Final Reflection
Category: Uncategorized
Contribution
I’m someone who learns through practice and activities, so I found a lot of what we did in this course very memorable and interesting. For example, what I extremely enjoyed were games that both combined the digital literacy issues we learn about, and something interactive that employs a lot of player agency, like the game reality check I played and reviewed in a pervious blog post (https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/157887850/posts/24).
This game stood out for me because it showed the player certain things they need to check to make an informed decision. With this in mind, I researched a topic that I have become more paranoid and careful about by the end of this semester, which is my privacy and security. During my group presentation I have talked about a very serious issue that people fall for which is phishing; and this issue has various very serious implications. Therefore I choose two digital games that help people identify phishing and how to not fall for its bait. These where two of my favorites.
A: https://phishingquiz.withgoogle.com/
This game is created by google, where you enter a name and password regardless, if its real or not its only made so to make the game more realistic, it shows you various realistic emails with clickable link and asks you to make a decision on wether this email is legitimate or phishing. Then after it shows why your wrong or right making players more aware of their decisions and their consequences.
B: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/games/off-site/ogol/_phishing-scams.html
This game has a similar idea, with a very interactive and graphically interesting way where the player is a fish choosing which bait to eat and if you make the right choice the fish runs away and with the worm and doesn’t “fall for the bait”, after which you also understand what makes this decision right or wrong.
I hope future students find these games as interesting and educational as I did and it would help them open there eyes to the mails scams that are so commonly used today.
Egyptian Social Media Influencers
With the rising influence of social media, many people used it to their advantage creating youtube channels, instagram and facebook pages, sharing and presenting their views and interests. These influencers have discussed topics that range from health, education, fashion or entertainment.
When I think of social media influencers, I usually think of celebrities, such as the Kardashians, who are followed by over a million people of instagram, or personal trainers such as Kayla Itsines who posts various workout videos as well as inspirational messages and dieting tips reaching around 11 million followers. She was also named by times magazine as one of the top 30 most influential people on the internet. The list of these figures are endless, and they usually use their power to influence people. Most importantly they use their digital literacy to reach people, they are aware of their audience and recognize what is the best way to navigate through social media accounts and reach there audience.
I was very interested to learn more about some of the influencers in Egypt, I have heard of the very main stream entertainers such as Tameem Younes and Ahmed Rafat the comedians and youtubers. However, what I found really interesting were the people who did educational yet very entertaining videos such as el Da7ee7. My favorite is a channel by Ahmed Samir called Egycology.
Regardless of the channels’ hard to pronounce name that he usually starts of his video making fun of, this channel’s Moto is to enlighten young minds “ننورالظلمة”. He uses his channel and simple but out of the box ideas in order to simplify a set of random and controversial topics ranging from psychology, history, physics, chemistry and many other scientific related videos. Ahmed Samir uses two personas in the videos; one that wears red who appears as a personality based on scientific knowledge and blue who appears to a be a someone questioning the audience on their knowledge. The channel started in 2011, has around 840 thousand subscribers and over 25 million viewers. The topics have titles like “sleep paralysis”, “why don’t we study at the time designated for studying” or a discussion on the controversial game that created a huge impact in Egypt called the blue whale; linking it to its origin and why people would ever think of playing it.
Another one of his most popular and most viewed videos is one that discussed the common misconception that many Egyptians fall into which is their belief that Shisha is less harmful than cigarettes, in which he also traces the origins of Shisha (India), and what exactly happens to the body when you smoke, proving that Shisha is just as harmful if not more than cigarettes.
What I really enjoy about his videos is how he always links his phenomenas to scientific studies as back up and evidence to his concept but does it in very simple and funny manner capturing his audience’s interest, and although his topics are mostly revolving around science, the questions he answers are very untraditional, and fresh. Moreover, his latest videos are edited to perfection, that even if he is using only a voice over on the video it’s still as intriguing. The channel itself is split into several categories such as popular, chemistry, physics, psychology, biology, sociology and math and philosophy, in addition to the ask us segment, all in order to make the viewers navigate easily through the channel.
Ahmed uses other social platforms as well to increase his influence and viewers; his facebook page is extremely active and has over 860 K likes and 930 K follows, on this page all of his videos are shared with there youtube links and he engages with his followers replaying to their reactions and point of view. He also created another facebook page that is closed where people would join for more in depth conversation over the episodes and suggest topics for upcoming episodes, it was created just last February and already has more than 30 thousand followers. Another platform that he uses is twitter, which he tweets several commentaries about his topics and adds some inspirational and motivating comments.
