musician, despite the lack of items in my bag as meaningful musical texts. Our posts both demonstrate an importance on the multiliteracies theory, due to our consideration of these items having meaning without any actual written words. 

The course being entirely online places constraints on how our tasks can be presented. Providing our theories orally would likely produce a very different communication when compared with our organized and direct written descriptions. Samuel and I both interpreted the instructions in task 1 differently as well. I focused on how different texts told my personal story, whereas Samuel used a more multimodal approach with an emphasis on the historical significance of his items.

Item 2

My link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/markfawdry/2026/01/18/task-3-voice-to-text-task/ 

Megan’s link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/meganmeshietec540/2026/01/13/task-3-voice-to-text/ 

Summary and Reflection

When linking my task 3 to Megan’s task 3, I immediately noticed the different tools we used to achieve a similar result. While I used the notes app on my iphone, Megan used a voice-to-text tool called Speechnotes. Her tool was able to capture less punctuation than what I had used, though Speechnotes caught some other conventions more accurately (upper case letters, as an example). Megan and I had vastly different approaches to our storytelling, mine being a personal story from my childhood and hers being a professional story involving teaching students. I found Megan’s story about her lesson idea interesting to read, though it was challenging to follow as it was recorded with voice-to-text. I also found it fascinating that she told a story that had not occurred yet. I would be curious to hear her tell a story about the actual experience compared to the plan she outlined in this assignment.

Megan and I noticed similar things in our reflections, noting the frequent occurrence of run-on sentences and the use of oral storytelling words like “and” and “so”. Megan and I both noticed how deliberately conventions are used when sharing stories in a written form, whereas storytelling orally is more spontaneous and lacks the more coherent organization. Despite both of our blog entries using the same platform (UBC Blogs), our presentations are quite different in terms of visuals. My blog post’s background and text were meant to be effectively read on a mobile device, while her blog post would likely be easier to read on a PC. 

Megan and I both compared the different ways in which oral literacies and written literacies can capture the interest of the listener/reader. Megan explains how meaning is still achieved through oral literacy, but in a more natural way that could occur in a conversation. Megan and I both began our posts with an explanation of the assignment, and chose to have our stories appear before the written reflection. This helps further demonstrate the juxtaposition between oral literacies and written literacies. 

Item 3

My link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/markfawdry/2026/02/08/task-6-an-emoji-story/ 

Emily’s link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540edouglass/2026/02/14/task-6-an-emoji-story/ 

Summary and Reflection

I chose to link my emoji story to Emily’s due to both our similarities in approach and the differences that I wish I had thought of. I noticed that both of us chose emojis based on themes and ideas, rather than literal translations of words. Several words had no matching emojis, so both Emily and I had to broaden our thinking to universal ideas that connected to our stories. 

A difference that intrigued me was Emily’s decision to test her emoji story on a real audience. She chose viewers who had watched and not watched the show, and noted the differences in their interpretations. While writing my emoji story, I had an audience in mind, but the idea of that specific audience was abstract rather than actual people I know personally. Emily noticed that viewers who had previously watched the show she translated understood some of the references, whereas I tried to simplify my plot devices so the general public could figure out which movie I was referring to. Emily’s work is more focused on the audience’s ability to interpret her translation, however my work is heavily focused on the actual process of translating written text to emoji.

Despite both of us using UBC Blogs, Emily’s inclusion of references from course materials (specifically Kress, 2005) creates a blog entry that cohesively ties readings to tasks. My blog focused on my experiences translating into emojis, keeping the course themes about meaning making in mind while reflecting. I enjoyed Emily’s emphasis on visual and interpretive literacies, though do worry her work could be inaccessible and confusing to an audience who had not watched her show. Both of our blog entries demonstrate the big ideas from multiliteracies theory, reflecting on the process of using multimodal forms of communicating. Both Emily and I took complex plot elements and simplified them, allowing them to be interpreted in a different mode. My targeted audience was more general than Emily’s, but both tasks serve as meaningful translations.

Item 4

My link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/markfawdry/2026/02/22/task-7-mode-bending/ 

Jason’s link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/lehuquet540/2026/02/25/task-7-mode-bending/ 

Summary and Reflection

Jason’s multimodal approach to our mode bending assignment demonstrates incredible creativity and effective meaning communication. Jason took his original “What’s in my Bag?” assignment and used AI to generate a catchy song and animation to go with it. The use of music is an engaging way to communicate meaning with his audience, with the added use of visuals allowing for multiple literacies that can potentially give his communication greater reach and appeal. 

