Manual Scripts by David Loti

Nearly everything I write is in cursive. It’s quick and easy, and is a representation of my personality. I’m connected to others that write in cursive, even if we’re completely different. It’s like an invisible bond between people refusing to let go of a dying representation of language. I wanted to link to David Loti’s post because he too, uses cursive when writing by hand and views it as a window into personality. “However, this efficiency represented in mechanized writing’s standardization is at the cost of handwriting’s inherent revelations of the writer’s personality. Even if a reader’s handwriting psychoanalysis ability is more anecdotal than scientific, handwriting offers a reader glimpses into the author’s personality.” (Loti, 2019). It doesn’t matter that David uses pen and I use a pencil, or that he scratches out rather than erasing, we’re part of a network based on method.

Further Connection to Method

I’ve been through each ETEC 540 personal site at least 20 times, and every time I land on a site  built in WordPress, I feel a connection. Regardless of theme, each platform creates a network of students who share something in common. Aesthetic, usability, past experiences, features, whatever it is, a connection is made the minute you press publish.

In thinking about other text technologies, do two people make a connection based on the emoji they most commonly use or does preferred filter in Snapchat come into play? I wonder how my own sons will build networks based on their language expressions and text preferences.

What’s in your bag? By Julia Jaschke

You know how they say, “A picture’s worth 1000 words”?  I want to one-up that a bit and say, “Pictures and words are no match for the contents of a purse”.

I met Julia this past summer while taking ETEC 565S, as part of the Summer Institute. We met on the first day, had lunch together and then spent the rest of the week sharing a learning experience focused on digital games and learning. Although we didn’t end up in a group together, we spent roughly 40 hours in the same room. By the end of the course, I knew little more about Julia than I did by the end of our lunch together on the first day.

Within the context of Task One however, I have had the privilege to be provided with a window into her current location and teaching assignment. I’ve come to understand and appreciate her need for back-ups and options. I wish I’d engaged her in a conversation about her coin purse…had I only known the significance. Just imagine the connections we could have made, had we just emptied our bags in front of each other, rather than saying hello.

Reflections on Text Technologies

Going back to Task One has really provided an opportunity to reflect on ETEC 540 as a whole. I didn’t know when I began this journey, that each Task would contribute to an understanding of the vast ways in which human beings communicate, as well as the various forms through which “language” is used. Items, emojis, predictive text, musical representations, printing… Has syntax become irrelevant, or has it just continued to transform. Has language become so dynamic that it actually takes away from meaning? Have generalizations become so pervasive that they have reduced the value of specifics?  [Insert eye-roll emoji, insert shrug emoji, insert thinking emoji.]

Golden Record Playlist by Amanda Klassen

Same course, same task, same platform. The result, two totally different presentations and perspectives on Task 8.

Presentation

Amanda and I both opted for the WordPress platform provided through UBC Blogs. However, it’s clear from the get-go, that our personalities are quite different and our preferences, as bloggers, vary greatly. Amanda chose to use the blog format page to present her tasks. Although this keeps the most recent posts at the top, significant scrolling has become one of the methods for viewing previous posts (particularly earlier ones). Amanda’s theme, from an aesthetic perspective also seems quite narrow, even tight, again adding to the illusion of endless scrolling.

I’m not a scroller and knew immediately that the blog page, from my perspective, would work far better for the Linking Assignments. I set up separate tabs for each task, which would provide and easy way to jump to desired posts. In one of Amanda’s links, she examines my use of tabs and the way in which readers have to go to individual pages, in order to determine the nature of the assignment. I agree that this is an issue needing to be addressed. I hadn’t thought of the tabs from an outsider’s perspective. In my mind, the audience was our classmates, and of course, they are familiar with the objectives and criteria of each assignment. Amanda also mentioned the size of the header, which requires the reader to scroll down slightly, in order to confirm they’re on the right page. I struggled with this element of the design right from the site’s genesis. I’m considering making a change so that assignment headings can be read immediately upon landing on the page.

Perspective

I wanted to curate a list from the Golden Record unlike anyone else’s. I spent most of the week leading up to the due date, just thinking about the task and crossing ideas off my mental list. It was fairly late in the week, when I finally solidified my thinking and research around synesthesia. Once complete and submitted, I was pleased with my work and felt confident that I had presented a fresh perspective.

