Find a link to Laura Ulrich’s Speculative Futures task.

Laura and I approached this task quite differently.  Laura published two narratives the first using Twine and the second as a Podcast.  I published two audio files that described my narratives using futuristic characters Raj and Jing.

In comparing tools that we used for this task, Laura and I approached this differently.  For Laura’s first narrative, she published a Twine.  She used SIM 4 and Photoshop to produce images that are viewed within her Twine.  And she used Twinery.org to create a non-linear story.  For Laura’s second narrative, she used a voice recorder on her phone to record the audio and then she used Audacity to edit the audio.  I think that Heidi’s published content is creative and user friendly.

For my narratives, I simply used the Voice Recorder on my laptop, which runs Windows 10.  I wanted my voice to sound futuristic or robotic, so I used an online free Voice Changer.  Because this was the first time I had used this tool, I used one of the pre-programmed voices, however, the tool allowed you to create a customized voice of your choice.

Laura and I are using the same web authoring tool to publish these tasks, however, we are using different pre-formatted themes.  Overall, I think that Laura’s webspace is intuitive and easy to navigate.

I feel like if a user, outside of our ETEC 540 class, landed on either Laura or my page they may be confused as to the content that they were reading.  Both of our posts are specific to the weekly tasks and assignments that have been assigned in the class, neither of us created any posts that were not class specific.  However, I do enjoy that Laura has provided some insight into her life outside of this class.

Throughout this process, I haven’t changed the architectural design of my webspace.  However, after completing all six of the linking assignments, I can see from viewing my colleagues content where I could make improvements to my webspace to make navigation easier, retrieval of archived or older content better, and use of different tools to make the reading experience more interactive.  Overall, I enjoyed learning from my colleagues through the linking assignments.

Find a link to Heidi Dyck’s Algorithms of Predictive Text task.

Heidi and I approached this task similarly.  We both wrote and published a blog post that contained information relevant to our weekly task, as well, we both used our web authoring tool’s Blockquote function.  Based on reading Heidi’s blog post, I feel that we had a similar experience when using predictive text, in that we both expressed that while some of the text that was produced may be words that we used often, the actual final microblog post that we published didn’t sound like anything we would actually say or publish publicly.

In comparing, web authoring tools, Heidi and I are both using WordPress as a web authoring tool for this class.  However, Heidi uses the theme Proudly and I use the theme WPshoppe.  I don’t like all of the styling options of Heidi’s theme, however, I think that the end-user interface is intuitive and visually appealing.  For this specific task, as I mentioned Heidi and I both used our web authoring tools Blockquote function and provided a JPEG image to accompany our post.  However, if you look at each of our posts they look very different.

When you go to Heidi’s homepage her blog posts are listed in a grid with the title of the post, an image that was posted within the post, and a link to the category archive for each post.  When you click on the category archive, you see a list of posts that are linked to that specific category or you can click on a post to open the specific post.  I chose not to categorize any of my blog posts, however, going forward if I were to continue posting I think for ease of access for users on my page I would have to create some type of categorization.  I think that the way the Proudly theme categorizes blog posts is great for a user who is looking to read specific content on a webspace.

Heidi’s webspace also had a sidebar that is always available.  In the sidebar, a user can easily click on her home page and posts for this class.  As well as, click on recent posts, comments, and there is a calendar.   When you click a specific post, in order to go to another post, you have to use the menu.  This is a bit tedious and outside of the users of this class, I’m not sure that a user would land on Heidi’s webpage and know what each of her links meant in order to find more content.

Overall, I think that Heidi’s webspace is intuitive and easy to navigate.  I think that in comparing Heidi and my own webspace in terms of literacies, both of our posts are text based, and speak to writing literacies.

Find a link to Andrew Shedden’s Mode Bending task.

Andrew and I approached this task quite differently.  Andrew wrote and produced an actual song, while I recorded a playlist that represented a redesign of our week 1 assignment.  As indicated in the New London Group’s publication on multiliteracies we learned that music, sound effects, voice, etc. are elements that constitute audio design, which is probably what lead both of us to create the redesigned tasks as we did.