Ahmed Samir’ influence on his viewer is very apparent, and his growing fandom and popularity have made several Egycology lovers stop him and take a picture with him, not to mention the many drawing that are dedicated to the channel by his fans. Furthermore, he was named by several magazines and bloggers as a social influencer such as scoop empire who highlighted his channel among other in their article titled “Arab youtubers that will make you smarter”. People recognize that he is a true educator that is trying to use his platform to get people to understand some of the very relatable concepts in our community and whether they are real or fake, he shows people that it is important to look at topics critically and trace there origins as well as whether or not researchers talked about it previously or not, rather than just blindly believing everything they encounter online.
His channel and media platforms:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAsead/featured
https://www.facebook.com/Egychology/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/715885942142150/
https://twitter.com/ahmedsamiread?lang=en
https://scoopempire.com/watch-and-learn-arab-youtubers-that-will-make-you-smarter/
How our Privacy is invaded. Daily.
Lately I’ve experience so one too many “coincidences” regarding my phone, that I started questioning the pattern. For example, I would just be talking about horoscopes with my friends and do a quick safari search, and not a minute later I would find my instagram feed suggesting a horoscope app to download. I would bump into someone I haven’t seen in years and suddenly, facebook suggests them as a friend. So when I had the option to choose an episode to watch on the do not track documentary, the title that definitely grabbed my attention was the spy in my pocket. I was in complete shock and I had an overwhelming feeling of helplessness after watching this episode, however, at least now I’m somewhat aware of whats really going on.
This episode discusses an issue that most of us are oblivious to, which is how our privacy is invaded daily, but it shows it in a very unique and interactive way where the viewers answer questions and as they go further in the documentary they become more aware of how phones and apps really operate. It reveals that most apps we use (the example showed 30 out 50 apps) share our data with out our knowledge, and that all of that is written in the terms of service that I think nearly no one reads. You may think that the data shared is simple like how facebook accuses our contacts to suggest friends and be a more effective app, but an app as simple as your flash light can access your unique device identifier and identify you constant whereabouts and your mobile habits.
Now this information is of great use not only to advertisers who would love to create profiles and understand how to influence buyers, but also to anyone of power who would like to monitor a state or nation or even if the police want to gather surveillance on you. This really came as shock to me because when asked if I would give my phone to anyone for ten minutes, who would I allow to access my phone, I only said my close friends and family, and then I found out that we live in a world where the police have complete access to any information about us; our friends, their addresses, the places we frequent, all because the networks we connect to tell the story of our life, and this information all can be (and probably is) accessed if we commit a crime.
After hearing this I felt very violated, because its not a personal choice, we now live in a world where our phone is very central to everything we do; our communication, education, and entertainment, so it has no longer become an option to remove it from the equation. But the documentary did raise my awareness especially after the example of the experiment that showed that people connected to a network, which as clause demanded their first born as payment in the terms of service. And as very few people read the terms, this showed how they can be easily manipulated. Therefore, the episode did pop my bubble and showed me that I need to be more careful. It revealed how much my phone can identify my behavior and that there are certain things we can do to increase our privacy but if people don’t collectively become more aware and ask for limitations and more privacy the issue will still prevail. This issue needs to be shared and made very public so people can take some action and I think this is my main concern right now.
If you would like to watch the same episode press on the link below:
Soliya Experience
Recently, I have experienced a cross cultural experience on a digital platform called Soliya and it was extremely different than any other experience I have ever encountered. My previous experience with online communication with people from different cultures is very minimal and it was usually on a one to one basis. And unlike the connect express program these situations were usually coincidental, where the discussions are short and very specific. This platform on the other hand, created an opportunity to meet people with completely different ethnic backgrounds and gave us certain tools that created a safe space to converse. These tools included firstly, a group video chat which in my opinion is essential, as not a lot of people are fluent in English so seeing each others’ body language was very important. Secondly, the mediators, whom were excellent, raised certain topics that created a very comfortable flow of conversation.
In this experience I learned a lot, not only about other cultures and there traditions, but also about myself. The program helped us develop more confidence in asking questions and actively listening to different opinions, the topics started with very comfortable a general topics in the beginning and then by time the issues raised became more sensitive like for example our debate over Islamphobia. During these topic I discovered a lot about what type of communicator I am in the digital world. I discovered that although I am not very active on social platforms and I don’t share a lot about my personal life and my opinions, I like to respond to other people’s views and I am much more comfortable when answering questions rather than asking them. Moreover, as I get more comfortable with the people I address I become more open and more courageous to asking questions and sharing and this is reflect in why I am most active on the platforms that my profile is private and only seen by my close friends and relatives.
