The advancements in technology have exceeded a lot of expectations in just a short period of time. Over the past two decades, technological developments managed to shape the world in a way that only a few would expect. Today, we are witnesses of the rapid development of smartphones and internet use that ‘make life easier for everyone,’ such that we are all connected 24/7. In near future, we will live in smart cities, where everything would potentially be wireless; this way we can establish connection to people from areas where it is hard to have internet communication. Out of all the advancements, I have personally been amazed by the development of Sophia AI Robot – the first humanoid robot to hold a passport, talk to people and travel the world. Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays an important role in shaping the way we live as well as promises for future research and development. However, there are many implications from AI – controversies about safety, human existence, and many benefits and harms to the society.

In this paper, I would try to focus on analyzing some of the benefits from AI as an emerging communication technology. I will emphasize the developments of humanized robots and their role in communication between humans. Furthermore, I will try to examine the shifts of economic and political power on a global level, if any,  that would happen from the implementation of AI in one’s everyday lifestyle.

During the construction phase of the Solar Decathlon competition, I have drastically reduced the amount of time I spend on social media, especially Messenger and Instagram; however, if I get a notification (that is, an important message) I would reply within half an hour or so because it all depends who busy I am at the moment. I’ve noticed I started to avoid some of the group friend chats because these make me less efficient and deconcentrated from the work. Even though, I make sure to always stay in the loop to know what is happening out there where my friends and family are. Once I read the assignment, I thought of the idea to actually change the way I use social media applications to make myself focused only on the work. I decided to click ‘Turn off until I turn on back’ on my Messenger and to remove my Instagram app from my screen for one full day, and I turned out to have positive effect on me and my efficiency. I realized everyone in the team is on the group chat, such that even if someone directs a message to me, other active members around me would let me know and I would go check that notification. Needless to say is that the most important conversations I have these days are the team group chat for the competition as well as my family group chat. With amount of work that I had that day, I forgot about Instagram and I was lucky not to be bothered with any notifications from the application.

I must say this experiment was very useful for me to realize the importance of ‘being present in the moment’ and focus on what is happening at that particular moment rather than staying online trying to be present everywhere. It helped me realize nowadays we only aim to stay connected online as well as to find out there are people surrounding us with their physical appearance that we can connect to. In addition to this, not knowing what the other students are doing for fun (mainly through their Instagram stories) while I am working at a construction site has helped me focus more on the work I have been doing rather than thinking ‘I could have gone to those concerts as well.’

Overall, I have decided to implement this type of communication until the end of the semester to help me focus on capstone and course assignments. I am not going to implement it as strict as during the 24-hour experiment but I will still have control over my activity on social media.

It was an interesting experience. I always check stack exchange sites whenever I have questions regarding my homework assignments, and math problems; it is the first site to appear on my google search and I find it quite reliable when it comes to technical questions. This time, I was excited to actually join it for the first time and comment, ask a question and just go over different sites. I decided to stick with the site ‘Pets’ because I have 11 cats at home and I was eager to read some cat-related questions and discussions. I commented on a couple of them and got instant replies. However, it took me some time to find the ones I felt comfortable commenting on; the site has questions rearding different pets and finding ones specifically about cats took me a bit of time. Here’s an example of one of my comments and a reply from someone else:

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I did not know one has to be at a certain level with points to be able to comment –  I tried to open the frequent questions, and once I clicked on ‘Add a comment,’ the system did not let me do so with the explanation I do not have 50 credits/points. I realized I will have to spend more time on the site to get to that level and then be able to comment.

When I tried to add a question, I did not pay close attention. Clicking ‘Submit’ gave me error in return – I did not meet the general guidelines on adding the Topic/Question. Then I read more careful and the next time I tried it worked out. I still have not received any comments on the question that was ‘How do I give away some of my cats?’ with the explanation that I have many cats at home and they have settled down, are attached to our family, and would be hard for them to live on their own. I earned the Student badge and scored +5 for this activity (in just a few minutes after posting).

Overall, an interesting experience. I am going to use the sites more often from now on!

We decided to keep it simple, because the simpler the concept is, the easier the practical work will be. We used four different cylindrical sticks for alphanumeric characters and a black metallic stick to signalize space.

As it can be seen in the visual representation above, different colors symbolize different groups of characters. The moves (that is, signs) for every alphanumeric character were randomly chosen to make it easier for both the transmitter and receiver to remember them. The same moves were repeated for different sticks; one sequence of moves was repeated for vowels and numbers, and another one for first six consonants. Then, a combination of the two sticks was used for the last nine consonants.