For this specific task, Andrew recorded his song using the following equipment: Fostex and Shure Beta 58 microphones, ART Pro MPA II Mic Preamp, ART Pro VLA Compressor, RME Fireface 800, Presonus ERIS monitors, Grado SR325 headphones, Gibson J-45, and Epiphone EB-0.  Myself, on the other hand, do not have access to recording equipment.  I simply recorded my playlist using Apple Music, my Dell Inspiron laptop and freeware recording software, Audacity.  Andrew produced a far superior recording in comparison to my own.  I certainly could use some more training on recording and producing audio files.

In comparing, web authoring tools, Andrew and I are both using WordPress as a web authoring tool for this class.  However, Andrew uses the theme Andres Norén and I use the theme WPshoppe.  I like the styling options of Andrew’s theme and I think that the end-user interface is intuitive and visually appealing.

When you go to Andrew’s homepage his blog posts are listed in grid with the title of the post, there is no image, but you can see the first few words of Andrew’s post and a date that the post was published.  Once you click on a specific post, you can click the left arrow to go to the previous post or the right arrow to go to the next post.  Andrew also titles each of his posts with the task number and title, which allows his classmates to easily find his specific posts for each task; each of my titles for my posts are unique to my piece of writing and do not include a task number.  Both of our web spaces are similar in that you land on my homepage and my blog posts are listed chronologically.  When you click on a specific post, you can also click on the previous post and the next post at the bottom of the page.  I think that Andrew’s webspace is intuitive and easy to navigate.

References

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

Please find my Podcast for my final assignment below.  I researched E Ink technology and the effect on reading behaviours of adult ESL student.  I hope you enjoy!

References

Bonsor, K. (October 11, 2020). How Electronic Ink Works. Retrieved August 06, 2020, from https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/e-ink.htm

Fraser, M., & Abbott, M. (2016). Using electronic readers: Action research in an intermediate adult ESL class. The Canadian Journal of Action Research, 17(2), 3-18. doi: https://doi.org/10.33524/cjar.v17i2.259

Comparison of E-Readers (July 26, 2020).  In Wikipedia.  Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-readers.

Digital Adventures! (September 14, 2017). 10 cool things to do with Amazon Kindle Paperwhite ebook reader! [Video].  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O36h-GBAcDQ

E Ink. (July 15, 2020).  In Wikipedia.  Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink.

Electronic Paper (July 28, 2020).  In Wikipedia.  Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper.

Today, the impact of technology on ESL learners definitely has its benefits and drawbacks.  I can only assume, developed countries will continue to advance educational technologies and developing countries will continue to try to catch up to these countries, which will only cause a further divide.  The need to educate ESL learners not only on the technology we use in our education system, but on English language itself is challenging.

For my final project, I will be exploring how technology has effected ESL learners reading comprehension.  For my speculative narrative, I have envisioned two scenarios.  The first scenario describes future ESL reading technologies for students of artificial intelligence, which replaces the role of the Instructor.  In this scenario, there is not Instructor/Student relationship.  ELI, or the English Language Instructor is introducing themselves to their new student Raj.  The second scenario describes future ESL reading technologies for students that have an instructor but the instructor has access to artificial intelligence that provides guidance to create individual learning plans for each student.  The English Language Assistant will replace the role of the Instructional Assistant.  In this scenario, an Instructor/Student relationship exists.  ELA, or the English Language Assistant is introducing themselves to their new ESL instructor, Jing.

Scenario 1:

Scenario 2:

My Predictive Text in Apple’s Notes App

I tend to use predictive text on a regular basis when texting, performing Google searches, and using apps on my phone.  I have to admit I never really thought about where it comes from or the technology behind it.  I’m aware of fake news and know that you have to question the credibility everything you see on social media and the internet.  I know how to quickly find out if something I’m reading or viewing is from a credible source.  And I find it infuriating that when I perform a Google search for a certain brand of shoes, that the next day in my Facebook feed there are ads for the exact thing I searched the day before.

