Chris Rugo’s ETEC 540 Blog

This week’s task involves describing the title and plot of a movie, book or TV show using only emojis. Using the built-in emoji keyboard on my iPhone, I’ve shared my attempt below.

Reflection

Did you rely more on syllables, words, ideas, or a combination of all of them?

I found myself relying more on ideas to construct meaning through the use of emojis. There was one instance in my story where I relied on the literal word meaning of one of the emojis.

Many of the ideas within my story were representative of characters, actions, thoughts, emotions. Line by line, I attempted to construct meaning by juxtaposing several different emojis together, with each new line representing a new idea. I found it interesting to reflect on Kress’ (2005) observation that information is organized and coded through the ordering of lines and syntax (p. 7). Despite working in a visual mode, I applied the conventions of written verbal communication to attempt to organize my message and construct meaning.

Did you start with the title? Why? Why not?

I did start with the title for my story; which may have been out of habit, as I’m accustomed to lead with a title when sharing a story (or really any information for the most part). Another reason for including the title (depending on how the reader interprets it) serves to provide some high-level context for the preceding lines which describe the plot of the story.

Did you choose the work based on how easy it would be to visualize? 

Yes and no. I did select this work based on my familiarity with the larger works that it’s connected to, however, this was my first time viewing this particular unit of the work and so I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to translate the plot into emojis.

I initially took it upon myself to try to translate the plot of the work into emoji in real-time, but actually found it quite hard to keep up. There were moments where I would catch myself spending minutes trying to find the right emoji in my keyboard. For the sake of enjoying the work, I decided to hand-write out my observations of the plot and translate that into emojis afterwards.

At first, I didn’t expect how challenging it would be to translate this story into emoji, given that I use emoji on a regular basis in my day-to-day use of text messaging. I now realize that in those instances, I rely on relatively small range of emojis in my day-to-date communication.

Closing Thoughts

While constructing my story, I came across several emojis that I haven’t encountered before, which speaks to the evolving visual language of emoji that changes with each new version of Uncicode (Broni, 2022). In my typical use of emoji, it’s very rare that I rely solely on the visual to convey my message. Rather, I depend on the use of written words in conjunction with emoji to provide additional context and to enhance the original meaning of my message. It’s true that without one or the other, the message can still become decoded, but it’s meaning becomes a bit more vague (depending on the context of where the message is being shared).

The pairing of text and visual might be essential in some contexts, for example, in the case of someone reading the message with a screen reader. In those instances, a person with a screen reader will interpret emojis with the literal alt-text information encoded within each one (Mace, 2021). Without any other written contextual information, attempting to convey new meaning by juxtaposing emojis might not translate in the same way it would for a sighted person. This reminds me of Kress’ (2005) point on the affordances of combining multiple modes (visual and textual) to produce new meaning, as well as the social contexts and conventions that inform how meaning is created. In fact, Zaltzman (2020) addresses this directly by discussing the use of eggplant emoji, which, depending on your linguistic or cultural context, is no longer solely understood by its literal interpretation as a vegetable.

References

Broni, K. (2022, July 13). New emojis in 2022-2023. Emojipedia. https://blog.emojipedia.org/new-emojis-in-2022-2023/

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

Mace, D. (2021). Do emojis and accessibility work together? Tiny. https://www.tiny.cloud/blog/emojis-and-accessibility/

Zaltzman, H. (Host). (2019, July 13). New rules (No. 102) [Audio podcast episode]. In The allusionist. https://www.theallusionist.org/new-rules

This post explores the manual production of a potato stamp to print a five-letter word. This exercise provided an opportunity for me to consider the time, labour, and resource costs involved with producing text in a way that pre-dates the mechanized printing process.

Production

With Juniper’s (2015) video as a guide, the process of carving and printing my own name using potato stamps took me about an hour and a half. I decided to use sans-serif letters for my letters, hoping it’s simpler shape and form factor would save me time and work. However, even with the letters outlined on the potato, I found the process of carving out even and consistently sized letters a time consuming challenge.