In addition, I also learned the true meaning of constructive communication, where opinions are respected and there is a safe space for everyone to share. My peers were extremely reflective and in our discussions I understood how to foster this constructive communication, through talking in a form of a dialogue rather than an argument, to truly listening to other opinions with an open mind and accepting it without having to agree with. I learned that in face to face conversation body language and tone are essential and can convey completely different meaning and finally, respect is key.
This experience was eye opening and I found myself longing for the sessions because it is truly rare to have the opportunity to see people from different cities and of different ages communicate openly and respectfully, and so keen to learn from each other. I found it extremely helpful in making me more open to digital communication and I recommend it to everyone willing to truly learn.
Final Outcome of my Digital Narrative Game.
The topic choice and what I’ve learned during the creation of this game:
As previously mentioned in my game prototype, social inequality is a topic I find extremely important and intertwined with every aspect of our life. People unfortunately get sucked into their own problems that they rarely recognize other people’s problems and try to react positively towards them without it coming of as pity and condescension. I wanted to highlight a situation that is very common and could exist around me in my age group. This was an opportunity to research and find out about the problems scholarship students and people from a lower social class face when seeking a higher education. In 2011, the university drop out rate was 50 % in Egypt, and in a recent report in 2017, Randa Halawa, the Education Ministry official responsible for trying to prevent dropping out, said “The number of dropouts in the past two years has been unprecedented in the history of our educational system”. Halawa and her colleagues said that parents most often do not send their children to schools because they cannot afford costs related to education — such as transportation, clothes and food — or because they want them to work to earn money to help feed other family members. She said some families are simply too poor to send their children to school. “This is why they force the children to work, either in the fields or in the quarries to earn a living and contribute to the family income.” (Arab Weekly)
I wanted to create a game that promotes empathy towards this cause and to make people realize that they have a huge advantage because they have financial stability and family support. As for students from lower social classes they meet challenges from trying to balance a job and their education in order to pay their tuitions, to trying to balance their academic life and family life as well as facing the experience of finding new friends.
The Game:
The game gives you a persona of an 18 year old boy who earns a scholarship to a private university and decides to pursue higher education even though his parents want him to work instead. He has to pay his way through collage so he has to apply for a job. your game decisions affect 5 factors your friends, family, health, money and education.
The games is split into 3 levels the first are decisions that would considerably effect your health. The second are decisions that would affect your family relationships and friendship . And the last level highlights the number one problem that collage students face, which is balancing their job and their education. The game shows statistics of the problems that face students today and lists what are the main factors affecting the rate of collage drop outs. Finally it tries to encourage people to help one another and motivate students who are struggling to seek help and not be ashamed.
Modification based on feedback:
The feedback was extremely helpful; especially when I watched people playing my game rather than sending it to them. What I found was that there were certain slides that the user didn’t understand what to do so I added some key buttons that would help guide them. Also I focused mainly on private university students because it was easier for me to describe the experience. I split the game into three levels so the flow would be much easier. in addition, I added more visuals and statistics to make the game more realistic and shocking.
What I would change:
If I had more time I would defiantly add more situations because there is so much more that students go through from being tempted to start smoking as well as the poor secondary education that sometimes doesn’t prepare them for the hardship and competition of
University.
This is is the link to my game I hope you all enjoy playing it:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1O7RV1krK1xtUjR-GsYbOHunSYQ9X4NM0NMtQPzxwFBM/edit?usp=sharing
Link to previous blogs on game:
Game Mapping: https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/habibanassef.wordpress.com/41
Game prototype: https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/habibanassef.wordpress.com/51
References
https://thearabweekly.com/egyptian-children-dropping-out-school-because-poverty
https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2011/02/egypts-revolution-and-higher-education/
Game Prototype.
I chose the topic of Social inequality because in my opinion it is one of the most relevant problems that exist on the big scale in my country and on the smaller in my university and in my day to day life. There is a huge class gap problem in Egypt, and a lot of people live in a bubble and don’t see how privileged they are and how not paying for their education for example is a luxury. I don’t get to interact with many classes and it was very challenging to create a game with user experience that is also realistic and isn’t offensive. I tried to read as much as i can from the point of view of scholars and students and picture all the problems a student that is trying to earn (and pay for) a diploma while balancing his social life, family drama and maintain his health, may face.
This is my first draft and i hope by the end of creating this game i can achieve something that would make people not only look at the gap but try to bridge it.