Being curious, I decided to write a number of sentences using predictive text on my iPhone, which I use to communicate with friends and family, colleagues, and my students on a daily basis.

Here are the sentences that I wrote:

This is not my idea of technology and I don’t think we should have access to the public space in our future

This is not my idea of technology but it has the potential to offer some great work in the future

This is not my idea of what the future looks like

This is not my idea of a good time for me to come get you

I was curious what would happen to my sentences when I took different paths.  As I read through these thoughts, I really thought they sounded like my own personal ramblings of predictive text.  The sentences and thoughts weren’t really complete and I can’t see myself posting these thoughts on a microblog.  As I’m very particular about what I share and I certainly wouldn’t share the above sentences on any public platform.

I was also curious what would happen if I wrote some of the other sentences.  This is what I wrote:

Education is not about to be a problem for you

My idea of technology is to be able to make it work for you and your life

Every time I think about our future we are going in the front door to get to our house

We use and read predictive text on digital platforms on a regular basis. For me, I found that the predictive text that was generated didn’t necessarily reflect my true thoughts and opinions.   I am very conscience about what I post online and know that the above sentences that I produced using predictive text is not something that I would publicly post.  When I post something publicly, not only does a statement have to reflect my thoughts, feelings, believes, etc., it also has to be grammatically correct.

I don’t really feel like the predictive text sounded like me or spoke in my voice.  I did notice that emoji’s popped up in some of my predictive text, as well as, some words that I communicate with on a regular basis.  The words I noticed that popped up were Moodle, ACUA, email, appointment, meeting, and lake (given I have a lake lot and have been communicating about the lake frequently in the past couple months, I’m not surprised this word showed up).  I wanted to try to incorporate these words, but in trying to follow some sort of sentence structure, I wasn’t able to because it didn’t make sense to in the thoughts/sentences I was creating.  However, I would have been curious to see if I did select one of those words, where the predictive text would have taken me.

In terms of the impacts of algorithms on business, politics, academia, and education, after listening to Cathy O’Neil this week, I think the effects can be positive or negative.  She indicated that algorithms aren’t fair or perfect, which resonated with me.  I think we always have to be thoughtful in interpreting what is real and not and always question if what we are reading or viewing is from a credible source.  We live in world where technology can sway opinions, and not only do we have to question what we see, we also have  to educate ourselves.

References

O’Neil, C. (2016). Weapons of math destruction: How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy (First edition). New York: Crown.

Ahhhhh! This took a few tries!

My User Inyerface Results

Last week, we curated 10 songs from the Voyager’s Gold Record.  Our class was able to select any 10 songs from the record and only had to provide an explanation of the parameters and criteria for our selections.

Group Four, Network Assignment Using Golden Record Curation Quiz Data, Palladio

This week we are analyzing this data.  I was clustered in Group Four with Margaret and Tyler.  I kept my selection criteria simple, I simply selected songs that appealed to me which is very much how I would create a playlist of music.  I was curious to see if Margaret and Tyler used the same approach.  Tyler selected his music choices based on previous knowledge of the music, how the music representations influenced culture, and how the music influences emotions.  Margaret chose songs based on personal connections and memories.

Interestingly based on this criteria, Margaret and Tyler both selected 8 of the same songs that I selected and each of us selected 2 different songs.  In addition to selecting the same 8 songs, we also could make connections to selecting the music we did based on the music invoking emotions and memories, and for that I can see an additional cluster that could be created between Tyler, Margaret and myself.

I was curious, if any of my other classmates used similar parameters and criteria as me when making their selections.  While I didn’t look at everyone of my classmates 10 selections, I quickly found that Jamie and Andrew used similar approaches to me and made selections based on personal preferences; Jamie was clustered in Group One and Andrew in Group Three.  Even though we made different selections of the music we based our selection criteria similarly, however, we weren’t clustered into the same group.  Therefore, I don’t believe the visualizations accurately depict a social network of commonalities, other than commonalities of music choice.

