Below you will find a diverse collection of samples from poetry to excepts from work planning documents. Feel free to request pieces in full.
MASK IT: WIRED EMOTION [analysis of a critical design object]
ABSTRACT:
Mask it!, the critical design object created by Jolien Govaerts, visualizes the increased disconnect in communication in instances external to technological communication. The object provides direct and indirect users with instantaneous information from the user in an impersonal delivery; through colours associated with mood, whether it is true is subjective. The impersonal delivery of complex human attributes demonstrates, according to Govaerts, the merging of technology and humanity. Mask it! makes impersonal communication visible in an attempt to encourage humanity to stay human, in particular societies dependent on electronic communication, in communities where internet culture and mannerisms are becoming part of physical interactions.
Except:
Govaerts compares colour to emotion in an attempt to simplify the complexity of human emotion. The colours generally adhere to western understanding of emotion-colour association i.e., anger is red. Other colours are chosen, presumably, for other reasons i.e., happy is green instead of yellow. It is unstated by Govaerts why the colours were chosen for the selected emotions and if the emotion directory is finite. With many people unable to distinguish small changes in colour it is presumed that the range is limited.
Mask It! by Jolien Govaerts seen below.
The mask worn with no emotion selected.
The user emitting the emotion anger.
Edgar Allan Poe: Emotional and textual information driven by the interrelationship of the terms death, grow, eye, and length in his short stories of 1890.
Abstract:
The ten short stories written by Edgar Allan Poe creates deeper emotional meaning and connection. By coding the textual surface into primary categories (death, eye, grow, and length) and secondary collocates of the primary the interaction of the elements are analysed; through using charts and figures the connection among the elements is heightened.
Method:
The selected sample of Poe’s were selected on the basis that in the year 1890 he wrote ten short stories. This year was chosen as it contained the most short stories. The day and month they were published and approximate date of initiation and completion are not included in the study.
Relations among the elements were analysed once placed into a concordancer and the top four frequently occurring terms were taken from this list. The terms were then taken individually and the top six collocates were identified and their context was described; which was then represented graphically. The listing in advance of tables is consistent with Miles, Huberman, and Saldana's (2014) account of first and second order coding, the basis of any qualitative data analysis (pages 70-93).
Relations among the elements were analysed once placed into a concordancer and the top four frequently occurring terms were taken from this list. The terms were then taken individually and the top six collocates were identified and their context was described; which was then represented graphically. The listing in advance of tables is consistent with Miles, Huberman, and Saldana's (2014) account of first and second order coding, the basis of any qualitative data analysis (pages 70-93).
Sample:
The chosen sample from Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories in 1890 is inclusive of all stories published in the year. The chosen sample is based off of the information provided by the following website: https://poestories.com . The sample consists of the list below.
· Eleonora
· The Imp of the Perverse
· The Island of the Fay
· The Masque of the Red Death
· Never Bet the Devil Your Hand
· The Oval Portrait
· The Pit and the Pendulum
· The Premature Burial
· Some Words with a Mummy
· The Tell-Tale Heart
Primary Coding Categories:
Once the raw textual data was placed into a concordancer important terms were chosen. The terms with greatest betweenness centrality were chosen with the exclusion of proper nouns and words that do not repeat in three or more stories. This exact coding was only applied to primary terms and not the collocates; the collocates excluded proper nouns.
The dark gray sections indicate no connection between the three elements as one of the elements does not exist (length (adverb), grow (adverb), and Death (adj)).
The light gray indicates that there is no connection between the terms.
The white indicates an active connection between the terms.
The occurrence of the terms alone does not imply the importance of the terms but the betweenness centrality lays with length (noun/adj) being part of the other occurrence types that were analysed.
Calgary Airport Authority Internal department article:
A Day in the Life: Groundside
I was asked to job shadow two students from Groundside Services, Bailey K. and Kyle P. (both attend U of C for Mechanical Engineering and Astrophysics respectfully) and were beyond welcoming of an office dwelling outsider.