Here is the link for my game: Dad, I Want a Diploma.
Information Equity & Digital Redlining.
The first article discusses a concept we have previously debated in class which is information equity, the fair distribution of information among individuals/groups in our society. First the article stresses the importance of information and how vital it is that individuals gain access to it, using the educational, health and political system as an example for proving how information is the foundation of all equity, and that ”if people in a society do not have access to the information they need to advocate for their interests, than the society is not really a democracy.” Moreover, what is very interesting is that the article breaks down all the questions that need to be asked when trying to attain information, for example; What information would you need to actively participate in city meetings? Depending on the meeting, you may need to know about zoning, traffic safety, historic preservation, or parks funding. What is going to be discussed and so on, and although this shows you how much information you need to gather and how many questions is there to ask, I found it a bit demotivating because its a very cautionary approach to taking action, and when I relate it to to Egypt it is extremely hard to get answer to all these questions before hand and a very limited number of people can have access to any of these answers. This made me realize how much of the people in this country live in a bubble where they don’t realize what is happening around them, just because of the information inequity and barriers.
Moreover, the article also mentions two main categories: agency and social capital which are different ways that having or not having fair access to information can change someone’s life. Firstly, Information is central to what people call personal agency and that is impacted by government policies and corporate actions as they collect information about us without our knowledge and use that information to shape our decisions and choices. For example search engines remember what products we have looked at and put them up in sidebars to entice us to go back and buy them.
Secondly, Social capital is the benefit people derive from having relationships with others and since information is key to building social capital and to finding, meeting and interacting with people who will benefit you and offering them advice and support in return. Therefore, Access is fundamental to information equity.
The second article was very intertwined with the concept off information equity, it was also very charming, its funny introduction captured my attention and brought humor but also understanding to the topic of Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy. The example of a girl called Nina is used throughout the article as a bases for understanding digital redlining. When Nina tries to research the topic of Revenge porn she come up empty and for her, the concept doesn’t exist, not because the Internet contains no information on revenge porn but because Nina’s version of the Internet is filtered. “The digital redlining occurs because she—like many community college students—relies on the school for Internet access beyond her phone. If the school restricts information access, knowledge doesn’t simply become invisible; it does not exist.”
The idea of that our access to the internet is very filtered is not an unfamiliar concept, and has been discussed in the previous article stating that gaining information may be challenging because of governmental restriction and that most people are unaware of invisible walls and boundaries that prevent us from accessing certain information.
However, the article goes in depth discussing that not being able to access this information made her less competitive than graduates of other universities with unlimited access to said topic. This information inequity made me see how some people are far more privileged than others just because they can access more information and it also made me contemplate if this is intentional or not.
My question was quickly answered with the use of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board example , where the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) created maps for America’s largest cities that color-coded the areas where loans would be differentially available. The difference among these areas was race. In Detroit, “redlining” was a practice that efficiently barred specific groups—African-Americans, Eastern Europeans, Arabs—from access to mortgages and other financial resources. So this redlining is fundamentally politically driven. Just like when Nina couldn’t access the information she wanted, it was because of the filter which digitally redlines the intellectual territory of community college students in ways not seen at “higher level” institutions where the working class does not predominate.
Although this network filtering is often justified by recognizing its essential role in stopping malware, viruses, and child pornography. But the problems lies that not only is it used to create and maintain class boundaries that discriminate against specific groups, but it also tracks when people knock against these limits. “Indeed, with filtering in place, attempts to research the limits placed on technology can be blocked, and the person asking the questions will have their searches logged. Therein lies the danger.”
The article ended with telling the readers how much of a role and power they also have, because any of us can ask about the policies and technologies that filter our access and track our interactions. We all need to think about the problem as it is the first step to overcoming it, “To think about digital redlining is to historicize contemporary digital culture, an urgent task if these technologies are to help students reach their goals.” Just because something is not online does not mean it doesn’t exist, users need to be aware that all that we see is filtered and politically and economically driven. Here in Egypt for example, I believe that the military have extreme control over the media and some people live in fear of exposing certain figures and posting truths, so what we see and the information we find is just a very filtered “version” of the truth. So what we need to do is ask more questions and look more deeply into what we find and demand our right to information.
References:
Gilliard, 2016, Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy https://www.commonsense.org/education/privacy/blog/digital-redlining-access-privacyDigital Redlining, Access, and Privacy
Millar, Information Equity, https://open.lib.umn.edu/designequity/chapter/chapter-6-information-equity/
Game Design Mapping.
