Tag Archives: Process Posts

Essay

Artificial Intelligence has had a looming presence in our society for decades. Still, with the recent popularity of ChatGPT, questions have begun to arise regarding its impact on our lives. While artificial intelligence may be viewed as a threat to authentic schoolwork, I believe that educators should recognize the benefits that can come from it. Not only this, but they should find a way to incorporate it into the education system as a tool rather than a restriction. 

Chat GPT was launched in November of 2022 and was able to amass over one million users within a week (Baidoo-Anu & Ansah, 2023). It is self-described as “a conversational AI created by OpenAI that uses advanced deep learning techniques to generate human-like responses to natural language input” (ChatGPT, 2023). Since its release, it quickly became a large-scale topic of discussion and controversy. Many have questioned its legitimacy and accuracy, while others have brought up the implications that it would have in education. The chatbot is incredibly easy and fast for anyone, namely students, to retrieve information. Not only this, but it can write essays, create outlines, solve numerical problems, and write code. Consequently, this makes it easy for students to compromise their academic integrity. A Stanford survey found that 17% of students used ChatGPT on their fall quarter-finals (Cu & Hochman, 2023). This demonstrates that cheating using AI continues, even in prestigious institutions. Furthermore, in higher education, the use of AI to complete school work could be argued to “undermine … the very purpose of higher education, which is to challenge and educate students, and could ultimately lead to a devaluation of degrees” (Cotton et al., 2023, p. 3). University students could be jeopardizing their academic careers as a result of the technology, and it is crucial that it is not used in a way that could impact their quality of education. 

While AI technology could pose a threat to genuine schoolwork, it is also valuable to note the possible benefits that it can have within the realm of education. ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for students to help them learn better. The chatbot has been noticed and recently used to create individualized student learning plans. A study discovered that it was able to adapt to the varied levels of knowledge and create necessary adjustments when required (Chiang, 2020, as cited in Baidoo-Anu & Ansah, 2023). This model could contribute towards more efficient studying and learning among students at all levels of education; and would provide personal suggestions, allowing for a deeper understanding of course content. Not only can this form of technology be of use to students, but teachers can also benefit from it. One professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania stated that using Chat GPT decreased the time it took to make and test the exam from 30 hours to 15, a 50% decrease. This illustrates that an open mind about artificial intelligence could save them time. Not only this, but the time could be spent in other ways, such as having more time to develop connections with their students (Baidoo-Anu & Ansah, 2023).

It is my opinion that artificial intelligence is an inevitable aspect of our future, and the technology will only continue to improve and be less detectable. Therefore, its restriction will serve no benefit to students or instructors. Instead, educators should be conducting further research into how we can implement the use of AI technology “throughout the student lifecycle in order to take advantage of the immense potential that these technologies have for constructing intelligent learning and teaching systems” (Alam & Mohanty, 2023, para. 38). AI has and will continue to be integrated into our society, and combatting it will make things harder for both educators and students. In fact, a professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has included an AI policy in his syllabus for the first time, but he is not forbidding it. Students in his class are permitted to use it for discussions and other work as long as they check for errors and state that they used the software (Wood & Kelly, 2023). I believe this policy is fair and encourages honesty, a vital part of academic integrity. 

To conclude, it is clear that artificial intelligence can be used negatively and can provoke unoriginal work by students. However, I think educators should be taking strides toward using technology in schools; this includes implementing AI as a tool. By encouraging the use of AI to help students further their understanding, rather than banning it entirely, students will likely be more informed and therefore make more informed decisions.

References:

Alam, A., & Mohanty, A. (2023, January). Foundation for the Future of Higher Education or ‘Misplaced Optimism’? Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. In Innovations in Intelligent Computing and Communication: First International Conference, ICIICC 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23233-6_2

Baidoo-Anu, D., & Owusu Ansah, L. (2023). Education in the Era of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): Understanding the Potential Benefits of ChatGPT in Promoting Teaching and Learning. Available at SSRN 4337484.

(ChatGPT, personal communication, March 13, 2023)

Cotton, D., Cotton, P., & Shipway, J. R. (2023, January 10). Chatting and Cheating. Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2023.2190148

Cu, M. A., & Hochman, S. (2023, January 22). Scores of Stanford students used CHATGPT on final exams. The Stanford Daily. https://stanforddaily.com/2023/01/22/scores-of-stanford-students-used-chatgpt-on-final-exams-survey-suggests/ 

Wood, P., & Kelly, M. L. (2023, January 26). ‘everybody is cheating’: Why this teacher has adopted an open chatgpt policy. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/01/26/1151499213/chatgpt-ai-education-cheating-classroom-wharton-school

Essay – False News in the 2016 US Presidential Election

In a survey conducted by the PEW Institute, Facebook was shown to be the leading social media site for adults in the US to obtain news, with 31% of participants regularly getting their information from the site. This figure is not much of a surprise, since Facebook has a certain reputation for being propagators of reactionary information and false news. The aforementioned study also stated that the percentage has been steadily going down in the past few years, which I postulate is likely because of an aging main demographic and the rise of newer social media apps.