Given the somewhat unforgiving nature of working in this way, I resorted to working my mistakes into the design of each letter, using whatever part of the potato was still left. This process of trial and error led to some mixed results, but by the time I got to my second set of stamps, I noticed a slight improvement in my technique. This iterative process made me think of the ‘fail and try-again’ approach supported at the makerspace where I work. Here, students are encouraged to create, assess, and improve upon their prototype designs using tools like 3D printing.

Upon completing my first set of stamps, it immediately occurred to me that I forgot to mirror the letters ‘R’ and the ‘S’. I spent so much time focusing on the shape and quality of each letter, that I didn’t think ahead to what it would look like once printed.

Once I got around to printing, I found it challenging to maintain the spacing and rotation between each letter. I also noticed the quality of the letter varied due to my uneven cuts and inconsistent use of pressure when applying it to the page. As such, the paint on some letters did not transfer well (e.g., the crossbar on the letter ‘H’). In retrospect, I might have had better results had I carved the letters onto a single block. However, with the smaller size potatoes that I had on hand, I decided to keep going with individual letters.

During my second round of stamps, I corrected the orientation of the letters ‘R’ and ‘S’ and spent less time fussing around with carving each letter shape (having now had some practice). While printing, I accidentally smudged the letter ‘C’ by pressing too hard. Once again, the letter and spacing between letters were inconsistent despite my best efforts. Nonetheless, I was happier with this second attempt.

Reflection

This potato stamping exercise reminded me of my first printmaking experience in the 11th-grade, where I learned to carve and print designs with linoleum blocks. Back then, my approach to printmaking was solely for artistic purposes, rather than a mode of producing and conveying written information. As such, any imperfections made along the way were insignificant and could be perceived as enhancing the aesthetic quality of the work. This time, when using this method to approach writing, greater attention to form and structure was necessary to ensure that the written word can be perceived clearly and accurately. In the case of my potato stamps, this extra attention to detail resulted in additional time and work. To use this method to produce an entire text seems onerous and impractical; especially when compared to the efficiency and accuracy afforded by mechanized (and later digital) print technologies.

It also seems that the manual printing process comes with additional resource-costs when compared to mechanized methods. As my experience would suggest, there is an increased margin for human error, for example: applying too much (or not enough) pressure; forgetting to mirror letters; misjudging the spacing between letters; etc. In my case, each misprint resulted in additional consumption of physical materials such as paint, paper and the relief medium itself. While not without its own disadvantages, it seems the increased accuracy and uniformity of mechanized printing methods (as demonstrated in the letterpress video by Danny Cooke [2012]) would minimize the margin for error, resulting in fewer wasted resources.

With all of these factors in mind, it’s difficult to imagine that manual printing would have been successful in the same way that mechanized printing was in improving literacy and knowledge access. Lamb & McCormick (2021) notes that mechanization, coupled with advancements in paper technology, made it easier, faster, and cheaper to produce written materials (00:43:00). The impact that this had on literacy is especially significant when viewed through the lens of power and social change, given that reading/writing literacy has been considered a tool for challenging oppressive power structures (thinking of Paolo Freire’s work on critical pedagogy) (Smidt, 2014).

References

Cooke, D. (January 26, 2012). Upside down, left to right: A letterpress film. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/n6RqWe1bFpM

Juniper. (August 3, 2015). Revamping your stuff with potato stamps. [YouTube]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRKyECgL1wY

Lamb, R., & McCormick, J. (Hosts). (2021, May 15). From the vault: Invention of the book, part 2. [Audio podcast episode]. In Stuff to blow your mind. iHeart Radio. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/stuff-to-blow-your-mind-21123915/episode/from-the-vault-invention-of-the-82564254/

Smidt, S. (2014). Introducing Freire: A guide for students, teachers, and practitioners. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315777634

For Week 3 of the course, we are tasked with sharing a five-minute unscripted anecdote using a voice-to-text tool. In doing so, I’ve decided to describe the events of my day on January 25th using the built-in dictation functionality in my phone’s notes app:

