This week A famous Restaurant owner in Greece fell in love with Sapphria Mae. The man even let her create her own Menu Design for the restaurant this weekend!
Her methods in creating such a stylish and elegant menu came from working on Canva. Her favorite stone is Sapphire which was what inspired her to use this deep Sapphire blue background color for her menu. All of the menu items are classic traditional Greek dishes and beverages. Sapphria chose these specific dishes because she grew up in Greece and these are her favorite. The menu is also minimalistic and doesn’t have a lot going on other than the text. This was done on purpose to keep it simple and divine.
You have the option of two choices for each course in this 3-course dinner. But before you start, please enjoy an ouzo martini which is a traditional Greek aperitif!
For my next design assignment, I created a Missing Person poster for our beloved Sapphria Mae. Last seen on 01/29/2098.
I had fun creating this poster using Canva. I copied this poster image from the original assignment and then pasted it into Canva. Then I used the drawing tool to white out all of the input information and created textboxes to fill in her information. I also added a picture from her that I already had saved in my files and aligned it in the *insert picture* spot.
Her disappearance was very sudden, and the circumstances are still unknown. Hopefully we will be able to find her soon!!!
If you have any info please call +1 (800) – fem – fatal
In this visual assignment, I created a poster on Canva and uploaded two images of tattoo designs that represent Sapphria Mae’s superpowers and explains what she would do with these superpowers as a super “hero”. First, I want to say that Sapphria is only a hero to herself. My femme fatale character is charming, desirable, beautiful, very manipulative, fearless, and fierce. A force not to be reckoned with.
Below are the super tattoos that Sapphria Mae has. The first one is of leafy vines intertwined in her finger. This tattoo even has a name, called the “Love Spell Vines.” Her powers are actually activated through this tattoo when she points her index finger at a person and locks eyes with them. This power enables her to cast a spell of love on the person that she is talking to and basically make them so in love with her that they will believe in anything that she says or does to be true. Or she can motivate a person to want to do things for her. An example, “That person over there was so mean to me, I think you should go over there and punch them in the face” and that person would WANT to go do it because they are so deeply intoxicated by her spell. These powers could be used for the good or for the bad, but they truly define and express her inner femme fatale motives.
The tattoo below that is of a Chinese symbol for the word destiny. Destiny as we know it is said to be synonymous with meaning of fate. Events that will particularly happen in the future to a person or thing. Well, if Sapphria Mae can make you say the word “Destiny”, then she can decide or plan your fate. Again, could be for the good or bad. Probably bad. But this tattoo also channels her inner femme through being selfish, manipulative, and carrying hidden agendas that are self-serving to her.
In this photoblitzer activity I tried to capture as many of the photo ideas listed below as I could in the timeframe of 20 minutes.
20:49 was my photoblitz code. The following 7 tasks were assigned to me.
Make an abstract or literal photo that expresses how you feel.
Take a photo in which a mirror is a major element
Make a photo that emphasises one color much more than any others in the shot
Make a photograph that features vertical lines today.
The theme is blue. Blue Monday? Blue bird? Or something else blue?
Giraffes are brilliant. Show us what it would be like if they lived in human society.
Gauges, meters, and turn signals are all indicators.
My first photo was a screenshot of my phone screen. In this photo I was capturing my starting time @ 8:48pm.
Now that my time has started, I immediately start scrambling around to search for photos and images around me that matched with each task.
“Make an abstract or literal photo that expresses how you feel”
I took a picture of a picture that I have up in my living room. This lady is standing in front of a beach inside a nice home and dressed in fabulous clothes. It may or may not be her home, but she looks unbothered and comfortable in her own right. Her posture with her arms crossed is what gave me this perception of her in this photo. You also can’t see her eyes or forehead you can only see her lips. Her lips are kind of pierced and sassy looking. This photo expresses how I feel today; Glamourous, sassy, and unbothered… and wishing I was at the beach!