My primary issue with Facebook as a possible source for news (and every other social media site, for that matter) is the ability for people to rapidly spread misinformation and a general lack of critical thinking when it comes to such news. A prime example of this phenomena was on full display around the 2016 US presidential election, where disinformation and conspiracy theories ran rampant on Facebook. Of course, this kind of false news has existed forever, but the rise in prominence was especially apparent in the aftermath of such an influential event.

In “Misinformation with Fake News”, Mircea Botei (2017) described this as a turning point, where the public suddenly became more concerned about social media’s possible influence on democracy. Botei further expresses false news as “[an attempt] to appear truthful and thus to be accepted and transmitted further. It is news that tells what the audience wants to hear.”(p. 138) I have to agree with this sentiment, as reactionary headlines are a common sign of an untrustworthy source.

Political campaigns have taken advantage of current media trends to further their reach for decades, using whichever method was most popular at the time. Kathleen Jamieson (1996) mentions the widespread use of radios and television in the 1900s, with her book Packaging the Presidency: A History and Criticism of Presidential Campaign Advertising sourcing the ridiculous advertisements political candidates were able to make about their opponents as an example. Still, the massive coverage of the 2016 US election in particular highlighted this mass move from television to the internet.

Fortunately, some good has come of this tragic spike in false news; many social media sites (including Facebook) were pressured to provide transparency reports over political ad campaigns hosted on their sites, according to Efe Sevin (2021) in “New Data Sources and Presidential Campaigns”. Following the 2016 election, Facebook joined companies like Google and Snapchat in revealing their advertising archives to the greater public (Sevin, 2017). However, we should not underestimate the intentional role that social media companies play in these spaces. Many social media sites are anything but guiltless for the rise of false news and influence of political proceedings; some are just better at hiding their involvement than others. 

In the article “Social media ethics in the data economy: Issues of social responsibility for using Facebook for public relations “ Candace White explains how Facebook uses aggregated data from users to target those who are most vulnerable. This fact directly relates to the presidential election, as Cambridge Analytica—a company hired for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign—was revealed to have stolen user data from over 50 million people through a data breach of Facebook. I have been suspicious of the content and news circulated on Facebook since I first made an account, with this mistrust only growing as I learned more about their unethical business practices. 

All this is to say that there is a distinct need to modify the existing structures that facilitate the spread of false news. Diogo Andrade introduces such an idea in “Paving the way for regulation: how the case against Facebook stacked up”, which lays out a few different strategies that the US was discussing at the time. The most viable and comprehensive solution in my opinion is ending the monopoly Facebook holds as the top company in its field. Andrade mentions dividing up the website (and its acquired companies) into competing forces, creating laws to restrict website’s abilities to harvest private data from users, and “limiting and eroding Silicon Valley’s power” (2019, p. 125).

Although Facebook has only gotten more powerful since the previous articles’ publication in 2019, I still hold onto the hope that future US elections won’t be at the mercy of malicious advertisers and complacent social media giants.

☆.

Reference List

BOTEI, M. (2017). Misinformation with Fake News. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Series VII: Social Sciences. Law, 10 (59)(2), 133–140.

Jamieson, K. H. (1996). Packaging the Presidency: A history and criticism of presidential campaign advertising. Oxford University Press, Incorporated.

Queiroz Andrade, D. (2019). Paving the way for regulation: how the case against Facebook stacked up. Observatorio (OBS*), 13(3), 113–128. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.15847/obsobs13320191388

Sevin, E. (2021). New Data Sources and Presidential Campaigns. American Behavioral Scientist, 1. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1177/00027642211021634

“Social Media and News Fact Sheet” Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (September. 20, 2022) https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet.

White, C. L., & Boatwright, B. (2020). Social Media Ethics in the Data Economy: Issues of social responsibility for using Facebook for public relations. Public Relations Review, 46(5), 101980. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2020.101980

Process Post #9: Thoughts on Analytics

Analytics are tools used across different social media platforms. I am most familiar with Instagram’s analytics, and it also helps track my screen time use on the app itself. I keep track of the reports on Instagram since I hold a public account. I like to see insights on how my posts are doing and the rundown of how many users interact with my account. I mainly post dance content on Instagram (some are published on my movement page) and analyze how my audience on Instagram grows which helps build a bigger dance community. Insights like these do help guide you in knowing the progress of your business/accounts, although as discussed an invasion of privacy is at risk.

