One last ride..

Lets just say this has been one of the most diverse course I have ever taken in terms of content and activities, especially in-class assignments. What I really liked about this course is that we covered the theoretical parts, all types of activities; on-ground and online games. All these widened the scope of my knowledge in topics I wouldn’t normally search about to be honest. These topics we covered like privacy issues, algorithms, and data protection made me more aware and more conscious of my online presence and this is something that I wouldn’t normally be interested in learning about despite its huge importance. I felt like every assignment was not something that we do just for the sake of getting grades, even the evaluations and self assessments we did mid-semester and after the presentations. They were very useful because it gave us an opportunity to evaluate ourselves and the others and also give us a chance to improve for the rest of the semester.

One of the most thought provoking assignment to me was ‘Read & Annotate: Lina Mounzer article’. Although this was early in the semester, but I connected with this assignment to a great level. Not only because of how the article itself was attention-grabbing, but because of the chance I got about commenting and giving my opinion even if it’s on every single phrase.  I am majoring in political science, and I tend to read on a daily basis and rarely do I find an article that has the potential to grab my attention and spark my interest like this article did. It is a beautiful and heartfelt portrayal of an extremely saddening situation that is unfortunately a reality. The way Dr. Maha pushed us to come up with something creative, really pushed me out of my comfort zone, and in a utterly positive way. I always thought of myself as someone who isn’t creative and I need to exert a lot of effort only to come up with a small idea. However, the way we constantly had to get creative in our assignments got me used to this idea of how to create something creative. This is something I will definitely use in my career life. Usually I got asked in interviews what something creative did you do in your university, so after this course it will make me think of many creative things I have done; like creating a game from scratch.

If I were to showcase any of the assignments I have done, I would  show them the game (even if it is not the best) because this assignment felt like a burden from the beginning of the semester, but when I really got into it, it became very easy. Also something that cannot be seen but I am really proud of and would talk about if given the chance is Soliya assignment. They reported me as very active, and in this assignment I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone. That i because I talked freely to people from different culture, people  I don’t know anything them and about controversial issues, bearing in mind that I am an extreme introvert. One last activity I would talk about is the online games we played like the Syrian refugee game, these games have out me in a situations I wouldn’t normally be in and provoked me to act helplessly.

Although the assignments were very engaging, one thing I would change about this course is the frequency of those assignments. To be completely honest, hey were always easy assignments, but sometimes because of their frequency I wouldn’t put 100% I would have liked to put because we sometimes had like 2 assignments per week. They were really engaging and I have always been excited to do these assignment regardless of the being in the middle of midterms. One other thing I would like to change in the semester is the events that we attended and we writing reflections was required of us. I know that it is a way to ensure that we attended, but sometimes when I attended an event, I would focus on the material that will help me write a reflection instead of getting the best out of this event.

The type of person who could take this course is basically anyone. This is because how the course will push you to engage more, get creative and be able to express yourself; even if you are an introvert person. So this course is helpful to any type of person regardless of how he/she is.

Contribution

One of the activities we have done in class was presenting different Mozilla article, and although each group had found an interactive way of engaging the class, I felt like more interaction can be done. That is why I thought of an activity next semester. Basically it is topic-based video or animation. Each group/pair come up with a topic related to digital literacy and will illustrate it using animation. Something similar to the Mozilla topics and each group has to come up with an idea that can be created through animation or acting in a video. In my opinion, this will be more interactive and engaging than presenting the topics in class. That why, we will ensure that the whole class understood these topics and the creators of the video are engaged enough with the topics they learned. This will add to the skills of digital media editing and will largely enhance the creativity part because it will be carried out as a group project. 

Here are some of the websites for creating animations:

https://www.animaker.com

https://www.renderforest.com/animation-maker

Power Media

Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Many problems you can experience can affect your thinking, mood and behavior. In Egypt specifically, there is a dire need to be more focused on expanding mental health services and awareness, especially in the underprivileged areas that have limited access to services and treatment for mental issues. With all that being said, there is a newly emerging magazine that tackles this topic wholeheartedly. Empower Magazine is the first Middle Eastern magazine dedicated to the topic of mental health & wellness. The magazine is based on scientific data and interviews with famous people from around the region, on the subject of mental well-being

Empower Magazine targets teenagers and adults, and also has a section devoted to parenting. The magazine also provides a forum for people who are willing to share their own stories and experiences with mental health.

Their mission is to build a platform that serves as an ecosystem for Mental Health for the Middle East; especially in Egypt. It uses social movements and hashtags all over the social media such as #BreakTheSilence which  is a movement dedicated to ending the stigma and raising awareness of mental health issues facing youth in Egypt.

Not only does it tackle mental health issues,  it covers topics related to Personal Wellbeing, Parenting, Youth, Mental Health and Art & Thoughts.

