Reading response 5--A review of this course (Inquiry into digital content)

The last two weeks past so fast, I cannot believe I have learnt things taught for three months. First of all, I want to appreciate Nancy, the instructor of this summer course for her wonderful guiding in this inquiry journey, which provided me with a big picture on digital content about theories, applications, realities and ethical issues as well as tons of information and research. In the class, we were offered opportunities to discuss the application of digital content in educational field and the relevant hot topics, watch excellent videos, examine articles, digging out what we’ve known and exploring what we don’t know. What an unforgettable knowledge-building experience in such a short time! I even cannot believe I could make videos with storytelling via available digital tools, along with critical thoughts just within two weeks, which will definitely help me use these skills in my future career.

I am also grateful to my great team members—Vanita and Amanda, to collaborate with me for the final project (http://digitalinquiry.webs.com/). I am so proud of my team and this project as it is the achievement of our hard working in such intensive class. I will never forget the experience that we three got together for brainstorming and designing then went back home until 9pm in the past whole week. This final project is like a comprehensive package, allowing us to integrate the theories we’ve learnt in the class into the real practice. We indeed had difficulties and experienced frustrations during the process of the design, which were articulated in our narrative part in the project web link. Although Nancy helped us build the confidence in the class that it is the human being control the technology, I felt that we were sometimes controlled by technology in the real practice no matter whether we admit it or not. The digital tools we used have many limitations and they cannot 100% realize the effect we expected. We did spend a large amount of time fighting with the difficulties and figuring out how we could obtain the effect that we expected in the design of the video and the website. However, we are aware that there is no best, but better in the world. If we were offered more time and if some digital tools are better designed, we might do it better. :-)

This process of completing the final project reminds me of the experience in Dr. Michele Jacobsen’s class—User Centered Design (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dmjacobs/eder679.27/)

through which I got a better understanding on the notions of usability and utility in a interactive digital product. And, Nancy’s course enhanced my skills in using storytelling to better communicate for educational purposes. Both of the two courses helped my team members and me a lot to finish a digital package within our capabilities.

In the end, I want to finish it with a question for myself, maybe it is a little bit unrealistic. As users and residents in digital world, everyday, we not only enjoy the conveniences and joys it brings to us, but also face many frustrations caused by digital tools. Take I movie and movie maker for example, the only way for our team to combine two videos done by these two tools was first to upload them to youtube, then use other convert software to download them and finally merge them.  It was just one step for our whole project, and there were at least three sub-steps to successfully finish this marriage. Therefore, there is no wonder many educators fear the changes brought by technology. How many unexpected things will they confront with if their whole days are full of digital tools? I sometimes teased my husband, a software developer, using this question, “can you software guys design the software more usable and reasonable, so that we educators can better use them for teaching and don’t have to waste time to cry?” From this perspective, is it a good way to have all the engineers or technology guys take relevant courses to enhance their digital literacy or design skills before we users frustrate these problems?

Once again, a big thank you to my instructor, Nancy, and my wonderful classmates. 

Final group project--Technology, as a partner, helps to build learning environment and community

Final group project---http://digitalinquiry.webs.com/

Group members: Amanda, Phoebe and Vanita

Topic: Technology, as a partner helping to build learning environments and communities.

Target Audience:

Our Digital Production is targeted towards Educators, parents, potential students, software designers, aging community and everyone interested in understanding the importance of technology in developing meaningful learning environments.

Reading response 4—Principles of Good Design

The discussion topic for today was Principles of good design. Although the video we watched did not talk all the principles and it was not just limited to digital products, I really like this topic as it is closely concerned with our everyday life.

In general, the author summarized the principles as the following points:  

Good design is innovative;

Good design makes a product useful;

Good design is aesthetic;

Good design helps us to understand a product;

Good design is unobtrusive;

Good design is honest;

Good design is durable;

Good design is consequent to the last detail;

Good design is concerned with the environment;

Good design is as little design as possible.

The interesting thing was the majority of the class had the same feelings that this video reminded us of IKEA products, except the “durable” seems not match with the brand. Should a well-designed product meet all the above criteria? Not really. Everyone knows that IKEA is usually criticized for the quality issue, but this brand is still very popular around the world. I personally think it is mainly because of its aesthetics, being consequent to the last detail and concerned with the environment which were mentioned in the above principles, and certainly, the low price, another very important factor. Thus, my assumption is the notion of good design has no unique connotation, it might be different for individuals. It is also concerned with the “need” and “want” and all depends on if it meets your needs and if you really want it.