For tools like these to collect data, they need to also collect personal information from your phone (number, location, etc.) and about the environment, the user is in, (Digital Breadcrumbs: The data trail we leave behind us 2016). A conversation from the Pod Academy states that a phone comes with a series of sensors that run background information which transfers from the phone to cell towers, which can also be communicated to the internet where others and sites can gain information about you (Digital Breadcrumbs: The data trail we leave behind us 2016).

Tieing into KeptCollexion, I have Google Analytics plugged into my site. It gives me tips on how to improve my site and reports the overall health of my site. Currently, my site’s status reports as “Good” and suggests that I improve my site’s performance and security factors. It’s good to know what steps to take to upgrade my website, but a risk I am taking is the exposure of personal data collected.

Reflecting today, I think it’s challenging to keep everything private once you own a mobile device or some computer since these devices run a constant background cache of data and personal information. It’s something that can’t be avoided unless you decide to go deviceless. Think of it now, TVs and smart homes do the same. It is just the way technology runs today, but it also reflects our responsibility to how we use these devices and what we choose to share and install.

Reference:

Pod Academy. (2016, May 3). Digital Breadcrumbs: The data trail we leave behind us. Pod Academy. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from http://podacademy.org/podcasts/digital-breadcrumbs-our-data-trail/

Report Analytics. (2017). PNG Tree. photograph. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://pngtree.com/freepng/report-analytics-audit-business-data-marketing-paper-blue_4772977.html.

Process Post #8 – Copyright

I’d like to spend this post talking about the world of intellectual property, and the growing dialogue over how to include Indigenous works in copyright law. This is a current topic which includes many people who know much more than I do, but I wanted to use this platform, however small, to raise public perception of such an important concern.

So much of Indigenous knowledge is relayed orally, yet we are offered little to no legal protection over this vital medium. Of course, we still ask for permission to perform drum songs or retell an individual’s story, for example, but we are often not given that same level of respect back.

In Traditional Knowledge Exists; Intellectual Property is Invented or Created, Gregory Younging discusses traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge is a term for traditions such as agricultural techniques or astronavigation, which are based on experiences passed down through communities and generations.

Many First Nations communities have their own customary laws, which state how a piece of traditional knowledge may be used, whether it be kept to a certain group of people, used in a specific setting, with the guidance of a trusted individual, etcetera.

Despite the longevity of these systems, they are not officially recognized in western law for a variety of reasons:

  1. First Nations people most commonly communicate teachings through spoken word, which means that our knowledge is typically not recorded in written form.
  1. A vast majority of traditional knowledge is reliant on the land it was conceived on, so it may not even be relevant to those outside the community.
  1. Traditional knowledge specifically denotes techniques that have been used for so long that they would automatically be placed in the public domain anyways.
  1. Furthermore, there isn’t always a specific person to which legal rights could be granted to.
  1. These systems can also interplay with eachother in many different ways, which makes it even more difficult to pin them down legally.

One of the biggest concerns with how traditional knowledge isn’t properly covered under western law includes the appropriation of closed practices by people who are okay with encroaching on our intellectual property, provided it is technically legal to do so.

There has subsequently been a push for Indigenous communities to adapt their customary laws into the systems of intellectual property. Unfortunately, many factors including those above make it hard to reconcile these two forms of copyright.

It would be a shame for the preservation of traditional knowledge to be undermined by intellectual property laws that were created and forced upon us, while also not recognizing our complex systems that had worked perfectly fine for thousands of years. 

I hope that eventually traditional knowledge will be held to the same standard as western copyright law, and that we may be protected against appropriation and plagiarism of our work without needing to fundamentally alter our entire systems in order to do so.

☆.

Process Post #8: Remixing Creativity and AI

This week’s reading focused on trending resources that came to be since the ongoing evolution of technology. AI, artificial intelligence is the “simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions” (Frankenfield, 2022) according to Investopedia. Since the development of AI, programs like ChatGPT and DALL-E are now widely used in different aspects of education, personal interest, and work. With the topic of AI, one of the readings elaborated on the use of DALL-E. I found it a helpful article written by William Antonelli. The article even mentions how DALL-E has become so popular lately and how random requests generated from the AI site have been shared on social media (Antonelli, 2022).

