4 10 31 https://apdh.oxomeka.org/files/original/15a4d6ff52a4394e93d66e8b376e6a23.jpg 347a41f4809e200666649843f3f37000 https://apdh.oxomeka.org/files/original/9814bd9ca422f297132f4d94bfdfe382.jpg eb2aa79b87564a0d3f844137033e7276 https://apdh.oxomeka.org/files/original/d93dbf11738a75b05f0462791bc23cf7.pdf 2259c455add000351da94c4586a27223 PDF Text Text “Not Only Are My Devices What They Are When They Were Given to Me, But Now They’re Like What I Want Them to Be” Archive of Personal Digital History Interview #13 – Post-1980 Birthdate September 24, 2018 Introduction The following pages consist of an oral history interview between the interviewer, Megan Yang (denoted MY), and her subject, Kyle Scar* (denoted KS). This interview was conducted on Monday, September 24th, 2018 around 11:30am in study room 207 of the Oxford College Library. Kyle Scar is an Asian American first-year student at Oxford College of Emory University. He was originally born in Germany, but has most recently lived in Newport, Massachusetts. He first had regular in-home access to a digital device of some sort at age 5, personally owned one at age 8, and is now able to code in Swift (Xcode) – a programming language. For this interview, Kyle chose to talk about the general family of Apple products (e.g. MacBook, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch). Megan Yang is also an Asian American first-year student at Oxford College of Emory University. She was born in California, moved to Connecticut, and then lived in Shanghai, China for twelve years. At Emory, she hopes to study marketing and international business while double-majoring in psychology. Her goal for this interview is to understand the technological habits of someone in the same generation as herself in order to grasp a bigger picture understanding of “digital natives” and digital literacies. _____________________________________________________________________________________ MY: Hi Kyle*, how are you doing on this fine Georgia foggy day? KS: Good. How are you? It's foggy? MY: Yeah, I thought I saw some clouds outside. KS: Oh I thought it was pretty sunny MY: In this interview I will ask you to take me on a guided tour of a digital device that is particularly significant for you and that you use frequently, like your phone, laptop, gaming system, or other device. If the device enables it, I would like to you review a record of your activities from the past month, such as note entries, phone calls, texts, emails, websites, and social media interactions. And talk to me about the people you interact with, the places you go, and the way you use media and communication technologies. You can decide what to comment on, or you can decide when to share an example by showing me something on the device. You should only sharae an example when you feel comfortable doing so. Also, please don’t share anything illegal or any information that would compromise the privacy of another �person and please don’t mention names of other people. When referring to other people, please use their role rather than actual name. For example, coworker/family member/friend. KS: So you want the tea, got it chuckle MY: Before we begin, do you have any questions? (KS: Shakes head no) Do you mind if I take a picture of your devices? (KS: No) KS: Oh, wait, was I supposed to bring all the stuff I was going to talk about? (MY: I think it's better to just focus on one, just reference the others in your responses) MY: Just use the phone (KS: Sure why not, so there’s more substance to this) I’m gonna include the Apple logo [in my picture] (KS: Oh my gosh! That's so extra) MY: Tell me about why you chose these devices. KS: It’s only because I use them currently; I used to use PC and you know like flip phones but obviously those old devices [are] not suitable for society nowadays So I switch to these guys they're more interconnected with other people MY: So why do you think the things in the past are incompatible with today’s society? KS: Through our advancements in technology we have...our methods of communication are dependent on basically a higher standard of digital technology...so like a couple years ago when I had my “flip phone” it was like you have to click, you know, whatever number this many amount of times, type in a letter and whatever, you couldn’t access the web or any of that, so now you have a smartphone that can do all of that you can text easier with a keyboard you can access Facebook email basically all that people use nowadays to communicate so like we were talking earlier about the Goldman Sachs person coming in and I had no idea because I don't check Facebook if I had my older phone it barely be a possibility, because I would need a laptop or desktop to open Facebook and check it. But now I can just do it on my phone communication devices are almost required if you hadn't told me about that, then like, I would never know MY: I relate to this talk about the flip phone cuz I had a pink Motorola and it was like “uhhhh this is so hard” KS: It cost money to text, unlimited plans were not heard of...with a laptop the only reason I use a MacBook is because the Apple company is like a freaking genius they basically pull you in and make you unable to use any other devices; with my MacBook I can sync up to my phone, Apple Watch, iPad and all your devices are connected. It's all about connecting MY: That's an interesting angle I didn't think about that before. Okay so that was the introduction, now we're going to move into the specific parts. I want you to talk to me about the activities you do on your phone. Do you have any apps or programs that you use to plan, coordinate, or record your activities? �KS: Yes, as of recently I use Microsoft Outlook, which is what Emory provides