Despite both Jason and I leaning on aural modes for this mode bending task, our redesigns differ greatly. My redesign only used an aural mode while Jason’s was multimodal. My redesign was unscripted and cherished the spontaneous nature of communicating meaning through audio, Jason’s redesign was polished and deliberately thought out. His thoughtful prompting and organized presentation starkly contrasts mine. My reflection benefits from my off-the-cuff approach, the messier presentation being authentic and without the use of AI. Jason’s reflection demonstrates his strong understanding of the course readings, standing as a complimentary piece to his thoughtful and creative mode bending.

Using the UBC Blogs authoring tool, Jason and I both embedded media into our blog posts. Jason’s post would likely attract a larger audience with his multimodal presentation. The same platform is being used to make meaning in different ways, showing the versatility of the authoring space. Jason’s post demonstrates the use of several literacies: musical, aural, digital and multimodal. My post uses aural literacy and reflective literacy. Jason’s post is an excellent example of the multiliteracies theory in action. My mode bending task demonstrates how much meaning can be lost when focusing on a singular mode. All in all, our approaches were vastly different from one another but both tasks and reflections serve as excellent examples of the many options we have available to effectively communicate meaning.

Item 5

My link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/markfawdry/2026/03/01/task-8-golden-record-curation-assignment/ 

Debbie’s link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540debbie/2026/03/12/task-8-golden-record-curation/ 

Summary and Reflection

I found mine and Debbie’s curated list of 10 songs that best represent humanity to be closely tied in that we both struggled to best represent the vast variety of cultures that showcase our planet. While my bias of familiarity from both North American and European music slipped through more frequently, Debbie curated a more balanced list that represents more cultures. Debbie was able to create a well-rounded list, despite saying she struggled with the same challenge that I did. It is of course likely that Debbie and I come from very different backgrounds, and her perspective on representing a variety of cultures would look different from mine. Her inclusion of Peru, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and China show the wide range represented in her curated list. 

Both blog posts were presented with UBC Blogs, but Debbie’s post appears to be more reader friendly than mine. Her bold headings of “Introduction,” “My Selected 10 Pieces,” and “Selection Criteria” create an organized structure that demonstrates her thoughts in an accessible way. My post is slightly different in appearance, preferring a narrative style that offers thoughtful reflection regarding my curated list. The lack of bold headings make the post less accessible for quick navigation and skim reading. This demonstrates the freedom within the UBC Blogs platform to communicate ideas in a variety of ways. Despite our font, background and spacing being the exact same, our posts present very differently from another.

Debbie’s emphasis on both cultural and critical literacies are demonstrated through her belief in representing many cultures and preserving historical events. The literacies I decided to use, personal and experiential, contrast with Debbie’s as they speak more to my personal bias and struggle to properly represent our planet. When curating my list, I felt strongly that I would not be a good representative of our planet for the list, even considering my strong love of music. Her globally aware post versus my introspective one better aligns with the multiliteracies theory. This is due to her post’s ability to reach different backgrounds in terms of meaning making, whereas my post is too individualized. Both posts had the same goals in mind, but our approaches in design and intention lead to many differences within the same assignment and platform.

Item 6

My link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/markfawdry/2026/03/16/task-10-attention-economy/ 

Bryce’s link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/bryceglendenning/2026/03/15/task-10-attention-economies/ 

Both mine and Bryce’s reflections on “User Inyerface” are similar in that we immediately noticed misleading design decisions and purposeful use of stressful elements. Bryce and I also noted the deceitful wording, distracting visuals and the multiple methods used to manipulate the user. While we noticed the same techniques from the developer, our reflection varies in our interpretation of those techniques employed. My reflection focuses on my personal frustrations as a user, despite being prepared to be manipulated in the description of the task. Bryce’s reflection focuses on how the design compares to real-world examples, specifically an incident he had with Outlook storage notifications. After deleting multiple emails, Outlook’s storage notification remained unchanged, prompting Bryce to pay for more storage on a different page. We both mention an example of dark pattern use, though mine was specifically about the task’s experience and Bryce connected it to another experience.

With both Bryce and I using UBC Blogs as an authoring tool, Bryce’s work is more structured academically. I certainly use the course readings and theories in my own thoughts, but Bryce specifically quotes and references them. My post, similarly to my other posts in this course, is more personally reflective and concise than the posts of my peers. UBC Blogs has a diverse ability to represent different academic styles, mine being an experience based reflection and Bryce’s following a more essay style structure.