Reflecting now, how society moves along with the evolution of computers and human intelligence has also brought us much closer in terms of community through the influence of social media and the internet. An example is this blog here, KeptCollexion. Striving my goal to reach an audience sharing similar interests to build a community is a step toward connecting with others through the internet.

I think that DALL-E is a fun tool to use to let your imaginations go wild, and can contribute to content for this blog. Displayed above are the results of typing “Kirby and Yoshi playing videogames and eating snacks.”

Reference:

Antonelli, W. (2022, June 14). How to use dall·e mini, the viral AI tool that can turn any prompt into a series of pictures. Business Insider. Retrieved March 11, 2023, from https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/dall-e-mini

Dall·E. DALL·E. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2023, from https://labs.openai.com/e/NqKZ4pci4MJ9MQUiqdiahlAW/DdYGYkkVt4SKdlPODnGrzcgw

Frankenfield, J. (2023, January 19). Artificial Intelligence: What it is and how it is used. Investopedia. Retrieved March 11, 2023, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/artificial-intelligence-ai.asp

Peer Review #2 : The Quaint Nook

The Quaint Nook

Aris' site "The Quaint Nook" homepage logo

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Process Post 2: Personal Cyberinfrastructures

What is a personal cyberinfrastructure, and why should you care? What is your current cyberinfrastructure, how do you use it, and how does it use you? What do we take for granted in how the Internet works? What can we imagine differently? We will work on vision boards. By now, you will have completed your vision board. How did you work through the process? Did you use Venn diagrams? Were you able to narrow down your focus? Please post about the process.

Process Post Prompt*: Write a blog post about the installation and setup work you did this week: your decisions, your rationales; make sure you link out to at least a couple of other resources. How does what you’ve created so far relate to the vision board you made last week?

I had a lot of trouble setting up my blog. For some reason people could never access the blog and it was a slow process of fixing the issue. On top of that I messed up along the way and had to start all over again which had me falling behind. But, even if this seemed annoying at the moment, it ended up being a blessing in disguise. Initially the idea I had for my blog was to talk about my mental health journey and hopefully create a platform where people could relate to me and I could relate to others. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I was missing something. And because I had to create my blog, delete it and create it again, that allowed me the space to really think about what I wanted from this space and what I wanted others to take from it. In the end I though why not connect art and mental health? they go great together and I am really passionate about art, this way I not only reach people who want to read about mental health but also people who are interested in art.

Once I had the idea to combine mental health with art I figured the tagline “For those out there struggling, let this be a place where art heals us” would be perfect. It suddenly came to me and it was just what I was looking for because it encompassed what I wanted this space to be. I wanted to create a place that would function as a sort of journal about my life and my struggles but also have people interact if they wanted to. And I wanted to include art because as my struggles with mental heath grow, my passion for art grows too and sometimes I feel like I cannot separate the two.

Because mental health can be triggering to talk about, I knew I had to include a resources page in case someone found themselves in need of more help than the one peers could provide. And I also wanted to have a community space where we had some ground rules about respect and kindness but where we could still connect with each other. I have never managed a space before, never managed comments and I am very nervous about people going crazy and being disrespectful and how to deal with those situations that arise on the internet because of the anonymity it allows. I guess I will face that as I go because I don’t really expect a lot of people to visit my page anyways.

I though really hard about whether I wanted to make this page anonymous or not. It felt almost too uncomfortable to be so transparent about my struggles and be open about my identity. I was not sure where to put the boundaries so that I would not feel like I did myself a disservice later on. I am still a little on the fence about anonymity. I think I could be more transparent if I did not have my face and name on the page but other times I think having that restriction on myself is good because I do not what to share too much. In class we thought about the question: Are we able to present ourselves however we want, or are we being controlled by who we think my be watching our personal cyberinfrastructures? And I as I think about the kind of platform I am creating and the kind of audience it might have I definitely find myself constantly thinking about the audience. They dictate half of my decisions about what to post when it comes to posting something personal. I have to be really mindful of whether this is something I want to share to the world or if I will regret that decision later. I especially focus on questioning whether I would have issues with my family or friends reading my posts and if the answer is yes then maybe I should not share what I want to. I would not say my audience controls my decisions on what I post but they definitely come into play when I am filtering topics for my posts, but in the end, because this blog is very personal, I am the one who decides what I want to put out there.

Process Post #6: Website Design!

This week’s lecture was especially interesting and different from the previous classes. We had a guest speaker come into class. Mauvé Page is a designer and a professor at SFU for the publishing department; she talked to us about graphic and website design. 