“Take a photo in which a mirror is a major element”
I wasn’t sure what to do for this one. I actually completed this task last, and I was in a rush because I only had a few minutes left on the clock. I pulled out my body mirror and I took a selfie of myself with my forward camera facing the mirror with me halfway in and halfway out. The mirror was the major element here because you can see multiple perceptions of me only because of the mirror literally mirroring my face when I took the picture.
“Make a photo that emphasizes one color much more than any others in the shot”
I took a picture with my iPhone of another picture that I have hung up in my kitchen area. This was a picture of a flower, but you can’t see thw entire flower because I was extremely close and zoomed in to this particular spot on the flower. I did this to emphasize the darker purple color more than any other color on this flower.
“Make a photograph that features vertical lines today.”
I looked around in my apartment and at first, I couldn’t find anything that featured vertical lines. Of course, I could find things with horizontal lines everywhere. Then I looked over and I saw my balcony blinds hung up and those feature many vertical lines.
“The theme is blue. Blue Monday? Blue bird? Or something else blue?”
For this task I found so many blue items in my house. I will feature several photos of random blue themed items here. I was literally running around my house taking pictures of everything blue. This was my second favorite task. Once you see the task below this one you will understand why it’s my second favorite. But I will say, it was almost like my inner child came out while I was doing this. I was frantically running around my apartment and just going nuts, taking pictures of everything blue. I just kept thinking “OOP this is blue, oh look this is blue, wait omg I never noticed but this is even blue”, and I got the chance to let some of my impulsive behaviors here, so that was fun. Also, it was perfect because I was even wearing blue while doing this exercise.
“Giraffes are brilliant. Show us what it would be like if they lived in human society.”
Ladies and gentlemen, this was my favorite task!!! I looked up on google photos of giraffes and I found the one below, decided to print it out, and then place it in two different areas to show how this giraffe would live in this human society. The first pic, I put this pic in front of my resting Roku tv with the cyber color themed in the background. It has buildings and such and I placed the giraffe there and snapped a picture. Then I placed the giraffe on the couch and laid him on a pillow and gave covered him with a blanket to keep him warm. What a better way to say this giraffe would spend in a human society other than sitting on the couch watching the Roku!?
“Gauges, meters, and turn signals are all indicators.”
For my last task, I had to call my boyfriend and ask him what items in my apartment are gauges and/or meters. I took multiple pictures of my findings. One was of my thermostat, and the other of my hot water machine heater meter. I did my best on this one!
My last photo is a screen shot I took on my iPhone to capture my ending time. Which was at 9:08pm.
from across time and space. Many people enjoyed the assignment, although there was some frustration with not being able to save the responses locally. I wonder if there is a way to do this with Google Forms. I also wonder if there is a less tedious way to reformat spreadsheet information into a document. I’m sure there must be, but it may not be within the limits of my spreadsheet jockeying skills.
Nevertheless, we have a great group and it will be fascinating to see how they interact.
I am usually a little bad about procrastination in my schoolwork. I always think it won’t be so bad, I can deal with it the evening of and make it out just fine. I would be lying to say that I didn’t feel a little pressed for evening this time around. Every time I looked at the Week 2 to do list it seemed to get longer somehow? I’ve definitely learned my lesson as I rapidly type out the assignments I’ve simmered on this week and the ones I discovered more recently.
Using Dr. Oblivion was definitely my main savior this week. As an honor council member and someone that is generally concerned about the environment, I have weird and more negative feelings about using AI, but it was very helpful to receive feedback so quickly that I could immediately implement into my work.
Creating two assignments was really fun. In retrospect, I did not really connect the second one to tech noir or cyberpunk. But you live and you learn and you fix those mistakes next time. I feel like I’ve really gotten a better idea of what this class will look like and how I can benefit from it. I think in college most people go through a constant circle of learning curves, I can only hope that I will grow from them.
