Digital Dilemma

The Fragility of Ereaders

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The debate between paper books and ereaders continues! Every time I think I’m swaying one way, I get a pull in the other direction. Most recently, a weird update and some slight ereader malfunctions created a fresh longing for paper books.

Some time ago the Overdrive option disappeared from my ereader Settings options. The Overdrive option is what allows me to login to my public library and borrow ebooks. This wasn’t a big deal because somehow my home library login remained. I was still able to borrow and download books for this system without issue. However, sometimes I borrow an ebook from a partner library that I would also like to access on my ereader. This is when troubles arise. Since the option wasn’t showing up on my ereader, my alternative is to read on my phone, which I don’t enjoy very much.

I finally contacted the company for some assistance. Turns out I needed to update my credit card information before the option to borrow books from the public library would appear. It seemed strange, some kind of weird arrangement that only after the commitment to pay was sealed would the option to borrow be released. To date, since I started using ereaders around 2010, I’ve purchased exactly one book. I only purchased it because I needed to read it right away and it wasn’t available in the libraries yet.

With the Overdrive option reappearing, I logged in to the partner library and got the new book. Shortly after, the ereader started acting funky. The screen had a wonky display, the book cover with text appearing under it. Then it got dropped on the floor. Incidentally, this is how one of my previous ereaders died. After some tense moments of restarting, powering down, recharging, and hard wishing, the ereader started working again. However, it left me feeling a bit irritated with the technology. Paper books just don’t experience these kinds of failures.

I’ve never had a problem opening a book, unless it was super old and fragile. Turning pages is easy, no accidentally skipping ahead or back random pages, or not being able to turn them at all. More importantly, paper books are always “on.” They don’t require charging or restarting. All you need is some light and a comfy seat.

I still like the ereader, but I’m glad to have paper books around as a permanent backup option.

Digital Dilemma, Human Archives

Grandmas Know Best

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A friend of mine, trapped at home with her kid due to extreme weather conditions, decided to apply “grandma” wisdom. She had to get creative with what was in the kitchen. This way she wouldn’t have to go out in the bad weather. First, she whipped up some tasty looking banana fritters, even improvising for a few ingredients she didn’t have. This is similar to something our grandmas would have done.

She sent me the recipe. I’m excited to try it! However, I couldn’t help but feel that we lose out on some of this “grandma” wisdom with the convenience of the internet. When I was growing up, if we didn’t know something, we had to ask someone. Or, go to the library and look it up in a reference book. Now, even if you ask someone, the internet is bound to provide alternative viewpoints in the form of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, generative AI hallucinations, mixed in with a few things that may be accurate and correct. Even if you want to figure something out, the quality of the information is questionable.

I trusted what my grandmother told me. I believed the things she said. My grandmother may not have known everything, but what she didn’t know, she knew how to figure out. When she was growing up, she learned to be creative. Her life was full of improvisation and working with what was available.

I have many fond memories of my grandmother, especially cooking with her. I recall sitting on the kitchen counter watching her whip up lots of different dishes from memory. One of my favorites was her apple tarts. She used to roll out (homemade) dough and cut it into squares. She placed half of a cored apple with some spices on each square. Then folded the corners in towards the middle and baked them. She used to make little treats for us from the leftover scraps.

One of my favorite things in her kitchen was the flour drawer. A special drawer hung from the underside of a cupboard. White and funnel shaped, it had a sifter at the base, with a cover. The right side had a small crank with a small wooden ball at the end. When baking she uncapped the drawer, turned the crank and sifted directly into her measuring cup. You’re not going to find that on the internet!

Digital Dilemma

AI Election

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Although voting isn’t until November, the US elections have already started. Despite being American, I still feel confused by the many types of primaries and caucuses that can be held. Each State does something different, at a different time, and in a different way. This election, however, will be the first one after the introduction of ChatGPT (and related generative AI technologies) entered the world. I can’t even imagine the impact this will have.

First of all, generative AI can churn out content at a pace much faster than previous technologies. It’s unclear what quality and type of content the technology will generate. Misinformation. Disinformation. Straight up propaganda. Real information. It’s anybody’s guess and it will be incredibly be difficult to verify all the content, all the time. Fact checking will fall behind. By the time the facts are verified, the false content will already be viral.

Secondly, generative AI can create different formats. Maybe a couple years ago things like fake videos and edited photos were easy to spot. This is no longer the case. The AI technologies can now create convincing and realistic fakes. Even more alarmingly, they can do this in a short amount of time. Normally doctoring a video or a photo would take a human some time to do and require specialized software or skills. This may have been a deterrent, or at least slowed down the pace.

Thirdly, the laws haven’t been able to keep up with the pace of the technology. It’s not clear what’s allowed and the ethics around how to use this new technology haven’t been fully developed yet. All of these factors are going to result in an interesting election. With the generative AI technology still kind of new, though heavily used, it’s unclear what will happen.

All I can think is that this year, the election won’t just be about the candidates.

Digital Dilemma

Computer Voices

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In one of my app libraries, I have a collection of articles. One day I noticed a pop-up option to listen. “Short on time?” the pop-up advertises, choose the listen option. Sure enough, in the toolbar row on the bottom, there’s a small icon of a headset.