Reading

This week, I especially appreciated reading the article “Design Machines. How to survive in the digital Apocalypse.” First, it was generally enjoyable to look through, the design was bold but also simple, and the features were interactive and moved as you scrolled. It also sheds light on a homepage design that has become very typical and has overtaken mainstream companies. The author describes the design as a 48pt headline text using the lightweight in white … “perfectly centred over the stock photo of anonymous hands fondling an electronic device” (Gertz, 2015). I found this reading really interesting to go through because it discusses something that I have seen on so many websites. Therefore I was able to look back on my experiences with other websites and notice the specific trend that the author is noticing and talking about. It is fascinating that so many large companies lack and ignore the creative aspects of creating and designing a website and follow the cookie-cutter template/trend that has become prominent.

Website Review

When starting my website and figuring out what kind of vibe and aesthetic I would go for, I did a lot of research and a general google-search for other lifestyle blogs. One blog that I found that had a fairly unique blog design was Amber Fillerup Clark’s blog. Her blog is a lifestyle one, where she talks about her own life, and her blog has expanded as she had kids with her husband. 

What I like about her homepage and general website design is the off-white background and the consistency of the editing and colours of the images she uses. I appreciate that she edits her photos in a specific way that makes them appealing and coherent when looking through her posts.

The pink sidebar that is pictured moves through her posts every few seconds, which I found to be a cool addition; and a feature that helps with audience engagement since it can catch your attention. I also like the colours she uses; I find them very appealing and soft; and how the rest of the website is relatively symmetrical. One thing I don’t think works as well or could be improved is the typography. In my opinion, none of the titles or headings stand out enough to read; they don’t catch the user’s eye. Perhaps they could be in a larger typeface or bolder. 

Site Process

With the site process, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I had to ask for some help from my fellow peers and instructors. After some time exploring the settings and functions I was able to create my website and present what’s shown and uploaded to my page. I found it a bit difficult at first but then after it became interesting to work with.

Process Post 2: Reflecting on my Tumblr days

Me during the circa 2014 ‘soft grunge’ era on Tumblr.

I’m going to be completely honest, going into this I didn’t feel confident in creating a blog at all. This is my first time using WordPress and my first time editing a blog since about 2015. When I was a teenager, I got really obsessed with the band One Direction and I decided that I wanted to dedicate a blog to them. So, I created my first-ever blog on Tumblr.com called “NandoswiththeNialler”. I called it this because one of the band members called Niall Horan liked the food chain Nandos. Anyway, that blog didn’t last too long. As I grew up and decided to become more “edgy”, I ended up changing my URL and my whole theme to more of a “grunge” aesthetic, after becoming obsessed with it. If you were a Tumblr kid between the years 2012-2016, you know what I’m talking about. I call this my emo/misunderstood/it always felt like the world was ending era. I had a lot of feelings and angst and I made Tumblr my outlet. Since then I’ve blogged pretty casually over the years, with my URL and theme changing once or twice. My Tumblr blog (and my old cringy posts) is still up and I still post sporadically. I didn’t delete anything, change the theme, or change the ‘about’ section for nostalgia reasons. I checked the other day and I was surprised to see that I still have a little over 2,000 followers, but a lot of them are probably either inactive or bots.

Although I haven’t edited a blog in years, I found it fairly easy to figure out how to navigate WordPress and add plugins, categories, and widgets to my blog. I originally wanted this blog to have the same theme as my Tumblr blog. A black background, the title as the header with no image or icon. The menu bar would be below the header with the content beneath it. This theme was very popular in the “grunge” era of Tumblr. Then I started thinking about how much I’ve changed since I originally chose that theme. I want the theme and content of my current blog to reflect who I am today. So, I decided to use this theme from the Elementor plugin. I chose to display my icon and menu as the header with a sunset-like gradient background and the title below it. I also added some pictures that I’ve taken on an image carousel.

The blog I’ve created relates to my vision board because it has bold colours, and the title is larger than everything else which gives it a typography feel that I really like. I was leaning toward an art magazine editorial look.

Ps. I linked a video about the 2014 grunge Tumblr aesthetic, maybe I’ll dive more into this topic in my content posts.

https://www.tumblr.com

Elementor Website Builder

Process Post 1: Talking to a Stranger

Being introverted, I’m not exactly thrilled about the idea of talking to a stranger. I’ve always been reserved and quiet, and I’m still learning to break out of my shell and put myself out there, even online. Talking to a stranger can feel intimidating, you don’t know if they’re going to be easygoing or not, and they might be reluctant to talk to you.