It is unrealistic to look for a perfect or “one size fits all” product in the world, especially for the digital productions produced by the fast-developed technologies. Thinking of the laptop, I am sure even though you have already owned a Mac, you still have another PC or other digital product at home as a good supplementary. You might also want or desire to have an updated one in the coming three or four years, maybe the time will be shorter than this. I bought a smaller and very portable laptop (PC) early last year, but only in one and half year, I am now considering replacing it by a Mac. Thus, today, I consulted with Connie and Scott in the class for the comparisons of Mac and IPad, as each of them brought both Mac and Ipad to the class and used them at the same time. I know it sounds ridiculous to compare their differences, but I really need others’ suggestions to help me make the final decision, to buy either a Mac, or both Mac and IPad. After the discussion with them, I found Mac might be the one I truly need, but I still cannot resist the temptation of IPad. That is my hard fighting with “want” and “need”.  I once imagine to buy one laptop that is “one size fits all” (also for saving the money in the pocketJ), but it is too idealistic. We users usually fall behind the technology and are more likely to be allured. Just count that how long IPad 1 was updated to IPad 2 after its first launch. When we still enjoy IPad 2, it is said IPad 3 will be released in the end of this year. Undoubtedly, we are going to struggle with a new cycle of the “need” and “want”!

Here, I also want to introduce three interesting books that were recommended in Dr. Michele Jocobsen’s classes of last Fall and this Winter. They are talking about good design for digital and interactive productions.

Vicente, K. (2006). The Human Factor:  Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology. Taylor and Francis. ISBN:  13:9780415978910

Norman, D. (2005). Emotional Design:  Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. Perseus Books Group. ISBN:  13:9780465051366

Preece, J., Rogers, Y., & Sharp, H. (2002 / 2007 – 2nd edition). Interaction design: Beyond human-computer interaction. John Wiley & Sons, Inc: New York. ISBN: 0-471-49278-7. 

Reflection 3--Digital Literacy

"If people are not taught the language of images and sound, shouldn’t they be considered as illiterate as if they left college without being able to read and write?"

“We must accept the fact that learning how to communicate with graphics, with music, with cinema, is just as important as communicating with words. Understanding these rules is as important as learning how to make a sentence work. ”

                                                                    -----Daly (2004)

These two quotes are about the perspectives on digital literacy. In today’s table discussions, we group talked about its definition and exchanged opinions on it. We thought that it was partially true in current trends, but it all depends on the extent to which he/ she relies on digital world in his/her everyday life, such as whether digital world is related to his/her job, or how often he/ she has to use digital world. Yes, I agree that it would be much better and convenient if one masters the skill in well communicating with images and sound, for social networking or in working settings. To those seniors or old generations, however, who don’t have to frequently use digital technology for communication, the traditional way to communicate with others might also be valid and useful. In this case, digital literacy is not as important as “learning how to make a sentence work”.

It also reminds me of a funny comparison between my retired parents and 11-year old cousin. Just in grade 5, my cousin has interacted with digital world for more than two years, it seems he is learning the digital technology by himself through playing online games and improving digital communication skills by using various online chatting tools. By contrast, my parents are just at entry level on computer, they are even learning how to download and save files to their computer, let alone using images and sound for online communication. I cannot help questioning, “does it mean my 11-year old cousin has a better digital literacy than my parents? ”; “So what?” If we strictly follow the definition, the answer might be “yes”. But, so what? Is it necessary for my parents to improve their digital literacy to catch up with the current trend? Not necessarily. In my parents’ case, they got used to traditional ways and don’t have to use digital tools to make friends, to work or construct the sense of community. All they need online is talking with me and receiving the files/photos I send to them. That’s it! They told me they don’t have to spend time on figuring out various digital tools to improve computer or digital skills, because there is no need for them. I think my parents’ case is not a unique one, but represents many cases of the old generations.

Although we can do tons of things by using digital technologies, many of us still rely on traditional ways under many circumstances. It does not mean that we deny the digital world, but prefer a mixed way of combining the new technology and the traditional ways in order to work better. I noticed that in my twelve courses, more than half of the professors printed out our final papers, marking them and commenting on the hardcopies. I also found that many of my classmates in different classes, including me, usually printed out reading materials and highlighted the important contents. It seems that working with hardcopies is handy, easier for us to work and think. We can read it on the bus, or wait for others, don’t have to concern about the battery issue. Of course, different people have different habits. For some, they might prefer doing everything through computer and digital technology. Thus, I personally think the marriage of the digital technology and personal habits would work best for me and those like me.  

Resource: Daly J. (2004). Life on the screen: Visual literacy in education. http://www.edutopia.org/life-screen

One minute video--A Warm Drink (with personal replection)

When I started to create this video, a lot of ideas came to my mind at the same time. I was struggling for how I could take advantage of one minute to include a meaningful story as much as possible and make an argument well. From my point of view, the best way for a storytelling is to narrate something that is concerned with our own experience. Therefore, this video should not only be a demonstration to show a comfortable place but a story or a personal experience behind it. As my favourite warm drink is hot tea, which also represents Chinese food culture, it is natural for me to relate it to my hometown, a neat southern city where the tea culture is rich and pervasive. Thus, my preferred answer to this topic “The best place for a warm drink…” is anywhere in my hometown with my family, in which there are beautiful sceneries, yummy food and nice people. Furthermore, the most important thing is that my family is still there, drinking tea reminds me of the hometown and the whole family.

