RELI/ENGL 39, Fall 2015, University of the Pacific

Author: d_taam

Technology Experience and Universal Design

I have been around computers all my life, receiving my first desktop around the age of seven. I don’t believe I even used the keyboard until I used computers in school. In school we had a class twice a week where we played with the program “Kid Pix” and also practiced typing. Eventually I found Role Playing Games and Real Time Strategy Games and that took over my life for a while. I eventually got so into games that I decided to build my own computer with the help of my dad. He used to fix computers as a side business and I would occasionally accompany him on his jobs. I guess it was my dad who really got me into technology, even now I believe that he knows more about computers than I do. I consider myself pretty tech-savvy, at least when it comes to Windows (not MAC or Linux) and I think that it is because I have been computers for so long. I have run into problems and either fixed them myself or observed my dad fix them in front of me. I rely heavily of technology because I believe it makes life more efficient as well as convenient.

The Williams article talks about “Universal Design” and what exactly that term means. Accessibility and Affordability are the two main points I got from the “Why Universal Design” section. Accessibility meaning that anyone can have access to technology. Everyone should have access to technology because it will contribute to the wealth of knowledge that we have been accumulating. People in other countries who don’t have access as well as people with disabilities whom technology does not cater to, and even people who just don’t know how to use the technology are all excluded from our database. Affordability goes to the people who do not have access, if technology is too expensive it will always be out of reach for some and they will not be an active part of our records. We may know things about them from what other people write but it would be much better to hear what they think straight from them. People with disabilities are slowly being catered to, with new programs and devices to help them get close to the same accessibility as people who do not have their disability. As for people who do not know how to use technology, I believe that if you have not used technology for an extended period of time, or do not have a profound interest in technology and have the motivation to learn will be left behind in some ways.

In conclusion I believe that Universal Design is necessary if we are going to have a “complete” database. Early introduction to technology is the most important but to have early introduction we need everyone to be able to access technology in the first place.

Digital Humanities

To define digital humanities is essentially moving what we see as information, communication, and entertainment into a digital or non-physical form. A lot of the information we see as “legitimate” has converted from physical media to digital media. Documents such as Newspapers, Encyclopedias, Books, and Academic Journals usually have both a physical copy as well as a digital copy published, but I believe that digital humanities expands the concept of “legitimate” information. Why digital humanities is becoming such a relevant subject is because most people are on the internet and leave a “digital footprint”. If only a few people were on the internet speaking with each other digital humanities would not be very helpful unless someone in the future was researching those few people. Digital humanities will allow everyone who has left a digital footprint to be researched in the future.

From the first reading Twitter was brought up as a possible form of legitimate material. I believe this could be the case but I also believe that it can only be legitimate if both parties are experts on the topic of conversation. Reading the conversation between two Academic Journal Authors could be like summarizing both of their Journals. Rather than reading both their Journals which can be very dense and hard to understand here you have summaries of what each of them have researched and what they have concluded after doing that research. The second reading sort of agreed with the first in that we should be more receptive as well as open with information online. When events unfold in the real world yes they are documented but how the event affects people is not always mentioned. For example, look at the Chinese Economy. As a normal person we may hear that the United States believes that China’s economy has taken a hit and is not doing as well but what does that mean for the people here? How would a normal person with no knowledge of  world markets know how they will be affected by the change? One helpful tool could be “Reddit” and to be more specific the sub “ELI5 (explain it like I’m 5)”. Here people pose questions about things they have little to no knowledge in and people with more knowledge in the particular subject try to explain in a manner almost everyone can understand. People in the community who also have knowledge about the subject may also chime in but eventually a “top post” arises because other users agree that this is an accurate description and it is also conveyed in a way that most people can understand. This is an example of pulling knowledge from a bunch of people, maybe even experts and putting it in a form of digital media that may not be in the conventional “legitimate research material” of today.

I believe that in the future things like Reddit as well as Blogs, Twitter, and even Wikipedia could be some of the best research materials in the future. If more credible people used as well as identified themselves as credible (website runs a background check before) I believe that research material could be consolidated into just a handful of websites. Digital humanities is making information more readily available as well as accessible to the average person but also making it easier for scholars to research more thoroughly.

Voyant

I believe that Voyant is a great way to simultaneously analyse multiple documents about the same subject. When looking over academic journals for a research paper instead of skimming though every journal one by one for certain words or phrases, Voyant simplifies the process and saves time. The “keywords in context” would be the most helpful when trying to find certain phrases for your research. Also narrowing the search down with the “words in documents” tab can make your research much more efficient and organized. There are some problems that could come up, such as not being able to find all of your research materials online for Voyant to process, or Voyant itself just not loading. I ran into the later when trying to upload a picture of word trends. The main thing I took away from Voyant was the ability to collect written material and sort and search the material in a timely manner. Also knowing that all the material was thoroughly looked through and you are not missing any instance of when you searched for. I believe that this is a way of reducing human error and I really like the concept.