When it comes to either online or in-person interactions, I used to find myself leaning towards online interactions a lot more. There is less pressure online, there are no awkward silences, you don’t have to worry about if there’s something in your teeth, and you can send the other person memes or funny Tiktoks. Although I used to lean towards online interactions more, lately, I’ve been growing to enjoy interacting with strangers in-person more than I used to. I find that it’s a lot more candid, you don’t have the time to contemplate your responses as you would online, and your true self comes out more that way. The conversation seems to flow better in person, and you can also read the other person’s tone and body language.

I consider a stranger to be someone I’ve never met and know nothing about. I consider a person known after interacting with them and learning about them, like their name, age, where they’re from, and some of their interests. You can meet someone and become acquainted without fully getting to know them. The more you get to know someone, the more comfortable you both become. Over time you start opening up to each other and discussing things beyond the surface level.

For this process post, we were asked to find a stranger and engage them in a conversation. My encounter was unexpected, and I didn’t even have this assignment in mind when I engaged with this stranger. It happened on a Sunday evening while I was grabbing my laundry in my apartment’s shared laundry room. When I walked into the laundry room, one of my neighbours was there getting her laundry. I startled her when I opened the door, we both laughed, and I apologized. After that, we walked to the elevator and discovered that we live on the same floor. I told her that I hadn’t seen her around before, and she said she moved in a few weeks ago. I then asked her how she was liking it here so far, and she said her new apartment is a lot nicer than her last place, and it’s way more convenient to be close to campus. I agreed that it was convenient and we said goodnight. After this interaction, I would still consider this person a stranger, but maybe a tad bit less than a stranger, if that makes sense. I didn’t learn anything about her other than that she also likes to do her laundry on Sunday, she lives in my building and we both enjoy the convenience of it.

Process Post 1

Process post #1

Paying it forward one sip at a time

I would consider myself a very outgoing person. I am not afraid of going out of my way to start a conversation with a stranger and do it quite often especially when I am in the lineup at coffee shops. Although I do not know this person, I do know that we have one thing in common, we both love a good cup of coffee. 

Back in the summer, I was in the lineup at Tim Horton’s early on a Saturday morning. If you know me, you would know that I need coffee every day. I can’t and don’t want to know how I would function without my morning dose. When I was about to pay, my phone died so I was unable to pay for my coffee as the only money I had at the time was my debit card. I had already been waiting in this long line for nearly 20 minutes and I was not going to leave without my coffee. I turned around and politely and quite uncomfortably asked the man behind me if he could pay for my coffee. I told him that I could Etransfer him when I got home. He laughed, and told me not to worry, but to pay it forward. 

On Saturday I decided it was my time to pay it forward. A little late, but better than never. I was in my favorite coffee shop Bjorn Bar Bakery, chatting away with an older lady that was behind me while we were waiting to order our drinks. As I was about to pay for my drink I turned around and told her that her order was on me today. She was taken aback and confused by my generosity but did very much apricate the act of kindness. She thanked me and I smiled and asked her to pay it forward. 

The Start of Something New

𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 #2

Starting a new project is always the hardest part. I find that my biggest problem is finding where to begin.

When starting “in my kaizen”, my dilemma stood between what I wanted people to know, what should be kept offline, and the concept of my blog. I have always wanted to put myself out on the internet but there are several things that hold me back.

Firstly, I’m an in-person person. That is, I rather embarrass myself and express my true self in person than send an embarrassing message that you can, at any point in time, go back and laugh at me. This is the result of living through a pandemic where all social interactions were limited to just your household for quite some time.

Secondly, a part of me enjoys the secrecy that comes with being offline. Since most people are online and posting a lot of their daily life, I grew fond of the potential curiosity that comes with being offline.

But ultimately, I wanted to have the concept of my blog make sense to the content it contains and vice versa. And so, I created a list of possible topics I wanted my blog to talk about and a vision board, comprising of images in a certain aesthetic I want my blog to present as well or be associated with.

I then spent time working out the technicals, like pages and categories. It was quite confusing at first but with the help of some google searches, youtube videos, and simply just playing around, I end up figuring it out. However, there are certain changes I want to make that I currently do not if it’s possible. I’m continuing to look into achieving these changes, ultimately making it a site that can be easily navigated.