It is the first time for me to use windows movie maker to create a complete product. I actually tried a similar software before, but just for a trial not a product. It is not hard to handle it. The key issue is how to edit the video, making the content coherent and interesting, having the selected music match the tone of the video. I did spent a lot of time on editing it in order to ensure a high quality, which was a bit frustrating for me. However, due to the one-minute time requirement, I have no other choices, but to make each picture go a little bit too fast. It might be the key drawback of this video. In the middle of this video, I originally wanted to use the image of some real people, but, as it is concerned with ethical issues, I decided to use some cartoon images in this section to try to avoid the ethical issue. I was personally satisfied with this solution. Also, I initially intended to use all the pictures taken by myself or owned by myself, however, I found it really hard to make all my pictures fit this video. Therefore, many pictures I selected for the video were from google images. By doing that, I provided with the recourses in the end of this video. In a word, I personally like this video, which not only conveys the culture of my hometown but demonstrates my nostalgic feelings.

Reflection 2 ---The Use of New Technologies for Social Research

From the class reading materials and in-class discussions, it is the first time for me to hear the term of "digital ethnography". I have already taken two research courses, it is interesting to know the new term(for me) in this class which made me continue to reflect on this issue. As the author mentioned, the article of "Digital Ethnography: An Examination of the Use of New Technologies for Social Research” critically examined the possibilities and problems of four new technologies –online questionnaires, digital video, social networking websites,blogs, and their potential impacts on the research relationship. 

Before I read this article, I had never thought more details about the links between the research methods and the digital ethnography. But, it is true, with the introduction of new technologies, the ways to collect data for ethnography have changed. Researchers currently don’t have to physically present in the research fields, and might reach participants around the world at the same time. From this perspective, I agree that the use of new technologies is convenient for researchers. However, we should also be very careful to apply these digital ways, especially I found the online questionnaires and emails might not have us get the expected results due to the low response rates. In the online environment, researchers cannot control others’ participations. On one hand, researchers have to make efforts to get the email addresses from the target interviewees. But how to get them in a short time? It might take researchers extra time to figure it out before conducting the real research. On the other hand, it is no guarantee to have high rate of feedback before the due date. It is usual that this kind of emails might be deleted as junk mails. Thus, it relies more on the participants’ behaviour and researchers might lose the control of the data collection process. 
Resource:  Murthy D. (2008). Digital ethnography: An examination of the use of new technologies for social research. Sociology 42 (5) (pp. 837-855). SAGE Publications http://soc.sagepub.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/content/42/5.toc 

Digital content--Reflection 1---We are all connected in the digital world!

My sparking thoughts for this reflection came from the above video regarding the introduction to youtube. I summarized the most impressive idea to one sentence which is talking to the camera, we are then all connected in the digital world.

Is it necessary for us to physically meet each other in the current society? It is not a simple question to get the answer. On one hand, we found that it is hard to physically connect each other in the real life as everyone is so busy with the job, study and family. Thus, digital world help us connect with each other in time. On the other hand, due to the digital world, we friends are just a screen-distance away online, it seems unnecessary for us to physically meet together, especially under the circumstances that are costly and time-consuming? I actually don’t know the answer. What I am well aware is that the sense of community changes, the way of social networking changes, so does the whole world.

Digital world is now dramatically changing our daily lives no matter whether you are willing to or not. Online connection is the quite often used means for me to contact with my family and friends who are currently in China. Take my mom for example, she is in her 50s, she once said she hated to change the life style even though internet became people’s everyday life. She had never touched PC, let alone internet, before I came to Canada. To her, PC seems like a decoration at home. For her generation, in general, it’s true that people don’t get used to online connection in my country. They cannot understand why digital society is so popular and attractive among teens and young adults. It is the cheapest way we found, however, to contact each other since I am here now. Therefore, my mom forced herself and my dad to learn how to use Skype and MSN to chat with me. The most convenient thing is that internet allows us to see each other although it is not physically meeting each other. My parents gradually like the way and are so glad with the convenience brought by the digital world. Right now, they not only chat with me online, but contact several friends who also have MSN accounts, they even use internet to check stock markets and watch TV series. PC is not a decoration any more, but becomes a part of my parents’ life.  

As a digital native, I just experienced three awful days without internet. During the past three days, as something wrong with the internet in my house, I could not access to it until the technician came to fix it today. I felt I lost connection with the world, I kept thinking and concerning what if my friends email me; what if my parents wait for me online; what if I need to google some information; what if my online bills are not paid before the due date, so on and so forth. Thus, the first thing I did when the internet was fixed was to open the laptop immediately, replying emails checking online banking, leaving messages to my parents and friends. It seems I survive from it and get energy again. It also reminds me of the stories that lots of friends shared with me if they left their cell phones at home someday, they felt they got lost in the world and were not able to do anything for a whole day. I did have the same feelings, maybe much stronger, without the digital world.

When googling for more information about digital community, I came across a newly-published book, Digital community, digital citizen. It is written for teachers, school board members, parents, community members, anyone who are interested in our children growing up digitally in ways that are safe, informed and optimistic. I think it would be very helpful for us to get a better understanding on our kids in school settings. Also, another global survey digital world, digital life conducted by TNS (a global market information and insight group) in 16 countries in 2008 provided us with a useful snapshot of our online behaviour and perspectives around the world.