The magazine isn’t reachable only through website, it does have twitter account, Instagram account and a digital newsletter. That is why many youth can connect with this magazine because of this element of accessibility; these accounts allowed the magazine to be more reachable to young people through many familiar, social media platforms 

The Spy in My Pocket

In episode 4 in Do Not Track, the speaker starts out by talking about all the apps she has on her phone such as Facebook, Spotify, The Guardian, WhatsApp, and many others. Out of curiosity she downloaded another app that warns her if her personal data is being shared without her knowledge through reflecting her privacy scope percentage. Turns out 30 out of the 57 apps that she has track her! Another shocking way the we get tracked without our knowledge is through The Unique Device Identifier known as the UDID accessed through the flashlight. It is tracked and used as a browser cookie, in order to understand locations and habits and send targeted advertisements.

Harlo Holmes from “The Guardian Project” states that all apps on iPhones, androids, and blackberries work through permissions that grant access to what is called an API, a computerized operating system that collects data. For example, “Angry Birds” was a simple game app that asked for access to contacts, this allows them to know the people that you know and contact them. Similarly, political actors and advertisers can abuse such information for their own interests. Then, there was like a mini survey or questionnaire which stated that google can track literally your every move through various technologies such as IP address, GPS signals, and Wi-Fi access points to locate you. So, Nathan Freitas from “The Guardian Project” explained how the constant surveillance and maintaining of our everyday activities and interests allows advertisers to understand consumers and better promote their products and also for those who want to monitor the state of their company or nation to get an inside scope of what is really going on. Phones are dangerous devices of constant surveillance that is viciously intrusive. This episode also stated a very interesting fact about how free public Wi-Fi access is a very problematic action, because it instantly alters all your information. Facebook will soon offer free Wi-Fi in certain hotels, but only if you login through your Facebook account which will allow Facebook access to all of the data about your stay. Google is already doing that with Starbucks, no wonder there is one in every corner of the world!

Julia Angwin is an investigative Journalist who said that smartphones are uncontrollable devices, because they are always transmitting. Our smartphones contain all our appointments, photos, e-mails, contacts, and texts such info should not be exposed to everyone to temper with. Angwin says that if someone collects four unique location data points from you they can 98% of the time identify you personally. She finally states that it is not about personal choice, not that I made up the choice to give up my privacy, it is just that we as a society have not set any limits on the type of tracking that could happen so we now see the battle between the industries over who could track us better!

Watching this episode was very interesting, mainly because it was extremely engaging and had lots of illustration. Beside its catchy title, the content of the episode was very relative to our daily usage of the internet, it sheds light on very important facts that we tend to overlook or are not generally aware of. These are serious violations of our personal privacy that we should be conscious of and stay informed about; I think this is our responsibility as smartphone users living in the digital age.         

Soliya Reflection

First, I would like to say the ‘Soliya’ experience was one of a kind to me. Since I am extremely introvert person, I was dreading this activity from the beginning of the semester. However, once the sessions started, it was one of the most interesting activities I have ever done and because of how interesting it was, I attended the 4 sessions with quite enthusiasm. I can say that I was one of the luckiest because not only the facilitators were very engaging, the group was very diverse, nice and accepting of every idea. I think this was what made the experience one of a kind. What made the experience more engrossing was that I didn’t face any technical issue except for slow internet in the last session which was a bit frustrating but I tried to manage through it. The sessions at the beginning started a bit slow because we were not accustomed to each other, plus I think the 2-hour period was a bit of a stretch, but by the second session everything started to move smoothly and keeping the conversation going was very easy in that sense. The facilitators always gave us the choice on what topics we would want to discuss and how we would want the conversation to go. I think this, in one way or another, allowed us to be more interactive with each other. In fact, the diversity of the group was, to me, the most interesting thing in this experience. My group consisted of students of different ages from Netherlands, USA, Libya and Tunis. Because of how the facilitators always made sure to discuss topics that are cross-cultural, this diversity made us curious about different perspectives on each topic. What we did to maintain a smooth dialogue was the fact that we were mindful of our language and our attitude when talking about something that the other person may not necessarily be on board with, in order not to convey the wrong message. In order to foster a healthy interactive communication experience, it is very important to be respectful and considerate of other people’s opinions and other people’s feelings in order not to offend anyone. Also, having a difference of opinion is quite natural so even if we do not agree we should first try to listen and understand and not be judgmental towards one another. Despite me being an extreme introvert, I found that when given the chance within an accepting group, I really can let all my thoughts out, also I can think of different topics that I would like to discuss with a cross-cultural group. I really thought that this would be an awkward situation but thankfully, it turned out to be a really interesting one. To sum up, I think a lot of the discussions we’ve had in our Soliya sessions involved the overall themes of equity, empathy, and diversity which are the topics that we usually tackle throughout the semester in class. It was intriguing to see them being expressed one way or another throughout this global online experience. Which was really unique as it helped me express my thoughts without fearing how people would react to my words. I spent the whole 4 sessions with my group, and in return, I really learned a lot from my discussions with them and upon their words knowing that I’ve taught them a thing or two about my culture made me really happy for getting involved in our discussions. I think this Soliya experience helped me articulate the way any dialogue should be. In a way, we should be accepting of what each person has to say without being judgmental and without letting our pre-conceived ideas affect how we react. Although, I experienced how a good conversation can be conducted, there were no very controversial topics that we discussed that may have changed the situation. All in all, it was a very captivating and thought provoking communicative experience, and one that I would really be happy to redo in the near future.

