Author: melissa santo

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ETEC 540 Task 7: Mode-bending

The challenge

Redesign Task 1 by changing the mode in which it is presented and adding an audio component.

My inspiration

Reflecting on Task 1, there was a question that I neglected to address: what would this same bag have looked like, say, 15 or 25 years ago? Or how about 40 years ago?! I wanted to explore this question while exploring ways in which my childhood shaped how I communicate today.

My rationale

Being a 1980s baby, I can confirm that a lot has changed since then. Technology and media have particularly made massive shifts over the last 4 decades. Technology has also allowed us to look backwards, as YouTube and the internet are now full of 1980s content that was not accessible ‘on demand’ at that time.

The New London Group (1996) acknowledges that our social environments, including media, shape our realities and design our futures. In an attempt to completely redesign the meaning of this assignment, I have put together a collection of videos and links, prompted by the items in my bag, to provide a view into the 1980s and my experiences as a child. This juxtaposition also reminds me that my childhood experiences and media exposure have stayed with me well into adulthood, for better or for worse. As a result, these ‘snapshots’ looking backward not only contribute to my current reality and the design of my own future but also shape my understanding of them.

Click, listen, watch, read, and enjoy travelling back in time!

(Tip: make the Genially full screen by clicking the two opposing arrows in the bottom right corner. There will be a button in the same spot to shrink it back down when you’re done.)

 

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ETEC 540 Task 6: An emoji story

This work is one of my favourite movies and holds a special place in my heart, as my partner and I bonded over this film and its lead character during our ‘courting’ stage. And yes, it was also selected because I could imagine how to represent it in emojis more easily than many other options I had swirling in my mind. In creating this task, I started with the title; to me, it was the most logical order of things and confirmed in my mind that my selected work could be translated. ‘Translation’ best describes my process as I relied on a combination of words and ideas to dictate which emojis to use. I found https://emojikeyboard.io and https://emojipedia.org/ to be rather limiting compared to what I was used to using, so I ended up writing it as a WhatsApp message on my phone, opening WhatsApp up on my desktop and taking a screenshot of the message which I then saved as an image.

I initially found this task particularly challenging because I consider my emoji use as low. I use emojis, but I prefer text-based messages with icons used to guide emotion, context, or intention (Bolter, 2001). However, I am starting to use certain icons as substitutes for text:  for “I agree with you” and for “OK,” “good,” or “glad to hear.” Perhaps this gravitation toward multimodal communication is an effort to make my messages more appealing or to provide a more immediate response to my reader (Bolter). I also agree with Kress (2005) that this multimodal approach of interspersing icons within text – or moving entirely to icon-based messages – is indeed beyond the mere “ability to read and write” (as cited in the course notes) and transcends language to some degree. I still feel I need to make a conscious effort to learn how to ‘speak’ with emojis, and likely by the time I feel ‘fluent’ in emoji language the meanings of some icons will have changed. This made me relate to Bolter’s (2001) comment about older technologies remediating newer ones; perhaps the continued intertwining of images and text will eventually remediate my own communication style, through my own apprehension and enthusiasm .

All that said, can you guess which movie this is?

References

Bolter, J. D. (2001). Chapter 4: The breakout of the visual. In Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd ed.). Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410600110

Kress, G. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Composition, 22 (1), 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2004.12.004

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ETEC 540 Task 5: Twine Task

This was my first experience creating something in Twine, and it was fun! My biggest challenges were deciding on a topic (I landed on adult learning concepts) and then trying to differentiate between creating a ‘story’ versus a ‘game.’ I’m still not sure I created anything that sits strongly in one category or the other. I do know that, much like the potato print exercise, I had an inner desire to apply this learning to create something that I felt could have multiple use cases, given the time and energy investment. (If that connection doesn’t make sense now, have a click through the Twine game below and it should become clear.)

I like how Twine creates a visual path to show how passages are connected, but then “flattens and obscures the structure” (Bolter, 2001, p.31) to create an interactive web-based experience. I took a very straightforward path; it doesn’t involve fancy ‘hooks,’ if-statements, or macros. However, these options also demonstrate the malleability of electronic spaces that Bolter (2001) refers to. Certainly, I took advantage of this with several rapid additions/deletions, copy-paste functions, quick revisions, and testing.

Twine also made sense to me, the way my mind seems to work. When I’m speaking, both professionally and casually, I try to draw connections between concepts, guiding the listener through the story with (hopefully) the right amount of detail. In writing, I often refer to ideas being connected by ‘threads.’ Twine shows these connections (or associations, as Bolter (2001) might say) between passages with literal lines that ultimately define the thought network and show the overarching story path. It felt very similar to creating a concept map, just in story/game format and with a hypertext result. It does warrant pause, though, if my ‘natural’ way of thinking has been heavily influenced by having access to computers for the majority of my life. Growing up during a time when computers (those ‘idea processors’) went from high-tech wonders that few families had to living in (almost) everyone’s pocket, certainly makes me wonder how much technology contributes to my own “manipulation of thought” (Heim, 1987).