us. I use emails for communications, calendar for, you know, calendar chuckle and yeah that's to keep track of my stuff. I also use the text messaging app because I yell at my friends to remind me to do things and they either call or text me so I guess that's also a way of keeping track of things; or I text myself which you could not have done with a flip phone. MY: So based on what you do on your device and what you see on your apps what are your main activities and of those, which are most significant to you personally? KS: Well...um, I'm going to actually check what activities I do chuckle chuckle I don’t go on Snapchat at all, which is so weird. I think I probably use YouTube the most MY: I didn’t actually start using YouTube until quite recently. Now I just watch a bunch of videos and comment like everywhere. Before I didn't even use it at all, I felt that when I was in middle school everybody else around me was really active on listening to music, watching TV shows, and I didn’t know any of this stuff. KS: Just kidding, it's Messenger and Messages which I think will be the same on my laptop unless you count Google Chrome as an app. You text people, you do your homework with Microsoft Word or any Word Processor and so for the phone with the interconnectedness them I use it for connecting with people my social media apps are definitely on the top MY: Yeah same KS: For my laptop I would say like I would use it for mostly school and other personal endeavors *hahaha* So I basically just use Google Chrome and essentially for school stuff, it’s either to write an essay or search up pictures of cute dogs...I don't like dogs...bunnies MY: Baby animals are so cute all the time KS: Oh and Pokemon, you know how I sent those to the chat? MY: Yeah. What patterns do you notice and what you do on your devices and the role your device plays in them? KS: So [on] my phone, I actually have an app that tracks exactly what I do for exactly how much time. I spend a good portion of my time on the lock screen and home screen just staring at it, because I forgot what I needed to do. So I just kind of...that's what I do generally. I open my phone, “ooh it’s turned on”, “let me just unlock it”, but I have nothing to do and then I close it again. MY: Can I check out the app you're talking about? I feel like I should get it too. KS: I’ve been using it for awhile. �MY: Do you create your own categories or does it create categories for you? KS: It does like apps and stuff, I forgot how to do it, but basically this is over the course of August 21 (one day). So I picked up my phone 34 times, screen time is 3 hours and 32 minutes, so each time I picked up here and picked up picked up… MY: Exact times...woah technology! KS: I know right? Interconnectedness. (MY: Oh my gosh, right!) and then um I have a coach which helps you stop using your phone. Specifics somewhere, which tells you like you spent an hour on screen, two minutes in a messaging app. (MY: What’s [the app] called?) Moment. (MY: I’m gonna download that later, like for real) KS: Wait are you international? MY: Well I’m a domestic student, kind of ish. (KS: So you have an adapter) I lived in China for 12 years (KS: I didn't know that) MY: What important activities are not reflected in your digital devices? KS: I guess honestly nothing. I think if you were able to take my devices you will be able to find literally everything that I do, you know you can infer it from certain activities that you do. For example like if I text someone to meet up at Lil's then you'll know for the next 30 minutes when I’m not on my phone I'll be eating with friends. And then like... And then if there's just like a few hours at night when I'm not on my phone I'm sleeping. It's like I think that device literally if you spend enough time you can figure out exactly what I do ever since I got it. MY: It’s all about intuition (KS: But also like technology) MY: So this next section I'm going to ask you about the people you interact with through your devices. So are there any apps or programs you use to communicate people? KS: So my laptop and my phone are both synced up with my Apple Watch I have no battery, oh I love that. (MY: What a first world problem!) Do you mind if I borrow your charger? (MY: That's completely fine.) Interconnection. Exactly. We can all use each other's things because we have the same device but Apple freaking changes the USB jack every single day and they just came out with three new iPhones XS, XR, XS plus or something. KS: Like everything is interconnected in my reminders, which I’m totally putting off (MY: Yeah I have those too) It's so nice your life is basically streamlined like if I go to messages off right I'm texting someone... “I’m in an interview demonstration please ignore”. On my computer it'll show the time on my messages on my phone. And so like once I go off it disappears from my laptop. I just kind of use that app so I just kind of have to duplicate apps on both of them to sync what's going on. please Outlook messenger and whatever forms are online that I happen to be using canvas and any music apps share �playlist use Spotify I use apple music. I’m just constantly sharing data with people. Especially because in my messages app I can share my location with people (MY: GPS!) Tell me about it MY: What patterns do you notice in your communications with others using your devices? KS: One of the patterns I noticed is that I never communicate. You'll notice that you can see that I have a lot of messages. I don't read the messages...I don't bother to check messages because it doesn't go into my head. Like it's just like I don't understand the necessary need to be constantly texting. (MY: Yeah, yeah) I'm going to do it like...I will only text so