Groundside is a very small team: Logan Stanfield, Robbie Ralph, four summer students and contractors, yet the duties are prodigious: road cleaning and patch work, mulching, pruning, line and various painting projects, ice and snow maintenance, and that’s just the start of the list. In general the goal is to make all public accessible areas safe and beautiful.
When asking about what type of projects they are proud of they seemed to laugh at the idea (because you know how boys are it’s a faux pas to be proud of work) but as they showed me different projects anyone could see how assiduous they are of their work. Two of the projects are the deck outside of the Groundside building and the grass rehabilitation along Airport Road before the terminal. The deck (featuring the two students) was built last year with some help from the carpenter shop. While the rehabilitation was complete about a week before Stampede and is growing well.
The project that I was able to get down in the dirt with was mulching the plant beds on the arrivals level. The job would have taken me at least a few hours but with my minimal help it took under 1.5 hours. It was nothing out of the ordinary from common gardening work: weed, place mulch, and level. The difference was the efficiency they have. The understanding of what was to come next and how much mulch was needed was fantastic. The lack of verbal communication had me asking “What can I do to help?” fairly often only because I have not learned their language, a seemingly telepathic language of knowing. It’s quite extraordinary.
One of the big projects this year is painting the yellow baggage cart holders in the parkades. Each takes about an hour but with setup and ensuring high quality it can take longer. Two coats with roller brushes, first a primer and the second to make it presentable.
I say a job well done.
Thank you to the Groundside team for letting me shadow and learn more about their day to day life.
Keep up the laudable work!
CATOPTROPHOBIA [FREE VERSE POEM]
[catoptophobia: the fear of mirrors; not to be confused with eisoptrophia- the fear of seeing ones reflection in a mirror. ]
It’s at the end of the hall.
A pale yellow folded and creased. Suspended by corners. A monster lurking, waiting for me. It hangs uneven. Listing severely to the left. Motionless waves petrified and unfriendly. Once healthy fabric now weak and sickly. Thinning with its age. Opacity transitions to translucence only to return to its prideful solidarity. Even in the shields age it can’t hurt me. The tilt I repeatedly neglect seems to have proven too much for the cloth. A small corner is revealed. Dark crimsons scream warnings. The dying of nature dance in the wood. Unimportant slivers rave from the outer plane to the middle. It leaves a trench of lost souls. Unoiled and dry it will stay. A skeleton to hold a rotting carcass. The corner forced together. Disassociating edges. Polished sheen catches the light. A tiger hiding in the brush. Waiting. Examining me with destructive stimulation. Wanting my flesh lodged in its gums. My fingers desire to cover it. They are reasoned with. Lacking a backbone I turn mine to it. It can’t hold me if I don’t see it. The glassy surface beckons. A whisper only I can hear. Mumbles of dishonest sweetness. A compact darkness waiting to fill its void. It can’t inverse what I’ve done. So I hide. Just at the end
I cover the monster that can ruin it all.
A pale yellow folded and creased. Suspended by corners. A monster lurking, waiting for me. It hangs uneven. Listing severely to the left. Motionless waves petrified and unfriendly. Once healthy fabric now weak and sickly. Thinning with its age. Opacity transitions to translucence only to return to its prideful solidarity. Even in the shields age it can’t hurt me. The tilt I repeatedly neglect seems to have proven too much for the cloth. A small corner is revealed. Dark crimsons scream warnings. The dying of nature dance in the wood. Unimportant slivers rave from the outer plane to the middle. It leaves a trench of lost souls. Unoiled and dry it will stay. A skeleton to hold a rotting carcass. The corner forced together. Disassociating edges. Polished sheen catches the light. A tiger hiding in the brush. Waiting. Examining me with destructive stimulation. Wanting my flesh lodged in its gums. My fingers desire to cover it. They are reasoned with. Lacking a backbone I turn mine to it. It can’t hold me if I don’t see it. The glassy surface beckons. A whisper only I can hear. Mumbles of dishonest sweetness. A compact darkness waiting to fill its void. It can’t inverse what I’ve done. So I hide. Just at the end
I cover the monster that can ruin it all.