OK I’m trading this audio notes using the text to speech feature of my notes app on my iPhone. As part of my task for a E tech 540. I thought I’d share a bit about my day and what I got done at work so today I got up around 7 AM to get ready to go to work. In that time I took a shower fed my cats got dressed and pack my bag which would’ve received in my first task. I left the apartment by 745 and Scott do the bus stop shortly after it took me about 40 minutes to get to the office today which was pretty good considering considering that it takes me usually 45 minutes to an hour. once I got to work, I check my email checked my Teams messages, and instead of drafting a few responses. Once I finish that I went to go make myself a coffee. I usually drink my coffee black but lately I’ve been taking it with oat milk. And then once I finish making my coffee, I got ready for a meeting with a Subject matter expert to review a script for a video tutorial for one of our library. Search tools. That meeting took about 3030 to 40 minutes. Once I finish that I got some editing and voiceover work done on a virtual tour for one of our maker spaces. And then I went for lunch around that time my school put it out an announcement that we will be closing early due to snow storm. After lunch, I finish responding to a few emails and started doing a bit of research for another project I’m working on. I then got up from my desk to go make a tea and noticed at that point the snow is looking pretty bad. Around three i left the office for the early closure. And then walked over to the bus stop that I usually take to get home. The snow was pretty bad and the traffic is moving pretty slowly as the road conditions are pretty bad. I’m at such a took me a bit longer to get home and I think it was about an hour and a half but once I got home I put on some dinner FaceTime some friends watched a bit of TV and then got some schoolwork done and I’m about to pack my lunch for tomorrow and start getting ready for bed. And I think that’s all I have to share about my day, and I also think I’m hitting the five minute mark. If you made it this far thanks for reading.

Reflection

How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?

While transcribing my unscripted message into a written format, it became evident how train-of-thought my verbal composition is, when compared to my use of written English. This was somewhat expected, given that the task called for an unscripted and informal message. However, the spontaneity of my word choice and narrative structure runs counter to the intentionality and conciseness of written text, as characterized by Gnanadesikan (2011, p. 5).

In addition to the narrative structure, some of the messaging is distorted or lost in the conversion from voice-to-text, given that my phone didn’t always pick up on my pauses between sentences and paragraphs, the cadence of my speech, rising and falling inflections on certain words, choice of words, and so on. Save for a few periods and commas automatically added by the software, the text largely deviates from the established grammatical rules of written English.

What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?

It’s fascinating to reflect on the distance between the two systems at play here to encode my story into written form. One is the use of writing as a system of codified rules and symbols (Gnanadesikan, 2011). The other is the technology which translates the written word (in my case, the microphone and text-to-speech software on my phone) and brings it into what Haas (2013) describes as “the material world” (p.3)

As I read through the text, I notice some obvious grammatical issues, including a lack of paragraph breaks, missing punctuation between sentences, and missing capitalization (e.g. for personal pronouns). While some punctuation was automatically added by my phone, it seemed that for best results, it was largely up to me to manually dictate the punctuation. I rarely use voice-to-text to write, and as such neglected to do this in the moment as it didn’t feel natural for me to verbally communicate in this way. The resulting output is a text ridden with unbroken sentences and improper pacing.

Some word choices were also distorted in the text. Reading through, I noticed that my phone replaced several words with similar sounding words (which had no meaning in the context of my story) or words with the incorrect participle (e.g., “packed” = “pack”). Acronyms were also not captured (e.g. ETEC = “E tech”), likely because I did not read out the acronym in letter-form.

Otherwise, I thought the software on my phone did a reasonable job of capturing the content of my my speech. At best, and despite it’s flaws, the text might achieve it’s functional purpose of communication, which Schmand-Besserate (2007) suggests is one of the primary goals of written languages. There may be sufficient context-clues present within the text that one could compensate for the grammatical and word errors and construct some meaning. Yet, as Gnanadesikan (2011) suggests writing is “a process of translating time into space” (p. 3) and its visibility is not a prerequisite for its interpretation. For someone accessing the text using a screen reader, which reads back text in a linear way, writing becomes much more dependent on time and sequence. I look forward to further exploring the materiality of language that Haas (2013) refers to and how it affects or informs culture, systems of power, and how language is accessed, etc.

