Narrative 1: Connecting the Dots 

Waking up to the sound of my coffee machine, I reflected on the true meaning of life before realizing that I probably should get ready for the day or I will be late for classes. “You have one reminder for UFO220 today – please arrive 10 minutes early to see your midterm” – a voice came from the little white box and that is that is the voice of my personal assistant, Mica. Without Mica, I am sure I wouldn’t even be able to complete my first year of university because I tend to be quite forgetful with things.

I love my UFO (Understanding Future Operation) courses and that is why even though UFO220 is not a mandatory course for my program, I still want to take it. Just the other day, we learned that 30 years ago, digital personal assistant gadget was around already. However, people would have to insert their schedule manually before their personal assistant would become operative! What a stupid concept! Now everyone gets a personal assistant on their first day of school (I got my at elementary school but my brother, Jerry, got his at kindergarten) and Mica just knew about my school schedule, homework, and everything about me. I can’t imagine how I would be able to function without Mica.

“Good morning class! I am glad to see most of you are here already and I am happy about that.” – Professor B is the coolest prof ever and as a matter of fact, I know people fight to get into his classes. Mica told me that and she said that she had to bypass the actual registration system to get me into UFO220. I am not sure what she meant by that but Mica told me not to worry about it. She said as long as I keep doing well in school, she would have the priority to get me into some hot courses that I know my friends are not able to get in. Isn’t Mica cool or what?

“Now everyone is here so I am going to return your midterm.” I quickly took out my tablet and I could see my result already. Besides the test result, I was able to see exactly which concept I didn’t understand. On the tabs, I could also click to see my current performance against people who took this course for the past 5 years. Well, it looks like I would have to study more in order to become that top 10 percent of the class. I have to admit that I’ve experienced some difficulties focusing on school lately because I am feeling slightly demotivated.  Since I only had one class today, I decided to go to the library to study a bit before going home.

“I have your midterm result here and you need to focus more on school. I already blocked of two hours each day on your schedule for the next two weeks so you can study” – as soon as I got home, Mica’s voice was the first thing greeted me and her voice echoed in my place.

“But I’ve studied today at the library so could I write off the two hours?” I asked, hoping I would be able to play some video games.

“Have you? Please put your tablet on top of my sensor so I can read the data.” Mica replied. Even after years together, Mica still verifies everything, which I like and hate sometimes.

Quickly followed Mica’s instruction and I waited patiently while Mica reads through the data, including my geolocation.

“I see you actually spend a few hours at the library and write some notes for your next assignment. That’s great! But could I suggest a different way to organize your notes the next time?” Mica always knows the most effective way of studying.

“Does that mean I could take a break today? Please?” I asked and see my PlayStation 25 is on already. Mica pretty controls everything in the house that without her permission, I don’t think I would be able to operate any appliances in the house.

“You do know that everyday I need to send your learning data back to the university so your professors know your learning progress. However, I see that you’ve studied hard today. Let’s start the study session tomorrow. For now, enjoy your video game!” I’m already half listening to Mica as I excitedly jumping on the game…

Narrative 2: Words Are The Most Powerful Weapon

Attention Economy

Attention economy is not a new concept and it is not solely an online phenomena. Remember those summer days when you went to a grocery store to enjoy the air-conditioning and ended up buying two bags of snack? For those who are budget-conscious, they will tell you the importance of having a shopping list ready so you minimize the actual time spent in the stores.

My Inyerface Experience

Oh the frustration! I tried User Inyerface for 3 times and I couldn’t get through the first page (is there even a 2nd webpage to this?). This is design is worse than the websites back to GeoCities time. I got frustrated and distracted by all the stimuli presented on the same page. Eventually I watched a YouTube video on how to get through this, after hearing confirmation from Ernesto and fellow classmates that there is indeed an end page to this. I was able to capture some screenshots in different attempts and I am going to share them below. Continue reading →

This week’s task is a continuation of task 8 and based on the result of the golden record curation, our instructor, Ernesto, kindly put together a file for us to explore the social network. It was fascinating to dive into the graphs and see how the network changes based on the different filters I picked. I must admit that it becomes confusing after awhile, especially when I realize that the graphs don’t always convey what I first thought they represent. Continue reading →

In week 2, we talked about how languages shaped our head and more importantly, how they impact our ways of seeing things. One has to wonder, if clear communication is already hard to achieve within the same species (among people in different cultures), how could we ensure effective communication to the other space?  Taking this into consideration, it makes one wonder what parameters were used when deciding what would go into the golden record. Something I liked and appreciated was the inclusion of nature sounds and the variety of songs from different cultures.

One thing stood out for me, when watching Dr. Rumsey’s presentation on digital memory is her question of “What can we afford to lose?”
When we go through the selection process of what to keep, we make the decision of leaving something behind. How do one decide what information is worth preserving and what’s not? Now with different social media platforms from Twitter to Instagram, sharing or producing information is easier than ever. With more information coming from different sides, the world seems to be more divided than before. I guess all these give more reason that we need to digitalize as much as information and from as many perspectives as we can. Continue reading →

This is a redesign of  my previous task of “What’s in my bag?” from week 1.

It was challenging to recreate the content to my surprise and it made me realize how heavily I relied on visual cues to understand and communicate. The New London Group (1996) emphasized on the idea of multiliteracies and the goal is to make education more accessible to all students. Accessibility does not mean solely clearing physical barriers but it also applies to making content applicable to students from diverse cultural backgrounds. It is too easy to take things for granted because we are used to certain ways of things. Anyone who is new or unfamiliar with the current system is at risk of being labeled as “unintelligent” or “uncultured”, while the opposite would be true.

For this assignment, I create a video with both visual and audio cues. I am not sure whether other classmates share similar thoughts but I found that I look at items in my bag from a different perspective now when I keep inclusivity in mind. I start to ask myself whether the item I presented makes sense to everyone or whether I need to provide further explanation so everyone knows what is in front of them. For a course design perspective, this is so important!

Continue reading →

It’s been awhile since the last time I wrote anything longer than three sentences in hand. Though in Task 1: What’s in my bag, I revealed that I had multiple planners and notebooks to jot down important events and information, the truth is, since working from home, I have dramatically reduced my “manual writing time”. The only time I write using a pen and paper now is during meetings when I want to quickly write something down. Continue reading →

In Module 2, we watched Dr. Boroditsky’s lecture on the link between language and our thoughts.  During Q&A, one audience asked about Dr. Boroditsky’s take on the use of text messages and whether/how it will impact languages. In a digital world like the one we live now, many seem to prefer communicating through texts than orally. One popular meme probably captures this the best:

https://memezila.com/When-someone-calls-instead-of-messaging-meme-2901

Certainly there can be many factors that contribute to the reason why text is preferred but it is interesting to think further how we have come from a period when no written form was used to now having a systematic ways to arrange texts. Continue reading →