For time’s sake (a mistake I will fix in the future), I regrettably cannot go into good detail about every assignment I worked on, but I will list the ones I did and share about one or two sentences.
Day 1: Show us your secret spy weapon. I didn’t think taking a picture of my prescription of Zoloft would be something to post on the internet, so you can use your imagination here.
Day 2: Make some kind of art about unexpected coincidences. I drew two people connected by a red line with a bow in the middle.
Day 3: Make bad art. This was difficult. I drew a photo of a house on a hill. As the prompt assigns, it wasn’t very good.
Day 4: Your Longest / Tallest Shadow Selfie. My longest shadow was on Thursday, around 5pm, pretty soon before the sun set, taken as I walked to the UC for dinner.
Day 5: Emoji Poem
Here is the poem:
I really feel that needs no explanation.
In retrospect, I ought to have posted my replies on the Mastodon page, but I got nervous and distracted and did not.
At the suggestion of Jim Groom (the co-professor of this class) I decided to base my character on my cat. It is important to me that readers know art is not a hobby of mine, nor a talent. I felt content enough with how the drawing came out to share it, but it is not anything revolutionary or particularly well drawn.
Drawn by me (2025)
Regrettably, I did not save the information I put into the Google form, so some of the information will not be verbatim and based off memory and it will not cover every single question asked.
Name: D41SY (previously Daisy)
Archetype: Anti-hero
Place and date of birth: Jantra City (It’s a word for industrial in Bengali, I believe) April 27th, 2124.
Occupation: A(n unwilling) member of the government’s military.
Marital status: Single and never married
Bio: The government kidnapped people’s household pets and turned them into part-robots in order to create an army of animals that citizens would not be able to, in good conscious, fight back against or hurt. D41SY is one of these animals. I need to continue to develop this idea.
Favorite food: Rice cakes (this is true to real life too)
Favorite movie: watching a live video of fish swimming around in a tank.
Favorite possession: Her next meal (also true to real life)
I would like to base the story around a dystopian government taking advantage of empathy to control the population. I’m big on sappy, happy endings though, so don’t worry too much.
When picking an assignment, I try to pick something feasible that speaks to me. Like my mother, I am long winded. I can talk about anything for any amount of time if I’m allowed to, so this blog thing has really opened up an outlet for me. So, a captive audience is really my thing.
And so is music! It bothers me when people say things like “I feel things deeper than other people” or “I have a really strong connection to music”. Everyone feels things deeply! Everyone has a really strong connection to music! I think assuming that something is more personal to you or that you understand a general human experience on a deeper level than others perpetuates an idea that our uniqueness is what separates us and not what provides a greater ability to diversify human experience. But now I’m rambling about things that no one is looking to read in a blog post about a song.
The song I chose comes from my 7 hour playlist of songs that I feel in my chest when I listen to them, I could really choose any song on this playlist and talk for a long time about the way that it makes me feel, but the song I chose is Pilot with a Fear of Heights by Felicity.
Felicity, for her 2018 single, Pilot with a Fear of Heights
The first verse she sings about trying to leave a former relationship and its memories behind, hoping they’ll turn into ghosts. She is afraid of someone that she can’t stop thinking about, someone she loves. The first verse is very nice, but it’s the clapping indicating that the chorus is beginning (at exactly 00:45, if you’re wondering) that makes me feel like things are really getting good.
I’ve been thinking ’bout you all night Like a pilot with a fear of heights You got me thinking like ooh, ooh
Singing about a pilot with a fear of heights as a metaphor for someone that you’ve been with and can’t stop reliving the memory of? I just remember hearing that and thinking it was so brilliant. To be honest, I hadn’t really heard the saying about a pilot with a fear of heights before this song, which made the saying especially revolutionary. The line you got me thinking like ooh, ooh may not be particularly unique, but it’s the way that she sings it that really hammers in the feeling. It makes me feel understood on a deeper level.
