UrbanDictionary.com

English Today ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Damaso ◽  
Colleen Cotter
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
End Users ◽  
Internet Technologies ◽  
New Type ◽  
Collaborative Engagement ◽  
The Many ◽  
Ultimate Control ◽  
Traditional Print

ABSTRACTIn traditional English lexicography, individual dictionary editors have had ultimate control over the selection, meaning, and illustration of words and extensive collaboration with contributors has been limited. However, Internet technologies that easily permit exchanges between a user and a database have allowed a new type of dictionary online: one that is built by the collaboration of contributing end-users, allowing users who are not trained lexicographers to engage in the actual making of dictionaries. We discuss here a popular online slang dictionary, UrbanDictionary.com (UD), to illustrate how traditional lexicographic principles are joined with Web-only communication technologies to provide a context for collaborative engagement and meaning-making, and to note the many characteristics and functions shared with traditional print dictionaries. Significantly, UD captures what most traditional English dictionaries fall short of: both recording ephemeral everyday spoken language and representing popular views of meaning. By relying on the users of language to select and define words for a dictionary, UD – which defines more than one million words – has in effect influenced both access to and formulation of the lexis.

scholarly journals Human-Centered AI to Support an Adaptive Management of Human-Machine Transitions with Vehicle Automation

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Thierry Bellet ◽  
Aurélie Banet ◽  
Marie Petiot ◽  
Bertrand Richard ◽  
Joshua Quick
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Adaptive Management ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
End Users ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Centered Design ◽  
Perceived Utility ◽  
New Type ◽  
Future Potential ◽  
Vehicle Automation

This article is about the Human-Centered Design (HCD), development and evaluation of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm aiming to support an adaptive management of Human-Machine Transition (HMT) between car drivers and vehicle automation. The general principle of this algorithm is to monitor (1) the drivers’ behaviors and (2) the situational criticality to manage in real time the Human-Machine Interactions (HMI). This Human-Centered AI (HCAI) approach was designed from real drivers’ needs, difficulties and errors observed at the wheel of an instrumented car. Then, the HCAI algorithm was integrated into demonstrators of Advanced Driving Aid Systems (ADAS) implemented on a driving simulator (dedicated to highway driving or to urban intersection crossing). Finally, user tests were carried out to support their evaluation from the end-users point of view. Thirty participants were invited to practically experience these ADAS supported by the HCAI algorithm. To increase the scope of this evaluation, driving simulator experiments were implemented among three groups of 10 participants, corresponding to three highly contrasted profiles of end-users, having respectively a positive, neutral or reluctant attitude towards vehicle automation. After having introduced the research context and presented the HCAI algorithm designed to contextually manage HMT with vehicle automation, the main results collected among these three profiles of future potential end users are presented. In brief, main findings confirm the efficiency and the effectiveness of the HCAI algorithm, its benefits regarding drivers’ satisfaction, and the high levels of acceptance, perceived utility, usability and attractiveness of this new type of “adaptive vehicle automation”.

Who tells which story and why? Micro and macro contexts in narrative

2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna de Fina
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Local Meaning ◽  
The Many

AbstractThis article focuses on the inter-relations between storytelling and micro and macro contexts. It explores how narrative activity is shaped by and shapes in unique ways the local context of interaction in a community of practice, an Italian American card-playing club, but also illustrates how the storytelling events that take place within this local community relate to wider social processes. The analysis centers on a number of topically linked narratives to argue that these texts have a variety of functions linked to the roles and relationships negotiated by individuals within the club and to the construction of a collective identity for the community. However, the narrative activities that occur within the club also articulate aspects of the wider social context. It is argued that, in the case analyzed here, local meaning-making activities connect with macro social processes through the negotiation, within the constraints of local practices, of the position and roles of the ethnic group in the wider social space. In this sense, narrative activity can be seen as one of the many symbolic practices (Bourdieu 2002 [1977]) in which social groups engage to carry out struggles for legitimation and recognition in order to accumulate symbolic capital and greater social power.

scholarly journals Using Technology in Pedagogically Responsive Ways to Support Literacy Learners

2009 ◽  
pp. 203-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Kervin ◽  
Jessica Mantei ◽  
Jan Herrington
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Authentic Learning ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Literate Practices ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
The World ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Literacy Learners