Bryce’s focus on critical and digital literacy is demonstrated by his ability to analyze the game’s deceptive strategies and connect them to other examples of user manipulation. My focus on experiential literacy makes the reading both accessible and relatable for readers. Combining both elements of our writing style would likely make for a very well balanced reflection, favouring both introspection (my post) and the bigger picture (Bryce’s post). Overall, the similarities and differences in our posts show how varied approaches of communication can create meaning in different ways despite being given the same instructions.

Prompt From “The Thing From The Future”

Describe or narrate a scenario about a beverage found a century into a future in which order is deliberately coordinated or imposed. Your description should address issues related to environment and elicit feelings of contentment.

Narrative

It is the year 2126 and the government has imposed exact times for all human beings to quench their thirst. A government movement called “The Coalition for Organized Human Activity” (or COHA) was formed in 2115 to reduce the human race’s ecological footprint. The government knows when you’ll be thirsty, they’ve conditioned the human response of being thirsty with the sound of a light bell. Every hour between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm, the bells dings and all humanity takes a drink, perfectly in sync. Each drink is automatically replenished, individualized based on their body’s needs and the limits of the planet.

The drink tastes a little different to each person, so it is aptly titled “Personaliquid”.

The cups of “Personaliquid” are simply left outside to replenish. Feeding off the airborne algae, moisture and special minerals created by harvesters from COHA. These harvesters ensure production never exceeds the planet’s capabilities. The air is the cleanest it has been in years. Initially, the world needed to be convinced that syncing their thirst was necessary. I share with you the first advertising song played for our citizens. In 2126, advertising is no longer needed as the world’s population fully supports and believes in “Personaliquid”.

Song created with the use of Suno AI.

Prompt: What downtown Nanaimo will look like in 10 years, greener but more populated, on a sunny day rendered in a photorealistic image.

Next Prompt: Same angle of downtown Nanaimo but what it will look like in 50 years, greener and even more populated, on a sunny day rendered in a photorealistic image.

Reflection: I had never explored Microsoft Copilot before, only ever using Chat GPT for AI purposes. I was surprised by how intuitive and easy to use it was for someone with limited experience using AI. I decided to submit a prompt to generate an image based on my hometown of Nanaimo, curious to see how Copilot would envision my city’s future. I gave Copilot two prompts asking to envision Nanaimo’s future both 10 and 50 years from now, prioritizing the city’s current emphasis on getting greener but also recognizing the population growth the city’s been experiencing.

The results impressed me in that they looked somewhat realistic at first glance and clearly made good use of existing images of our downtown core. the 10-year image was more grounded than the 50-year image, showing the added infrastructure for the increased population and dedicated green spaces. The 50-year image was similar but had more science fiction elements: flying vehicles, futuristic building designs and a floating park. The generated images were pretty close to what I had imagined, though I did picture downtown looking less clean than these images would suggest.

I assumed that the model uses a vast amount of training data to generate images, using different data for the 10-years and 50-years prompts. The model assumed its user would envision a very realistic difference in the 10-year image, and a more dramatic and spacey design for the 50-year image. When envisioning the 50-year image, I did not picture any flying or floating machines.

Using Copilot to generate these images felt like an impressive collaboration considering it was my first time using the program and there was no history of my prompts. I assume that my mainly used AI program, Chat GPT, would be able to render images that included our previous conversation history together. Copilots ability to process the specific language I used and generate an image is a reminder of how much development has occurred with the way humans and machines communicate.

The game “User Inyerface” by Bagaar was a purposely manipulative experience designed to trick and mislead users. I was instantly frustrated by the first page, noticing undesirable actions displayed in bright buttons, distracting countdowns and unnecessary imagery as well as confusing colour schemes. Had I not known to be ready for distraction and confusion, I could have easily clicked on wrong buttons.

 

One example of a dark pattern used in this game is the misleading use of buttons. Unlikely user actions are given bright/big buttons, or they are automatically selected. Entering an address number involves clicking by increments of one at a time, luckily my address number is below 200. Counterintuitive placements of buttons further confuse the user, an example being checkboxes placed above an image rather than below. Popups frequently distract the user as they try to fill out the form, with a very small close action that is misspelled. Users are heavily influenced by design, and this is an excellent game to remind users to think while filling out online forms.

