#blogpost8

After going through this weeks readings, there are three critical points that were brought to attention. The first was “The Project as Basic Unit” which delved into who is involved in digital humanities projects, how they’re organized, and several other important highlights. It was interesting to read about funding for these types of digital humanities project as I know it can be very limited in general. Coming from a biology background, there were always opportunities to receive funding through science organizations although it was still a difficult process. The second point is “Institutions and Pragmatics. This section brings up a point that I am not sure has previously been discussed in class, but about scale. How much material are we aiming to produce and how many people are we hoping to reach? Assuming we are on a strict budget and limited on time, will we be sticking with one well formulated and produced digital history visualization? Or will we be trying to create multiple options that have the potential to be expanded upon later? I think going forward it will be important for us to narrow down exactly what this project hopes to convey, how to convey it, and who to convey it to. 

As mentioned in A Short Guide to the Digital Humanities, impact is an important factor in any sort of digital project. The impact of what we are working on with the Hungerford school should be something that we keep in mind. We should work to maximize the impact this project will have. Creating and presenting something with substantial impact is what will lead to change. What is also mentioned in this reading is experimentation. We need to try new things and see if they stick. This is the best way to find something that will provide the most amount of impact. We have to take some risk to be able to get the most out of this project. Bringing GIS into this project, we should be conscious of the data we have on hand and its ability to be applied spatially for the digitization of this project. 

While combing through some of the primary sources, a few things become apparent. There are many different perspectives involved in the Hungerford school. The primary source is the state archives on the situation with the school. These were written in a way that is very sterile in its language. It contains a good bit of very useful information, however, the tone is very formal. Then there are the primary sources that are letters to many people talking about this issue with the Hungerford school and sending letters and newspaper columns. These formats contain language that is more accessible to the public. These formats show how people were really talking to each other at the time about this issue. These differences in tone with these primary sources is something that we feel should be looked at. What tone is being conveyed by the different formats when they talk or mention different things about the Hungerford school, or the situation surrounding it. Taking a look at the tone that was used during different points of time while referring to the Hungerford school is something we feel that is important to discuss and look into. This links to how people were feeling about the school over time as well. Tone is something that we should keep in mind for our own project as well. What words and language are we going to use to present what we know about this situation so that it is accessible to the community who needs this. Making the language accessible will allow this project to be able to get a wider reach and have more of an impact for this community.

To summarize all of the primary sources, we had the thought of creating an informational video that was either hosted by the students or Dr. French. We assume you’re still able to walk around on the Hungerford property? It would be neat to be able to walk the property while talking about its history and reflecting on what used to be in certain locations. We could show a map on the screen of where we are standing in comparison to the original property and also show a pop-up image / visualization of what used to be in a certain location. For example, when discussing the Hungerford school, we could walk around what is currently there and show an image of the original school so there’s a comparison and discuss topics about the school and what has happened over time. This could also turn into a miniature vlog series that is sponsored by the history department where we go chronologically through the history of the Hungerford property while filming it there. The biggest concern with this would be getting enough views or traction with the video(s), however we feel this would still be a good medium to present information.

Solitude

Solitude is taking time for YOUR OWN-SELF, thinking for your own SELF and Development, thinking of what will be your next move in your career, personal life, etc.

Solitude is taking time out to confer with yourself and tap your supreme thinking power. Many of political and religious leaders e.g. Gautam Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, Narendra Modi have spend their considerable time alone, alone with nothing but with their own thinking parameters. They spent their much time in solitude without any distraction of life.

Sitting with fresh mind without an distraction, breathing exercise and keeping positive mindset have proved skilful to plan one’s future moves, to look into situations as bigger picture and work out plans strategically.

Some of ways to practice solitude are…..

• Schedule a date with yourself

• Sit with Nature and let yourself simply be.