In the first sequence for numbers and vowels, random moves were chosen for the characters; however, it was important to remember the flow of the sequence. For example, holding the pink stick with your right hand, it signalizes E, and holding the yellow sticker in the same position signalizes the number 2 (both signalize the second member of the sequence, except for 0 in numbers which is considered a separate member).  In the second sequence, same technique was applied. For example, pointing out at your left shoulder with the blue-colored stick signalizes B and holding the black sticker in the same position signalizes K. The moves and their signals are shown below.

It is important to note that we agreed Gjorgji to be the transmitter and Yero the receiver, so Gjorgji signalized each character for documentation, such that during the competition, it would be easier for Yero to be more familiar with the move Gjorgji makes.

For the last nine consonants of the alphabet, a combination of two sticks was applied to signalize each character; these were black and blue-colored stick. Except for Q, R and Z which were random moves, for S,T,V,W,X,Y we decided to actually show each character visually. Out of these, only W and X were shown in its original position, whereas the other ones facing the ground (that is, being inverted). A visual representation is shown below.

The system was easy to be remembered such that the sentence can be easier transmitted when one has to combine the different moves. However, during the competition, we realized that some character can be incorrectly signalized – such as R and Y, when Gjorgji transmitted R as Y putting the blue-colored stick a bit up than it was supposed to be – and we did not think of a way to signalize a repetition of a word or a character when the receiver is not sure which character is actually being transmitted. For future improvements in the system, we should think of implementing this improvement for full system functionality.

The Cyrillic Alphabet as the start of a new era in education and communication

What else could I choose, if not the Cyrillic alphabet as a communication technology that was created by the two Slavs from Macedonia – St. Cyril and Methodius?  The Cyrillic was in first place invented to translate the Holy Scriptures for the Slavic people (mainly from Greek language) to make the Bible more accessible. Since they were both Monarchs, they spent quite a bit of time teaching students (younger Monarchs) who were mainly from Ohrid, the city with 365 churches and the origin of education in Macedonia. The Cyrillic alphabet was later modified by St. Clement and Naum of Ohrid, their two best students. This modification led to the implementation of the alphabet into education, that is, to teach people how to read and write. It was massively spread around Ohrid, leading to the introduction of the use of letter as a written type of communication between people from different places.

I have studied a lot about Macedonian language and the origin and development of Cyrillic alphabet in primary and high school, and find this idea very interesting for my first assignment. It would let me analyze the stage of progression and use in written and spoken language, as the main medium of communication. Also, by analyzing the Cyrillic alphabet, I can do more research on the positive and negative consequences it had on the people, their interest in learning the written language, and in its use for educational purpose.

Bibliography:

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/10/opinion/l-cyril-and-methodius-neither-greeks-nor-bulgarians-but-slavs-182081.html
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/in-pictures-ohrid-home-of-cyrillic-05-23-2018
http://learnrussian.rt.com/alphabet/the-history-of-the-cyrillic-alphabet/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Slavic-languages#ref604061

Printing press in Macedonia

Prior to 1835, printing press did not exist in Macedonia. Books ready to print were sent to Vienna, Belgrade and Russia, implying high costs and risks. The first printing office was open in Thessaloniki, sometime between 1835 and 1838 by Teodosij Sinaitski. The office was burnt in 1842, and only five books were fully printed there.

Interestingly enough, the second printing office was open in 1848 in the village of Vatasa which belongs to the city I come from – Kavadarci. It was called Vatasa Printing Office, opened by Daskal Kamce. There is not much evidence for this office, however the first Macedonian Reader was printed there. It is believed that many other books were printed in these two offices, however, due to political tension and unacceptance of the Macedonian language by other Slav countries at the time, a large amount of material for and printed in these two offices was completely burnt.

After these two offices, the third printing office was opened in Thessaloniki in 1852. These three offices mark the beginning of the printing press in Macedonia, aiming at promoting books written and printed in Macedonian language for massive use in educating people.

Bibliography:

http://makedonskijazik.mk/2010/03/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5-%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8.html

I live in an agricultural city where majority of families possess vineyards and produce homemade vine. I draw 3 emojis; a red tractor, a typical look of a vineyard worker, and a bowl full of grapes and other fruits.

These 3 emojis most clearly represent the city in the clearest visual form. I first sent them to my sister and a friend, explaining them the purpose of the homework assignment. Their responses were as followed:

I was shocked by my sister’s response; she interpreted only one of the emojis – the stereotypical look of a worker – saying this does not look to her as a worker, but rather the look one makes when they are forced to reply “YES” even though they want to say “NO” in specific situations. I closely looked at the face afterwards and realized it can be interpreted that way too. This is related to our class discussion from last week on how people can have different intentions for sending a particular emoji and how the receivers are capable of interpreting it in a completely different way.

However, I got an interesting response from one of my friends, Iva, who decided to respond using a mix of text and emojis. Iva understood the original idea of what my 3 emojis represent. In fact, she described the meaning of my emojis, as opposed to how my sister reacted to them. These two responses are one small proof for us to understand that emoji language can have multiple meanings and be interpreted differently depending on the situation.