Ultimately, my ‘approach’ to this assignment was just to jump in and try it. I did notice, though, that my thoughts kept referring back to two experiences during this formation. The first was leveraging my past (albeit limited) experiences with web design and web editing. The second hailed from my childhood, where I used to relish in choose-your-own-adventure books, and appreciated how, no matter what option you chose, it still took you to the end. To me, this experience of combining ‘analog’ and ‘digital’ experiences aligns with Bolter’s (2001) view that technology may not ‘end’ things but rather iterate, reconceptualize, and remediate much of what we know and appreciate about various forms of communication.

ETEC540-Task5-SantoMelissa – Twine – zipped

References

Bolter, J. D. (2001). Chapter 3: Hypertext and the remediation of print. In Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (pp. 27-46). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410600110

Butcher, L. (2021, March 1). The 4 principles of adult learning and how to apply them to your employee training. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4-principles-adult-learning-how-apply-them-your-employee-butcher/

Heim (1987), as cited by the course website in module 5.3.

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ETEC 540 Task 4: Potato Printing

General Observations

I found it very interesting that my default approach to this assignment was with a creative lens – similar to cardmaking that I’ve done in the past – rather than an academic one. When deciding which word to produce, chose something that could be reused; I anticipated time investment and artistic quality and wanted to leverage the effort. As a result, I selected the word ‘Thanks.’

Was there something particularly challenging in the process?

I wouldn’t say that anything was particularly challenging about this experience, but there were a few hiccups along the way. Despite Cooke’s (2012) video that showed the stamps backwards and upside-down, I ended up making the first three potato stamps with the letters facing forward. The capital ‘T’ was forgiving but the ‘h’ and the ‘a’ stamps had to be redone. Also, the stamps – and the letters they produced – were not perfect; it took me a bit to get over this.

I also considered aspects like potato selection to font style, tried to have all the stamps match in terms of line thickness, and ultimately accepted that hand-carved stamps had more irregularities than anything produced through machine manufacturing.

How much time did it take for you to create the stamps?

I lose track of time while making the potato stamps; my mind wandered while creating them, which I suspect is similar to what Paul Collier described of his own experiences in Cooke’s (2012) video. I estimate that it took me about 45 minutes to an hour to make all six stamps, but I really wasn’t tracking the time as I found it relaxing and enjoyable to be working on something creative and tangible.

Have you noticed anything particular about the letters that you have chosen to reproduce?

Instead of using new potatoes to resolve my initial mistake of carving the letters the wrong way, I cut off the first attempt and carved the second attempt on the same potato half. This meant that the second attempt still included some deeper cuts from the first attempt and, as a result, some of the letters did not print clearly or printed the ink with texture rather than a solid print. Also, most stamps had a natural curve to them and required a second (or third) stamping attempt to fully stamp the letter as anticipated. Even still, the ‘a’ was missing a chunk, however, since it was still clearly an ‘a’ I used it anyway. I also misjudged the length of the word with the first attempt and found that the way the ‘k’ and ‘s’ landed on the page looked awkward, thus prompting the second stamping attempt.

Considering the time and effort that it took you to create a 5-letter word, how do you feel about the mechanization of writing?

The mechanization of writing has allowed for mass production and incredible flexibility. The amount of text I could have typed in 45 minutes far surpasses what I could have printed with potatoes or even a letterpress. The efficiency of fixing errors and reproducing copies of text using technology far exceeds that of hand writing or printing with stamps. Since text is primarily produced mechanically nowadays, handwritten or hand-stamped items can be seen as more valuable or personal, with increased emotion. For many, a handwritten card is of higher value than a typed email, and a handmade card is often considered more beautiful than a store-bought one. The idea that someone would purposely choose the less-efficient path to create text or a piece of writing brings about a sentimental feeling, akin to homemade cookies versus store-bought ones.

Attempt 1 (left) and attempt 2 (right). 

Reference

Cooke, D. (2012, January 26). Upside down, left to right: A letterpress film [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6RqWe1bFpM

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ETEC 511 Assignment: Tipping Point

Tipping Point: Video Conferencing Tools (e.g., Zoom) and Global Health

Submitted by Melissa Santo and Alice Shin

Initial Proposal

This case study will consider global health as a facilitator in the displacement of primarily in-person workplaces and corporate training to fully remote or hybridized work environments due to the widespread use of video conferencing (e.g., Zoom). 

This displacement was due to the COVID-19 pandemic which began early in 2020, triggering a global lockdown to prevent the spread of the disease. As phone calls, texting, and emails were clearly impractical for businesses to operate, workplaces adopted video conferencing as this tool created the closest thing to immediate in-person contact. Video conferencing allowed learning to continue via one-to-one and group training sessions, presentations, and workshops, along with various HR-related training activities such as employee onboarding. This technology also supported professional development which assisted in maintaining morale, building worker resilience, and supporting overall employee mental health.

Final Product: Powtoon presentation (posted to YouTube)

Note: the free version of Powtoon limits all videos to 3 minutes. 