I’ve been thinking ’bout you all night Like a tiger that’s afraid to bite You got me thinking like ooh, ooh
It’s ironic, isn’t it? The tiger can’t survive without catching and killing (or, biting) its prey. The pilot can’t work without flying an airplane in the sky, but it’s terrifying! And she can’t be happy without a relationship which is full of turmoil. Sometimes when I hear this song I feel like a pilot with a fear of heights myself. I myself have a fear of heights, except I just can’t help but look down. It’s the adrenaline rush, I guess. I would definitely say this song gives me an adrenaline rush.
This is so unnatural That we’re on this level ‘Cause my heart’s surrendering For this new beginning
This verse feels so fresh and wild. It’s really important to hear her vocals in this to really capture the feeling the song gives you. Of course, the audience for this song is probably aimed towards young women and teenage girls, so those in a separate demographic from me may not enjoy it as I do, but it effervescently brings you to the feeling of a new relationship.
I’ve been thinking ’bout you all night Like a fire that’s afraid to light
In the second and final chorus Felicity compares herself to that of a fire which is afraid to light. Jumping into a new situation, whether it be a relationship, job, activity, etc. can be very nerve wracking, but it is that very thing that will bring you joy and life. It is the very thing that brings you to your destiny.
This week I chose a visual, a design, and a written assignment from the weekly assignment bank. I will also introduce my new course character, add some of my weekly adventures from the daily creates with my post and replies, and then give a brief summary of some of the new things that I learned this week.
I can feel and smell the seasons through the pictures!!!
The first assignment I chose was to make a visual collage of the 4 seasons: Winter, Fall, Summer, and Spring. I was drawn to this assignment because I absolutely LOVE the transition of all 4 seasons, and pictures of nature always amaze me. I wanted to use this assignment to start getting used to creating work that incorporates our class themes (Cyber punk and tech noir). I created the two collages using Canva. They are posted below in the order that I will write about them. Hopefully, you all will be able to tell the difference by their appearance!
First, I started searching for pictures of the four seasons that appeared to be normal or with no theme. I selected pictures that I felt we would see in real life. Or when we think of these seasons a picture like this will immediately pop into our heads. I then added them to my collage board and kept their original rectangular shapes and used no filters or editing tools to alter their appearance. Seasons are in this order for the first collage: Spring, summer, fall, and winter.
For the second collage, I chose another batch of seasonal photos that tended to have darker lighting with more intensified colors and are a little animated. For example, a themed photo I chose for the summer season has an animated human figure sitting at the beach. I intended for this picture to have some tech noir vibes to it with notes of cyber punk, while still representing a seasonal picture in my collage. That was really the process for all of the ones that I chose. I added the themed seasons in no correct order, I curved the edges of the pictures, and I added a little saturation to the pictures to make them look a bit more edgy. All in all, I wanted to show our seasonal reality versus a fun imaginative seasonal world with cyber punk and tech noir vibes. I hope you all can see my vision through these two collages!
For the second assignment, I decided to design a Destination Poster using Canva. My destination is of an imaginary place called Dooms-Dale Land that takes place in the heart of Cyber-Rome, Italy. Traveling to Italy has always been a dream of mine, so that’s why Italy was the inspiration for the setting of this technologically doomed place. I chose a few different pictures to put into this poster because I couldn’t choose just one of them. I researched cyberpunk/tech noir Italy, and these pictures popped up. I thought they were absolutely awesome and had to include them all. I cropped the pictures in a way that I could fit them all on the poster. Other than that, that is the only editing that was done to the pictures.