Strangers In Real Life vs. Strangers Online

𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 #1

Strangers were once a type of person I was told to avoid. But it then developed into a task we are encouraged to do on a daily with guides such as, “How to Talk to Strangers IRL” outlining different methods like triangulating to conquer the barrier that lies in between you and someone you do not know to hopefully gain a new connection. However, I have always been a little hesitant to interact with a stranger. A part of the reason is the paranoia that stems from the stories my parents told me for educational purposes when I was a little kid, the news, and recollections of strange or spooky programs that would air when my sister had nothing else to watch on television late at night. Another part is the possible awkward interaction that might occur. Where it feels as though you missed the social cue that they did not want to be spoken with, resulting in a sense of embarrassment. Ironically, I didn’t feel as scared online, especially in the past. Maybe this was because of the lack of education surrounding the internet and internet safety, the ability to conceal oneself identity, or just the inherent nature of technology. Regardless of the reasoning, I was more likely to reach out to a stranger via online than in real life. That is, it seems a lot easier and I preferred it that way, or so I thought.

During the midst of the pandemic, my preference of interacting with strangers online or in real life was put to the test. As the virus began to spread and limitations were slowly being enforced, online interactions with friends and strangers was all we had as in-person interactions was seen as a forbidden activity for a little while. In the beginning, I loved it. It felt like it was just what I needed, a break from the world. However as time went on, it became something I missed. It became a foreign feeling that I frequently tried to remember the feeling of. As a result of experiencing the limitations imposed on us, even if I’m hesitant and a little fearful of approaching a stranger in real life, I prefer to go through the awkwardness in-person than to avoid that tension and talk through a screen.

I’ve learned that if you do not make the situation awkward, then it won’t be awkward. And I live by that. Or at least just let me think so. Thus, I approached the person next to me in the lecture with a little hesitation. As expected, it went well. Maybe it was a little easier because we both can talk about something class related as a topic of conversation versus a complete stranger where you have to find a shared interest or experience through a multitude of various questions. But if this was an online class, I can’t deny that I would have no hesitation in sending a message to another person in class. And so, I guess you can call me an introverted extrovert? Or maybe someone who sucks at talking to new people?

Process Post: Final Reflection

The semester is now over, and what a great experience it’s been—especially with this class! 

This class, PUB 101, was interesting to me because I have never really been in a student-centered class, where we work on basically one project throughout the entire term—which, in this case, is our website.

I loved how the lectures were more conversational than a “traditionally” structured lecture. Suzanne really tried to get the class engaged in lecture content by having conversations with us and even by having us play games like Kahoot! 

Lauren also gave really detailed feedback whenever I asked for it—and even sometimes she just tells me during tutorial or office hours when I visit her. She is such a nice and fun person to talk to and I loved having her as a TA.

I honestly cannot believe that the semester is over already. Time flew so fast! Over the last—and fast—13 weeks, I really learned how to portray my online self publicly through my site. The energy I felt in this class is great, and I hope to see more of this energy in my future classes!

Process Post #12: TessDrives Community Guidelines

These community guidelines are designed to make this website an inclusive and welcoming platform. We welcome everyone especially those who are currently a Tesla owner, an electric vehicle owner, a prospective electric vehicle owner and even those who are just curious and passing by! This will ensure that this website is a safe space for everyone and creates an engaging environment for a wide range of diverse individuals!

Guidelines:

  • We will not tolerate any form of hate speech including but not limited to: Age, Disability, Ethnicity, Gender Identity and Expression, Nationality, Race, Immigration Status, Religion, Sex/Gender, Sexual Orientation, Victims of a major violent event and their kin, Veteran Status. Those engaging in these forms of hate speech will be banned from accessing the website and may face penalties and/or prosecution
  • Treat others online the way you would want to be treated
  • Everyone has their own opinions, please be respectful if your opinion differs with another individual
  • Do not give out personal information online and respect each other’s privacy

Rationale for Community Guidelines:

I started the community guidelines with an introduction as to what the community guidelines were for. I made sure to clearly mention that the website is a safe space where everyone is welcomed. Notice, I didn’t mention that only Tesla owners were allowed, nor did I mention only guys were allowed…

While this is not an exhaustive list of guidelines, I believe this is the optimal amount. It lays out the most important guidelines to follow for my website, without fire hosing my audience with a list of rules that might deter them from my website. I intentionally left out a guideline relating to trolls in hopes of utilizing the counter-trolling strategy where my audience can “flood the victims of abuse with kindness” (Stein, 2016). I feel like if I included a non-troll guideline, this would actually encourage the trollers to troll.

I am hoping that this brief set of community guidelines will lay a foundation of expectations for those who visit my site. Community guidelines tend to be updated as the world evolves. The internet faces new types of problems and learn to adapt to them through updated community guidelines. I believe this will be the same case for most websites from our Pub 101 class. But for now, these are the finalized community guidelines for TessDrives.