References

Anderson, S. & Euronews. (2020, April 3). Coronavirus: Half of humanity now on lockdown as 90 countries call for confinement. https://www.euronews.com/2020/04/02/coronavirus-in-europe-spain-s-death-toll-hits-10-000-after-record-950-new-deaths-in-24-hou 

Carter, E. (2020, November 12). We could get used to this: Americans embrace remote work. Morning Brew. https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2020/11/12/get-used-americans-embrace-remote-work-per-exclusive-morning-brew-polling

Chang, A. (2020, November 12). Work from home perks will outlast COVID-19. What this means. The San Diego Union Tribune. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/technology/story/2020-11-12/companies-will-allow-employees-to-work-wherever-they-want 

Dean, B. (2022, January 6). Zoom user stats: How many people use Zoom in 2022? Backlinko. https://backlinko.com/zoom-users 

Demiraj, G.  (2021, January 19). The Covid -19 Pandemic Brok Corporate Training – It’s a good thing. The Training Industry. https://trainingindustry.com/articles/content-development/the-covid-19-pandemic-broke-corporate-training-which-is-a-good-thing/ 

Fox, D. (2021, April 5). Remote Learning: How remote work made corporate learning work better. NovoEd. https://www.novoed.com/resources/blog/one-year-on-how-remote-work-made-corporate-learning-work-better/ 

Gajendran, R. S., & Harrison. D. A. (2007). The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: Meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 6, 1524-1541. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.6.1524 

Green, S. (2022, January 20). The big 5 learning delivery methods for companies. iSpring. https://www.ispringsolutions.com/blog/learning-delivery-methods 

Harter, J. & Mann, A. (2017, April 12). The right culture: Not just about employee satisfaction. Gallup.  https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236366/right-culture-not-employee-satisfaction.aspx 

Kaushik, K. How employee engagement drives productivity of remote workers. Apty. https://www.apty.io/blog/how-employee-engagement-drives-productivity-of-remote-workers

Kshirsagar, A., Mansour, T., McNally, L., & Metakis, M. (2020, March 17). Adapting workplace learning in the time of coronavirus. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/adapting-workplace-learning-in-the-time-of-coronavirus 

LinkedIn Learning. (2022). 2022 workplace learning report: The transformation of L&D. https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report#2 and https://learning.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/learning/en-us/pdfs/workplace-learning-report/LinkedIn-Learning_Workplace-Learning-Report-2022-EN.pdf

Lund, S., Madgavkar, A., Manyika, J., Smit, S., Ellingrud, K., & Robinson, O. (2021, February 18). The future of work after COVID-19. McKinsey Global Institute. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-19 

Mehdi, T. & Morissette, R. (2021, October 27). Working from home in Canada: What have we learned so far? Statistics Canada. https://doi.org/10.25318/36280001202101000001-eng 

Oakman, J., Kinsman, N., Stuckey, R., Graham, M., & Weale, V. (2020). A rapid review of mental and physical health effects of working at home: How do we optimise health? BCM Public Health, 20, 1825. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09875-z 

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2020, July 24). The potential of online learning for adults: Early lessons from the COVID-19 crisis. https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/the-potential-of-online-learning-for-adults-early-lessons-from-the-covid-19-crisis-ee040002/ 

Raghupathi, V. & Raghupathi, W. (2020). The influence of education on health: an empirical assessment of OECD countries for the period 1995-2015. Arch Public Health, 78, 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00402-5 

Robinson, B. (2021, October 15). Remote workers report negative mental health impacts, new study finds. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2021/10/15/remote-workers-report-negative-mental-health-impacts-new-study-finds/?sh=3eed3cdb74b8

Robinson, B. (2022, February 1). Remote work is here to stay and will increase into 2023, experts say. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2022/02/01/remote-work-is-here-to-stay-and-will-increase-into-2023-experts-say/?sh=6a3e6ce920a6

Venter, Z. S., Aunan, K., Chowdhury, S., & Lelieveld, J. (2020). COVID-19 lockdowns cause global air pollution declines. PNAS, 117, 32.  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006853117 

Vogel, L. & Eggertson, L. (2020, June 12). COVID-19: A timeline of Canada’s first-wave response. CMAJ News. https://cmajnews.com/2020/06/12/coronavirus-1095847/ 

Wolfe, B. (2021, September 13). 54% of Canadian employers adopting hybrid work, meeting employee expectations: Survey. Benefits Canada. https://www.benefitscanada.com/human-resources/hr-communication/54-of-canadian-employers-adopting-hybrid-work-meeting-employee-expectations-survey/ 

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ETEC 540 Task 3: Voice to Text

I used the voice typing tool in Google Docs for this voice-to-text assignment. Below is what this technology captured, unedited, and my analysis of it.