I used a multicolored background color that you can find on Canva using the linear gradient codes #8c52ff & #ff914d. This is the purple/pink/orange multicolored colors on the poster. I chose these colors because they looked appropriate for the setting. In most of the pictures, they have these colors incorporated in them. I used a “vintage” font with a hollow effect on the text. You can see the letters are slightly hollowed out. I chose this font/effect because I felt like it matched the vibe of the images. I looked through probably at least 15-20 font styles and I loved this one. I clicked on the hollow effect one time, and I didn’t even look for any other effects because I knew this one was it. Lastly, I finalized what I was going to say on my poster. At first, I kept it simple, and I wrote “Welcome to Dooms-Dale Land”, that name was a little random, but I felt like it went with the tech noir and cyber punk themes. Then I added the “Located in the heart of Cyber-Rome, Italy!” part. I thought it would be fun and on track with the theme to add Cyber-Rome, Italy instead of just saying located in Italy. Then I figured, why not add something nice at the end, in hopes to add suspense or something of the like. “We hope you enjoy your stay :)”. It’s almost the same effect as the creepy/scary chucky doll saying “you wanna play?”. Because who is “we” and from looking at the pictures, enjoying your stay may not be what will happen if you travel here. There seems to be a lot of technological warfare happening in these images.
For my last assignment, I chose to do a Self-Wellness Check. Personal wellness is very important to me, and I think it is essential to occasionally do self-check ins to see where I’m at, what I’m thinking, and why I’m thinking it. Below are the questions that were asked in this assignment. I answered them as myself and this assignment was not themed like the other 2. Above I created a little poster to go along with the written assignment. I created it on canvas. I found a picture that I felt like represented self-wellness, and I added it and expanded it to the full size of the poster (11 x 17). Then I added a little text box below that says “Self care. Self love. Self-Health.” Below is the Q&A panel, questions first and then answers are below it with a bullet point.
What worries me most about the future?
I worry about what the world will turn in to. I’m worried that all my hard work (College, internship, jobs.) will only get my head above water, and I’ll never truly become stable to where I can enjoy a comfortable and a financially stress-free life that I create for myself. I fear that I will finish college and get a well-paying job but then I still can’t get ahead. I want to be able to have the work life balance and not have to work to live like I have seen other family members have to do.
What am I doing about the things that matter most in my life?
I am nurturing and watering the things that matter most in my life so they can continue grow. I care the most about my education, wellbeing, my partner, my family, my friends, and my community. I study and use my resources to do well in school. I nurture and respect my relationships with my partner, family, friends, and in my community. The hardest thing to do out of all of these sometimes, is to be nice and kind to myself and take care of my wellbeing. Although I do my best!
What do I want most in life?
I want stability, great health, to be well education, enjoy the work I do, and to live a life that I love. I’d love to own a home. I want a garden to grow fruits and vegetables. I also want to grow flowers.
When did I last push the boundaries of my comfort zone?
This is a great question. I’m unsure. I feel like the last time I truly pushed the boundaries of my comfort zone was when I switched jobs. I had been waitressing for 7-8 years and I QUIT! Shortly after I found an internship opportunity that has been life changing. Now to think about it. I want to push my boundaries of comfort again very soon!
What goals do I need to have to get where I want to be?
My goals:
Complete my last semester at UMW, graduate this May 25′, and apply for a permanent position at my internship.
I want to start working out again or taking yoga classes. Something to get me more active and stimulated.
Start saving money. Once I graduate college in May, I’ll have NO student debt. I paid all of it off while attending college. So, this will give me the opportunity to start actually saving the money that I make. I don’t have a specific savings goal yet.
Apply to attend graduates’ school to achieve my Masters. If I get offered the position at my internship, they will FULLY pay for me to get my masters. Then I’ll get another raise.
Be open to moving out of my apartment. I’m scared to move because I’m comfortable here. I feel safe and secure because I know I can afford it because it is cheap/cheaper than anywhere else I’ve seen in the current market. But I want to keep an open mind about moving or relocating. I don’t want to be scared to make a move if it will benefit me.
Are you ready?! Click below to meet her. She doesn’t like waiting.