What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them “mistakes”?

As described above, the most common mistakes that I observed was a lack of proper punctuation, use of tense, and word choice. I consider these ‘mistakes’ based on my prior knowledge of established grammar and language rules, my understanding of the English vocabulary, and the original meaning of the words I consciously selected while composing the message.

What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?

Had the above text been pre-composed in a written format before reciting it into my phone, I believe that the story would be more precise, organized and engaging to read. This could be attributed to the notion that written languages builds upon or enhances oral communication (Ong, 2002, p. 9). Furthermore, I find myself in a culture where oral languages are not the primary mode of communication (Ong, 2002), given that I depend on and use written languages on a daily basis to communicate with others.

As such, the choice and number of words used to relay my story would likely look different. Words and whole sentences would be taken out, re-ordered, or consolidated into something more concise and accurate. Additionally, the text would be more grammatically correct, as I would likely be more conscious to write-in any punctuation and paragraph breaks before reading it out loud. The end result would be a written text with refined pacing and clarity.

In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?

As Gnanadesikan (2011) suggests, some qualities of oral speech do not always translate the written word, including “intonation and emotional content” (p. 3). This was evident to me while composing my voice-to-text story, as I noticed that any changes in pitch I made to emphasize something or denote a question was not captured; immediately disconnecting the content of the text from it’s emotional context. I could, of course, attempt to bring the emotional gap between my speech and text by adding bold or italics to emphasize certain words, or a question mark at the end of certain sentences.

References

Gnanadesikan, A.E. (2011). The first IT revolution. In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet (pp. 1-12). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444304671.ch1

Haas, C. (2013). The technology question. In Writing technology: Studies on the materiality of literacy (pp. 3-23). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203811238

Ong, W. J. (2002). Chapter 1: The orality of language. In Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word (pp. 5-16). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203426258

Schmandt-Besserat, D., & Erard, M. (2007). Origins and forms of writing. In C. Bazerman (Ed.), Handbook of research on writing: History, society, school, individual, text (pp. 7-26). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410616470

Hi everyone! My name is Chris Rugo (he/they) and I’m a white, non-invited settler based in Tkaronto/Toronto, Ontario, where I live, learn, play and work. In my professional life, I work full-time as support-staff at Humber College, where I support e-learning and digital fluency initiatives offered through the library. This includes developing online resources and providing assistance for students accessing our library makerspace.

For this task, I’ve decided to share several items I carry with me in the bag that I take to and from my workplace. I work a hybrid schedule and share my time between home and the office.

Laptop (and charger): Given that I work hybrid, I typically carry my laptop around with me. I depend on this for day-to-day work, as I use it to access a wide range of apps for e-mail, instant messaging, word processing, multimedia production and web design. On the top of my laptop is a sticker which reads ‘Idea Lab’ in block letters, which is the name of the makerspace initiative I support in my role.

128 GB Flash drive: I use a flash drive to back-up important project files and to occasionally shuttle files between my laptop and other devices at the office. Lately, I’ve found myself using this less as I rely more on cloud storage.

Spare mask: I keep a spare mask on hand for commuting on public transit and for large group meetings at the office.

Wireless vertical mouse: I use a vertical mouse at work, which uses Bluetooth to connect wirelessly with my laptop.

Lanyard with office keys and keycard: I use this to access my office and to identify myself as an employee to staff or students, if needed.

Chapstick: I keep this on hand throughout the winter season.

Portable power pack (and phone charger): I carry a power pack for emergency situations where I need to charge my phone. I can usually get 1 or 2 full charges from this.

Wired headphones: I keep these with me to listen to podcasts or music on my commute to the office (which on average is a 2 hour round-trip).

Reusable water bottle: I picked up this branded water bottle up at a conference I attended recently. I use it at both the office and during my commute.