The Story

This past weekend we had my daughter’s birthday party and I think it was a pretty good success we had 10 kids total and the plan was they were going to arrive and come over and do some crafts the first activity that we had was my birthday daughter was greeting all of her guests at the front door and show them where to go in the living room where my other daughter was waiting to teach them how to do origami she had found this really cool this really fun design where if you went to fold it if you hold it one way it’s a dog and then when you flip it to the other side it becomes a cat so that add some variety for people who prefer dogs or cats or most of them both actually once everyone had arrived we moved into the room with the long table and the first activity was painting coasters the reason this was the first one is because they wanted to make sure that the paint had enough time to dry so some of them chose to tape off designs others just did a free paint and yeah with 10 kids it was surprisingly successful not super messy once they finish that we handed out canvas pouches and Sharpie markers and they got to do Sharpie tie-dye canvas pouches and this was really cool I’d meant to look up the kind of scientific properties behind it but not entirely sure if a bunch of 70 girls would be interested in that so instead what we did was just had them colour however they wanted on their canvas pouches with these Sharpies and then once they were done we sprayed it with rubbing alcohol had a little bit of trial and error had a tiny little spray bottle at first and it wasn’t going to work very well so then we move to a larger spray bottle the kind that normally you would have kind of your cleaner in and yeah it works so much better so the trick was definitely to saturate the fabric with the rubbing alcohol and then it was fun right before your eyes you could see the colours melting in matching in the Fine Lines Blurred new colours came about and where created as existing ones Blended together and I think all in all most of them we’re really pleased with it not everyone chose to spray not everyone seemed to understand there was one person who was pretty upset that her design had faded after we sprayed it but yeah I mean that’s quick fix she can go back over on Sharpie and I’ll write her name again whenever she wants so once that was done we figured it was time for a snack we had a rainbow fruit and veggie platter some little pepperoni stick for them to a snack on and variety of juice boxes and then once that was done we did washer necklace is so I picked up some metal washers from the hardware store and got a bunch of nail polish just whatever we had around probably had about 10 or 11 bottles and yeah they just painted the washers and some of them did some cool design some of them just painted it one colour and the whole idea was at once that was painted with nail polish and had dried send they would be able to string it on some kind of a a row port wine that we provided with them they had a choice of colours and then they could add some beans as well so all in all they would have ended up going or the end up going home with her tomorrow call me some coasters canvas bag and and washer necklace the final thing that we have them do was of course we needed to keep with the craft thing so we brought out cupcakes confetti rainbow cupcakes with white icing and then presented those on paint palettes with candy in the 10 different spots for it until they all got to decorate their own cupcake however they wanted with all of the candy or not eating some of the candy on the side or not and yeah it was really fun to see those kinds of designs and I think we were able to get everything done everyone seemed to have a good time and like I said all it all I think it was a success.

The Analysis

The most glaring deviation from written English is that this is one massive run-on paragraph. I don’t use voice-to-text very often in my day-to-day life, so I forgot that one must actually say “comma,” “period,” and “exclamation mark” to add punctuation. It wasn’t until the very end that I remembered this, hence the final period at the end.

Because I was speaking off the top of my head and not from a script, there are a few places where I think the text is wrong, but it could have also been my narration style, such as repeating words (“kind of a a”) and incorrect tenses of words (“so then we move to a larger spray bottle”. However, there are also several places where I am confident the text is incorrect. Examples include “70 girls” (should be “7-year-old girls”) and “row port wine” (should be “rope or twine”). These mistakes remind me of the ‘telephone’ game I played as a kid (and that Gnanadesikan (2008) mentions) where accents, emphases and subtle slurs can make huge differences in whether the receiver correctly interprets the message to pass along. These, and many other blunders in my oral recount of the events, would have been rectified if scripted in advance, as a pre-conceived written version would have been more deliberate and precise (Gnanadesikan, 2008).

These errors could also be a suggestion that I should improve my enunciation, which is something I have noticed deteriorating since 2016 when I left a job that involved lecturing/class facilitating for 5-6 hours each week. If someone had been listening to the story, they may have misheard “beans” for beads but could have either used the context to figure out the proper word or asked for clarification. Similarly, if I were to increase my weekly oral presentation time, I believe some of these words would have been presented more clearly.

The use of technology here has taken what would otherwise be a collection of fleeting sounds and turned it into a visible, permanent record of my daughter’s birthday party. One aspect that I find interesting is that a written recount of this event would not exist had it not been an assignment. Sure, we would have told family and friends about the event, slightly adjusting details and incorporating emotional nuances with each iteration, but it is not something I would have otherwise written down unless I was trying to convey the story to someone I could not speak to directly. This is not because it was an insignificant event (it was my daughter’s first ‘friend’ birthday party, thanks to the timing of COVID); when asked to speak an ‘unscripted’ story, I automatically thought of a personal event that had strong emotions tied to it (joy, pride, exhaustion, love). And yet, none of these emotions seem present when reading the words captured with voice-to-text. Had this been scripted, or intended to be conveyed in written language, I would have included words to express emotions that I know my voice conveyed in the original oral story.

Reference

Gnanadesikan, A. E. (2008).The first IT revolution. In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the internet (pp. 1-10). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444304671

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ETEC 511 IP2: Artificial Intelligence

Who were these people, and how did/does each contribute to the development of artificial intelligence? How did/does each think “intelligence” could be identified? (50 words each)

Alan Turing, a British mathematician and a ‘founding father’ of artificial intelligence (AI), proposed that humans solved problems and made decisions by applying reason to the information available to them (Anyoha, 2017). He believed that machines could show ‘thinking’ by mimicking the human process and that machine learning could occur by following “the normal teaching of a child” (Turing, 1950, p.22).

