Issue #155 - The Spaces in Between
Issue #155 - The Spaces in Between
Acute Accent
A chilly start to the weekend, we may get snow. Looking through photos from last year we were shovelling and clearing drives. It feels as if we’ve had almost no snow at all.
I’ve asked for it now.
Pleased to have arrived at the break, I taught the final session for this run of my seven week course, and now I’m looking forward to a busy second half of the semester, just three months really until the summer, I know that it’ll go quickly.
I’m tired, it has to be said, a bit frazzled and needing to solve a few things. I’m pleased for opportunity to reset.
Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I think I write this so often that I’m expecting the phrase to auto-insert when compose an email reply. Also, I closed my eyes for a second last night, just when I was going to start writing and found myself dropping off, so you’ll get this on Sunday sometime.
Thank you for understanding.
Stephan
Teaching & Learning
We enjoyed an early morning coffee and donut(s) on Wednesday during our final Everyday Learning session, had some fun with a quiz about British things, I’m pleased to report that a few people knew who Stormzy was but Rishi Sunak has yet to make an impression. Better still I passed around a list of British phrases and sayings and asked the class to translate, which was good fun, I didn’t know that “a spanner in the works” has an equivalent in “throw a monkey wrench in the gears”.
We also invited the team from the ETC Entertainment Technology Center to test the first iteration of our new experience Intertwined which is about storytelling and memory. I know that it will change a great deal over the next few weeks as more and more guests start to play and provide feedback. I think this is really interesting, development is a balance between user voices and listening to your gut. You don’t want users to wrestle the intention away from what you originally planned or hoped for, but you absolutely need to listen to what they’re saying.
I wonder how far could you get on user stories alone, would it become the ultimate horse by committee, or somehow would it take an idea down a path that you’d never sought, to something richer and more interesting? The primary mechanic of our piece is a rotary telephone, which sits on a podium. An early suggestion I had was to just let it ring and see people’s responses to various sounds or conversations, perhaps sometimes these were identifiable, other times not, sometimes mysterious and strange, or humorous. I think I might try this with another mechanic, and see where it takes us. I’ve been wondering what to do with that old iPod.
Life Lessons
I attended a talk at the STUDIO for Creative Enquiry, by artist Dorothy R. Santos, who is engaged in a residency for the next few weeks, spending time in the CMU community and sharing their work which includes explorations of language, storytelling and more recently accent reduction, which naively I knew very little about. Dorothy showed an example of the many apps and platforms that purport to “remove” or “soften” your accent. I found it absolutely chilling and along with the rest of the audience begged them to turn it off.
It is fascinating that accents are such a natural part of speaking, and there are differences between accents, ones that are formed when speaking a language using the tone and intonation of another, often vowels and consonants. This is most common when learning a second-language; and the second type of accent that we’re familiar with, which is determined by where you live or the social group that you belong to.
I’m sure we’ve all experienced snobbery or prejudice about accents, for instance when grown-ups tells teens to “speak properly”, when actually they are the ones that often shape language and create new words that will be common-place in the future. There’s also racism towards those who have “foreign” accents, perceived as signifiers of background, ethnicity and culture. Many people feel othered by accents and discrimination against those who have accented speech is very common. There are times too when people are somehow surprised when meeting in person, someone they’ve only heard, say on the telephone, and there’s a perceived mismatch between how they look and how they sound.
There’s more about Dorothy’s work on their website and I’m looking forward to a workshop with the brilliant title Docu-poetics and Creative (Flash) Non-Fiction Writing next weekend at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre here in Pittsburgh.
Lost and Found
Last week’s poll showed that you really like this section, but I’m going to deviate slightly from the brief to share a few Welsh-language related items.
It was St.David’s Day on Wednesday and saw this fascinating video about the success of the Welsh Language. I’m afraid I haven’t picked up much in the thirty or so years spending time in Wales, just the odd word here and there. I know…
Ellis James here is talking to David Crystal, a linguist and educator who also happens to have a few things to say about accents.
I’ve seen some contrasting stories, Welsh is a success story yes, but still endangered. What has helped to promote and maintain it, are examples of great cultural production driving its use in songs, writing, plays and performances, as Welsh actors break through in Hollywood, even. There’s been a boost recently with the Wrexham Football Club documentary, co-owners Rob McEllery and Ryan Reynolds are learning welsh, and the whole endeavour is helping to promote Wales internationally.
Last summer I listed some of the Welsh music that I love for a friend and it seems like no better time than now to publish it. This is a web-only bonus deal just for you.
Thank you
Okay, the weather is good today and I promised to get a walk in. I haven’t got any sessions to plan for next week, but I have updated a work plan and looking forward to diving in.
All this talk of Wales, makes me yearn to be there. It isn’t long before we book our flights for our summer trip back to the UK, and already looking forward to visiting Cardigan and catching up with family and friends.
If you’re one of my colleagues, then my message to you is to have a bit of a break and do something for yourself. I’m hoping to visit the Heinz History Museum, because frankly, I can’t believe I’ve lived here for almost four years and haven’t…
I hope that you’re well and all is good. Thank you for your participation last week and all your lovely messages.