Normally I prefer to read these articles. They can be quite dense, sometimes requiring me to reread a passage to make sense of it. Also, there are lots of diagrams, models, and other graphs illustrating the text. Today I decided to try out the listen option while I was doing something else in the kitchen. After all, I’m a long-time podcast listener. Recently I discovered the magic of audio books. I felt excited about having these lengthy articles read to me.

About 2 minutes in, I realized this was not a good option. Unlike podcasts, who are hosted by real people, and audiobooks, read by real people and often actors, the article featured a simulated, computer voice. It was horrid. The voice had a synthetic, metallic twang to it, making it obvious that a computer was “reading” it. Everything was monotone, including all the descriptions for the many diagrams and other points. I listened for a few more minutes, trying to get into it. However, I realized I wasn’t paying attention because it sounded so boring. Admittedly, a non-fiction article might not be the most exciting content to listen to, but the computer-voice made it extra dry and lifeless.

As I shut off the audio version, in favor of something more aurally pleasing, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. There are so many great options available for audio readings. I’m sure many even sound like real people with tone, inflection, cadence, enunciation, emphasis, basically anything to make the text sound alive and real.

I realize the rise of AI, and other technological advances, raise real concerns about audio recordings. For example, AI can analyze an actor or author reading his/her own work, then replicate it for something new, without paying royalties or having permission. There are real ethics issues here. But at the same time, there must be some kind of balance between providing a reasonable sounding audio version to your customers, that doesn’t infringe on the work of artists and authors, or raise ethics concerns.

Until that library service figures out a better audio option, I’ll stick with reading those articles for now.

Human Archives

Holding Patterns

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At the start of the new year, it’s common for people to be forward thinking. To create resolutions and goals for things they want to accomplish, or change, in the next 12 months. However, sometimes it can also be useful to reflect on what’s happened. Or how we’ve arrived at the place we find ourselves on December 31.

Several months ago I started seeing an osteopath. I went for one thing that I thought was the problem. Surprisingly, I learned that something in my spine needed work first. As the treatments took effect, my body shifted and changed. Some of the changes were new and different as a response. Others were familiar. After a couple sessions, the osteopath noticed some old holding patterns taking place in my body. Though I couldn’t describe exactly what she felt to indicate the changes, there was likely something routine and habitual about how my body responded.

It was the kind of thing that I wasn’t consciously aware of. This is likely because the holding patterns are etched into the fibers of my body, reinforced through years of experiences. Incidentally, this is part of the inspiration for my “Human Archives” series. Since the patterns feel comfortable, or recognizable to me, I’m not always aware of what’s happening. It’s as though my body slips into its old routine in response to any new shifts of changes. A silent form of sublte resistance. Even if the shifts are welcome and expected, it can be hard to resist the temptation and allure of sinking back into what’s familiar and known.

I contemplated all this after my last appointment. What were my holding patterns? How did they develop? And since they feel like the “norm” to me, how would I ever increase my awareness of them? Or learn how to tell if a holding pattern was hurting or helping me?

Though I gave up on new year’s resolutions long ago, I’ve been mindful of learning more about my holding patterns. The new year provides inspiration to reflect on the experiences and how they molded my body over time. And to think about which ones to carry forward for the next 12 months, or consider ways to redirect them into something new that feels more beneficial.

Human Archives

The Smell of Spaghetti

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The holidays evoke a lot of senses and a lot of emotions. In my experience, people are quick to describe the sights, sounds, and tastes of the holidays. Lights are a popular feature to discuss. As well, some people have favorite holiday foods they look forward to. Others enjoy the distinct holiday noises of special songs or bells ringing and jingling. It seems, however, that few people take time to detail the wonderful smells of the holiday season. I’ve always had a super sniffer, so perhaps this is why smells feel so important to me. In sweetly scented areas it’s a blessing, but in other places, like public transit, it can be a bit of a curse.

A telltale sign of the holiday season for me is the aroma of freshly cut firs, a crisp tang in the air, and the distinctive smell of snow coming. Other scents include citrus, baked spice cookies, holiday cakes, and ginger.

One summer I recall talking with my friend’s son about his daycare years. I think at the time he was about 10 or 11 years old so it had been quite a while for him. He went to a private home daycare. The provider frequently served pasta to the kids for lunch. A prominent and distinct memory for him was the smell of spaghetti.

As he described the smell, a change came over him. He laughed slightly and flushed warmly, perhaps at the memory of the delicious spaghetti lunches. It was heartwarming to see the powerful impact that remembering this scent had for him. Hearing him speak, I could remember smells from my own childhood that evoked a similar sensation.

Before the early waves of Covid started, robbing people of their sense of smell, I don’t think this sense got the credit it deserved. It’s a strong sense that steers us away from danger (i.e., bad milk, leaked gas), gives us information (i.e., illness, attraction), or provides comfort. Importantly, it also affects how we taste things.

This holiday season, take a moment to enjoy the gift of this impressive sense.

Happy Holidays!