Building on this, John McCarthy, a computer and cognitive scientist, added that understanding how humans think was key to unlocking how to build problem-solving machines, but that AI goes beyond simulating human intelligence (“John McCarthy,” 2022). He sparked debate by claiming that AI means machines have ‘beliefs,’ referring to their ability to solve problems using question-answering and ‘if-then’ logic programming.

Herb Simon, a political scientist, connected AI to how humans make decisions, showing that they start with information and then follow a series of rules and used information processing languages to create logic and problem-solving machines (“Herbert A. Simon,” 2022). Simon highlighted that AI differed from human intelligence, as the latter still functions, albeit inconsistently, despite knowledge gaps and preferences (UBS Nobel Perspectives, n.d.).

Marvin Minsky, a mathematician and computer scientist, expanded ‘intelligence’ from procedural thinking to the result of several non-intelligent parts working together, creating the first artificial neural network (“Marvin Minsky,” 2022). Although critical of previous theories on human brain function, Minsky believed brains were machines that computers could copy. He believed AI would lead to machines outperforming people and strongly advised thorough testing (BBC News, 2016).

Timnit Gebru, a computer scientist, continued to highlight similarities between brains and machines, flagging flaws with AI like bias, racism, and ethical issues (“Timnit Gebru,” 2022). Gebru’s work emphasizes the need for representation not just in AI data and the individuals researching it but also to break down the systemic barriers within corporations that prevent diversity at all levels (Levy, 2021).

How do “machine (programming) languages” differ from human (natural) ones? (100 words)

Despite their similarities, machine/programming languages and human ones have notable differences. Programming languages are artificial creations where context is bound by pre-set rules (Harris, 2018). AI may ‘learn’ but it lacks morphology, the idea that word meaning can change based on context. Furthermore, human languages incorporate additional cues beyond simply words (body language, intonation, punctuation) to convey emotion and can use context to understand the meaning even when the words are unclear (mispronunciations), whereas programming language must be logical and precise. As Harris (2018) eluded, imperfections mean the code will not run while many humans possess the powerful ability to interpret and adapt.

How does “machine (artificial) intelligence” differ from the human version? (100 words)

Intelligence, according to McCarthy (2007), is the ability to achieve goals by means of processing information. AI is created with hard-coded rules, from which it cannot deviate, and operates within the confines of the designer’s understanding of a process at one specific time (Chollet, 2019; McCarthy, 2007). This makes AI excellent for collecting and managing massive data sets, processing data according to pre-set parameters, and completing tasks (Chollet, 2019). Human intelligence, however, is better able to generalize, adjust to nuances, and incorporate subtle changes in information like skin tone or cultural norms (Chollet, 2019; Hao, 2020; McCarthy, 2007). AI, therefore, is more about manipulating information and human intelligence is about trying to understand information (Hao, 2020).

How does “machine learning” differ from human learning? (100 words)

Machine learning is designed to make predictions about new information using coded datasets and algorithms (Heilweil, 2020). Unfortunately, when datasets are incomplete, which most are, it produces biased algorithms: varying accuracy rates and/or different decisions for different demographics such as sex, gender, and race (Buolamwini, 2019; Cirillo et al., 2020). These biases can result in “neglect[ing] desired differentiations…or amplify[ing] undesired ones” (Cirillo et al., 2020, para.58) that continue to promote inequalities and racism in systems governing human lives like education, recruitment, policing, and healthcare (Buolamwini, 2019; Cirillo et al., 2020; Heilweil, 2020). While humans are also biased, they often possess the flexibility to adapt to changing contexts and objective scenarios, which is not a feature of machine learning (Heilweil, 2020).

And for your LAST challenge, a version of the Turing Test: how do YOUR answers to these questions differ from what a machine could generate? (200 words)

One of the first indicators that this was written by a human versus a machine is the (attempt) to connect the biography snippets in question 1. Words and phrases like “Building on this,” “expanded” and “continued” refer to the progress of AI in the context of information already included in the text on these specific people, not necessarily on the information on them found online. An article in Futurism suggested that acronyms and punctuation, like hyphens or apostrophes, can indicate human-generated content (Robitzski, 2019). In that light, the use of single apostrophes to imply additional context to terms understood by humans suggests a human author (e.g., “‘beliefs,’” “‘intelligence,’” and “‘learn’”). For fun, a sample from the above text was entered into a Giant Language model Test Room [http://gltr.io/dist/index.html] that highlighted several instances where the likelihood of a machine using that word was 1/1000 or less. These included adjectives (e.g., “notable differences” and “powerful ability”) and the word “morphology.” Another example is the use of the word “unfortunately,” which is included to convey an opinion. These examples suggest that this text is trying to represent emotion and a deeper connection between concepts, which are more characteristic of human intelligence (Hao, 2020).