• Be Your Own Best Friend

• Repeat some positive affirmations

Hello and welcome back everyone! I hope everyone’s first podcasts went well last week. I’m really excited about this week’s blog prompt, as I find so many things about nature to be amazing. However, this made it a bit difficult to narrow down which subject I wanted to talk about as there isn't one thing I find more amazing than the other. It really is impossible to choose just one. But! I am going to share with you some really cool facts I discovered only recently through my studies about the Atlantic Puffin!

Atlantic Puffins (Fractercula arctica) are exotic looking birds that live along the Atlantic coast, including right here in Canada. These birds were actually mistaken for two different species at one point due to their changing beak colours depending on the season! When they’re breeding, their beaks are the bright colours we normally think of shown on the left of the image below, but during the winter they turn partially grey and lose most of their vibrancy as seen in the bird on the right. Nearing the end of the winter season, puffins actually become unable to fly for a short period of time! This happens when they’re old feathers are being lost to make way for new feathers for the spring.

(Summer and winter plumages, 2005)

If their change in appearance isn't interesting enough, my favourite fact about the Atlantic puffin is that they have photoluminescent beaks, as in their beaks “glow” under UV light! This was only recently discovered in 2018 so the theories behind why their beaks glow are so far mostly unconfirmed, with some suggesting it’s for mating purposes. Puffins also have tetrachromatic vision, meaning they see a mixture of 4 colours compared to humans that only see a mix of 3 (the primary colours). So, there’s currently no way to know what these glowing beaks look like to one another, or to other birds! The image below depicts a puffin’s beak under UV light!

(Dunning, 2018)

It’s unfortunate that these interesting creatures are declining in population, with environmental factors such as climate change threatening their existence. A regrettably common trait shared among many species. Although I found it hard to choose just one amazing thing about nature to talk about this week, there is one thing that connects all of them that I am consistently passionate about. And that is to protect and preserve the environment that everything in nature calls home. I hope we can all continue to mitigate climate change so we can continue to see fascinating wildlife like the Atlantic puffin!

Thank you guys for tagging along, I hope everyone has a good week!

-Kendra :)

References

Dunning, J., Diamond, A. W., Christmas, S. E., Cole, E.L., Holberton, R. L., Jackson, H. J., Kelly, K. G., Brown, D., Rivera, I. R., Hanley, D. (2018). Photoluminescence in the bill of the Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica. Bird Study, 65(4), 570-573. https://doi-org.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/10.1080/00063657.2018.1563771

Dunning, J. (2018). [Untitled photograph of photoluminescent puffin bill]. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/puffin-beaks-flouresce-1.4607386

Nature Conservancy Canada. (2020). Atlantic puffin. NCC. Retrieved November 12, 2021, from https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/what-we-do/resource-centre/featured-species/birds/atlantic-puffin.html. 

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

In our days in the dominant digital media world, we often hear the word algorithm as a mysterious quasi-magical mechanism that, in a way, governs the cyberspace. But what is an algorithm?

Researcher Tarleton Gillespie, in the second chapter of Digital Keywords: A Vocabulary of Information Society and Culture, provides an explanation of what algorithms are and their functions in the digital world. First of all, it is important to make a distinction between data and algorithms. Data can be defined as factual information and used as a basis for calculation and reasoning. Algorithm, instead, is a step-by-step procedure for organizing and acting on a body of data to achieve a desired outcome (19). It is, therefore, a procedure for solving a math problem to collect information and involves a series of steps to accomplish a specific goal which usually means maximize profit. From an algorithm designer’s point of view, an algorithm is a model – the formalization of a problem and its goal, which implies also that there are many algorithms inside a given model.

For example, the YouTube algorithm’s goals are to find the right video for each viewer and get the viewers keep watching. Indeed, YouTube provides users several recommended videos based on past researches, interests, location and, in general, collected data from users’ usage of the platform. The YouTube algorithm decides what people watch on the platform 70% of the time, and 81% of American users say that they regularly watch videos recommended by the algorithm.

Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash

Algorithms can be trained on a basis of existing material and data, certified either by designers or by past users’ practices. The algorithm is then run on these data so that it may learn to pair queries. An example of this use of algorithm is the face recognition technology, but it can contain bias. The tech company HP has been protagonist of a problematic issue regarding the face-tracking technology that does not recognize black faces. If the algorithm is trained to recognize just white faces, it is not going to recognize a black face as a human face, and this becomes really problematic.

Ethical Bean

Brand Consistency Layout: A grid is used to ensure all contents have the same size, placement, and margins.

Typography: The same typeface, font, and paragraph styles are used. Hierarchy is used to help customers understand what the product is, the flavour, and the quantity. It is used to convey other information, but these three things are looked for the most. 

Illustration: Illustrations are faint and vary based on the flavour. They are flat outlined shapes that consist of a tone from the colour palette of the flavour.

Design differentiation amongst flavours Colour: Colours represent the look and feel for each. For example, the dark roast consists of black and brown. Black represents dark, and brown represents roast and coffee.

Illustration: The illustrations also apply to the look and feel. For example, the decaf package has a lawn chair, which provides a sense of relaxing. When people want a simple coffee that won’t keep them up all night, they go for something calm such as decaf.

 Brand and/or concept The brand is pushing ethics in its name. There is info at the bottom to let people know their coffee is made in an ethical way. They mention fair trade and organic ingredients, which is all the more reason to purchase despite the expensive price.

M&M’S

Brand Consistency Layout: A grid is used to ensure all contents have the same size, placement, and margins.

Typography: The same typeface, font, and paragraph styles are used. Hierarchy is used to help customers understand what the product is, the flavour, and the quantity. It is used to convey other information, but these three things are looked for the most. 

Illustration: Illustrations are dominant and placed in the center since they are iconic and recognizable for most. The expressions on the faces add to the brand personality, which is being sold more than the product itself.

Design differentiation amongst flavours Labels: Labels in the top left corner easily allow people to see which flavour is which. Although it may be obvious that green is mint, it’s not as obvious that blue is almond. These labels are visible at first glance, avoiding frustration.

Colour: Colour shows that each one must be a different flavour. As mentioned earlier, it’s hard to know which is which. The accompanied labels really help to avoid confusion.

Tensions between China and the other superpowers of the world has been steadily rising. This is especially true with American to China interrelations.

Luckily this Huawei news came to surface right as I needed a topic for this blog post. I guess the universe is on my side with this one!

So the story goes like this. Google is an American company that has a multitude of online tools and programs that can be used. They also run and own Android. For pretty much any non-Apple phone this is standard program that is used to run smart phones everywhere. As of late May, Google has made the decision to no longer allow their program to run on Huawei devices.

This is pretty huge, not only because Huawei is a Chinese run and owned business, but because Huawei is a large company. It is estimated that they are the second biggest smart phone manufacturer in the world and are second to Samsung in most phones purchased (Villas-Boas, 2018).

Why did they do this?

Well it can be linked to President Donald Trump (like he hasn’t done enough). In late 2018, Trump signed a executive order, this order basically declares a “national emergency over threats against US information and communications technology” (Villas-Boas, 2018). They put Huawei on a list that means that any information transferred between them and a company must be approved by the government beforehand.

Simple put, the government believes China is collecting data about it’s American Huawei users and wants to put an end to it.

What does this mean?

So it may kind of seem like Google wiped every Huawei device and now every smart phone has no access to the program at all. This is not the case. Google has allowed all pre-existing devices to continue as normal. A statement released by Google sources states:

“We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications, Huawei will only be able to use the public version of Android and will not be able to get access to proprietary apps and services from Google.” (Google, 2019)

So new Huawei phones will not be able to run android and updates will not be provided anymore. This will take a huge hit to the companies international buyers and makes them increasingly less appealing (Fingas, 2019).

How does it affect Huawei and it’s social media?