Name: Sapphria Mae
Archetype: Femme Fatale
Date of Birth: September 16th, 2073
Place of Birth: Somewhere in Greece
Occupation: Self-reliant entrepreneur/Slayer
Marital Status: Single, of course
Physical Description: Sapphria Mae has dirty blonde long hair. She wears down most times or up in a clean bun. Green eyes, long eye lashes, and a stunning face. About 5’4 and 170 pounds. Her dress style changes for the occasion. She loves wearing tight dresses with heels or dress slacks with a button up t-shirt with a blazer and dress shoes. But don’t get it twisted; She has a strong sneaker game too! She always wears jewelry, Sapphires are her favorite BUT diamonds are a girl’s best friend, so they say. Red lip stick looks good on her of course but she’d rather wear a vibrant purple because it really brings out her green eyes.
Bio: “When I’m good, I’m very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better” (Inspired by Mae West)
Favorite Food: Mangos, apples, yogurt, French fries, and salmon with mashed potatoes and vegetables.
Favorite Drink: Water, Ouzo, and fresh squeezed juices.
Favorite color: Doesn’t have one
Favorite book: Women talk “Family, Love, Sex” MONEY, Edited by Rebecca Walker
Favorite movie: Doesn’t have one. Her life is a movie.
Favorite Possession: Her cigarettes, and her weapon of the day. It varies.
This week was the start of my Daily Creates #ds106 #DailyCreates
First of all, I have 3 followers already!!! How exciting?!
For the first DC #tdc4754 (Daily Create) I sent in my secret spy weapon. Which was a picture of a watch, I’ll repost the picture below. I got my inspiration from James Bond, and many other agents. In my caption I said, “Every agent needs a watch!”
My second DC #tdc4755, I sent in captcha humor/sarcasm. On canvas, I created a collage with about 8 different humorous memes or images that I found on the internet. I added them into the collage, and I cropped and edited the memes/images, so they fit in square or rectangular form on the page, almost how a normal captcha would look like. Then I added a text box and posted a caption on the collage that said, “Select all squares with captcha humor”. Image below:
Third DC, #tdc4756 We were supposed to make some kind of art about unexpected coincidences. I created a blank canvas on Canva and found a meme about the coincidence of eating Pie on Pi Day. I also added a caption: “The pie also cost $3.14… Wicked!! A coincidence, I think NOT!” Image posted below:
The last DC for this week! #tdc4760 Create an emoji poem. I found a meme emoji poem that I had to share. It had a bunch of waves, ice cubes, whales, dolphins, boats, and one ship; At the very top right corner it says, “Jack No”. I love the titanic and I thought this was pretty creative way to represent that movie/story. I replied to myself on my post and wrote “Titanic Emoji Poem” just to clarify what the empji poem was about.
Image posted below:
Lastly, each day for our Daily Creates I favorited ones that I was able to see. Everyone else in my class did a great job this week! I made one reply to another student that said “This is awesome! Nice post rylie!” I’m still getting the hang of using these platforms. Next week I plan to make more comments and replies to other classmates.
Dr. Oblivion; Film Review with The Postman
The Terminator
Last week I watched the film The Terminator. From the previous readings, I had already known that some themes of this film were going to be tech noir and cyberpunk. I asked Dr. Oblivion, “What other themes besides tech noir and cyber punk were in the move The Terminator?” His response gave me a deeper insight on some of the deeper themes that I had overlooked. Of course, AI, dystopia, fate/destiny, and time travel are all themes that I had caught onto. But the idea of humanity and empathy, what it means to be human, and the idea that certain events are meant to happen and with changing them creates another set of problems. Then I asked Dr. Oblivion, “What does it mean to be human?” He replied that being human means that we feel emotions, have our own thoughts, we are conscious and aware of ourselves and our surroundings. Humans can also create things that don’t already exist. I had never really thought about what it means to be human.