References

Anyoha, R. (2017, August 28). The history of artificial intelligence. Harvard University. https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/history-artificial-intelligence/

BBC News. (2016, January 26). AI pioneer Marvin Minsky dies aged 88. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35409119

Buolamwini, J. (2019, February 7). Artificial intelligence has a problem with gender and racial bias. Here’s how to solve it. Time. https://time.com/5520558/artificial-intelligence-racial-gender-bias/

Cirillo, D., Catuara-Solarz, S., Morey, C., Guney, E., Subirats, L., Mellino, S., Gigante, A., Valencia, A., Jose Rementeria, M., Santuccione Chadha, A., & Mavridis, N. (2020). Sex and gender differences and biases in artificial intelligence for biomedicine and healthcare. npj Digital Medicine 3, 81. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0288-5

Hao, K. (2020, December 4). We read the paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google. Here’s what it says. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/04/1013294/google-ai-ethics-research-paper-forced-out-timnit-gebru/

Harris, A. (2018, November 1). Human languages vs. programming languages. Medium. https://medium.com/@anaharris/human-languages-vs-programming-languages-c89410f13252

Herbert A. Simon. (2022, June 2). In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_A._Simon

John McCarthy (computer scientist). (2022, May 23). In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCarthy_(computer_scientist)

Levy, M. G. (2021, November 9). Timnit Gebru says artificial intelligence needs to slow down. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/rewired-2021-timnit-gebru/

Marvin Minsky. (2022, May 25). In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Minsky

McCarthy, J. (2007, November 12). What is artificial intelligence? Basic questions. Standford University. http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai/node1.html

Robitzski, D. (2019, March 11). This site detects whether text was written by a bot. Futurism. https://futurism.com/detects-text-written-bot

Timnit Gebru. (2022, June 5). In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timnit_Gebru

Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 49, 433-460. https://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf

UBS Nobel Perspectives. (n.d.). Herbert A. Simon: Nobel 1978 – Do we understand human behavior? https://www.ubs.com/microsites/nobel-perspectives/en/laureates/herbert-simon.html

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ETEC 511 IP1: Users, Uses and Usability

Usability describes a collection of attributes that makes a system simple, intuitive, and efficient to users. It quantifies and qualifies the users’ experiences when interacting with systems to accomplish tasks. Issa and Isaias (2015) highlight that usability is multifaceted and encompasses many concepts. Its framework considers how systems function and the characteristics of both users and tasks, which collectively influence the user’s reaction. Usability assesses the intention behind and experience of the interaction, in addition to the accuracy of output, indicating whether the context and language between users and systems are in sync. High usability can lead to increased use, task retention, and decreased learning time. These advantages produce loyalty and profit. Usability can be misjudged in contexts where the intent of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is to anticipate users’ future needs beyond current ones. As such, utility – or the anticipated function of a system – also plays a critical role in the perception of usability. This is particularly important in the context of education, as successful knowledge transfer often relies on purposeful problem-based learning where users understand why they are learning, particularly as adults. If the system produces results that are disjointed from what the user anticipates, it risks being assigned low usability and rejected.

Considering educational usability, one aspect that Issa and Isaias (2015) neglect to include is the social influence on learning. These include collaboration, cooperation, mentorship, feedback, and support from more knowledgeable others. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes that learning takes place in social contexts, and therefore social influences can alter a user’s characteristics (knowledge, motivation, and discretion) significantly while being completely independent of them. For example, imagine an individual who has chosen to use an iPhone for the last decade. Recently, they started working for a new company that provides Android devices to all employees. In this case, negative outcomes of usability cannot lead to “suspension and discontinuation of the system” (Issa & Isaias, 2015, p.32) as it is a requirement for the new job. One could argue that this is simply motivation (learn new system = keep new job), however, that oversimplification neglects the value of social influence within the workplace. There is a profound divide between Android users and iPhone users, and one’s choice to engage with one or the other often goes beyond mere usability and relies more on the social constructs within which they see themselves. Marketing of technology and systems frequently capitalizes on social influence.

Woolgar (1990) alludes to these social influences in explaining the concept of configuring users. One example of users being configured in Woolgar’s (1990) account of the trials is the initial setup, designed to emulate an ordinary work environment. This creates an expectation of competence (I am successful at my job, so I can do this) while the features that are not often present at work, e.g., video cameras and observers, encourage users to persevere (they are watching so I will keep trying to make this work). Combined, these social aspects of the environment made the users think they were fit for any tasks presented in the trial.

A second example of configuring users was the commentary from the not-so-objective observers. Feedback like “you’ve done fine so far” or “let’s assume we succeeded there which I think you did” (Woolgar, 1990, p.85) can adjust the user’s perception of what occurred during the interaction. Here, the social influence collides with constructivism; the user’s reflective observation of their concrete experiences is being influenced and formed into a positive memory, thereby inflating the perceived usability of the technology.