In this chapter the authors discuss two central themes: the changing nature of literate activity brought about by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and suggestions for how educators could respond to this guided by principles of authentic learning. The access many young people have to ICT has resulted in new forms of literacy as they manipulate technology, using this new knowledge to assist the process of meaning making. Each new technology brings with it navigational concepts, space to negotiate, new genres and a range of modalities, all of which need to be interpreted. ICTs have the potential to reshape literate practices in classrooms as students create, collect, store and use knowledge as they connect and collaborate with people and resources across the world. What is crucial though, is that the nexus between technology and literacy within classrooms is conceptualised through meaningful, relevant and authentic connections with curricula.

E Bario Project

2004 ◽  
pp. 115-131
Author(s):  
Poline Bala ◽  
Roger W. Harris ◽  
Peter Songan
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
The People ◽  
The Many

This chapter highlights an initiative by a group of researchers2 from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) to connect villagers in the remote and isolated village of Bario to Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), which include computers, telephones, the Internet, and VSATs. This project has eased the information flow in and out of Bario, affecting the well-being of the people by providing a means to keep in touch with friends and relatives in urban areas. The response of the Bario community has been positive, but the objective of the e Bario project is more ambitious than to just provide access to the Internet, computers and other related technologies. The main objective is to identify opportunities for remote and rural communities in Sarawak to develop socially, culturally and economically from the deployment of the technologies. The results of the initiative are expected to demonstrate the many ways in which ICTs can be used to improve the lives of marginalized groups, specifically, here, the rural and remote communities in Malaysia. However, to ensure that the objectives will ultimately be met, the team has had to search for an appropriate methodology that will ensure the full benefits of the initiative to the community. This chapter describes and discusses the approaches adopted, emphasizing the benefits of a close association between the researchers and the community as well as the adoption of suitable participatory methods for engaging with the needs and opportunities that were discovered.

Usability in the Context of e-Learning

2011 ◽  
pp. 121-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Zaharias
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
End Users ◽  
Usability Evaluation ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
The Poor ◽  
E Learning ◽  
New Type ◽  
Usability Evaluation Methods

The issue of e-learning quality remains prominent on end users’ (the learners’) agenda. It is no surprise that many non-motivated adult learners abandon prematurely their e-learning experiences. This is attributed in a great extent to the poor design and usability of e-learning applications. This paper proposes a usability framework that addresses the user as a learner and extends the current e-learning usability practice by focusing on the affective dimension of learning, a frequently neglected issue in e-learning developments. Motivation to learn, a dominant affective factor related with learning effectiveness, has been similarly neglected. Usability and instructional design constructs as well as Keller’s ARCS Model are being employed within the framework proposed in this work upon which new usability evaluation methods can be based. This framework integrates web usability and instructional design parameters and proposes motivation to learn as a new type of usability dimension in designing and evaluating e-learning applications.

The Language of Cyberspace

2006 ◽  
pp. 396-403
Author(s):  
Leah P. Macfadyen ◽  
Sabine Doff
Keyword(s):  
Salient Feature ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Internet Communication ◽  
Semiotic System ◽  
Human Interface ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Many ◽  
Computer Mediated Communications

Amid the many published pages of excited hyperbole regarding the potential of the Internet for human communications, one salient feature of current Internet communication technologies is frequently overlooked: the reality that Internet- and computer-mediated communications, to date, are communicative environments constructed through language (mostly text). In cyberspace, written language therefore mediates the human-computer interface as well as the human-human interface. What are the implications of the domination of Internet and computer-mediated communications by text? Researchers from diverse disciplines—from distance educators to linguists to social scientists to postmodern philosophers—have begun to investigate this question. They ask: Who speaks online, and how? Is online language really text, or is it “speech”? How does culture affect the language of cyberspace? Approaching these questions from their own disciplinary perspectives, they variously position cyberlanguage as “text,” as “semiotic system,” as “socio-cultural discourse” or even as the medium of cultural hegemony (domination of one culture over another). These different perspectives necessarily shape their analytical and methodological approaches to investigating cyberlanguage, underlying decisions to examine, for example, the details of online text, the social contexts of cyberlanguage, and/or the social and cultural implications of English as Internet lingua franca. Not surprisingly, investigations of Internet communications cut across a number of pre-existing scholarly debates: on the nature and study of “discourse,” on the relationships between language, technology and culture, on the meaning and significance of literacy, and on the liter

