https://view.genial.ly/614776af63ef2e0d2c3a7517/presentation-ink-presentation
Archaeologists and Text Technologies
Sanitizer and Mask
These items could be considered a type of text because it records part of my daily life from this period of time. If archaeologists were to view these contents, they could use Google Books Ngram Viewer (2021) and look up the words “mask”, “sanitizer” and “hypochondriac” to see how these words became more common during the start of the millennium, with mask rising in frequency since the 1950s. Interestingly, a closer look at the words “sanitizer” and “hypochondriac” see the two almost merge and flatline around 2015. Seeing the words “sanitizer” and “hypochondriac” walk almost hand-in-hand could be a hint that our culture was primed for a frenzied buying of hand sanitizer and medical masks that led to massive international shortages in 2019.
The archaeologists might find it interesting that despite the drastic decrease in travel there is a bottle of hand sanitizer with non-English and non-French words. Module 1 notes that text can be seen as an authority (Ewart, 2021), so while this bottle was made for Indonesian markets, keywords are written in English. The company’s choice to use English in their labeling demonstrates the respect and authority Indonesians place on Western technology and science. The fact that these English words can be used and understood by the majority of Indonesians suggests these words rose to prominence during global times.
Text Technologies
Another item of interest the archaeologists might note is the 2Gb USB drive. My own experience says stores do not stock USB drives below 32Gb, though a quick search on amazon.ca proves me wrong. Text technologies have progressed to the point where typed words are no longer enough. People expect the written word to be accompanied by visuals and sound. Files like these can quickly fill up a 2Gb USB drive, which would make it necessary to carry around a few 2Gb USB drives. If archaeologists were to compare this USB drive with my new ones, they would notice mostly word documents and pdf on the old one and a mix of different media on the newer ones.
Besides the USB, the cellphone and pen are examples of “text technologies” with the cellphone being my pass into the Digital World. And the pen could be seen as an indicator of creation, but where is the paper to put the ink to? Could the lack of paper strengthen the idea of creation for the purpose of communication? Possibly, I could be leaving notes for people on public spaces. Washroom graffiti? Maybe this is a mystery waiting to be transformed into text.
Flashback
25 years ago, I was asked if I was carrying bricks in my backpack. Both 15 and 25 years ago I carried a backpack filled with textbooks and no phone. While examining skeletons of early millennials, archaeologists may notice the hunched postures that began appearing more frequently with this generation and conclude that bad posture was first caused by heavy backpacks and then exacerbated by too much screen time.
References
(2021, October 3). Google books ngram Viewer: mask, sanitizer, hypochondriac. Google Books Ngram Viewer. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=mask%2Csanitizer%2Chypochondriac&year_start=1900&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3
Ewart, K. (2021). Thinking about text and technology [Course module reading]. Canvas. https://canvas.ubc.ca/courses/89383/pages/1-dot-5-thinking-about-text-and-technology?module_item_id=3341850