Carrie

Concept note about my website, natahowew
Researcher on CALL: I’m not a teacher, but after this course, I do feel that I would like to continue researching in this field. In coming up with a subtitle for my website, I further tweaked “teacher becoming in CALL” by changing “in CALL” to “on CALL” (by playful analogy with “Doctor on call,” though probably no lives will be saved as a result of my research). The overarching concept behind the website is that I wanted to show rather than tell – to demonstrate some of what I’ve learned by presenting what the website of a “researcher on CALL” might look like as they showcase their various research interests.
 
I wanted to highlight three things that resonated with me most deeply in this course. And I intentionally sought, on three webpages, to give each topic very different treatment, to push myself creatively and take some technological risks. Along the way, I wrestled with unfamiliar software to edit audio and video and build out the website, but did learn some new tricks. My confidence grew with each new tool explored and partially (or at least sufficiently) mastered.
 
Language keepers: On this first page, I imagine what a blog I might actually want to create could look like. In 10 weeks of CSL-placement blogging, I came to enjoy sitting down regularly to reflect on what I learned in the past week – and thus wanted to include a blog as part of my collage.
 
I now feel fairly well acquainted with some of the people I encountered in my research, especially those I’ve been able to hear or see thanks to multimedia content found online. So for my hypothetical blog, after an introduction, I present two sample blog posts to give a sense of what I have in mind: a short text introducing one or more Indigenous language keepers (mentioning, in particular, any collaborative work they’re doing, because I think the most valuable work happens through such partnerships). I then provide a short audio or video clip. This is one of the fabulous changes since my first master’s degree four decades ago – that scholars and others (who have an online presence) can come alive to us via readily available multimedia content.
 
In these blog posts, I also cater to the vanishing modern attention span and dole out the content in “snackable” bits. In just 10 seconds or so, visitors to the blog can “consume” the name of the person featured, their photo, the first line of the text and perhaps the highlighted quotation. Or they can spend another minute, and also skim the text. Or they can choose to watch the video clip (which I’ve deliberately kept short). Or, if still interested, they can follow the links provided to learn more. Something for everyone, in bite-size pieces.
 
2017: On this page, I reimagine my CSL-placement research journey as a canoe trip in nature, on a winding river. I did manage to keep myself in the canoe and not capsize on this trip, though the topic’s enormity, complexity – and critical importance to this country – frequently felt “destabilizing”. However, then, around the next bend, I would encounter new material or an interesting thinker (or doer) shining light onto a complex area – and the canoe would right itself (and restabilize).
 
I also wanted to convey something of what I’ve learned about Indigenous languages, that they are place-based, polysynthetic – and poetic. Looking through CreeDictionary.com, for example, I was struck by how many entries relate to the natural world and life outdoors, with words so packed with meaning that the English translations may use as many words as the Cree word has letters (in Roman orthography). For example, nâtâhowew: “she goes toward people, swimming or paddling a canoe.” I felt an immediate affinity for that word and felt it summed up my CSL experience nicely: Indeed, the best part of this research trip has been to become acquainted with so many inspiring people (scholars and Indigenous community members) who are doing unsung work, below the radar, to keep languages alive.
 
1980: Having done a first master’s degree in a distant technological era, I’ve really appreciated the opportunity in this course to reflect on the dramatic differences between the graduate school experience, then and now. Technology, of course, has transformed the way research and writing is done, and I had fun recalling my “MA, 1980-style” in a short video. In that “retro” video, I wanted to try to include some very latest technology, to play with the idea that modern tools can help us connect with our past. For this, I dipped into Google’s 3D Poly, launched in November, which is a library of (Creative Commons-licensed) 3D objects, really intended for AR and VR app developers. But this is where I found the manual typewriter gif that I use at the start of the video. I had never worked with a gif before, but knew that I had to try when I saw the Poly object that looks much like the portable Olivetti I had used to produce the long-ago master’s thesis.

https://natahowew.weebly.com/