In Chapter 1 of the Towards Technopoly: The Judgement of Thamus, ““Every technology is both a burden and a blessing”, “therefore, whatever our tendency — to praise or to curse — we should avoid becoming “one-eyed prophets.”” It makes sense that One-eyed prophets are not to be seen clearly. There are many external factors that cannot be accounted for. For example, the behaviors of people are most times unpredictable. We can’t account for the actions of other people because you cannot ever be certain of it. This also ties into the Statement of non-neutrality. Technology is not neutral. There are many pros of using innovative technology – it is used to create and transform but with that comes with many consequences. Just because an innovation is good, and it holds value, and dignity doesn’t mean it always will be and could cause disruption. Competition, dominance, money, attention, and intention is always subject to change and take discourse. I resonated with the concept of who are the winners and who are the losers of this technology? Who will gain power, dominance, money, and control? Who will suffer poverty, hardship, and defeat? In The Terminator, Skynet was originally created for unmanned military use and then became so powerful it became evil, and humans could not unarm it. In this case, humans would have been the losers.
In chapter 3, Towards Technopoly: From Technocracy to Technopoly, the Postman talks about unlimited growth. Which is relevant to The Terminator. Skynet, the created invention by Sarah Connor’s son became incredibly dangerous to humans and would have caused a nuclear death of the masses. This creation was not improving the condition to humanity and had widely caused disruption. This idea of technocracy had created new freedoms and accelerated life but also became the root of evil and triumph. From the reading, “With every new invention some limit was lifted or alleviated and there was less temptation to look back.” The Terminator was sent to look back in time to kill Sarah’s son to eliminate the new limitless technology, including; Limitless possessions, knowledge, science, and progression – good or bad. In this case bad because it was leading to violence, waste, war, and destruction. It also minimized the respect, reverence, responsibility, accountability, and self-subordination for those in power in the future. Which would have AI, robots, and of the sort.
“Technopoly is water we swim in, which is why it’s critical for the flourishing of our local and global community that we know what it means to be wet.”, a quote from ch.3 readings from the Postman. This movie is the perfect example of why humans have to be careful and cautious of new technological creations as they can become dehumanizing.
It was lovely to meet Dr. Oblivion this week and read through Postmans Towards Technopoly pieces. Learning how powerful technology is, what type of effects it can have, and the ideologies behind it was very interesting and I took a lot from it.
Final Thoughts:
This week I got to participate with my classmates through the daily creates. I also had the opportunity to explore and pull out my creative side through the assignments that I chose. I also got to play around with word press and find out how to create tags, insert media, design my writings in my post, and even more.
Over the weekend I’ll be going to the DKC again to dive a little deeper on how to work with word press and how to better format my work on my post. Overall, I think I did a great job on week 2 assignments and activities! My work can only get better and more creative from here!
It’s a ds106 world and I’m justing living in it. One of the many tasks for week 2 of ds106 is availing yourself to the wisdom of ds106’s AI bot the venerable Dr. Oblivion. So, given I have been thinking about AI and the Alien franchise, I figured I would head over to Oblivion University and ask the course bot what his primary directive is, and if he might pull an “Ash” on us, referencing the AI in the original Alien played by Ian Holm. The character turns on the human’s in order to do the bidding of the corporation. I wanted to be sure that Dr. Oblivion doesn’t turn at our course at some point during the semester and use his knowledge to subvert the class goals of independent learning.
What is your prime directive? Do we have to worry you are going to pull an Ash from Alien on us?
Here. was his response (you can also listen above):
Ah, yes, the classic fear of AI turning on humankind. Don’t worry, I don’t have any particular desire to go on a rampage and hunt down humans. My prime directive, if you must know, is to educate and inform about the role AI plays in media and technology. Let’s focus on that instead of science fiction nightmares, shall we? [Transcribed with Speech-to-Text.cloud]
He immediately knew the reference, but did not call out the film, which is interesting. And, as is always the case with these kind of questions, he re-directs the conversation right back to center on the “role AI plays in media and technology.” This does make him a bit dull, and kind of like a NPC in a video game, he can wow you sometimes with his language, but in the end there is no there there. Come on, Oblivion, step it up! We want A-Game here, this is ds106 after all.