Successful Implementation of Emerging Communication Technologies in a Mobile-Intense Organization

2009 ◽  
pp. 343-352
Author(s):  
Keyurkumar J. Patel
Keyword(s):  
Wireless Lan ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Wireless Technology ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Wireless Application ◽  
The Many ◽  
Network Authentication

Wireless Technology is growing at a phenomenal rate. Of the many present challenges highlighted by the author, increased security is one of the main challenges for both developers and end users. This chapter presents this important security aspect of implementing a mobile solution in the context of Sydney International airport. After tackling initial challenges and issues faced during the implementation of wireless technology, this chapter demonstrates how security issues and wireless application were implemented at this mobile-intense airport organization. The decision to deploy and manage the wireless spectrum throughout the Airport campus meant that the wireless LAN had to share the medium with public users, tenants and aircraft communications on the same bandwidth. Therefore, this case study also demonstrates invaluable approach to protect unintended users from breach of existing security policies adopted by their corporate network. Authentication and data privacy challenges, as well as complete WLAN connectivity for tenants, public and corporate usage is presented in this case study.

Usability in the Context of e-Learning

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 37-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Zaharias
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
End Users ◽  
Usability Evaluation ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
The Poor ◽  
E Learning ◽  
New Type ◽  
Usability Evaluation Methods

The issue of e-learning quality remains prominent on end users’ (the learners’) agenda. It is no surprise that many non-motivated adult learners abandon prematurely their e-learning experiences. This is attributed in a great extent to the poor design and usability of e-learning applications. This paper proposes a usability framework that addresses the user as a learner and extends the current e-learning usability practice by focusing on the affective dimension of learning, a frequently neglected issue in e-learning developments. Motivation to learn, a dominant affective factor related with learning effectiveness, has been similarly neglected. Usability and instructional design constructs as well as Keller’s ARCS Model are being employed within the framework proposed in this work upon which new usability evaluation methods can be based. This framework integrates web usability and instructional design parameters and proposes motivation to learn as a new type of usability dimension in designing and evaluating e-learning applications.

THE FREEDOM-FIGHTERS: HOW INCUMBENT CORPORATIONS ARE ATTEMPTING TO CONTROL USER-INNOVATION

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. 543-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
VIKTOR BRAUN ◽  
CORNELIUS HERSTATT
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
End Users ◽  
The Internet ◽  
User Innovation ◽  
Critical Component ◽  
Mass Collaboration ◽  
Freedom Fighters ◽  
Information And Communication

Novel information and communication technologies, foremost the Internet, have revolutionised the innovation landscape. Mass-collaboration involving end-users is now, a critical component of many types of software improvement and has the potential to make users as the main innovation source of the 21st century. The vision of democratising innovation is not, however, in everybody's interest. Many incumbent corporations are actively engaging in efforts to prevent users from modifying and improving their products. In this paper, we investigate the barriers that incumbents impose upon potentially innovative users and ask under which conditions such behaviours are likely to be sustainable.

Listening, Language, and Literacy Development and Children With Hearing Loss Who are Learning Spoken Language

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-51
Author(s):  
Lyn Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Symbol Systems ◽  
Thinking Processes ◽  
Children With Hearing Loss ◽  
The Individual

This chapter explores the acquisition of spoken language and literacy in children with hearing loss whose auditory access through the use of hearing technology enables them to listen, and it examines the relationships among language, thought, and print that offer explanation of the role of spoken language as the foundation for literacy. It defines reading and writing as thinking processes that make use of symbol systems representative of spoken language and gives attention to the numerous cueing systems and conventions comprising representations of meaning. Drawing from cognitive psychology, linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, literary criticism, and critical traditions developed over time through study of people with typical hearing, this chapter argues that meaning making resides in the individual in the presence of symbols both heard and seen and for maximizing spoken language acquisition in children with hearing loss so as to prepare them for lifelong literacy and language use.

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