that I can see the person in-person. MY: Yeah I don't want to text either I just like to read all my notifications, so you’ll see on my phone that I have no red bubbles on my apps KS: I hate the red bubble so much...it makes it feel like something's hanging over my head. I don't know what these messages are you know…(MY: They could be junk messages for all we know) or my mom is in the hospital, you never know. It kind of bothers me a lot but also… MY: How do you decide which mode of communication to use over another? Do you use particular modes of communication for certain situations or people? KS: I prefer to use call, only because I'm a musician I guess and I'm like I used to be into music quite a lot and I was born where there was a lot of music. I'm like halfway dependent on the same with my ears (MY: So, audio input) like my audio input like the sounds gets stuck in a chronological loop of my head. But I don’t understand really like language you know, like if you say “Hi, my name is Megan” it'll take me awhile to understand that because I don't understand words...like the words don't make sense to me but because of my musical background I'm more heavily dependent on tone, so it’s much harder for me to communicate over text. I mean text isn’t that bad because I’m reading it and not hearing it, but if someone were to give me a monotone voice, like not Siri but you know like a text-to-speech kind of thing and is kind of just like reading to me, I have so much trouble understanding those types of things. I cannot communicate with someone who speaks like that. (MY: Like reading these questions on a piece of paper....) That's why in classrooms I have so much trouble understanding when teachers read questions off of a paper, because your voice goes monotone and it's hard for me to understand. I prefer to talk over phone, but if it's a super short thing I'll text. Otherwise I'll be like stop texting me because I don't want to talk to you! MY: What important actions with people are not reflected in your device? KS: Well...sexual relations. Especially if it's like not an ongoing relationship, but stuff like a one-night stand usually happens out of the blue. Any strangers I meet, like I never get like a missed connection kind of deal. Those connections you don't follow up and I guess like...no my teachers are on my phone. (MY: I don't know, I didn't think of it that way) It’s the people that are unimportant just never make it to the phone, which I guess makes sense. MY: Now that we're done talking about people let's talk about places. So now look through your device and see what records you have of the places you have visited during the past month. You can have Google �Maps, Location Services or like Foursquare. (MY: I don't use Foursquare) I have no idea what Foursquare is. MY: So what apps or programs if any, do you have of place recording? KS: So I have messages which tells me that place is just because you know where we talk about plans (MY: Exactly) I have my Snapchat, right, which has the filter and I save it. Instagram saves my location whenever I post and I have Photos which saves your location as well. And I have I guess just whatever app is using my location services right now. MY: With these location tracking services, how did you decide which ones can use your location and which ones don’t? KS: Oh I think it's basically more of like a biased intuition...um…if in the past some unfortunate thing has happened either to me or someone I’ve heard of, um, based on one app or whatever, I probably won’t let them read my location. Generally I don't really care where people know where I am, I mean like I have nothing to hide, you know. (MY: We’re all good kids here) Like I'm not going to cheat on anyone chuckle MY: Do you use any apps or programs to navigate or discover locations, or check into places like maybe you're trying to find something find a restaurant nearby? KS: I just have Google Maps, Waze, my laptop, and Find My iPhone because I lose my phone all the time. That's about it, oh, Outlook can tell me where I go. My messages also help me discover new places because that’s where I plan things. Messages basically controls my entire life. MY: Sounds like that; there's like 2000 red bubbles on top. So what patterns do you notice in the places you visit? KS: They're very introverted places, I guess, because I'm an introvert. They’re usually pretty introverted, like the library, a nice restaurant, like some low-key amusement park or something where I don't have to directly deal with a lot of people. You know it's fine...I mean it's not that okay, but it's kind of fine if are people just around me and I don’t have to interact with a lot of them at once. But places like a club, that would not be somewhere that would be reflected on my phone because there’s too many people, too many noises. Concerts, clubs, you know… (MY: I go to concerts but no clubs) MY: How did you first learn to navigate locations using these apps or traditionally using a physical map or landmarks? KS: Oh, so this is interesting! I did use a physical map at one point, and I did not have Google Maps on my phone at one point. I remember the first time I got an Apple device, I could write anything with the touch screen, anything with those capabilities. Because I was so young it was so much more intuitive than I had imagined it to be. I guess not because I was young, but because I was exposed before because I was kinda late in the whole device-getting thing; everyone had iPads and when I got one I was just like I know how to use it! The first time using Maps I had no clue what the frick was going on, right? Like there is a �bubble in the middle and I was like that must be me. It reminded me of when you go to the mall