In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, he predicts a society with immense government surveillance, where everyone is constantly being watched by a higher authoritarian figure. This fictional storyline is not too far off from China’s upcoming “social credit” system, scheduled to be implemented in 2020. As we enter a futuristic world succumbed by robots and artificial intelligence, our society is becoming more and more data driven. For our every action, our movements are already being surveilled and recorded into a database that has a complete profile of each individual. In China’s “social credit system,” each individual has a social score that is controlled by the government, and can affect their ability to buy plane/train tickets, to access the internet, to register for schools or jobs, and many other daily life interactions. This is all done in the name of a better and more civilized society. Yet, we must ask ourselves, how much control is too much control? How will this impact our daily life interactions? Do we want our government to have a record of our every action? Will this one day create a society that mimics Black Mirror’s social rating system? High-tech surveillance is an imperative topic that needs to be discussed on a global scale.

As I grew up, I distinctly remember when I would sit in front of the TV with my mum at 7:30PM to watch the daily news broadcast, a 30-minute segment that summed up international and local issues. What once started as a compulsory routine initiated by my parents became some sort of voluntary commitment. As the years went by, and I left home for highschool, this habit came to a halt. As much as I hate to admit it, over the past few years, I get most of my news intake through Facebook. While it seems to provide the greatest access to a variety of different sources, the validity and importance of some of the news can be questionable. Hence, for the rewire activity, I decided to begin my temporary detox from Facebook (I still retained the messenger app), and consciously (or forcefully) move towards a certified news broadcasting app – my choice being the New York Times due to the paid subscription our university provides.

My overall experience was quite fruitful, and I have two main takeaways from this activity. Firstly, Facebook wires our brain to a lower attention span. Most articles on Facebook are short and concise, with very limited details. Hence, as I started reading longer articles on NYT, I began to get restless, often stopping halfway through. Nevertheless, the depth of information you attain is remarkable, allowing oneself to be well-informed – one example being my current knowledge on Khashoggi’s death and the politics between Saudi and the US. Secondly, even with all its flaws, Facebook promotes diversity in terms of functionality and content (although content might be debatable at times). In retrospect, most of the news on NYT were US-centric – I was reading about US politics, about the pressure exerted on university students entering the NFL, about natural disasters in the US – everything was related somewhat to the US. Whereas, the content on Facebook is much more diverse, especially given the context of our university’s student body. Referring to Zuckerman’s book on Digital Cosmopolitans, cognitive diversity is vital in developing our creativity and problem-solving skills. Yet, the question is whether the value of limited but diverse information (Facebook) is more than detailed but concentrated information (NYT).

What I realize however is that the key is striking a balance between the two. The end of Chapter 8 discusses how news is shifting towards being more representative and more global, such that is vital for a world of digital cosmopolitans.

It was the first time I was using Stack Exchange, and I honestly found it quite similar to other platforms I have seen/used in the past including Reddit and Quora. When entering the site, I found the options for the different “stacks” quite limiting. There were less than 150 sites altogether, and this contributed to the limited type of groups users could join. Nevertheless, I found myself joining 6 different communities: 1. Sports, 2. Academia, 3. Bitcoin, 4. Economics, 5. The Workplace, 6. Personal finance & money.

I posted my first question on the Sports community. Earlier in the day, I was struggling to find some data for my Capstone Project, and I thought maybe it might be a good idea to post the question. In less than an hour, one user responded to it, and gave me links to useful resources. And, a couple of hours later, another person replied to my posting. Someone even “upvoted” my question. I gained a total of 5 reputation points, bringing my total to 6 (you get 1 for joining the community).

I also posted questions in another communities, including one in the Academia one, and another in the Personal finance & money one. While both questions were answered by various individuals, I did not get any reputation points since neither questions were “upvoted” by other users. In most of interactions, it was quite interesting to observe the seriousness of the answers, including comments that pushed for some of my question to be closed because it was apparently “off-topic”. Neverthless, I appreciated some of the answers and they turned out to be quite useful.  

