Linking

2. Teagan Laverock - Attention Economy https://sites.google.com/learn.sd23.bc.ca/laverocketec565/etec-540?authuser=0#h.1iyg7lm68b5c

1. How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?

Firstly, Teagan was actually able to complete her experience with the "User Inyerface" whereas I became frustrated after several attempts and resolved that the simulation was intentionally designed to be impassable. Secondly, Teagan noticed the subtlety of colour use in the simulationand reflected on their typical conventions, whereas I focused principally on how button placement was atypical.

2. What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?

Teagan used the Google sites platform and inserted a photo of her completed simulation. She recorded her reflection in a text paragraph below, and this effectively summarized her experience from the start to the end of her experience.

3. How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?

Our chosen publishing platforms were identical, however, Teagan's pages had tabs stored to the side of the page, whereas mine were atop each page. This represents a trade-off in usage, as Teagan's page has more convenient navigation between pages as these tabs are always accessible; mine sacrifices ease of navigation in favour of larger text size, which makes reviewing each assignment somewhat easier.

4. What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?

Their site privileges textual and visual literacies, along with some basics conventions of webpage navigation. Given the differences described above, mine privileges textual literacies at a cost to web literacies, whereas Teagan's does the opposite (both value visual literacies equally), however, these differences are marginal.

5. What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague's textual architecture and how does this affect one's experience of the work?

The textual architecture used in Teagan's blog is quite similar to the structure I used in mine, however, I noticed that Teagan has chosen to create and curate a singular Google Site for all her courses in the Master's of Educational Technology program, which arguably makes for a more comprehensive resource for prospective students. Once inside each site, Teagan lists each task individually, similar to how I had structured my page initially; however, I chose to create a single unifying "tasks" tab, to streamline navigation atop each page. I believe in either case, this affects the experience by structuring each site as a modular text as opposed to a linear narrative; users are more likely to review small individual sections, rather than the entire site, which will make for a shorter experience.

6. How do the constraints of the course design manifest in your architectural choices? How have you responded to the pedagogical underpinnings of this course design in your own webspace?

Again, my site is designed as more of a modular resource organized around each week's tasks, which are the main assignments of the course, and they follow a weekly pattern similar to the modules of the course design. I do intentionally incorporate comments, meant to distinguish between those wishing to consume content (the tasks) and produce content in the form of commentary. In terms of pedagogical underpinnings, I have responded by striving to use both media and textual resources together to illustrate my experience from each week's activities, and I have also incorporated activities such as twine for visitors to engage with that can better convey my experience with these novel literacies to the reader. I do, to a degree, conform to some subtle web and text design conventions (navigational tabs, page banners, commentary, etc.) to further simplify navigation; however, I have attempted to avoid incorporating features meant to actively maintain user attention, such as "autoplay" video features as described by Harris (2017). Such would compromise the modular design of my page by keeping users disproportionally engaged with particular pages based on the media therein; ideally, I want users of my page to be able to move between content freely based on their needs, rather than manipulating their attention to privilege some content over others.

References

Harris, T. (2017). How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention?language=en

3. Anne Emberline-Golden Record Curation https://anneemberline.com/edu/task-8-golden-record-curation/

1. How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?

The primary difference between Anne's experience and mine was in how she sought to represent 5 opposing dimensions of the human experience (logic/emotion, collaboration/independence, passion/calm, narrative/abstract and sensible/grandiose), whereas I sought to represent as many instruments as possible. This demonstrated a difference in design philosophy, as Anne was likely more conscious of each choice aligning along with one of these dimensions specifically, whereas I was choosing mine solely based on instrumental variance, and once one song was chosen with particular instruments, I was more likely to exclude similar compositions.

2. What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?

Anne chose to use her own site as far as I can tell. Her structure of site organization is similar to that of Teagan, where her site is organized by each course she has taken, and each course tab under the main menu is broken into its requisite assignments.

3. How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?

Anne's differs from mine primarily in how comments are recorded; I have one tab for recording all comments related to assignments, whereas each of Anne's tasks has a comments section. This may actually be preferable for initiating meaningful discourse regarding each assignment individually.

4. Jennifer Riego-Algorithms of Predictive Text https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540jenniferr/2021/03/27/task-11-algorithms-of-predictive-text/

1. How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?

Jennifer was far more patient with her predictive text than I was! I couldn't tolerate just how ludicrous my text was that I couldn't proceed past the first sentence, whereas she was able to record whole paragraphs (by her own admission, these were somewhat nonsensical, and I could certainly identify with this sentiment when I tried to do the same).

2. What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?

Jennifer chose to use the default UBC blogs platform. Her site is organized substantially differently, as her linking assignment is listed along the site's main banner, whereas each assignment is listed under the "recent posts" list on the right-hand side of the main page, along with recent comments.

3. How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?

Jennifer's platform was the default for the course, and I struggled to familiarize myself with its content authoring mechanisms, so I opted for Google sites instead. Similar to Anne's site, each new post has an option to leave a reply, however, Jennifer's is posted atop each new task rather than at the end. Although I can appreciate that this makes for a potentially easier end-user interface, I was willing to trade this in favour of a central space for commentary so as to facilitate potential exchanges between any student who has commented on prior work.

5. James Seaton - Examining the Golden Record Data https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540jseaton/2021/03/15/examining-the-golden-record-curation-data-task-9/

1. How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?

James was primarily concerned with how to curate a top 10 musical composition list that was more fairly representative of the group's choices, whereas I was more concerned with why the group made their choices.

2. What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?

James also chose the default UBC blogs site, however, his site featured a single "home" tab atop the page and a right-hand banner analogous to that found on Jennifer's site.

3. How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?

Once again, I am not sufficiently familiar with the UBC blogs platform to comment on its affordances for content authoring, however, it does follow a similar end-user experience for commentary to that of Jennifer's site (where comments can be left atop each new post). Once again, I feel this makes a meaningful discussion for each individual topic, however, it makes discourse between each assignment more difficult.

6. Nathan Bristow-Speculative Futures http://blogs.ubc.ca/mrbristow/etec-540/task-12-speculative-futures/

1. How has your colleague's experience differed from yours? And how do you know?

Nathan's experience was represented more in the form of an Ad where he contrasted two narratives in the form of user reviews against the original advertisement for a hypothetical smart home hub. James focused primarily on existing trends and technologies and their extrapolation into future products, whereas I project the narratives into farther off technological and societal developments, which might make for a slightly less realistic story.

2. What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?

Nathan also chose the default UBC blogs site. His site featured an about me tab, which was a novel feature compared to others' sites, and he had organized the top banner around each course he had taken similar to how Teagan and Anne had structured their sites. He also had a wider variety of recent post categories by week, however, these right-hand tabs referenced posts from 2015, so I am unsure why they were so prominently featured.

3. How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authoring and end-user interface?

Once again, I am not sufficiently familiar with the UBC blogs platform to comment on its affordances for content authoring, however, this site differed from others because I could not find a space for commentary. The course-organized tabs do make for an effective end-user form of navigation, however, the lack of a commentary section differs in that discourse is primarily one directional.