Insulated coffee mug: I was gifted this at a work event a few years back. I use this to make coffee at the office (a twice-daily necessity).

Reflection

How might these items be considered “texts” and what do they say about you, the places you inhabit, the cultures with which you engage, and/or the activities you take up?

These ‘texts’ speak to my identity, values, and literacies as a 21st-century digital citizen. For starters, my laptop may suggest that I place a high value on technology, given that I carry it to and from the office. This is true, given that my laptop makes it possible for me to fulfill my day-to-day work responsibilities and, by extension, sustain myself economically. Additionally, the vertical mouse I use with my laptop might suggest that I spend long hours at my computer and value ergonomics. My headphones speak to how I access and communicate audible information (i.e., podcasts, music, phone call), while the portable charger suggests that I value sustained access to my phone by extending its battery over long periods. As for the remaining items, the spare mask may indicate how I choose to navigate public space by protecting myself and others from respiratory illness. My decision to use a reusable coffee and water bottle says something about my desire to be more socially and environmentally responsible.

Thinking about the title of the course, what are the “text technologies” in your bag, if any? What do these items say about how you engage with language and communication?

The items that I consider ‘text technologies’ include the laptop, mouse, and flash drive, as well as the laptop accessories and integrated components (mouse, keyboard, screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, speakers, camera). Each of these technologies plays a role in enabling access to information (i.e., the internet, databases) and communication with others (i.e., e-mail, instant messaging, or video conferencing). These technologies would suggest that I have some level of technical proficiency and linguistic knowledge required to operate these tools and achieve these goals.

What do the items in your bag say about the literacies you have?

As described above, the ‘text technologies’ in my bag (computer, mouse, flash drive) would suggest that I possess some level of digital literacy, including the ability to leverage technology to read and write or to communicate with others through oral, visual or text mediums.

The written text on the items (i.e., my key card, sticker, water bottle branding, chapstick labelling and instructions) speaks to my reading literacy and my ability to view text without the use of braille or assistive technologies.

The mask suggests some literacy around public health awareness/prevention, while the reusable containers might speak to literacy related to climate change and individual environmental responsibility.

How does the narrative of the (private) contents of your bag compare with the narrative produced by the image you have of yourself or the image you outwardly project?

I think the narrative of the contents in my bag accurately connects to how I present myself publicly, as well as parts of my identity and privilege (i.e., white, cis, male-presenting, educated, employed). At the same time, given that these items mostly relate to my professional life, they do not capture every aspect of my identity or value systems. For example, during my off hours, I try to reduce my screen time as much as possible – which might not be obvious to an outsider given that I carry around my work laptop.

What would this same bag have looked like, say, 15 or 25 years ago?

I believe the same bag 15-25 years ago would speak to a different set of literacies than the ones I possess today, given that many of the items would be unnecessary or non-existent (at the very least, in its current form factor). For one, it’s unlikely I would be working a hybrid work schedule. As such, I wouldn’t need to tote my laptop between home and the office. It’s also more likely that my laptop (or desktop computer) would live solely at the office, as it wouldn’t be portable or practical enough to carry with me daily.

Furthermore, I’d imagine the items I use with my phone would also be absent from this bag, as I wouldn’t be dependent on a cell phone for many of the functions that I use it for today (music, navigation, banking, notes, etc.). Instead, my bag might include a map, a notebook and pen, cash, and a CD or mp3 player. These items would require some level of language and digital literacy to use, but not to the extent that the items in my bag does today.

How do you imagine an archeologist aiming to understand this temporal period might view the contents of your bag many years in the future?

I would imagine that an archeologist from the future would draw several connections between the items in my bag, my identity, and any cultural/environmental influences occurring at the present moment. For example, based on the branded items or labels, they may consider my relationship with language (ability to read/speak/write in English). The technology would suggest I possess some degree of digital fluency with the applications found on my computer, my socioeconomic status and, by extension, other identity markers related to my privilege (able-bodied). The mask and reusable containers would convey something about my health and environmental literacy based on current events (pandemic, climate change, labour culture/conditions, etc.).