I enjoyed the elements of interactivity in the Stack Exchange platform. For one, the “reputation points” was a good system to track and rank users based on contribution. This helped create a structured community with users judged on their usefulness. Users could set targets to reach different levels based on their “reputation points”, and unlocked different sets of skills as they gained more points. At the same time, the “upvote” and “downvote” function helped sustain orderliness in the community. It is also interesting to see how users regulated other users. For example, for my questions in the Academia and Personal finance & money communities, other users commented suggestions that my question was not relevant in the following community and that my question should be titled differently for clearer understanding respectively. My final point is regarding the tag system in Stack Exchange. While posting your question, each user is supposed to set tags on their questions to set them into categories. Hence, when I was answering questions in the Sports community, I chose to answer those that were classified as “football”, since I knew the most information regarding this sport. It was a brilliant way to self-organize questions into categories within each community, something that was reflected in our readings this week (i.e. Here comes everybody).

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Process:

After the tours around the costume shop and the IM Lab, we decided that we wanted to design a creative system that used props and symbols for signaling. However, before jumping to the props we wanted to create a semaphore system that would be easy to decode, adaptable for 38 characters, and intuitive to the eye. We decided to start with vowels and numbers, thinking that we would be able to adapt either of the two approaches. For vowels, we quickly mapped out the vowel order into our fingers (this is explained further in methodology) and then realized there wasn’t much we could further expand on with that system. We therefore moved into numbers, and realized that we could easily map out the numbers from the phone keypad into leveled fist-pump symbols (further explained in methodology). Since we wanted to create a clear division between letters, we chose the blank space to be represented with a clap above the head. This turned out to be the only visual and auditory signal, which was a clear differentiator from the rest of the symbols.  

However, we still faced the problem of adaptation. We needed to cover all the consonants, but we couldn’t decide on how to do it. However, we also realized we hadn’t used props yet, so we started thinking about how props could help us adapt either the vowel or the number model. Given that the number model was easier to visualize and differentiate at a distance, we decided to map the consonants accordingly. We created a hierarchy system, where we divided the consonants between vowels in separate groups, creating a total of 5 groups, two groups of three consonants and three groups of five consonants. Using a hierarchy system proved to be more intuitive once the number system is understood, and the use of colors made the letters easy to track.

We then went to the IM lab in order to cut out the flags from cardboard paper. While we were there, Keith became fixated on a stick. However, Flavia couldn’t really think of a use for it and didn’t want to make an overly complicated system just for the sake of using a stick. Therefore, she told Keith “Find it a useful purpose, and we can use it”. Keith then came up with the amazing idea of having a feedback flag, where Flavia (the sender) would be able to see if her message was making sense.

When we tested our system out with random sentences, we realized we could also create symbols from recurring words for the purpose of time saving. After implementing this section to our semaphore and practicing it several times, we decided we were content with our semaphore and decided to wrap it up there.

Methodology & Design:

Our entire semaphore system was inspired by the phone digit system in the telephone. Expectedly, the numbers were easy to follow with each number located in their respective positions: (1-3) above the head, (4-6) chest level, (7-9) waist level, and 0 below the waist. Next, we decided to take out all the vowels in the alphabet (a,e,i,o,u) and symbolize them with hand signals for 1 to 5. As vowels were the most common letters in the alphabet, we wanted to make its signals as easy and efficient as possible. We also divided up the consonants into separate groups between the vowels, which were classified by the colours – orange, purple, blue, green, and red. For example, between a and e, there are the letters b,c,d – these were represented by the orange flag. And, between e and i, there are the letters f,g,h – these were represented by the purple flag. Once again, within each consonant group, we followed the phone digit system. We chose to follow the phone digit system because it was easier to visualize from a distance as compared to indicating numbers just with the fingers on one’s hand. Finally, we created different body signals for commonly recurrent words such as “and”, “the”, and “for”, and other aspects like “space” or separation of repeated letters.

A unique element of our semaphore system is our ability to introduce a feedback system by the receiver. The receiver would carry a red-green flag stick to indicate the understanding of each letter and word. For example, each time the receiver decodes a letter, he/she would indicate confirmation by raising the green flag, and vise versa with the red flag if the receiver was unable to decode the message. This is also supported by a repeated check after the completion of each word. Lastly, if the receiver places the red-green flag stick horizontally, it would indicate to the sender that the receiver has guessed what the word is, and to save time, the sender should move on to the next word.   

With all this in mind, we headed to the IM lab to construct our signals. We chose the required colours, and used cardboard papers to construct the flags. We also found a wooden stick in the lab that helped create the feedback signal for the receiver. In addition, we created two cheatsheet – one for the receiver, and one for the sender. Having said that, our system is well-structured with the organization easy to follow, hence making it easy to memorize if needed.

Output:

Keith’s Perspective (Receiver):

The day before the Semaphore competition, we practised our system using random tweets in the Internet. In a calm environment with no time pressure, we were able to complete a 40-character tweet in about 3 minutes. However, I believe, on the day of the competition, the pressure of getting the message absolutely correct within a set time frame caused us to be prone to errors. For instance, I personally found it rather difficult to read some signals especially the hand signal between “i” and “o”. Given how small Flavia’s hands are, it was quite a challenge to differentiate two fingers from three in that distance. I also misread the colour orange and red flags, resulting me in writing down “aboid” instead of “avoid”. On the day of the event, I think one thing that really saved us was our feedback system. Without it, there would have been no way for me (as the receiver) to indicate that the message was not clearly received.

Flavia’s Perspective (Sender):

During the competition, I realized that I had to take into account many factors when performing my signaling. I had to make sure I was making a mirrored sign from the cheat sheet so Keith could understand it, grab the correct color, and make the correct sign. With the time constraint, I messed up some of these actions. However, thanks to the feedback flag, I was able to correct my symbols and get the message through to Keith. One thing that I found complicated when correcting my symbols was that at some points I wasn’t able to traceback what word was it that Keith was not understanding. Therefore, in order to make sure, I went back one word and started spelling it out. Given that our feedback flag had a “I guess the word” signal, Keith was able to indicate that that word had already been spelled out correctly, so I jumped to the following word. Thanks to the instant feedback, I was able to correct my symbols right and write out the full message right on the six minutes.

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Kollavarsham (Malayalam Calendar)

Originating in 825AD, Kollavarsham (the Malayalam calendar) is a solar and sidereal Hindu calendar used in Kerala, India. Even to this day, it has a huge significance in the daily lives Keralites in India – several festivals, events, and temple ceremonies follow this calendar. Similar to the Gregorian calendar, Kollavarsham follows 12 months a year, and 7 days a week. However, one of the several things that make the Kollavarsham unique is the 27 Nakshatras (following Hindu astrology). In many ways, since its origins, the calendar has ingrained itself as a major form of communication in the livelihoods of its people. For instance, agriculture (which makes up a huge part of Keralite culture) derives its monsoon names from the calendar – the northeast monsoon (thulavarsham) means “rain in the month of thulam.”

https://www.kerala.me/language/malayalam-calendar

http://kollavarsham.tumblr.com/

Kathakali Dance:

Kathakali is a classical dance form originating from Kerala, India. While the development of this art form is unclear, it emerged in popular culture sometime during the 16th and 17th centuries. More than just being a dance, Kathakali is an art of storytelling. It combines several artistic elements – dance, drama, music, costumes, and makeup – to convey the story. According to the Kerala Kalamandalam, “the 24 hand-gestures the Kathakali actor has, developed a language comprising of more than 600 words.” This is supported by the large variety of different rhythms, tempos, facial expressions, and body movements. Most of the stories this particular art form conveys are epics from Hindu literature (Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Puranas).

https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-dance/classical/kathakali.html

https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/travelnews/story/66990/the-art-of-kathakali

http://www.kalamandalam.org/ontraditionalarts.asp#1

https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-dance/classical/kathakali.html

• What you did?

We provided an introduction into digital advertisement to our fellow classmates. We tried to divide 75 minutes into 2 main sections: theory and practice. During the theoretical part, we talked about why advertising is a big topic in the modern day communicational technologies, what are the forecasts, how big companies are using it, as well as what are some of the potential risks related to our data being processed by third parties. The practical part included quick sessions on ads on Facebook and Google, as well as a quick review of two ads we posted earlier on both platforms and their data analysis tools – Facebook Analytics and Google Analytics. There are more platforms that enable digital advertisement, but based on our deep divide these two platforms seemed to have wider reach as well as a larger user base.

• Why you did it?

The topic was suggested to us by the professor and after some discussions we understood that ads are, in fact, an intriguing mode of communication. Why? Rarely we think how much thought goes into the ads by the sender and even less frequently we think about how much we influence the ads we see ourselves. That is, we might think of ads as a one-directional mode of communication with no back-and-forth feedback loops, that actually exist on every website. Therefore, we wanted to share how much deliberate decisions and details go into selecting a target audience, how these ads that are so abundant can promote goods as well as ideas and how every user sees ads that are based on their actions on the Web.