and you see the ‘you are here’ sign and nobody tells you that the dot is you. It's kind of like...I'm going to assume that's me because you walk around and the blue follows. I don't know I'm just kind of like....All apps have like the same kind of layout. Menu, drop-down, search button, and all that stuff; so once I got used to one app all my apps kind of kind of came with me. Google Maps was one of the later ones, so all I had to figure out was ‘I’m that blue dot’. MY: Alright so now we’re gonna talk about media. Like that’s so important. chuckle chuckle So what records do you have of the media you used in the last month? We’re interested in social media posts, texts, photos, music, videos, TV shows, movies, and games, that you have watched, listened to, played, or that you yourself have created or distributed. These could be social media entertainment media, news media, or any other kind of media or information. You might have records, browser history, Google searches, Netflix, YouTube, social media. KS: Okay let's go to my history. MY: Okay, so based on what you see on your device, what apps or programs do you use most frequently to access or produce social media? And then what types of media do you create? KS: For the social apps, I use Messages, phone calling, FaceTime, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Facebook Messenger app as well as Outlook and Canvas. Those are my most used ones. MY: Do you create media like music with GarageBand? KS: I never got to the GarageBand phase...I usually just wrote the songs on a sheet of paper, on sheet music. Yeah I guess I create media...you'll see my search history, I was looking at pictures of Pokemon like Ninetales, Deoxys, and Milotic and it was more Sarah* because I have no idea what the names of these Pokemon were. I took a picture of them with my phone on my laptop, you know. I created a little meme chuckle chuckle Yeah like I produce media all the time because everytime I type something, every time I take a picture of something, every time I meme-ify something. MY: Yeah, memes are basically the backbone of culture these days. (KS: For real though) They’re the way we transmit culture. [interviewee took a bathroom break, transcript continued...] MY: So we’re restarting the recording because Kyle* took a bathroom break. Ok, so for the media questions, I was looking through and I don't think we need to ask all of them. Tell me about any strategies you may have for protecting your privacy in regards to your media usage. KS: I mean I just don't share what I don't want to share. Generally I have no privacy. MY: I think there's a future in Snapchat called ‘my eyes only’ that you know you can like set a password and put stuff there that I guess isn’t for public eyes. I forgot my password so I can't go back anymore. I'm �so sad and I remember it was my last phone password, but I don't remember my last phone password because I got a new phone. KS: There’s a similar thing where it can lock access to one of your apps. If someone goes on one of your apps in your phone and they’re trying to get into the Messages app. The settings allow you to require a password before getting in. I did that for a couple of my apps. We need a password manager thing; those things are so sketchy because once you know one password, it leads to all of your passwords, you know what I mean? (MY: Like one key) MY: What important media information are not reflected in your device? You might read newspapers, magazines, listen to the radio, watch TV, go to the movies, play video games. KS: I guess like going to the movies. But that's still something that I plan on my device so I guess I mean that's still doesn’t count. I don't think anything is not reflected. (MY: We're basically controlled by technology now, is that what you're saying?) chuckle chuckle MY: Of the apps and programs you told me about, are any of them especially significant for you? KS: I guess just Messages, yeah. (MY: Because you use it the most frequently, yeah) MY: Now we're going to move on to the digital literacy questions, which is basically how you know how to use technology and like how do you see yourself as proficient in doing technology-related things. How did you start using digital technology, and how has your relationship with it changed over time? KS: Okay, so I got a Mac and a phone after using PC devices and Android-based whatever (not really) just the regular flip phone stuff. It was just like multiple, like learning points. One when I first got my iPad, so I had to learn general iOS and that took a while, but then I got my iPhone right? And then because there are differences between iPads and iPhones obviously, to have so many more features on the phone. And then I also had to get used to everything since they’re all on the cloud server and then I got my Mac, Apple Watch and they all start connecting everywhere and I was like, oh my gosh, do I need all of these devices? They're busy doing the same thing and also interconnected. This past year, I learned how to code in Swift programming; so now it's like not only are my devices what they are when they were given to me, but now they’re like what I want them to be. You know if I want, I can change whatever feature I want. I can just going into the code, like, and figure out what's going on. I used my knowledge. Took a lot of time, but I figured it out (MY: Coding is scary). Now my devices are my child, I can mold [them] into whatever I want. MY: You used to consume technology, now you help create it. MY: Of the activities you’ve described so far, which is the most complicated to learn and what makes them so complex? �KS: I think programming because it’s the heart of the device. Literally, if you learn programming, that’s you