The Virtue Game Final Reflection

I created the Virtue game because I wanted everyone one to acknowledge her/himself more and about the values they have. Many people don’t know enough about themselves and those who do know may underestimate their virtues when dealing with other people surrounding them. It is very important for young people to know all about values and values especially when dealing with others because that what maintains the relationships. Hence, the given situations in the game show the realism about daily situations that one may encounter in their life, and if they have no idea about these values whatsoever, I have given some tips in order to help those people to know more this value and develop it.

When attempting to do the game for the first time I wanted to convey our message clearly and in a simple manner. However, the game needed some adjustments so I did a second draft and a third draft. I tried to add pictures as well so it would be more visually appealing for the players but I couldn’t find photos that represent the virtues. I can search again and add them sometime later. I also tried to use examples to be very relatable because my main aim was to be able to connect with people playing the game. While at the same time, I tried to think of complex enough scenarios to be able to put the reader in dilemma of how he/she should do if ever put in a situation like this. I think if I had more time I might have changed the design of the game or thought of more diverse scenarios.

From the beginning of the semester, I was entirely dreading this assignment because I thought I am not that creative to do something like this. However, bit by bit, I was able to make. Although the game is not entirely done, I could easily reflect on the experience because once you begin it, you can easily tell what are the hardships and what are the easy tasks. While creating this game I learned more about values and how they are very important and how their lack of existence in oneself can contribute a lot to immorality in our society and when dealing with others. In the present day, virtues have slowly begun to lose their importance. The high level of indecency and immorality is indeed a major issue that needs to be addressed urgently. So I thought of this game as the first mile that a person can take in this road of morality. While typing some of the scenarios I had to reflect on my past experiences and remember incidents such as encounters with my friends or elder people. All these situations are only minor encounters I had in life that taught me to be more aware and more considerate of my surroundings and people as well.

Here is the link to my game: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HV4f7lEUkh5KfuuMx_exckMPjVD_XJ_Mu2Acxc_JCFI/edit#slide=id.g55a6b13b02_0_91

And other sources I used while creating the game: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/spiritual-growth-for-kids/what-will-you-do-scenarios
https://www2.cortland.edu/dotAsset/299043.pdf

Design Justice

In all honesty, before I read the article, “Design Justice: towards an intersectional feminist framework for design theory and practice ” by COSTANZA-CHOCK Sasha, I never thought that different design practices and processes can generate any forms of inequalities. What really caught my attention in this article is how its main exploration is the designs’ impact in relation to the community and how they situate the community as a priority benefitting from design. Also, how design justice’s framework is carved up in a way that will influence different aspects of a society. When I first read “Matrix of Domination”, this term seemed so ‘scientific’ to me, but come to think of it, this terms couldn’t be precise to what exactly design justice tackles in a community. This paradigm explain the development of all sociological issues that are dealt with in a society. It is an overly common idea that big portion of people resort to design and art in general to release their negative energy, constrictive an oppressive vibes they feel in their community. So, it is a no-brainer that the main and initial objective of such framework is to ‘seek liberty’. What I think is the core concept of such paradigm is its applicability; meaning that it is not restricted to certain parts of the world because in every country, city, continent, state.. you will find an oppressed minority that will resort to design to relieve its oppression. Also, based on the intersectionality concept they referred to in the article, the fact that they gathered all sorts of oppression under one matrix is highly relevant, because it explains how each aspect of inequality generates different outcome, however, one outcome remains the same altogether which is oppression. This form of oppression can reach a very basic level that will impact people’s life, like in institutions for example. Some institutions design objects, systems, and processes can, in one way or another, bring about inequality in a very fundamental way. Same case for Egypt, some institutional services are provided in a way that only suits the privileged. Here, people who have access to internet are considered privileged just because they are connected to the world. By that I mean that it can be an exceedingly primary aspect in a society, but in one way or another it is designed to exclude some people, albeit unintentionally, from utilizing it. The composition of design justice is extensively inclusive in all its aspect and stages, and I think this is how it can be sustained. By virtue of having a recourse to ethical imperatives, the design justice is designed to advance those who feel marginalized at all stages. As the scope of design justice is not confined to the actual definition of design (more like assembly of object from what I understood), Design Justice as a paradigm answers to questions that are very relatable to our community. For example, it is becoming more and more common how there are organizations, trainings and such that aim to eliminate gender inequality especially in workforce, universities and so on. Here, at American University in Cairo, we have clubs that tackle issues related to females and how to face them. Last semester I took a Digital Economy Class by one the most knowledgable professors I have ever took a class with. Dr. Naglaa Rizk. The course’s main focus was not Artificial Intelligence per se, but how AI, in of itself, is a framework created to include all those who feel eliminated in workforce, education and such. There were many forums and talks we attended that focus on the contemporary issues that the design of Artificial Intelligence generate in difference society whether relative to age or gender especially in Egypt because big portion of people here have not yet developed this sense of awareness of “different” forms of oppression.