When brainstorming for ideas for my game design, i wanted something relatable, a game that would reflect a scenario of situation that is extremely present in our society yet somehow we are gated and blinded from it. I do not know if this is the case with everyone but my friends and the people I am usually introduced to are relatively close to my social class and background, and surprisingly i rarely meet anyone from different social classes given that Egypt has huge gap between classes and extreme class inequality. This made me think about how privileged i am and how not a lot of people are born with the opportunities i am born into, also given the chance would people through hard work achieve the privilege i was offered and maintain it. So i created the persona of an 18 year old boy who just graduated high school and defied his families wishes to work and help them out and instead opted for earning a degree where he has to pay his half his scholarship. i present some of the dilemmas he might face and the stresses of not only entering college and having to maintain a scholarship without your families support but also having to work along side it in order to pay your tuition.
CLT Reflection.
Last week instead of attending a normal lecture, we did something different that I was shocked and extremely impressed that was available in my university, we attended a Auc CLT symposium about our learning environment and digital literacy. to me, this created an vital space where not only the faculty can learn new ways to engage their students and change their teaching techniques, but also it created positive atmosphere where students and professors could interact and discuss educational factors from each perspective.
I attended a symposium called Teaching in an Age of Complexity: Considering Open, Participatory and Equitable Pedagogies lecture by Catherine Cronin, and I felt like this lecture was an extension of what we usually discuss during class time. The lecturer tried to deliver the very important message that teaching should not only be in physical status without also being in online status because it would not be as networked, that its is important to blur the line between the two and break that boundary. She stressed the importance of digital literacy and the amount of positive impact it could create if educators learn how to integrate it with there teaching techniques, she also discusses how important it is to balance between privacy and openness and that its is a vital part of being a digital practitioner. she informs educators that it is their duty to teach their students how to create identities online and how to make decisions on expressing themselves. And I really relate to this point because I often find myself lost when trying to express my personality online and my default is to actually stay away from technology rather than embrace it. I have been steadily through out this course learning what to share and what not to share, and how what I post will reflect on the impression people will get.
The other CLT symposium I attended was a penal discussion Called “what’s in a grade?” which I enjoyed more because unlike the other talk as this one was way more interactive. It consisted of four panels of pairs, a student and his/her educator. This discussion revolved around what a grade is and how it’s valued which is a question I am sure has went through the mind of every student at a point or in my case a dozen. i find it very demotivating how students are graded and how there effort is valued so this discussion really struck a chord. So, firstly, form the mechanical department Dr Khalil El Khodary and his student Youssef Waga took the stand and he started with a different perspective, Dr Khalil used his position to correct what he believed was the student’s perception of grades. He believed that they are not as important and that they are merely a label. His student reflected on that advocating his option by saying that his GPA was never a factor when being hired for a job. Although I believe his opinion and respect it greatly, I’m must say that it is not all I believe a grade is about, for me its more of a reward. I see a grade as a motivation to lose the few hours of sleep that I so desperately wanted or skip the movie that I wanted to check out or even stay home on weekends after a horrible week, just to finish the project and have it really appreciated. It is the feeling of accomplishment when I feel like it was worth it.
The second on the panel was Dr. Magda Mostafa and student Mahmoud ElKady from the architecture department and this panel discussed something I am very familiar with which is the grade rubric and the grading curve. She highlighted on how she is only able to reward exceptional work because the department only allows her to give an A to 15 % of the class and to me that is the root of the problem. When the third panel stood and Nour khashab discussed the stress and anxiety caused by the amount of pressure that is placed on our shoulders, and how declaring is a hassle and that sometimes the burden of the grade makes us forget what we are learning, at that moment I wanted to respond with a very loud yes! When you reward only 15% of the class an A just because you have to, you are not promoting healthy competition, your promoting anxiety and stress.
The fourth panel attacked the issue of participation and how hard it is to judge because as much as it is important to encourage it some students are just more outspoken than others. Other topics where also raised like the power of feedback and to me this is extremely important because in my major (graphic design) if I don’t get proper feedback that I fully understand then I just wasted a week of effort and hard work because when I come back the professor would just tell me “no this is not what I meant” and I have to change everything and feel like everyone else is ahead of me in their working progress even though I put in the same effect if not more, needless to say, this is extremely demotivating. I believe that each person should be graded based on his effort and each professor should have his own grading standards because no one will ever know how to grade his students better that he does. If a shy person speaks up encourage them and if an outspoken person also speaks up reward him, I would like to end my reflection with a quote by Albert Einstein that I believe all educator should also keep in mind “ If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid”
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