Visual Diaries

Reading Analysis:

          Having already addressed the many unintended deleterious consequences of recent technological innovations in the digital issues comic workshop, this workshop asks whether SNS can be used to bring people closer together amidst social and economic upheaval. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Arab spring movements will know that it can, but is it also possible to build cohesion and a sense of together-ness when you can't actually be together? Can SNS help allay the detrimental impact of the severe isolation many people felt during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic? It can, and it did. Not only were people able to share their experiences through the use of visual diaries like the one created for this workshop, they were able to come together and express collective support and outrage stemming from those experiences (Libbey & Farago, 2020). They were able to share the challenges they faced and recruit others to help alleviate them, even if only in commiseration. Completing this workshop has equipped me with the tools necessary to teach my students how they too can utilize SNS in times of upheaval to maximize their expressive agency while connecting with others for the solicitation and provision of support. 

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Visual Diary Entry:

          In this visual diary, I tried to capture both my day-to-day life over the last two years and some of the highlights my family and I strive to make more frequent. 

          Capturing the day-to-day proved more challenging than I anticipated because there has been so much upheaval in our lives, like so many others. We emigrated during the height of Covid just over a year ago (represented by a picture from our flight), and things have been topsy-turvy ever since. 

          We've spent the last year settling into our new Canadian lives and doing our best to spend what little free time we have with family here, which can be seen in a number of pictures above. We have always been a family that adores the outdoors, so there's a bit of that in there too. I'd say that though we're yet to find 'inner peace', being in nature and with family certainly gets us closer. 

          I included a few screenshots from my studies over the last year for obvious reasons. As tremendously privileged as I am to even be a part of this program, it's no stretch to say that it's been a challenge. Getting outside with my wife and son has been a great way to offset the stress that comes with that. 

          I included a snapshot of one of my practicum classrooms because that practicum marked my first step into a classroom since about a year before that on the other side of the planet. What a whirlwind. 

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References

Libbey, P. & Farago, J. (2020). The world’s great photographers, many stuck inside, have snapped. The New York           Times.