Given all the above, and because of how the paradigm of design justice is comprehensive of different questions of equity and equality, it can be summed up in a slogan that looks like this “we hear, we prioritize, we impact” and emanates the procedural and more importantly, pragmatic approach of Design Justice.

Prototype Game Design

As I believe that acquiring certain virtue is not an easy task, but rather, it requires lots and lots of efforts that will put a person on the right track. Only those who are lucky enough, possess those virtues and are able to pass it on to people. Because I believe the importance of being on the right path, I chose to name my game “The Virtue Game”. For starters, I decided to create a google document that will include 3 possible scenarios and how it can be implemented (as an initial step). Mainly, it will be like a scoring game where I will put in 10 scenarios that will test those 10 virtues, which I believe are the most important ones. Each scenario will describe a situation and the person will have different choices, if they answered  the correct answer, they will move on to the next virtue test (right after each question, I will add a brief on ‘X’ virtue and its importance in life), if not, I will direct them to an alternative scenario that will determine how (humble, wise,.. ) are they on the ‘virtue scale’. Or I have an alternative idea where if they answered the wrong answer, a message will pop out that you scored low on the scale of ‘X’ virtue, so what about remedying that? and then go on providing right answer through a scenario. I believe that this cause is very important because nowadays we face many dilemmas on how to react to certain people and action. So, as an initial step, I think it is very important to realise where do we stand and what virtues do we actually have and what virtues we lack, and how to acquire them. I got the gist of the scenarios from different websites about parents teaching their young children on building up their personality; it is mainly from child psychology websites

CLT Symposium

Last week, Dr. Maha asked us to attend a symposium about how AUC faculty use teaching innovations in their classrooms, digital education and how the university itself help in the matter. This is an interesting topic to me because I am visual learner, so applying digital platforms to learning allow me to reflect better on the things I learn and also it helps me with the overall learning experience. I attended Teaching in an Age of Complexity: Considering Open, Participatory and Equitable Pedagogies lecture by Catherine Cronin. The talk was mainly about the extent which educators are helping the literacy practice develop in the way they teach. I found this lecture very interesting, although I would have liked the speaker to talk more about the term “Pedagogies”. She already explained it in her speech but I it would have been better if she would have linked it to the topic more. The speaker links real life activities to the knowledge we should acquire and I think this is what was exactly needed because many professors who were attending were keen on learning the methodologies of applying digital literacy tp their way of teaching. So, linking it to real life events was helpful much. In her speech as well, she focused on the continuity of work, and how it educators would do such thing. I feel like this is a turning point in any learning experience because you don’t want only to acquire knowledge and apply it in the present moment, you want to maintain the momentum of creating ways that will crush the complexity of any learning experience. Lastly, although the speaker was adamant on giving advice to educators, she was not very engaging in a way that allow others to speak up their mind or actively engage with the material she is explaining. In regards to the second lecture I attended online, which was “Reimagining Education in the Digital Age” by Alec Couros,  I don’t have much to say about it actually. I found it overly interesting that I wished I would have attended it live. The topic was interesting but a bit similar to the one I attended by Dr. Catherine. It mainly talked about online access to courses and  how this opportunities have created new possibilities for digital learning and how this do not only affect learning experience but it also counts as social networking, that using its tools allow us to connect to global audience. To me, I felt this topic is very relatable because the traditional ways of learning aren’t as sufficient as they used to be and the more you integrate with global audience, the more you widens the knowledge you acquire. What really caught my attention in this lecture is how Dr. Alec provided practical solution. I always have hard time connecting with theoretical approaches, so for me, the more practical the learning experience is, the more knowledge I gain. This was one of the lectures I learnt best not because of his way delivering the information, but mainly for the information itself which Dr. Alec provided and the way he gave us a glimpse on how to exploit those online resources.