Featured photo: L. Adriano (2022). Insurance Business Canada. From: https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/breaking-news/osfi-amf-release-capital-adequacy-guidelines-for-insurance-companies-414135.aspx

References:

Stein, J. (2016, August 18). How Trolls Are Ruining The Internet. How Trolls Are Ruining The Internet | Time. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://time.com/4457110/internet-trolls/

This Isn’t Goodbye

As we come to the end of the semester and POSIEL, I find myself reflecting on the course and everything I have learned. Firstly, I want to say that I had a lot of fun, both in the class and doing my weekly public posts and assignments. This class was definitely the most enjoyable class...

Regarding the Importance of Rest and Community

The End

This site was created as part of a class at Simon Fraser University titled, Publication of Self in Everyday Life. 

As part of the class, we were required to develop one post a week about the process of creating our website. The teaching team supported the course in this endeavour, by providing materials to reference and prompts to adhere to. In the course, we referred to these posts as “process posts”; each and every post on this website that has the word regarding in the title is a “process post.”

This post is the final “process post” that will be created for the class.

Unfortunately, I was sick for last week’s lecture and unable to make it, however, I do know that the lecture was about community and am able to access the readings and slides from the course. Subsequently, this final process post is going to be about the importance of rest and community. 

Rest

Last week, I fell sick. 

When I was sick, I came across a Linkedin post by TED Conferences which made the point “by doing nothing, you are actually being your most productive and creative self. It might feel weird and uncomfortable at first, but boredom truly can lead to brilliance.”

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What the post explained, is the value that you receive when you take time to sit with your ideas. It explained that when you take time to do nothing, you are allowing your brain to process all the information from your life so that you can spend time daydreaming and realizing your aspirations in life.


Truthfully, over the course of the semester, I cannot help but feel that I have spent too little time doing that. 

However, it makes sense. Just see my post 30 Minutes: Working a 99 Hour Work Week. Since making that post, I did experience a period of severe burnout but thankfully recovered quickly after having a few days of rest. 

When I was sick last week, I had the opportunity to spend some time reflecting on my life, and as a result, I honestly feel much more in tune and aligned with myself than before I was sick. 

Ironically, having no rest is what truly has allowed me to realize the value that rest does provide.

Community

On the internet, there are communities, that would not exist if it were not for the internet. 

One such community that I am incredibly thankful to have participated in is Lookout Landing, a Mariners fan site, with an incredibly loyal audience and fun community. 

I found the site sometime in 2016 and have ever since been a follower of the site. In fact, almost every morning one of the first things that I do is take a look at posts which the site calls Moose Tracks. Moose Tracks are daily posts that share links to news around baseball. However, the content of the posts themselves are only a small part of the Lookout Landing experience, the comments below each post is where you actually get the opportunity to engage and talk to individuals in the lookout landing community. Typically Moose Track posts have around 300 comments per day, and if something big in baseball happens you can guarantee that these posts will have 500+ comments. 

Although based off my initial explanation it may not seem this way, Moose Tracks are actually only a small part of what makes Lookout Landing what it is. The staff of the site also posts game recaps, game threads (for discussion), game charts, analysis, creative writing pieces and more. All content based around the Seattle Mariners. 

Although I myself rarely comment and am a bit more of a lurker, I still feel very much a part of this community and it has helped fuel my Mariners fandom.

Lookout Landing most certainly is my favourite online community, they have a fantastic audience, great policy, and even better writers. 

If you are at all interested in the Seattle Mariners, I highly recommend checking out some of the posts on the site.

The Secret to Maintaining Energy and Creating Great Products

We are a product of the people around us. 

This is a fact. Simply start hanging around a different group of people and evaluate your speech pattern before and after. It will change. 

People around you also influence how you think of and view yourself as a person. A lot of the time, the people around you will either provide you with energy or drain you of it.

Community is key to shaping who we are and providing us with energy to move forward.

We are a product of the decisions we make.

The decisions we make, forge the path that we take and subsequently shape the history and future of our lives. When we do one thing, it will close some doors and open others. 

Oftentimes, the decisions we make are impulsive. When we are well-rested and aligned with who we truly are as people, these impulsive decisions can be effective. However, when we are tired and in dire need of rest, we often make poor and sloppy decisions.

Rest is critical to the decisions we make.

It should also be noted that we all have the opportunity to choose who it is that we spend time with. Rest enables us to choose the right communities for us to be a part of.

To maintain energy, be our best selves, and subsequently make great things, it is critical we are well rested and engaged with the right communities.

References

Zomorodi, M. (2022). By doing nothing, you are actually being your most productive. Ted Conferences. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ted-conferences_by-doing-nothing-you-are-actually-being-activity-7003032527359672321-dEjR/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop