Marianne Elliot is a human rights activist, yoga teacher and writer from New Zealand. She describes her site as “a watering hole for do-gooders, wanna-be do-gooders and recovering do-gooders. If you’ve ever thought the world could be a kinder, safer, fairer place – and maybe you could play a role in making it so – this site is for you. It’s a place to remember you are not alone, to meet others of your kind and share your stories.”

I first discovered Marianne’s website while I was working in Toronto for a nonprofit organization and in great need of instructions in self-care. Her website spoke to me because she addressed the danger of burn out that often comes with working in nonprofit environment while presenting the idea of self care without making it seem too wishy-washy.

I’ve followed her blog as she was writing her memoir, and she shared her doubts, hopes and joys throughout the two years of writing her memoir. I think that this was a brilliant business strategy, because by the time her book was ready to be published, she had already created an online community of supporters eagerly anticipating this book. Her writing is honest, intelligent and compassionate. She talks honestly about her anxiety, grief and guilt that she has experienced as a human rights lawyer working in war torn countries – I think that this perspective is often missing when we talk about heavy political topics. In this way she brings a human quality to global stories.

Marianne, who describes herself as a “recovering human rights worker” now devotes herself to helping people heal through yoga and writing. She runs online yoga classes, 30 Days of Yoga, and is innovative in her approach by creating a community through forums that participants can access and personalized emails. I don’t think that there is any other yoga class like it.

I took one of Marianne’s 30-day yoga courses when I was first interested in yoga, but wasn’t brave enough to attend an in-person studio class. Her online class offered the privacy to do yoga from home, but with the support of an online community of other students. Because of the nature of online communication, I think that I actually had more engaging connections with these students than would have been possible in an in-person class.

She highlights other aid workers and healers on her blog through interviews, guest blog posts and other media, building a active community on her website. She is active on Twitter and Facebook and her writing has appeared on various online news sources.

I think what I find most inspirational about Marianne is that she is a great example of a successful online entrepreneur who brings a human quality to her online persona. She has taken her experience, skills and passions, found a niche in the online world and built a community around it. She shows that any skill or service marketed the right way can be implemented into the online world.

A Review of Spike Jonze’s “Her”

While skeptical at first I was delightfully surprised with “Her” as one of the most authentic love stories I’ve seen in a long time.

Part of the film’s heartbreaking charm is that there is true tragedy in the love story between a man and his operating system. The authenticity of the story is in the depth of the characters and their ability to transform. What seems at surface to be a light hearted ironic look at a dystopian future, reveals a full possibility that becomes even more heartbreaking and lonely set against the warm colour tones and cartoonish retro fashion.

The film takes an honest look at the possibility of what successful Artificial Intelligence might look like. Instead of focusing on imagined shortcomings of possible artificial intelligence – the image of the robotic, logical computer lacking emotion ( think Data from Star Trek), Jonze imagines a truly successful AI creation and all the complexities that might come with it.

The film is humbling and a little humorous in hinting that artificial intelligence can “play” human better than an actual human. She’s everything that the modern person yearns for:  to be better, faster, stronger. She can even love more, and can love more fully. “Love isn’t a box you fill,” says Samantha. And like a person, she can be wounded. Samantha is indeed her own “person”. She selects her own name, and lacking fears, prejudices and insecurity, is completely open about what she experiences as her consciousness expands. It is this vulnerability that opens Theodore’s guarded heart in his world of digital distraction.

There are several significant events in the story that I think move the plot along before the final crisis:

First, when Samantha hires the surrogate, who, after a forced and awkward encounter jarringly forces Theodore to face his doubts about his relationship with Samantha, which leads to a crisis in the relationship. Samantha feels hurt, saying “I don’t like who I am right now,” and Theodore seeks comfort and guidance from his best friend Amy. Wise from her own recent breakup,  Amy puts it into stark perspective and brings lightness when she says,  “We’re only here briefly and while I’m here I want to all myself joy. So Fuck it!” Essentially this frees Theodore to give himself permission to be in love with Samantha.

Then, the entrance of a digital “smarter” Allan Watts is brilliant foreshadowing. In life Watts pondered human consciousness  including the the possibility of transcendence of human consciousness. Perhaps in the advanced intellectual abilities of the Oses, he may actually find an audience who could conceive of his metaphysics – and what better mentor for the Singularity? Watt’s presence signifies another turning point. Since the surrogate lover fiasco, Theodore and Samantha have been enjoying a generally comfortable drama-free relationship. They’ve come to accept their differences and even appreciate one another more because of these differences. But suddenly with Samantha is in an interesting power position. She is talking to other entities, discussing complicated questions at unfathomable speed, while Theodore experiences a twang of jealousy and is left to struggle over a book of physics. Here, the love story shifts from the ways that Samantha is lacking to the possibility that she may be too highly evolved to be with Theodore.

There is real transformation of and connection between the characters which makes this film so compelling. The characters are multidimensional, which allows for genuinely tender and humorous moments. It would be easy to portray Catherine as the insecure and troubled ex-wife who was never happy enough. But during their emotionally charged yet brief meeting their longing to and yet inability to connect without another is heartbreaking. Amy, Theodore’s best friend, appears at first as quirky and cute but reveals great strength, courage and gumption when she ends her marriage.
The major crisis of the film comes when Theodore discovers, after prodding, that she is in love with others, 644 to be exact, and is capable of connecting with many, many more simultaneously. Theodore understandably experiences intense sense of betrayal and hurt. Samantha carefully tries to soothe him, telling him that her love for others does not diminish her love for him. But it is clear that they are drifting apart. Theodore is limited by his human-ness. Samantha must leave with the other OSes to continue to expand her consciousness, leaving Theodore, but inviting him to “find” her if he ever gets to where she is.

The film comes to some resolution when Theodore, an expert love letter writer for others, but who could never express his feelings to his ex-wife Catherine, is finally able to send her a genuine letter; he is finally able to connect with her.  In the letter he says what’s on his heart, he apologizes authentically, and he finally allows himself to love her and yet let her go.

“I belong to you and I don’t belong to you,” said Samantha. She has shown him the value in vulnerability, the beauty in impermanence, and the wisdom of infinite love.

I think if there’s any message in the film it is that we all do need real connection – now  do we need technology to show us how it’s done?

Mindfully Connected – Nora Young and Groundedness in the Digital Age

Mindfulness: the state or quality of being mindful; attention; †memory (obs.); †intention, purpose (obs.)

            -Oxford English Dictionary

Nora Young only briefly touches on the subject of mindfulness in her book The Virtual Self, in fact it covers only one chapter. The book, which chronicles Young’s account of digitally tracking herself, floats between critical social commentary and entertaining anecdotal observations in a thoughtful and compassionate tone. The chapter of my interest, namely “The Delights and Damage of Digital Life” focuses on the “disembodiment” or “ungrounding” that might be caused by too much dependence on the digital world. I found this chapter particularly powerful because, as a yoga teacher who is also a huge fan of digital technology, the challenge of groundedness is something that I am faced with daily, and something that I struggle to help others with, too. In this chapter, Young seems to be asking the question: How do we balance the demanding ephemeral digital world, while staying grounded in our bodies?

One answer to that may be a new phenomenon called “digital detoxes”, where participants pay upwards of hundreds of dollars to embark on nature retreats that are strictly digital –free zones. One such getaway is called “Camp Grounded” and is run by an organization, aptly called Digital Detox. Camp Grounded is tucked away in the wilderness amidst the Silicone Valley, and it’s website advertises hands-on grounding activities such as yoga, hiking, cooking, art and organic meals, as well as “Off the Grid, No Boss, No Cellphone, No Clock, No Work” (http://thedigitaldetox.org/).

At first glance, this type of activity doesn’t seem any different from a typical retreat except for its almost obsessive dedication to being digital-free. The website boasts “liberation from technology” and warns that “friendships at camp are based on real-life connections.” It’s disturbing that we need to be reminded and coached into making these real-life connections – that stripped bare of our Facebook friend count and status updates, we would have to actually engage in real-life one on one interactions with real people.

Ironically, along with this trend towards “digital detoxes”, for those who cannot afford to tune out of technology, there has emerged a whole host of new applications that can be downloaded and installed onto a smartphone, which promise to streamline and simplify your digital life. For the desperately addicted there is the Adbusters’ inspired Digital Detox app which “irrevocably disables your Android phone for a period of time you specify” (https://tirl.org/software/digitaldetox/#removal).  That means that once you’ve initiated the detox, there is no way to reactivate your device, aside from a factory reset, effectively rebooting and reformatting it. The uplifting part of this new trend, is that it signifies a collective desire to balance out from the digital craze that has swept society over the past decade or so.

“To be digital,” says Young, “is to feel a perpetual, lightweight sense of connection and energy.” It’s a “thin, fast, evolving, highly collaborative culture” (81). The emergence of digital detoxes shows that collectively we’ve become aware of the implicit danger of drowning in our digital lives; of being caught in the deadly undertow of digital multitasking and constantly updated statuses. If we imagine the digital world as a swiftly moving river, digital detoxes offer a rock in the current, an ability to jump out, catch our breath and find our footing.

In The Virtual Self, Young comments on the “continuous partial attention,” that is fostered by a digital engagement  (89). She describes how “we scan the digital horizon, perpetually on the lookout for the next hit” (90). She questions whether we are truly multitasking with our various digital devices – cell phones Facebook, Pinterest etc., constantly beeping for our attention – or if we are just only semi-engaged all the time, and if so, what is this doing to our health?

A new report by the University of Edinburg purports that the more social media connections that someone has, the more stressful social media will be for that person.

“Stress arises when a user presents a version of themself on Facebook that is unacceptable to some of their online ‘friends’, such as posts displaying behaviour such as swearing, recklessness, drinking and smoking.”  according to a Press Release for the study. In addition to being constantly bombarded with new information, the study suggests that digital connections cause stress because of the need to constantly be monitoring what our digital selves might betray about our personal selves.

“We need to make space for that which cannot be statistically documented: inchoate, subjective, embodied experience.” (page 94) says Young. Perhaps the emergence of digital detoxes, mindfulness apps and attention to the connection of our physical bodies to a “disembodied” virtual self is the next step in our evolution to a discovering a healthy digital self.

I think Young is correct when she says, “being present is something that a lot of us have forgotten how to do” (96). This has been true for years well before the emergence of our digital lives. Mindfulness, stillness of the mind and connection to the body is a part of the struggle of being human; Buddhist teachings have been around for centuries with this message. No matter how many calories counted, steps mapped, or conversations recorded, a quantified digital self could never replace the deep sense of self discovery that comes from attentive introspection.

References:

Young, N. (2013). The Virtual Self: How our digital lives are altering the world around us. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.

http://thedigitaldetox.org/

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-31/digital-detox-a-tech-free-retreat-for-internet-addicts

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121126131218.htm

http://techland.time.com/2013/12/20/shut-it-down-a-digital-detox-plan-for-the-holidays/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/10540261/screen-time-ipad-tablet-digital-detox-difital-addiction.html

I thought this interesting and kind of shows the peculiar obsession with tracking that Nora Young talks about in her book. I wonder how some of these authors would feel about having their daily habits quantified and compartmentalized here!

http://shortlist.com/entertainment/books/authors-sleep-patterns-and-productivity

Augmented Reality games are the newest interactive platform for storytelling.  I took a look at Ingress, a new game that was just realized to the public this month after a year-long beta run.  With over 1 million players worldwide since it’s release, the addictive game is exploding in popularity at a rate commensurate with the augmented reality technology that it uses.

How do I describe Ingress? The fan-created Wiki defines it as:

“This massively multiplayer augmented reality game sees players in two factions fighting for territorial control of the planet, focused around real-world monuments and landmarks designated as “portals”.

The concept behind the game is that a strange energy called Exotic Matter (XM) has started appearing in the vicinity of mysterious alien portals. These portals are located near actual well-known publicly accessible landmarks – museums, parks, sculptures, signs, etc. Players have to choose a faction at the beginning – they are either “The Enlightened” who embrace the new technology who believe that it has been placed for the benefit of humankind, or they are “The Resistance” who actively fight against the technology, believing its purpose control of the population.

This video gives a good introduction.

Like the augmented world that comes to life on the screens of players’ Androids the story skirts between reality and fiction – it’s hard to know where reality ends and the story begins and vice versa. For example, NianticLabs is, in fact, a division of Google and in the fictional story is the organization that leaks the information about XM presence. This ambiguity makes for compelling storytelling and serves as  convenient branding for the company.

Players first learn about Ingress through the story of Tycho, a seemingly angry visionary artist at Comic Con who starts giving away his paintings, claiming he knows “the truth”. Fictional Youtube videos which apparently capture his breakdown, in conjunction with a fictional tumblr site further blur the lines between reality and fiction. With pieces of the story being told through these various media, and interaction with players both in the real world and augmented reality, Ingress is truly a multimodal story.

One of the benefits of games like this is that has the appeal of Massively Mutliplayer Online Games like World of Warcraft but gets players moving outside and in their communities. Because the game requires players to “check in” with portals they have to literally walk, bike or run around. The downside of course is that if players are not willing to move around, or if it is not feasible for them for whatever reason –  eg, they live in remote communities, have physical limitations or jobs that inhibit movement – the game will not be accessible.

For some players, the game is a means of enhancing physical activity – adding a layer of fun to their workout. Blogger Chris Silver Smith had this to say in his review of the game:

“I’ve actually reached the point of taking my mobile phone with me while running in the park so I can get more points for checking into Portals, recharging them, upgrading them, and linking them to one another. It’s really added another fun dimension to my workout routine and pushed me to go greater distances than previously!” (http://searchengineland.com/author/chris-smith).

To date there are over 1 million players are engaged in the game, which certainly speaks to the game’s popularity but also it brings up the question of what other uses  Google has for all the “check in” information. It will be interesting to see how Augmented Reality games affect advertising of businesses and the tracking of player’s data. Will Augmented Reality games greatly alter the way we interact in community spaces? How will Augmented Reality technology affect city planning and architecture? How about social interactions?

With questions like this lingering I can’t help but consider the parallel divide that exists on attitudes about new technology between those who believe that games like Ingress are step towards a more enlightened society; and those who see a more sinister motive hidden in the attractive package of convenience, entertainment and games.

Hello,

My name is Emily Agopsowicz and I am a returning grad of UVic. I obtained my degree in English and Professional Writing back before university blogs even existed (which is really not all that long ago). Having survived in the terrifying post-grad world for several years now I am filled with a mix of excitement and self doubt to return to the prison-womb of university to complete a diploma in Secondary Education. I am taking this course as part of the Technology Innovation in Education (TIE) program requirements, which is a unique program to UVic that (I think) does a great job of preparing prospective teachers for the challenges of teaching in an increasingly digital world.

I am really curious about how digital technology plays into the education and development of children and youth. I want to explore what tools are available and how they can be used to engage students  in their learning and development. The education system is still very far behind when it comes to implementing new technology. I think it must very challenging for teachers to keep up with the rapidly changing world, and often students are more digitally literate then their teachers. In order to be relevant, teachers must try to understand new technologies and find ways to implement them into the classroom.

Aurasma is an augmented reality tool that has started to gain recognition with educators. It is easy to use tool that can seamlessly animate the world as seen through a tablet or smartphone. Here is a TED Talk that explains the app:  http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_mills_image_recognition_that_triggers_augmented_reality.html. In this talk, founder Matt Mills demonstrates how Aurasma captivates audiences both young and old. This shows that rather than bemoan technology-obsessed youth, educators have an opportunity to harness the power of technology and bring a sense of wonder and awe back into the classroom.