Task 12: Speculative Futures
Utopian:
2052: “One World, One Nation.”
In 2052, the globalization revolution enhanced human race development. The world’s leaders agree to share all resources, including education, media, technology information and natural resources. The “One world, One nation” slogan is massively spreading around the globe. The world has become peaceful, with no more wars, discrimination, poverty, and language barriers. At the same time, the world’s development has significant growth.
Education becomes free, and every individual can learn knowledge through the “world’s shared educational technology library” with AI and virtual assistance. The ultimate goal is that Individuals are born to serve and contribute to the society most efficiently.
This is also the core of the project “Destiny,” a science program supported by the one-nation government to test the DNA of every newborn child around the globe to find the best career path for this child. Every child will be designed to learn the subjects or study fields based on their genes to maximize their working ability. To achieve this goal, the one nation government will shorten the study period by eliminating liberal arts education so that education only focuses on practical skills building.
In addition, the effectiveness of the project saved much time and individuals could serve and contribute to one nation in approximately 10 years. Since everyone in the world is organized according to their function, the world has no crime, poverty, and hunger; at the same time, the world is functioning at its all-time fast pace.
Dystopian:
The “Lab”
A lab was discovered in the middle of the south pole where “unfunctional people” are locked up. The nation called them “the madness individuals” who experienced mental illness or low productivity due to their workload. Once the employer discovers any employee with the potential of being unable to work, they will report to one nation’s lab department, and those individuals will be sent to the south pole lab. At the same time, anyone who cannot adapt to the high efficient society will also be dumped in the lab. “They cannot work or contributes to this world anymore; therefore, they are useless to our society.” says the lab department official. What is this lab? What are the things the lab will do to those people?
The lab is used for experiments on testing new drugs, vaccines, and medications, and the research subjects are those people who have been sent here. Can they be released or set free? Unfortunately, the answer is no. They will be forever locked up as testing animals and surrounded by a robot army. According to the one nation government, individuals with emotional issues or inefficient working abilities are no longer the citizen of this world; they cannot contribute to the growth or development of one nation. The last thing they could do is sacrifice themselves to be the testing or research object to contribute to science and technology or educate the next generation.
Linking Assignment Six
By Jade Lee
How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Jade and I have experienced the same frustration in completing this task. However, the only difference is that she could not finish the job because she had mentally done it, whereas I spent a significant amount of time reaching the last page. I repeat two different attempts trying to go to the second page, and I also want to give up. At the same time, I tried many shots on the last activity for about almost 5 minutes which made me very frustrated. I could definitely relate to her experience of becoming impatient, which negatively impacted my emotion for the entire time of completing the task. I was affected by the frustration of the job that I could not purposely write reflections instead of questioning my personality.
Furthermore, I lost my focus on discussing the design of this activity could bring to individuals. I appreciate that Jade mentioned in her post that she said that we read things very fast and are always careless of details. With that in mind, Jade could withdraw from the task’s frustration and start considering practical thoughts.
Linking Assignment Five
Task 9 – Network Assignment Using Golden Record Curation Data
By Emily Wu
How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Emily shared a similar idea that music taste could be unique from person to person. At the same time, a person’s musical taste could explain many aspects of one’s personality. As Emily mentioned in her task, I was surprised that emphasizing someone’s music taste could encounter an uncomfortable feeling for some individuals. However, we felt the same regarding using Palladio. App and we both agree that this is a great application to explore and learn from. During the process of researching this application, we both discovered that music and culture are always integrated together. We both were amazed by the connection and interaction we could have as a group class from the application visualization. Emily and I used screenshots to display the image in this task, followed by personal reflections. However, she revealed another embodiment to explain a deeper investigation of the graph, and I only indicated one image without further critical thinking.
Her experience discovering the application created valuable aspects to understanding others’ music tastes. In more detail, Emily explained that she appreciated the exploring and thinking process and benefited a lot from the task. On the other hand, I discover other possibilities for improvement and involvement. Thus, I agree with Emily’s conclusion that many individuals initially chose the 10 songs based on personal preference of emotional attachment or stimulation for positive musical influences.
Linking Assignment Four
How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Erin demonstrated to individuals that social media could positively impact education, and she completed this task by challenging herself to get out of her comfort zone. I was inspired by her encouragement that it is difficult to try something completely new and that she was willing to take the challenge by creating something she had never done before. We used a similar platform to redesign our task, but I chose to recreate a video simply because it was easy for me. I admire her fantastic job on this task, and from the Tik Tok video, I could reflect on the first time I made a similar video. The amount of time spent shouting at and editing the video was also a great challenge for the first time. In her post, she mentioned her fantastic experience and the process of making this video. On the other hand, we had a totally different experience in that I did not try something fresh or creative but something I felt comfortable doing. Therefore, I did not gain enough experience in challenging myself, whereas Erin shared her positive implementation and influence of creating educational tasks through one of the most influential social media.
From this task, I reflected on the usefulness of social media in connecting with educational technology. This idea is linked to educators’ concept of using social media to bring positive influence to learners. From an educator’s perspective, using a contemporary platform or technology could enhance the connection or interaction among learners. However, the comfort zone is one drawback many individuals should overcome and learn from the process to demonstrate to learners. Thus, the progression of overcoming one’s comfort zone could impact others’ engagement in self-development with creative or innovative ideas.
