Task 4 Manual Scripts
By Trista Ding
https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540trista/2022/06/11/task-4-manual-scripts/#comment-10
Hi Trista,
Hope all is well.
I enjoyed reading your task 4, and in particular your discussion about the impact of digitalization within the workplace on our perception and usage of writing by hand. This discussion paralleled the one within the “Stuff to Blow Your Mind” podcast where they discussed the invention (and evolution of the book). When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that as a culture that connects work with technology, we would dismiss the need or influence of hand-writing with work.
Your discussion about editing reminded me of the “Allusionist” podcast featuring Gretchen McCulloch where they discuss how auto-correct can influence the way one writes. I often turn off the grammar suggestion functionality of Word because I find it distracting.
And finally, I appreciated your assessment that writing by hand “comes from the heart.” I share that feeling, but upon reflection wonder if it is actually any different than dancing your fingers across a keyboard? Is playing an acoustic guitar any less genuine than an electric guitar? It is interesting how our minds conjure our engagement level within an activity.
Task 3 Voice to Text Task
By Joseph Villella
https://blogs.ubc.ca/jvillella540/2022/06/04/task-3-voice-to-text-task/#comment-2
As you point out, voice-to-text technology definitely has challenges when it comes to interpreting cadence, inflection, punctuation, and tone. There are many humans who also have challenges understanding others even when they speak the same language. Sarcasm and intonation produce meaning on their own that can’t easily be expressed through writing words. It is one of the reasons that written/visual language evolves as Gretchen McCulloch and Helen Zaltzman discuss in “Allusionist” podcast.
It takes a special kind of writer, and some creative use of punctuation, to write in a manner that duplicates how one speaks. With that said, I agree with Gnanadesikan (2011) when he says : “Spoken words, by contrast, are inherently ephemeral. So written language seems more real to us than spoken language” (p.4)
Reference
Gnanadesikan, A. E., & Wiley Online Library. (2011). The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the internet (1. Aufl.; 1 ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
Task 1 What’s in your bag?
By Jennifer Guth
https://blogs.ubc.ca/jgttetec540/2022/05/28/task-1-whats-in-your-bag/#comment-3
Thanks for sharing your task 1. It is a fascinating peek into your digital footprint, and I enjoyed how you integrated the key themes of the course into your post. Your apps seem to fall into three categories: entertainment, information, and communication. All three categories are woven together so seamlessly.
While I am a fan of podcasts and reading, I just haven’t embraced audiobooks. I quite enjoy my e-reader, and don’t require the tactile nature of books, but for whatever reason I have yet to jump into eBooks. Out of interest, I just checked, and discovered that Adobe Reader provides a read out loud function that reads PDF text. Might try to convert some epubs and pdfs to test out this function although not sure it will be as good as a professional unautomated book reader.
When I think about my own connection to technology and text/information, I often fear the same things as Postman describes in Technopoly. “New technologies alter the structure of our interests: the things we think about. They alter the character of our symbols: the things we think with. And they alter the nature of community: the area in which thoughts develop” (Postman, 1993, p.20).
Just the other day, I was reflecting on the types of mobile phone I have had over the past twenty years from thick “un-app-ed” bricks to fancy touch devices that are far more powerful than the first computer I ever used. As the functionality of mobile devices evolve, so does our reliance on them as tools to communicate and interact.
References
Postman, N. (1993). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology (1st Vintage Books ed.). Vintage Books.
Task 5 Twine Task
By Trista Svennes
Hi Trista,
I wasn’t able to open your Twine, but I did enjoy reading about your approach to this task. We shared a number of similarities in our approaches. Your response made me reflect on how the medium (in this case Twine) influences our creative process by limiting the flow of ideas similar to how Douglas (1963) described the design process. While some writers and designers can think on multiple levels simultaneously, I get the sense that most of us are more linear in our approach and need to parse it into sections based on context.