Amanda’s curation of the Golden Record differed vastly from my own. Her take related to social justice, feminism, discrimination, colonialism, racism, cultural appropriation, the pervasive voice of the Western dominant culture…I was so inspired, but also defeated. Yes, my take was original, but Amanda presented something powerful, and I was moved.

An Emoji Story by Brogan Pratt

I grew up on a small blueberry farm in Pitt Meadows with my parents and brother. As a child, I only traveled outside of British Columbia once during a family trip to Disneyland. My town had one high school and only a handful of students went on to University after graduating. Needless to say, my experiences growing up didn’t provide much opportunity in terms of developing reference points.

After graduating from UBC in 2003, I headed to Manhattan to teach for the New York Board of Education. For a year, I lived in Spanish Harlem (2nd and 116th) and worked at Public School (PS) 178 in Washington Heights. I didn’t know anyone, but made the most of the experience and saw as much of New York as I could during that PRE-SMARTPHONE era (I had a paper map in my purse for a year). The following year, I moved to Los Angeles. I lived in Koreatown which is just off of Wilshire, between downtown and Hancock Park (The Grove). I worked for a private Episcopal school just down the street, which served many families in the “industry” (TV, film, movie). I spent six years living and working in LA.

Reference Points

After living in the United States for a few years, I began to notice a shift in my ability to recognize and understand a variety of references. It was like a light-switch being turned on. Conversations, media, entertainment – I was picking up on things I didn’t even know were there. My reference points had grown out of my experiences living in, and becoming familiar with, two major US cities. I notice it even now that I’m back in Canada. I’ll be watching a show with my husband and I’ll be filling him in on cultural references throughout; particularly, if the show is based in LA or NY.

Why does this matter?

Task 6 had everything to do with reference points. If you knew the reference then you’d get it. If you didn’t, then you wouldn’t. For me, because of my reference points, this became particularly apparent in two posts.

Brogan posted an emoji story for Pinocchio. I figured it our because I’d recently seen it. I knew it was coming out of the Disney vault and that it would be a perfect alternative to the Disney princess movies, for my two sons.

Alix Cooper-Jackson created an emoji story for an episode of The Office – Dinner Party. Again, because of a strong reference point in this case (I’ve rewatched the entire series at least three times) I was able to identify not just the show, but in fact, the episode.

Networking

In our final ETEC 540 video chat, Ernesto made reference to the notion of networking, in the context of the Golden Record assignment. I think that networking is also applicable here. Our reference points play a role in connecting us together. Within the Emoji Story Task, I felt connected to Alix, Brogan, Charmaine and Evelyn because I recognized their story and felt a sense of commonality among us.

The Everyday Canadian by Evelyn Tsang

The fist time I listened to The Everyday Canadian, I knew I was going to select it as one of my linking assignments. Evelyn and I are both working mothers, raising children alongside our husbands. We’re both in the field of education and are partaking in the MET program. It was not our commonalities however, that propelled this selection, it was our differences paired with Evelyn’s title – The Everyday Canadian. I love the way this mode bending exercise really highlighted the diversity of those who might consider themselves an Everyday Canadian.

Evelyn is a steward of the earth and environment. She seeks out reusable goods, supports environmentally conscious organizations, bikes to work and makes choices which contribute to instilling the same values in her child. She has an interest in baking, as well as Star Wars (I think). She is an Everyday Canadian.

In contrast, I commute in my car for two hours each day, going between the North Shore and Kerrisdale. I spend every minute of my commute listening to audio books and am completely obsessed with self improvement (which my Audible library perfectly depicts: The Happiness Advantage, Mindset, Connected, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fu**, Girl Stop Apologizing, The Path Made Clear, Atomic Habits, etc). I have a reusable Starbucks cup, but must admit I forget it at home 20% of the time. My car is littered with small toys, children’s water bottles, food crumbs and spare clothes. I am an Everyday Canadian.

Here’s what I love about language – it’s meaning is an interpretidon of the individual reader, listener, viewer, etc. Perhaps we’re all Everyday Canadians, but what that looks like when examined is a diverse array of backgrounds, beliefs, dynamics, actions and intentions. Evelyn’s post really brought to light the flexibility with which we interact with language.