 

This activity helped me understand how easy a user can be manipulated if their attention is diverted elsewhere. The consumer is constantly tricked in subtle ways by clever distractions from these interfaces. While I don’t imagine this will influence me to read the entire “terms and conditions” from the next interface I encounter, I will certainly be using my future interfaces with a different mindset.

After the .json file was uploaded into the Palladio app, the graph displayed clusters of other students who shared the same music selections from the Golden Record. The clusters suggested that several students in this course had similar music preferences, or had complimentary views on what music best represents the human race. Circling back to my reflection in task 8, there is a heavy North American/European bias on display here. An example of this was that almost all students in the course selected “Johnny B. Goode” in their top ten. 

 

This visualization could be misleading, however, as it only displays each students’ final top ten selections rather than the reasoning or reflections behind each decision. Each student chose their top ten through a different lens, experience and bias. For most of my personal selections, I tried my best to incorporate a historical perspective that would best capture humanity. Despite my best efforts, personal preference played a heavy hand in my final selections. Other participants in the quiz may have been able to better ignore their personal preferences or further leaned into them. “Pygymy Girls’ Initiation Song” only appearing on three lists leads me to the assumption that several students have a closer personal connection to North American/European music than from other cultures. 

 

A significant limitation of this visualization is the lack of “null choices”, only displaying the final selected tracks but not the omitted ones with their varied reasons for not being included. Some students may not have included certain music pieces worrying of them being overselected, lack of personal connection/understanding or fearing of cultural appropriation. The important thinking process that leads to each student’s decision is invisible in this graph, resulting in an oversimplified representation of complicated human decisions. The clusters of shared music selections falsely portrays communities that are likely more far apart in their experiences and thinking than alluded to in the visualization. 

 

The political ramifications of collecting this type of data can be damaging. When data is used to group people based on incomplete information, it can lead to false connections and stereotypes. Social media algorithms or other data-driven advertising groups could  use this incomplete information in damaging ways that do not truly represent its targeted audience. All in all, the Palladio visualization provided a set of limited connections that are interesting to see but lacks depth and human complexity. If there were a method to synthesize the reasoning behind each track selection in all task 8 entries to include in this graph, we would be able to receive deeper meaning from this visualization.

The Golden Record was a fascinating event to learn about. Two Golden Records were sent into space with the purpose of reaching other intelligent life. I wonder how different music selection would have been had these records been created today. Since these records were launched in 1977, it makes sense that the medium on which the music would be played is an LP. Had these been sent into space today, I imagine a digital download would be the medium of choice.

Curating a list of 10 songs based on the 27 originally included in the LP was a challenging task. How can one sum up the vast history of communication through music with such a short list of music? Here are my ten curated choices from the Golden Record:

1. German: Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. – Glenn Gould, piano
2. Austria: Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14 – Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor
3. New Guinea: men’s house song – recorded by Robert MacLennan
4. United States: Navajo Indians, Night Chant – recorded by Willard Rhodes
5. United States: “Johnny B. Goode” – written and performed by Chuck Berry
6. India: raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho” – sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar
7. United States: “Dark Was the Night” – written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson
8. Mexico: “El Cascabel” – performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México
9. Japan: shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (“Crane’s Nest,”) – performed by Goro Yamaguchi
10. German: Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor

The thinking behind the ten songs I selected prioritized styles from different cultures, human emotion and a variety of instruments. Despite keeping these aspects in mind, I found myself choosing too many pieces from North America and Europe, having experienced more education on the influence that those songs had on our culture. I wanted to include a variety of genres, to demonstrate to other lifeforms the many different ways human beings have creatively expressed themselves through music. Each piece I selected communicates strong emotions, often without the use of a human voice to make the music easier for other intelligent life to comprehend. With a longer list, I feel I could better represent more parts of our world, but I stand by my selected ten despite the clear personal bias.

When I first posted task 1, it was presented multimodally by using both linguistic and visual modes. When redesigning task 1 for the purposes of task 7, I wanted to use just one mode that would offer a drastically different communication than my initial post. I felt that using an aural mode would best achieve these stark differences. With the image and written description in task 1, I was able to edit and spend more time on word choice. With the use of aural mode, I wanted my audio recording to be unscripted to highlight the differences. Meaning was conveyed through sound rather than descriptive writing. I found the experience interesting as the three modes I chose to share this information with is a great example of multiliteracies in action. 