One of the biggest differences between how Woolgar (1990) and Issa and Isaias (2015) present usability is their acknowledgement of what can, or should, be configured. Woolgar (1990) explicitly states that configuring users is a natural part of usability; by shaping and arranging users and their expectations they can be successfully set up for designated tasks, resulting in high usability. In contrast, Issa and Isaias (2015) imply that systems should be configured through iterations targeted to increase usability. The question then becomes, are these ever truly separate? Changes to a system will alter how users interpret and interact with it, thereby adjusting user reactions. Feedback and other steps taken to prepare and guide targeted users can make them fit better with the systems and tasks, swaying user characteristics and reactions. Ultimately, the adjustments made to either the user or the system (or both) to increase usability are aiming for the same result: a simple, intuitive, and efficient experience.

[Word count: 735]

References:

Issa T. & Isaias P. (2015). Usability and Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Sustainable Design. London: Springer. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1007/978-1-4471-6753-2_2

Woolgar, S. (1990). Configuring the user: the case of usability trials. The Sociological Review, 38 (1_suppl), 58-99. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1990.tb03349.x

 

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ETEC 540 Task 1: What’s in your bag?

Hello, everyone! My name is Melissa Santo and I am a learning and development professional with 15+ years experience spanning corporate, academic (post-secondary), and non-profit environments. I have had experiences teaching, career advising, instructional designing, program developing and coordinating, volunteer managing, and mentoring.

The bag I chose to unpack is my everyday purse. It rests near the front door so that I can grab it and go without thinking too much about what I need for any particular outing. Several items are accessed on the regular including my phone, wallet, house and car keys, reusable bag, first aid/toiletries, gum, lip balm, hair clips/elastics, and sunglasses. Some other items reveal key parts about me that may not be obvious to others:

  • I have two kids and a dog, as evidenced by a month-old 7th birthday party invitation addressed to ‘Piper,’ band-aids, a collection of pop tabs, a roll of green dog poop bags, a homemade leather keychain stamped with the word ‘love’ (made by one of my kids at a summer camp last year), a medical intake form for ‘Aubrey,’ a Lego-style pineapple sticker placed on my wallet by one of my kids years ago, and an abundance of old receipts that haven’t been cleaned out due to being low on the priority list.
  • I have dietary restrictions (allergic to dairy, sensitive to gluten), as evidenced by the multitude of snacks (also used to satiate ‘hangry’ kids) and the reusable bag for impromptu grocery shops when I need access to things I know I can eat.
  • My spouse and I love to travel, as evidenced by the wooden ‘M’ keychain inscribed with ‘Costa Rica,’ Croatian currency (kunas and lipas) leftover from a previous trip, and a makeshift travel pack of Lysol wipes.

One of the most obvious displays of text is that I arranged these items to spell out my name. Perhaps I was inspired by recent crafts done by my kids or wanted to provide a visual for how I spell my name, or maybe there was a deeper meaning. Regardless, it provided me with parameters for how to display the contents. For me, these letters are easily recognizable, which speaks to the characters I use regularly in English (with a bit of French and German).

Another example of text is the blue paper bookmark from the Optimist Club of Caledon. I received it years ago during a pop-up roadside fundraiser in exchange for a small donation during a drive between my parents’ place and home. The ink was faded and ‘flakey’ from the start, indicating a lower-quality (budget?) printing process. The side facing up has the Optimist Creed written out; these words evoke a sense of positivity, resilience, and self-compassion whenever I read them. Thus, while the item doesn’t serve a physical purpose, it will remain in my purse as a reminder to strive for optimism.

My Android phone is the most blatant form of technology visible but there are many examples of text and technology intersecting:

  • The party invitation was designed on a computer, professionally printed, and then distributed and sold using a myriad of hardware and software to track its whereabouts. It also required technology to RSVP, as the preferred contact methods were email or text.
  • The Canadian bank notes (now made of polymer, in comparison to the paper kunas) represent a combination of mechanical arts and applied sciences – a common theme in the definitions of ‘technology’ and similar root words – using technology to create it plus layers of knowledge application in terms of monetary supply, economic monitoring, and financial literacy. The amount shown ($32.25) was received for trading in a collection of old CDs to a store called ‘The Beat Goes On’ and the receipt is somewhere in the pile of papers shown. Before doing this I searched for each album on Amazon Music to maintain access to my music collection that stretches back to the 1990s. The money remained outside of my wallet for weeks because I rarely use cash these days thanks to credit/debit cards and online ordering.
  • The Ontario Ministry of Health vaccination receipt represents the technology used to monitor and track covid rates and vaccines, plus the technology used to develop and distribute the vaccine itself. Our family had the option to choose whether or not to vaccinate, which speaks to the freedom of choice and access to healthcare we have. I am aware not every person has access to this, and despite the challenges we have across Canada, I do consider that one of the reasons my family is fortunate to live here. (Also, although it’s hard to make out, there is an appointment reminder card for ‘Waterloo Eye Care,’ indicating that I reside in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.)

Like Professor Dobson’s (2019) example, I can see from the variety of items that I, too, live in a “multiliterate, global, corporate economy” (para.11). I can see evidence of Canadian brands (MadeGood, SunRipe, Simply Protein), international brands (Burt’s Bees, Advil), and merges of language (English and French on the Band-Aid package; the umlaut accent in Pür is not an English character), representing the diversity of products available to me. I can easily access medicine, specialty foods, and other ‘niceties’ for myself and my family and recognize how fortunate and privileged I am that this is my experience.