Well unfortunately for Huawei not only does it loose access to the Google Apps (Gmail, Google Drive, Maps, etc) and play store. Because Social Medias like Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp are all US owned companies even if they developed their own program, their phones would not be allowed to support these apps. It is impossible to create rival programs and an Appstore (McGregor, 2019).

What are they doing to solve the issue?

Well first off Huawei has halted production of their phones and stopped it all together in some lines. They claim this is due to reduced orders (Fingas, 2019). There has also been talks of Huawei having their own program in the works as well. Unfortunately thought not much can really be done to solve this issue unless Google lifts their ban.

At this point Huawei are in some hot water.

References:

Fingas, J. (2019). Huawei reportedly scales back phone production following US ban. [online] Engadget.com. Available at: https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/01/huawei-scales-back-phone-production/.

McGregor, J. (2019). How The Huawei Ban Affects Android. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgregor/2019/05/22/huawei-disaster-will-impact-android-in-one-clear-way/#60934f075317.

I’m so happy to see my own progress. In the first photo I’m exhibiting my knitting process just like a masterpiece nailed to the wall. I deeply believe that what I have made is a form of art displayed in such manner (I tend to think that everything I do is a masterpiece).

Anyway, it has been an eye-opening journey. I think I have regained my patience that I had lost. As a child I used to have more patience in doing crafty things but I guess I lost it, with time. Now, I think I have some of it back.

Knitting has honestly helped me, through midterms week as a stress reliever.

I shared some of my progress on my personal Instagram account, I got a lot of positive feedback.

I made the four playlist. They clearly represent my progress in knitting. The playlist start with some docile and slow beat. Because that’s what you need when you begging knitting for the first time. Slowly proceed to what I called “advanced level of listening to music and more confidence in your own knitting skills” which is the final stage (when I become an expert I want to listen to Black Flag and knit). By the final stage I have reached, the beat of the songs are faster to help knit.

I also, learned that I preconception of knitting being a gendered craft is represented on YouTube. Most of the videos are made by women. There is the occasional “Oh look, a man is knitting!”, which is ridiculous. Hopefully, it will change in the future.

My last step now is to show off to my grandmother Barbara and possibly challenge her in a knit-off? Maybe I’m getting too ahead of myself?

I wonder if I knit more in public, more elderly women will become my friends? Maybe they will stop complaining about my generation for a hot second?

I will be knitting my life away just like my grandmother Barbara. I can’t wait to see what the knitting future has in store for me.

1.      What do you see as your roles as a citizen of this country in meeting the needs of our community?

As a Belgian girl, I still like being interested in other cultures and governments in the world. The issues here in the US are different from my country obviously, but since this country is significant in the world, we can easily be inform of what is going on. I was then interested in an immigration issue. I am not a citizen of this country but I am coming here for a year and I think it is important to play the role of citizen this year. 

2.     What have you learned in this class about civic responsibility?

I realized how THE people can actually impact their politics. The government is there of course to maintain the order and make it real but the government should only be a group of people who shape people’s wishes. It is important to be active and present and not to let the government decide for us.

3.     Do you feel it is your civic obligation to help address the problems your civic action issue has created? Explain.

I do. When there is an issue, our duty is to do everything in our power to solve it or try to make the situation better. I still feel like I am little weak and powerless for that but I am sure that whatever you do, even though it is a small thing or action, can contribute to the society.

4.    Have you volunteered your time to respond to this issue, either by directly volunteering; educating the public about it;  expanding your knowledge of the issue by attending government or non-government meetings, demonstrations, etc.?  If so, explain this experience in detail, provide dates and evidence.

I was supposed to go on a Field Trip at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco earlier in the year but unfortunately, because of the smoke due to the fires in California, it was postponed until February. I still went visited the Court with my host parents during the break because they both work there as attorneys. I think it is a really nice place to visit and it is important to be aware that Judicial issues are treated there and that people can be represented there.This place is pretty significant because it is the Court of Appeals for the whole West Coast>

5.     If you have not been civically engaged, what are YOU willing to do in the future to respond to your civic action issue?