After I had gotten two reactions on the original version, I decided to send the emojis to my parents with a different emoji for the stereotypical look of a worker – I made it funnier this time:

Here are my parents’ responses:

I only asked them if they can associate the emojis with anything, not explaining the purpose of the exercise and the connection of the emojis to home. Both my parents are not a very tech-oriented people and they do not use emojis frequently. My mom immediately got the point of the sequence, saying “I can associate this with home; the tractor, the grapes – as if this is a representation of our city. It is represented in an interesting way.” My dad first asked what the picture was about (the emojis), and then I told him it is a visual representation of something we think or the way in which we express emotions. Then he replied “aaaaa” – as if he got it, saying “this represents our city of Kavadrci – that is a typical worker with a cigarette and a hat, the grapes and the tractor.” I was quite surprised to see how people who have not grown up in the decades of technology expansion and dependence can easier understand emoji language. It reminded me of the time I was a kid in primary school and used creativity to visually represent my ideas (similar to what Iva said in her response); comparing my experience to the one of today’s generations, I can argue that they lack creativity for expressing ideas in a visual form because they are restricted to using emojis available to them – this is mainly due to the fact that kids nowadays depend on using technology both in and out of school.

This is not the first time I’m going off-grid and taking time for myself, but it’s my first time in these two weeks since the beginning of the academic year. And it was all worth it – I re-energized myself and focused on the activates I was doing as well as enjoying the time with my friends.

I’ve never been to the gym without my phone because I always listen to the playlists and use some apps for workouts. So, it was not that challenging. Rather, it was really cool. I took my watch with my to use it as a stopwatch and relied on the playlist going on in the gym. They’ve got some nice music playing over there that I really enjoyed. I did feel like an outsider because majority of the people had their headphones on, but I realized I actually enjoyed working out without any device in my possession.

The Dining Hall experience was interesting because I completely forgot about the time and focused on eating my food slowly. Even though I went there without a pre-scheduled dinner plan with friends, I still met some of the people I meet every day; this time was different. We got the chance to talk more than we’d talk when we all bring our phones with us. The conversation lasted for one-and-a-half hour, not realizing we were there for that long – usually we would eat fast, chat a little bit, and leave. This time we talked about different topics including politics and post-graduation plans.

The most valuable part of the experience was the one going out. Having observed how most of the people in the clubs use mobile phones to take multiple pictures and post “the coolest” Instagram stories, etc. (I do the same things many times), I realized we do not take time to enjoy life, ourselves and the time spent with those surrounding us. Without my phone, I felt like I was back in my parents’ youth, which I actually enjoyed a lot; I could dance to the music and have fun with friends not focusing on who is going to see my story or like my new post (I actually realized that my parents had lots of fun when they were going out).

This whole experience reminded me that disconnecting yourself from the internet can give you a different perspective on the world and the type of life you are actually living most of the time. It served as a lesson for me that IT IS OKAY not to rely on any technological devices. However, I did feel bad for not replying to my family on the messages for more than 8 hours as they can get worried – it is daytime, I’m offline and am not receiving their messages. Speaking of this, maybe they should also try this “experiment” – and maybe not very frequent communication between both sides would be beneficial in future.

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We live in an era when technology rapidly grows, hardly knowing what the next step would be. Technology has become a vital part of our lives, such that when we wake up in the morning we always first check if there’s any missed call on our phones, a Facebook message, a notification, etc. When we respond to a message, many times we would use emojis, stickers or shorten words rather than a full sentence, thinking we deliver a message. Speaking of communication, if we refer to the time of the beginning of civilization, the first type of communication techniques used were the letter (characters) and body language; sound came into practice later. This means nowadays the type of e-communication people rely on seems to be similar to what our ancestors had used before they invented the spoken language.

Nowadays, a lot of people would think of communication as a verbal exchange of information between two sides. However, to me communication does not only represent a verbal exchange, as it has to do more with the message one is trying to convey and the information they transmit, whether that is spoken or body language or sent through an electronic device. In his book The Information, Gleick writes, “We can see now that information is what our world runs on: the blood and the fuel the vital principle. It pervades sciences from top to bottom, transforming every branch of knowledge.” Information is always transmitted from one end to another, then another one, and another one, and it keeps going in a circle. Every time, the transmitted bit of information is mixed with noise (information from another end), so that the receiver can use this new information in a different connotation able to deliver a different message.

The amount of information we receive through technology is immeasurable; it grows every second. Technology has enabled us to always know what is happening in any place on Earth, making us more connected that we have ever been. It makes lives easier for those migrating due to the ability to connect them to their loved ones fast and easy. Technology can also be abused for various reasons, negatively affecting the world and our lives.