• What the goals were?

Our foremost goal was to inform people about how ad works and tell them about the backend of digital advertising. We wanted to show them exactly what the advertisers will be seeing when they put their ads up by introducing them to Google Ads and Google Analytics. To do this, we put up our own ad for our Comm & Tech website and invited the class to participate by going on the page with their phones/laptops. This allowed us to see all the data that was being collected realtime and indicate what information we would be giving everytime we were accessing an ad. Aside from this, we also presented several other platforms/tools to examine how we are targeted in ads and what data we’re giving out, such as Facebook and Google Tag Assistant. Overall, with all this information in mind, we wanted people to actively think about how they’re contributing to, and taking part in, digital advertising and some questions this entails, such as ethics and privacy issues.

• How it went?

As the first group doing the Deep Dive Lesson, we were a bit unsure about what to expect. During our initial discussions, we concluded rather quickly that we wanted to do a lesson on digital advertising. We faced mainly two concerns: 1. We wanted to make sure our session was interactive, and 2. We needed to make sure we didn’t run out of time. We addressed these two concerns by adding several discussion topics and interactive elements, and allocating a set amount of time for each topic. On the day, the session went really well – the class was engaged throughout, and several people became more aware about digital advertising.

References

• Analytics: https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/?utm_source=demoaccount&utm_medium=demoaccount&utm_campaign=demoaccount#/report/visitors-overview/a54516992w87479473p92320289/

• GDPR-
  • https://edps.europa.eu/data-protection/data-protection/legislation/history-general-data-protection-regulation_en
  • https://blog.mozilla.org/internetcitizen/2018/05/23/gdpr-mozilla/
  • https://www.zdnet.com/article/gdpr-an-executive-guide-to-what-you-need-to-know/

• More about the recent AD activity – here.
• More about Facebook ads categories –  here.

• More about Google ads categories – here.

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In an attempt to represent aspects of life in Hong Kong, I began by brainstorming what I believed Hong Kong to be. If I were to show someone or introduce Hong Kong to someone, what would it be? While I had several different ideas in mind, the ones that stuck were these three: 1. Junk Boat, 2. Yum Cha, 3. Tai Chi Silhouette.

• Junk Boat

For me, the backdrop of Hong Kong perfectly contrasts the past and the future. There are so many instances in Hong Kong, where you are able to find modernist architecture surrounded by a historical backdrop, and that, in my opinion, is the beauty of Hong Kong. One example is the historic trams that still to this day operate around the main business hub of Hong Kong. Another example is the junk boat, which is an ancient type of Chinese sailing ship that was developed during the Song dynasty. So, when I was deciding which emoji to produce, I thought about Hong Kong’s iconic skyline. However, located within the skyline is Hong Kong’s Junk boat, sailing amongst the vast array of modern buildings. And, that represents what Hong Kong is – a historical artifact amongst a fully modern society.

• Yum Cha

Another great aspect of Hong Kong is the food. In a way, “Yum Cha” doesn’t classify under the norms of breakfast, lunch or dinner – it is a meal on its own, lying somewhere between morning and early afternoon. The literal translation of “Yum Cha” means to drink tea, but what it actually means is a meal that consists of several small dishes of dim sum served with tea. And, having “Yum Cha” is a communal event, involving several people to sit around a circular table, and share a platter of different kinds of dim sum.

• Tai Chi Silhouette

Hong Kong is the territory with the world’s highest life expectancy in the world (at 84.0 years old in 2015), and this is clearly evident by the number of elderly people in Hong Kong. I remember how every morning (around 6am), as I got ready for school, several old people down my home would be practicing Tai Chi in the park. Tai Chi is well-known for its numerous health benefits, often curing medical problems that come with age. Hence, I decided to use a well-known Tai Chi pose as my emoji. Finally, the emoji is marked by a silhouette effect because it signifies the timing of the practice – as the sun rises.

 I sent these three emoji to my family group chat and a friend from back home. In both instances, I explained the assignment and what I was trying to create. Both my family and my friend liked the idea of the three emoji, especially for “Junk Boat”, and “Yum Cha”. My friend recommended changing the image of “Yum Cha”, since he thought the teapot was too generic and didn’t really symbolize “Yum Cha” completely. He suggested including other elements to the image like dim-sum, etc. My family didn’t understand the silhouette effect without my explanation. They suggested adding mountains in the background or the sun to support the silhouette effect. By far, everyone liked the drawing and ideology behind the “Junk Boat” emoji. Although my friend did mention he wouldn’t see the emoji being used as much for the meaning I was trying to create.

I took in these advices, and began to make edits to my emoji. Since I wanted to keep the silhouette effect on the “Tai Chi” emoji, I decided to add in some mountains and sun into it. As for the “Yum Cha” emoji, I decided to change it to dim sum with a cup of tea on the side to get the full representation.

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“Reclaiming Conversation” is a very thought-provoking reading, putting to context several issues related to communication technology. In many ways, technology has made us more connected to the world around us – we can easily talk to anyone anytime anywhere. Then, why is there the problem – “flight from conversation?” Aren’t exchanges on text considered conversation as well? The author makes a significant effort to define the word conversation, only allowing it in the context of real-life interactions. As technology has become more prominent, it has displaced conversations in real-life, causing people to be less emphatic, less creative, less fulfilled, and ironically less connected.

Within the frame of “flight from conversation,” the author introduces several new issues brought up by the influence of communication technology. Whether it is the “silent phone” effect, the power of the “tiny god”, or the myriad of other issues, I will use this space to address two main problems – 1. Our fear of the “First Chair”, and 2. The Goldilocks effect.

Thoreau’s “Three Chairs” gives a unique take on human interaction and the kinds of proper conversation that has been omitted by technology. Perhaps the most fundamental one is the “First Chair” – Solitude. Nowadays, being alone is often seen as a problem that needs to be fixed through technology. Personally, I felt the full effect of this during my 8-hour digital detox, fearing the thought of no one to connect to. We, as humans, are failing to sit down and reflect on our self, leading to the constant search of fulfillment through digital means. For example, can you really say you enjoyed an event if it is not broadcasted on social media and approved by your followers? Perhaps the rise of meditation might be a solution to our lack of solitude.

The next issue is elaborated through the “Goldilocks effect” – the idea that we are moving away from conversation to mere connection. If you think about it, when is the last time you approached someone through a phone-call or physical contact? The trend towards texting has transformed the nature our daily interactions. This effect is further epitomized through the short story – “Machine Stop” by E.M. Foster. As much as it is fictional, it gives a very realistic prediction to what our world has become. Written in 1909, it gives a strangely accurate description of how we are starting to fear human contact and real-life interactions.

            Rather than inventing new technologies to solve these existing problems, it might be better to look within ourselves to find the solutions.

Given that communication makes up significant parts of our daily lives, the evolution of communication technology throughout the past few centuries is vital in understanding our modern day interactions and what it means to us. The Information, by James Gleick, begins by exploring the use of one of the first modes of communication – the African talking drums, and the complexity and importance it played by transferring information from one individual to another, or even one village to another. The idea was that, as opposed to the normal rhetoric, these drums acted more than just a signal – they were able to talk and send a message. Being one of the first forms of communication, it shows how, despite its evolving nature, the idea of communication has always been constant. It is simply the transfer of information or knowledge from the sender to the receiver, often times many receivers.

However, more importantly, communication is the art of conveying a message through different mediums, whether it is through speaking, writing, or even through other technologies. It becomes a language in itself due to its uniqueness and need for interpretation. For example, Gleick refers to the cuneiform tablet as one of the most ancient forms of information technology with its distinct writing that didn’t fall under systems that were pictographic nor alphabetic. And, what is interesting about the medium is that even though you understand one form of medium, another form might be foreign to you. A perfect example, which was referred to in the book and one that I have observer through personal experience, is the Chinese script. Created almost 8000 years ago, it unifies the oral languages spoken in different regions of China through its writing. To this day, no matter which part of China you go to, if you understand the script, you would be able to read the street signs, etc. That perfectly exemplifies the medium of communication as a language in itself.

Moving on to present times, communication has gone a long way, especially through the influence of modern day technology that are the machines we see around us. The use of computers, mobile phones, electronic tablets and watches all introduce new mediums of communication for us, and eventually changes the way we interact with one another, yet the idea of communication will always remain the same. Nevertheless, it will definitely continue to evolve and impact our lives.