learning everything there is to learn about the device. So in a way, you can’t get any harder than that. (MY: Yeah, yeah). MY: What contexts do you use coding for? KS: Giving myself things I don’t deserve (MY: Yeah, totally wouldn’t want to do that) MY: We have to write a transcript. KS: You have to type all of this up? Shizz...I should’ve made my answers shorter, I’m sorry. (MY: That’s okay, you still have a few more chances to give shorter answers) MY: Can you tell me about any activities you wish you could complete with your device, and why? KS: Like some capability my device already has, or if I could add something to my device? (MY: Like whatever you think that question means) KS: It would be great if the devices had movies in 4d, but not actual 4d because that would be insane, but like movie 4d, you know, like senses; touch, feel, smell, taste. Like if I could lick my device if someone sent me a lollipop, like that would be kinda great. (MY: Maybe in 20 years or something) but I also don’t want to smell a fart. If someone sent me a fart, I’d be like what? (MY: So that’s more like we need technology to advance even more) MY: Do you feel you have the digital skills you need to operate effectively in a professional context? KS: Oh yeah, definitely, because I worked at a, uh, startup company this past summer as a financial manager. Like I didn’t use a Mac, but I definitely used what I learned from using Apple devices and pushed it onto the other devices, yeah. (MY: Mhmm) MY: Could you tell me how you’re gauging that, measuring that, kinda like how do you know? KS: Just because I’ve done it. MY: How about in an academic context? KS: Yeah, because I’m surviving currently. (MY: We’re pulling through) MY: How would you describe someone who is digitally literate? KS: Someone who can use the device to find out how to use the device, I think, is digitally literate. MY: Wow, that’s nice. I’m gonna talk about that in our class discussions because that’s super interesting. Would you consider yourself digitally literate? �KS: Oh, yeah. MY: How did you learn to be digitally literate? KS: Trial and error, and/or someone taught me. MY: Is there anything else you would like me to know? Something that I didn’t ask that I should’ve asked? (KS: I think you’re good). MY: Yay!! Thank you so much. This definitely yielded a bunch of great insights! *Disclaimer: Names changed for confidentiality reasons. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 APDH Interviews-Post-1980 Birthdates Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Megan Yang Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Kyle Scar (pseudonym) Location The location of the interview Oxford College of Emory University Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Transcript Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 10 pages State/Province of Residence The state or province in which the interviewee currently resides Newton, MA State/Province of Birth The state or province in which the interviewee was born Freiberg, Germany Five-year birth range The five-year range in which the interviewee was born 1996-2000 Nationalities All nationalities reported by the interviewee American, Chinese, German Gender Gender identified by the interviewee (female, male, non-binary/third gender) Male Race or ethnicity The interviewee's reported race or ethnicity Asian Socioeconomic class The interviewee's reported socioeconomic class (working class, middle class, upper middle class, upper class) Middle Class Main Languages Main languages reported by the interviewee English, some Chinese Occupation College Student Length of digital device access The length of time the interviewee has had access to any digital device (computer, mobile phone, gaming system, etc.) 14 years Age of regular digital device acess The age the interviewee first owned or had regular in-home access to a digital device of some sort (computer, mobile phone, gaming system, etc.) 11 years Coding/markup languages Coding or markup languages with which the interviewee reports familiarity Swift (Xcode) Device Type Type of device the interviewee chose to be interviewed about. Personal network of Apple devices Device Make and Model The make and model of the device the interviewee chose as particularly significant for them. Macbook Pro, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6s, iPad 3, Apple Watch 1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Not Only Are My Devices What They Are When They Were Given to Me, But Now They’re Like What I Want Them to Be Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September 23, 2018 Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Interview #13 - Post-1980 Birthdate Kyle Scar is an Asian American first-year student at Oxford College of Emory University. He was originally born in Germany, but has most recently lived in Newport, Massachusetts. He first had regular in-home access to a digital device of some sort at age 5, personally owned one at age 8, and is now able to code in Swift (Xcode) – a programming language. For this interview, Kyle chose to talk about the general family of Apple products (e.g. MacBook, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch). Megan Yang is also an Asian American first-year student at Oxford College of Emory University. She was born in California, moved to Connecticut, and then lived in Shanghai, China for twelve years. At Emory, she hopes to study marketing and international business while double-majoring in psychology. Her goal for this interview is to understand the technological habits of someone in the same generation as herself in order to grasp a bigger picture understanding of “digital natives” and digital literacies. Apple Asian-American college student