Linking Assignment Three
How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
We used a similar concept by selecting the easy film or movie we watched. I reflected on Jocelyn’s post that she mentioned how difficult of use emojis to express certain words, and we use alternatives based on the easiness of telling the story. At the same time, I could definitely connect with her feeling of frustration with the limitation of the emojis and the difference in an individual’s understanding. However, Jocelyn did a great job using a few emojis to tell the story, and the emojis’ selection was very accurate and precise. Another similarity to my task is that we both start with the story’s title. In more detail, the foundation of writing we learn as a child begins with a title. Thus, I agree that thinking of a title was not intentional behaviour.
What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
The web space is exact for readers to view, and using a cross line in the middle of the page was fascinating. The layout and design of the task post illustrate the logical order of the writer’s mind. For instance, Jocelyn started with the reflection of the task and followed by questions, using bold colours, titles and subtitles. In contrast, my assignment used too many emojis, and the design was unclear for readers to focus on the content. Even though we used similar tools such as photos and text writing, the reader’s experience would be totally different.
Linking Assignment Two
Linked to Trista Ding’s task 4
How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Trista clearly stated that she felt easy for this task because she often wrote by hand, such as a journal, cards, etc. On the other hand, I felt challenged by this task, and I usually used a laptop to type essays or emails. I appreciate that she brought out the idea of how she wrote a daily reflection to let her thoughts lead, which is something I always want to try. Also, I quickly noticed from her posted photo that her handwriting was proper and tidy. However, my handwriting was messy, and the paper’s thesis was unlogical. The only similarity is that we both used grammar or spelling check tools to proofreading our writing. At the same time, I agree with Trista that less formal writing is practiced as we continue using more technologies to type in the workplace. More specifically, we often use email to communicate, and the language or format we use is in business style instead of formal writing.
Furthermore, I appreciate her comment on my post that her question asked what the result would be different if I wrote in my first language. This is an excellent question to reflect on this task and connect with a cultural aspect that my answer will be the same; regardless of what kind of language I wrote, the challenge will still occur. Meanwhile, the following question regarding enhancing ELL students’ language learning connected her post on technology usage versus handwriting efficiency. I genuinely admire her profound thoughts on developing and helping English language learners.
Linking Assignment One
It’s always inspiring to know someone has shared a similar life experience with me. The items in Helen’s bag are identical to what I have in my lunch bag. At the same time, we both worked in Beijing after graduating from university in Canada. The only difference is that I graduated from TWU, not UBC. Another amazing coincidence is that the logic to describe our bag’s items is very alike. For instance, we both begin by describing times from the left of the photo and explaining their usefulness. Another reflection of this task is that we both used many Asian brand tangible products, which we need to emphsize the characters on the label. The reason is to help readers understand that those characters have no other meaning than a brand name.
Another aspect of Helen’s task that is identical to my task is that we both used the same format to bold the items we described and add value to how those items interacted with our daily lives. Furthermore, the impact of COVID has affected everyone’s behaviour. Helen and I both carried alcohol wipes or sanitizer also reflected that we are very cautious, and COVID has transformed our usual activities. I am delighted that I found someone with a similar culture and could link to each other’s tasks.
Task 11: Detain/Release or Algorithms of Predictive Text
I chose the Detain/Release stimulation assessment for this week’s task. This is an excellent experience because one of my dreams is to become a judge in a court. I must admit that I enjoy determining whether to detain the defendant or release them. At the same time, the colour coding or red alert truly impacted my decision-making process. For example, based on the given information, if a person’s violence rate is high or indicates a red colour, I would prefer to detain this person. Another piece of information that influences my decision is that I specifically detain specific individuals for their arrest reason. For instance, if a defendant was arrested for drug-related activities, I would immediately select detain because I would consider this person will be seriously harming their family or society. However, I felt uncomfortable after deciding solely based on the data or information. I thought that the information given was limited and not detailed enough. Meanwhile, the blurry faces made me wondering the statistics and analytical information are also based on other judgmental factors.
Think about the implications and consequences that AI-informed decision making brings to certain aspects of life.
The most significant implication AI-informed decision making brings to our lives is that the decisions are unbias or non-stereotyped. In more detail, AI-informed decisions depend on algorithm databases and coding programs. Decisions are made without personal preferences or individual emotions. Thus, the consequences result from unbias or unintentional AI. However, many others might argue that this is false, and the person programming or implicating the AI already inputs their own biases or personal preferences.
Task 10: Attention Economy
I must admit that this is the most challenging task I have done for this course. In more detail, this task requires you to have patients complete it until the end and also test an individual’s detail-oriented skill. For instance, I struggled with creating the passwords from the beginning and could not close the timer warming sign. After trying several times, I felt impatient and considered discontinuing the task. At the same time, I started to question the purpose of this task and had negative emotions about doing anything. However, I convinced myself to release the negative feeling and pushed myself to concentrate on hints and details. For example, my brain starts to function in a usual way to focus on more information, and my personality appears to enhance my problem-solving skill. Finally, I passed the first page and began understanding the logic behind this task. Some of the pages also test an individual’s interrelation thinking skills; they also test accuracy and how one’s reacts under time pressure. Thus, one’s will feel satisfied and released when finishing the task and seeing the last page of the game.
This task is similar to the movie “inception,” to insert or manipulate one’s attention to ideas and influence your responses. Furthermore, all the frustration while engaging in the task comes from one side of my personality, stubbornness. The task also helped me to reflect on my character and personality to develop a deeper understanding of myself. Also, another benefit of participating in this task is that it helped me to face my identity as a problem solver regardless of the difficulty of completing a task. Therefore, I am genuinely thankful to have had an opportunity to be involved in a meaningful task and discover my strengths and weaknesses.