In analyzing the data, there is no way to determine why each curator didn’t select the other 17 songs on the Voyager’s Golden Record.  Often, we focus our visualizations on relationships and quantities, not on the null choices.  It may be equally as interesting to find out why the null choices were made and we may be able to determine different clusters for these choices.

Palladio is the tool we used to analyze this data.  As we learned from Dr. Leetaru who wrote in Forbes magazine, algorithms decide what we consume online, however, algorithms are constrained to the information that is available which resonates with me for this task.  The data presented using Palladio is incomplete; we are working with a small piece of the whole picture.

References

Leetaru, K. (2017). In A Digital World, Are We Losing Sight Of Our Undigitized Past?  Retrieved June 15, 2019, from Forbes website: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/09/29/in-a-digital-world-are-we-losing-sight-of-our-undigitized-past/#4ddf07accd01

The Voyager Golden Record

I curated my own Golden Record from the 27 tracks that were selected by a group of scientists, musicians, and historians in the late 70’s for the Voyager’s Golden Record which was created as a 90-minute time capsule of the Earth’s sounds, language, and music.

My curated list follows:

• Track 1:  Brandenburg Concerto (First Movement)
• Track 7: Johnny B. Good
• Track 10: Gavotte en roudeaux
• Track 12: Tchakrulo
• Track 14: Melancholy Blues
• Track 15: Bagpipes (Azerbaijan)
• Track 17: The Well-Tempered Clavier
• Track 18: Fifth Symphony (First Movement)
• Track 24: Flowing Streams
• Track 26: Dark Was the Night

The parameters and criteria I used to curate this list of tracks was not scientific, mathematic, or academic.  I simply chose tracks that appealed to me.  I believe that everyone is drawn to sounds and music for different reasons.  Music, sound, and lyrics evoke emotions and memories.  As I thought about curating my own Golden Record this week, I thought about the chance of someone finding the Voyager’s Golden Record and the original record being played again, which is more likely that you will win the lottery than that happening.  I asked myself, would I want to hear this again?  If the answer was no, I moved on and I continued to do this until I had a list of 10 tracks.

Find a link to Jamie Ashton’s Emoji Story task.

Jamie and I approached the actual task of writing an emoji story very similarly, however, she added links, videos, and sidenote stories that are so engaging for her readers.  First, I had no idea that BBC had a game show where people have to guess emoji stories weekly.  In approaching this task, I did search Google for emoji stories and found a few websites that helped me to prepare my emoji story.  Had I known about BBC, I may have tried to view some of these games on YouTube as well.

Jamie also included a personal sidenote story about repatriating to South Africa and instead of providing links to resources related to the task, provided links that detailed her travel adventure.  I think adding these personal stories is very creative and engaging.  I looked through Jamie’s other posts, and her posts are thoughtful, well written, and engaging.  Just as her post is for her emoji story task.  I like that she provides links, videos, and lots of photos to convey her ideas and provide resources to her readers.

Jamie and I are both using WordPress as our web authoring tool for this class.  However, she uses the theme Andres Norén and I use the theme WPshoppe.  I like the styling options of Linda’s theme and I think that the end-user interface is intuitive and visually appealing.

When you go to Jamie’s homepage her blog posts are listed in a grid with the title of the post, a graphic from within the post, and the first few words from her post.  You can scroll chronologically listed blog posts.  Once you click on a specific post, you can click the left arrow to go to the previous post or the right arrow to go to the next post.  Jamie has a menu at the top of her blog that connects you to other pages on her web space.  Jamie also titles her posts with the task number and the title of her post.  I think that this is very intuitive for this class and allows users visiting her webspace to easily find the posts for tasks she has completed.  Both of our web spaces are similar in that you land on my homepage and my blog posts are listed chronologically.  When you click on a specific post, you can also click on the previous post and the next post at the bottom of the page.  I’ve titled each post and excluded the task number from the title.  I think that the architecture of Jamie’s webspace is set up well and speaks to the design literacies that she may possess.