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.