This has been an interesting exercise to complete, and while I believe what I’ve covered only scratches the surface of text technologies I am fascinated by the connections I saw, the sentiment I felt behind certain items, and I’m excited to explore this topic further throughout this course.

 

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ETEC 511 Assignment: Truth & Reconciliation

The primary resource selected for this assignment was found through a Google search using the phrase, ‘history of education in Canada.’ The first result in the list was a page on The Canadian Encyclopedia’s website titled History of Education in Canada (Gaffield, 2013).

Using the find functionality (ctrl+F), the term ‘residential’ was found twice on the webpage, identifying two short paragraphs that referred to residential schools and the assimilation of Aboriginal peoples. However, one paragraph did contain a link to another webpage titled Residential Schools in Canada (Miller, 2012)

These resources were found after many attempts to locate and determine appropriate resources for this assignment. Being unfamiliar with educational history or teacher professional development, my aim became to find a resource that summarized the history of education in Canada to see how Indigeneity, Indigenous people, and residential schools were represented in a resource that would be available to the public. The Canadian Encyclopedia was selected on the assumption that encyclopedias are seen as a credible source for information on various subjects and are designed to expand one’s knowledge on topics.

As mentioned above, the find functionality was used to find specific terms within the online text. The results for History of Education in Canada (Gaffield, 2013) are as follows:

  • Residential = 2 (in reference to ‘residential schools,’ a search term recommended by the instructor)
  • Indian = 0
  • Indigenous = 0
  • Aboriginal = 9
  • First Nations = 0
  • Native = 0

The term ‘Aboriginal’ was only presented in the context of education as a mission for colonial assimilation. Also, only one of the nine instances of Aboriginal was capitalized. Based on the information available on the First Nations Studies Program’s (2009) Terminology page, it would have been more respectful to capitalize every instance of the term.

The topic of residential schools’ assimilation of Indigenous people was only referred to in four (of 56) paragraphs. Although there was a link to a separate webpage dedicated to residential schools in Canada if one does not choose to seek this additional information it would be easy to assume that the formal attempts to “undermine the traditional culture” (Gaffield, 2013, para.7) of Indigenous people was extremely minor in the overall context of Canadian education history.

Using the find functionality again, the same list of terms (minus ‘residential)’ was searched within this webpage. The results for Residential Schools in Canada (Miller, 2012) are as follows:

  • Indian = 19
  • Indigenous = 29
  • Aboriginal = 1
  • First Nation = 9 (to capture both singular and plural versions)
  • Native = 0

While reviewing the above two resources, some of the content prompted me to consider the intergenerational effects of residential schools. This also connected to a third resource that I had found during my initial searches for resources, produced by Stout and Peters (2011) and titled kiskinohamâtôtâpânâsk: Inter-generational Effects on Professional First Nations Women Whose Mothers are Residential. This study examined the ongoing impact of residential school experiences, affecting generations of individuals who did not attend residential schools themselves.

My professional background – both education and experience – includes human resources and workplace learning, so the new questions that came to mind when reading these resources were:

  • For those who do not take the time to educate themselves further (i.e., beyond the curriculum taught in Canadian schools), how does this shape their assumptions, either known or unknown as adults? How does that translate into the workplace, hiring practices, management strategies, and tolerance for diversity?
  • What other ‘ripple effects’ continue to impact workplaces today as a result of these residential school experiences and how Indigeneity has been – and continues to be – represented in formal educational contexts?

These individuals’ personal circumstances would undoubtedly extend into their professional roles, which lead to questions about how current hiring, training, and other retention strategies systemically discriminate against Indigenous people. While the topic of systemic discrimination is being discussed and examined in many workplaces today in the context of how best to avoid unconscious bias, there is immense value in understanding that some attitudes, habits and contexts of work are connected to influences that run much deeper than the worker’s own personal experiences.

One of the biggest limitations of these results is my own unconscious bias and perspective, as a white-European treaty land inhabitant (Cuthand, 2021) currently living and learning on the Haldimand Tract within the territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples.

Another limitation is the digitization of information and assuming that encyclopedias are trusted resources. I grew up going to school in the 1980s and 1990s and was often directed to encyclopedias to further my knowledge on various topics. However, if these resources were produced by other white treaty land inhabitants they may not have had access to the full story of Canada’s educational history.

References

Cuthand, S. (2021, August 30). Introducing yourself as a ‘settler’ creates division. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/calling-yourself-a-settler-pov-1.6151582

First Nations Studies Program (2009). Terminology. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/terminology/

Gaffield, C. (2013, July 15; last edited June 18, 2020). History of Education in Canada. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/history-of-education

Miller, J. R. (2012, October 10; last edited May 20, 2022). Residential Schools in Canada. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools

Stout, R. & Peters, S. (2011). kiskinohamâtôtâpânâsk: Inter-generational Effects on Professional First Nations Women Whose Mothers are Residential. Canada Commons. https://canadacommons.ca/artifacts/2039292/kiskinohamatotapanask/2791735/

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