The What’s in my Bag task was used as a way to get to know and understand people through the items in their bags. Task 7 is a reworking of that same task using a different mode.

Since my previous What’s in My Bag task, schools in Ontario officially opened back up and I am able to go out to teach with a work bag. I wanted to showcase my typical experience/day through the below audio file.

For Task 7, I used Audacity which is a free and open-source digital audio editor and recording application software. I looked up certain sound effects on Youtube (photocopy machine, keys, slurping) and converted them to audio files to add on to the voice recording. I created an audio file that used a female robotic voice to portray the disconnect I’ve felt this past year from other humans. Even though I’m back to work in the physical school, we all still need to wear masks and are asked to not stand too close to others.

I was initially going to use my own voice for this recording. However, I had a sore throat this weekend so I was unable to do that. I opted to use a Google text to speech chrome ad-on. I think it turned out great since it added an extra layer of eerie-ness. I typed out what I was planning to say and had the software do the talking. There is a voice talking about my thoughts and also audio of things I typically hear during my day at work. Accompanying this audio with an image of the main things I always have with me.

These are multi-literacies that are mentioned by The New London Group (1996). They are holistic ways to teach and create more dynamic and inclusive way for humans to communicate and help develop more agency. For this task, meaning is made through the multimodal uses of oral, audio, and visual (The New London Group, 1996). I did find it more interesting and meaningful to hear the audio interpretation of my work bag and work life compared to just looking at an image of things in my bag. It made me think about how the mood feels a bit negative with the use of the robotic voice – which was partially a stylistic choice. People who hear this may get the same melancholic feeling.

Reference:

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