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audio was recorded from the actual lecture, in Jakarta, Aug 2022.

script was written between Ottawa, Dayeuhkolot, Bandung & Jakarta, Aug 2022.

The post Algorithmic Life & the Future of Us appeared first on ALiGN: Alternative Global Network Media Lab.

Part I: “Algorithms of Rage” – 5’59”

Part II: “The Rhythm of Us” – 8’16”

Part III: “The AlgoRhythms of Rohingya and Hasan’s bicycle” – 7’06”

Part IV: “Burning Bodies: The Offbeat that Binds Us” – 7’56”

Part V: “Closing remarks: Rhythms of Change?” – 2’29”

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Merlyna Lim posted this visualization on . It’s work in progress but, nevertheless, very helpful — it went viral!

Stay tune for updated version.

#freedomconvoy

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By Siqi Wu

Click to visit the website

Nowadays, most media is adult-dominated and contains many stereotypical images of young people. Therefore, I chose to make media that is not only directed towards young people but also produced by our youth. As a member of Gen Z, I must admit that we live in a unique world. We grew up in the media age and had a profound understanding of media and deeply know how to maximize the use of media. However, is jaded about the current state of the world. Some of them are overzealous in emphasizing their powerful abilities and influence, yet they are not actually the pioneers of grounded initiatives. Therefore, I chose a social work-like approach to design my youth media to maximize the use of Gen Z’s strengths and potential powers.

I designed a bedtime stories reader website called StoryGround, which can read stories to young kids. However, the readers of these bedtime stories are not professional broadcasters, but young college students. To start this website, I asked my friends to choose stories for children according to their preference and I also let them read the stories and record them. Then, they sent me their recorded stories to check and after recording their stories, I solicited their feedback about their stories. After I collected some recordings, I made this website with a free personal web production website – Wix.

The home of StoryGround has two pages, the first one is for children to jump to the story page, and the second page is a Submit Page for other youth who want to provide their stories. There are 7 bedtime stories on the story page selected and read by my friends and me. These stories include fables from various countries and some interesting and meaningful fairy tales. From the perspective of artistic design, I designed StoryGround’s pages to be simple and easy to use because it makes it easier for children to select the stories they want to listen to. And I chose some pictures that fit well with the story’s content. I believe that such cute pictures and simple design style can create a relaxing environment and attract children’s desire to read.

The goal of making StoryGround is twofold. The first one is for the children group. With urbanization, many children now have less space for socialization and entertainment. Therefore, an older brother or sister who are close and may occasionally mispronounce some words can give a lonely child some feeling of companionship, even though they have never met. Furthermore, many previous princess fairy tales have been pointed out by sociologists as having stereotypes. For example, in past Disney , women and men were created under obsolete concepts, with women being portrayed as incompetent and weak, while men were synonymous with armor and warriors. But these are the topics that Gen Z concern most, and they have a unique perspective on how to properly cultivate the expected qualities of a new generation, such as rejecting gender and racial discrimination. So, in the stories they choose, there are more stories about perseverance, teamwork and integrity. For GenZ, I think this platform has its benefits. During COVID-19, more GenZ young people have time to use social media to express their grievances and due to the quarantine policy. They showed unprecedented enthusiasm to participate in social events and showed great creativity. Thus, the GenZ community has plenty of time to pick and read suitable bedtime stories for the kids during this period.

Siqi Wu is an international student from China, currently a senior in Communication and Media Studies at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University. Siqi likes music and likes to play the guzheng, which is a traditional Chinese instrument. He is passionate about intercultural communication and seeks to understand the relationship between media and multicultural communication. And as a member of Gen Z, Siqi wants to study the differences and similarities in communication among youth from different cultures. He will soon receive his bachelor’s degree in communication from �Ӱ�ԭ�� University.

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By Sophie Marvell

The app design I have created is for an application aimed to create educational, and entertaining content for children at the ages of 0-6. The app is called “Waddle TV”. What inspired this app design was the need for advertisement-free and education/entertaining children’s content for mobile devices. Designing the app, I also considered research done by Reed and their co-researchers for their article t (Reed et al., 2019). This study explores how algorithms recommend specific content depending on the type of content being shown and engaged with by the user (Reed et al., 2019). The authors used YouTube and Reddit as experimental areas of study creating profiles and exploring the content being shown to them regarding extremism They found that Youtube prioritizes extreme right-wing material after interaction with similar content.

This study was of particular interest for my media design because I wanted to ensure there was no way to have unsolicited content for a child user. There are many examples and reasons to be concerned about the authenticity and source of videos and content on apps such YouTube. This app, I hope, will be a safe space for children to enjoy media.

Platforms like TikTok, Youtube, and Instagram can be unpredictable, allowing for the possibility of harmful content. TikTok’s algorithms are problematic for a child, as the app uses the ‘for you page’ to show personalized content. YouTube, likewise, has many issues with its content such as piracy and the big number of advertisements shown for children viewing. Parents have to constantly monitor their children as they watch or attempt to have some sort of parental settings in place. Instagram also has been leaning more towards ‘Reels’ with algorithms personalizing the content for the users. The purpose of my app is to create a space where parents can fully trust that the content being shown is educational and entertaining for their children. While the app is not a replacement for interactive games and education at home, it is intended to be utilized while on the go or to spendtime with media that is safe for the child.

