What’s in my bag?

Hello, everyone. I hope you are doing well. Thank you so much for stopping here and being interested in checking what is inside my bag. My name is Sourabh Aggarwal. I write down the daily items in my bag to explore how they reflect my identity, cultural engagements, and reading and writing habits.

Below are a few of the items I have in my bag:

Question 1: What is your daily need for the items in your bag?
The first item in my bag is a White water bottle, which keeps me hydrated throughout the day. This is my personal commitment to health and sustainability. As an educator, the next two items I have on my laptop are an MSI laptop/charger and an iPhone 14. These two crucial items are indispensable for academic work and personal engagement. The next item is a pen from Four Points by Sheraton, Cancun, Mexico, which reflects my memory of Mexico, which I have recently visited. I do have a Ted Baker Wallet in my bag, which has currency from three North American countries: 1 dollar coin from Canada, a five dollar note from the USA, and a 500 pesos note from Mexico, which reflects my international ties and interactions.

Question 2: 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 items in my bag serve as “Texts” because they represent the story of my life and daily routines. My MSI laptop with 16 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD helps deliver high-level content to my students and work on integrating educational technologies and text methods. Pen and multiple currencies represent my love for travel and cultural diversity. Drawing upon Brown’s (2018) framework of using objects to unbox identity, the items in my bag represent my engagement with different places.

Question 3: 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?
My laptop, iPhone, and even the pen are text technologies in my bag. These technologies help me create and communicate information as an entrepreneurship and Technology educator. The course name could be “Entrepreneurship in the AI Era.” As an educator, I rely on digital literacies for academic and professional work, such as writing academic papers, conducting lectures via Zoom and Teams, or simply staying connected with my family in Canada and overseas.

Question 4: What do the items in your bag say about the literacies you have?
Laptop and iPhone: These represent my fluency in technology and my capability to connect with online learning spaces.
Wallet: This represents my understanding of the financial ecosystem across Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
Book: The book Shoes Dog by Phil Knight reveals my interest in entrepreneurship and success stories.

Question 5: 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?
The items in my bag show that I am an avid learner. They also define me as an educator who connects with the world through text technologies such as laptops and iPhones. I see myself as a global educator who values learning, technology, and cultural exchange.

Question 6: What would this same bag have looked like, say, 15 or 25 years ago?
Fifteen years ago, my bag didn’t have a Laptop, iPhone, or currencies from three countries. It was full of books, handwritten notes, and a simple wallet. I was limited to a small regional area and didn’t know anything about what was happening globally.

Question 7: 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 think 1000 years from now (just hypothetically), archeologists might see my bag as a symbol of the digital age. The physical and digital tools would likely be seen as artifacts of a defined period. I believe it would be surprising to compare the digital age with the ancient age and how text technologies change over time with the AI-powered age 100 years from now (just a guess).