Not only could the sound of my voice describing the items reach different learners than an image and written description, but the sounds of me opening different compartments and fidgeting with items creates a different experience for the learner. I did find it was challenging to communicate what the items in my bag looked like in an interesting way. I also found a lot of important reflections I had made in the written description were lost when recording off the cuff. I feel that this speaks to the importance of multimodality, and how different modes are effective for communication in a variety of ways. I found I kept some of the same reasons for having items in my bag as I did when I had written task 1. A noticeable difference was the informal tone while communicating in an aural mode. My written descriptions were much more academic in nature. There were also a few added items in my bag since I had written task 1, though these new items hardly changed the text of my personal story.

Task 6_ An emoji story

My story was captured by an iPhone speech to text function in the notes app:

When I was about six years old, I received this Barney doll from my mom for Christmas. I was starting to get out of the Barney phase by that age so I wasn’t particularly excited to receive this gift but thought I would play with it to see if I could kind of rekindle that love I once had for Barney the one thing that made me apprehensive about this particular Barney doll was that it would talk without any prompting so I would just be playing with other toys in my room and then all of a sudden I would hear Barney say play with me or I love you. I was always a child who was fearful of unexpected noises so this Barney doll and me were not a particularly good combination as the days went on. It got even more challenging for me to deal with the Barney doll I would be trying to sleep and in the middle of the night I would hear Barney say terrifying things such as play with me and I love you. My mom remembers seeing this flying Barney doll come out of my room several nights in a row. After quite a while of me hiding Barney around various spots in my house. I decided to take more dramatic action one day while playing outside I decided to bring Barney out to a little forest that was behind my house. I went as deep into this forest as I could go and hit Barney under some leaves and dirt. A very nice week went by where I didn’t have to listen to Barney’s voice and then one day I opened the door to see the same Barney doll sitting on our doorstep. There was no knock when it arrived, and I had no clue how it had gotten there. The only possible explanation would be one of my neighborhood. Friends knew about the doll and brought it back to me when they found it in the woods or that the doll was alive and coming to murder me. Both scenarios seemed equally likely at my young age after this horrifying discovery and likely some tears to my parents. I convince them to donate the doll to OS freaked out child 30 years later I have become a father and my own child has always been nervous around talking dolls and stuffed animals. Perhaps this fear is hereditary

 

The speech to text function struggled with several conventions of written English. It would frequently miss punctuation marks like commas or periods (“I decided to take more dramatic action one day while playing outside…”). It would also add unnecessary periods, even in sections where I don’t remember making a pause in my speech (“one of my neighborhood. Friends knew about…). Due to the incorrect capture of punctuation marks, there are both run-on sentences and sentence fragments all over the place. Had I written this story, I would have included paragraphs. Voice to text was not able to predict where I would like new paragraphs to start. This also reads like someone talking, rather than a written account of the events. This is especially apparent when I used casual language (“if I could kind of rekindle that love…”). 

 

Despite the many wrong uses of the English language in voice to text’s capture, I was impressed by the amount of words it correctly understood. The only misunderstood word was “OS”, which was meant to be “a less”. There are some excellent story elements that are right with this story. There was the comical imagery of the barney doll being thrown or its reappearance on my doorstep. The story is also relatable for anyone who has been fearful of an inanimate object. I noted the strong ending I included, connecting my current self to the past. I have always struggled with storytelling, and I surprised myself with the inclusion of a few interesting story elements.

 

The most common mistakes are the amount of written English convention rules being broken. I feel that this is an interesting story, told by someone who struggles with storytelling and was not captured properly by a mobile device. The device was unable to capture my expressions, tone or chuckling between certain parts. The rules of the written English language exist to make stories easier to read and familiar to the reader. Breaking up paragraphs and allowing pauses from punctuation are essential to capturing the interest of the reader.

 

Scripting the story would have allowed me to include written conventions to properly communicate my interesting story. I likely would have thought the story out in a more concise way, leading to shorter sentences and more focused work. The structure would have been clarified by using paragraphs and having the ability to edit my work.

 

I find that oral storytelling is messy and spontaneous. I was quite surprised that I hadn’t said “like” or “um”, though this was likely because I knew I was being recorded. Written storytelling is more intentional, thought out and structured. Both are an important way to communicate in our language, but I felt that this specific story works better through oral storytelling. The power of the story comes from my tone, expression and pauses. To translate this story in written form, more emphasis would be placed on details, conventions and effective word choice. When telling this story orally, it would likely change slightly based on who my audience was. When writing this story, my goal would be to effectively communicate it to a wider audience.