The design of the app was thoroughly considered and reflected upon. I wanted the app to be an engaging and safe place for children to learn. I began the process of designing the app by first naming ‘Waddle TV’ which signifies the period children stepping into the media world. The design of the application logo is fun and incorporates playful colours and icons such as the pencil and washi tape. Once users click the app, they are brought to a page where they can click ‘learn’ or ‘fun’ for the option to play educational clips or entertaining clips. There are also small purple icons that allow parents to create playlists of their favourite clips. After selecting a category, users are given the chance to select an age group, to have customizable content for each user depending on the age. An added feature of the app is that it contains a search bar for parents or users to select specific types of videos, such as ‘farm animals’ or ‘ABCs’. No harmful content can be searched in the search bar. Another feature is the filter bar, which parents can use to filter out content they do not wish their child to see. An example of this would be filtering out ‘Christmas’ content if the child/family does not celebrate Christmas.

To ensure the app is safe, app monitors are hired to screen media. Those designing the content will be educators or artists who cater to children’s education and entertainment and will be paid for their contribution. The screen monitors are human beings who have experience in education, childcare, or children’s media backgrounds to ensure the content is suitable for the app. The goal of the application will be to create a safe space that parents do not have to worry about while handing over the app to a child. A final addition to the application is that it will contain no pop-up ads or any type of advertisements. This is to ensure the safety of the application and that the child is exposed to nothing that has not been screened by multiple humans. The goal is to have the app as accessible as possible while ensuring quality content. For this reason, the app can be purchased at a low cost of $3.99 to account for the creators of the media and the screen monitors who contribute their time to ensure a safe app for children.

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By Thomas Pouta

Click to visit the website

In discussions of youth and their consumption of contemporary media, cyberbullying emerges as one of the most pressing issues. This project is designed to address this issue through stories inspired by the aesthetics and storylines of vintage adventure games such as . As vintage aesthetics constantly trend in youth spaces through selfie filters and Tik-Tok lenses, I attempted to create a vintage-styled Choose-Your-Own-Adventure game that simulates the experience of being cyberbullied and explores the proper ways to deal with the problem. This project had me also adjust the work to be geared in a format that would not only be educational but fun and easy to understand. While this is only a snippet of what this game could later lead to with more months of work, I believe it’s a good game demo. The process of making it became sometimes more difficult as I began to create the four major pathways, but I believe the demo exemplifies some excellent ways to deal with cyberbullying.

For the project, I used the platform of Typeform and utilized photos I had taken of my friends and environment in order to accompany the story of a teen as I believed they’d be recognizable despite my editing which was done to emulate pixel art. As an ode to adventure games, I decided to edit all of my photos through the format of pixel art using a free site Pixel It. Pixel art is a common form of art found in many video games such as (2016, Eric Barone), (2018, Square Enix) and (2018, Matt Makes Games). The use of pixel art allowed me to transfer my high-quality photos to approximately 32-pixel art.

Writing stories was another integral part of this project. I began by creating four different endings I wanted to include in this version of the game. I wanted two endings to be negative experiences and two to be positive ones. However, all endings are validated, even those with negative emotions. The message is that there are multiple ways you can deal with it. The app, I hope, encourages youth to stand up for others and themselves through a medium that is fun, aesthetically pleasing, and replayable.

In the game, I wanted also to highlight the role of witnesses or bystanders in cyberbullying. This is addressed in the “beach” path. The importance of the witness’s roles – other young people witnessing cyberbullying- is highlighted in research done by in 2015 which shows that “an increased awareness of the important role that witnesses play in any bullying situation” is important to counter cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is an important issue. I hope that games like CyberSupport can validate cyberbullying experiences and teach ways to confront cyberbullying through interactive ways.

Thomas Pouta is a fourth-year Communication and Media Studies student at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, minoring in Film Studies. He is passionate about finding ways we can use play and games to educate and he loves storytellling. He hopes to work on more projects like this in the future.

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It is not easy to be hopeful these days. This pandemic narration “When It Is Over” is about finding and keeping the spark of hope. It is a 3-minutes pandemic narration in English/Indonesian, a voiceover in Indonesian & illustrated with one-line-drawings.

:::

“When It is Over” 

Narrators: Merlyna Lim & Novel Tjahyadi

Scriptwriter & Illustrator: Merlyna Lim

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In this episode of the Lockdown podcast, host Julia Cawthorn speaks with and Rebecca about their experiences as Asian women in Canada amid a wave of anti-Asian violence in North America and on enduring stereotypes of race and gender surrounding Asian women.

Click to listen to “Lockdown”

Julia is a recent graduate from �Ӱ�ԭ�� University’s Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies Honours program with a minor in business. She is interested in reading, researching and reflecting on how societal and cultural events impact identity formation through the intersections of class, gender, sexuality and race. As a marginalized woman and transracial adoptee, she hopes to bring awareness to the struggles of assimilation others in this community may face. Outside of her studies and work in strategic communications, Julia enjoys staying active outside and can be found planning her next vacation destination.

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Listen to the first episode of the new podcast Pandemic Personally, in which Aidan Battley meets with people who tell unique and unconventional stories to inspire us in the middle of a pandemic.

Click to listen to “Pandemic Personally”:

Aidan Battley is a fourth-year Bachelor of Communications and Media Studies student at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, and aspiring communications and marketing professional. He has previously worked on multiple media and research projects, most recently as a Vancouver Canucks Reporter for The Hockey Writers. He currently is stationed as a Communications and Marketing Manager for CMBA-BC out in Vancouver, British Columbia, and enjoys spending time with his dogs.

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What was it like to be a Chinese international student when COVID-19 broke out? Mozzi Li, a Chinese student in Canada, shares her experience of racism and her crippling fear of being targeted amid rising anti-Asian sentiments.

Click to listen to “How COVID-19 impacted me as a Chinese international-student in Canada”:

Mozzi Li is a fourth-year university student in Communication and Media Studies at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University.

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