Design and Evaluation of Accessible Collaborative Writing Techniques for People with Vision Impairments

Collaborative writing tools have been used widely in professional and academic organizations for many years. Yet, there has not been much work to improve screen reader access in mainstream collaborative writing tools. This severely affects the way people with vision impairments collaborate in ability-diverse teams. As a step toward addressing this issue, the present article aims at improving screen reader representation of collaborative features such as comments and track changes (i.e., suggested edits). Building on our formative interviews with 20 academics and professionals with vision impairments, we developed auditory representations that indicate comments and edits using non-speech audio (e.g., earcons, tone overlay), multiple text-to-speech voices, and contextual presentation techniques. We then performed a systematic evaluation study with 48 screen reader users that indicated that non-speech audio, changing voices, and contextual presentation can potentially improve writers’ collaboration awareness. We discuss implications of these results for the design of accessible collaborative systems.

Graffiti as an example of a new kind of objects for handwritten expertise. Styles and variants

In this article one can find examples of the analytical work based on a current terminology of a word “graffiti”, that can be found in scientific research works on this phenomenon in the fields of sociology, psychology, art and law. Current classifications of this notion are analyzed taking into account the content of these objects, their attitude to a graffiti community and a certain author, motivation and outward. Analysis considers materials and tools used for a certain object implementation. These writing tools in some cases determine the type of graffiti. The main objective of this analysis was the need to identify certain classified objects the ones that might be necessary for a handwriting expertise and to determine of the relations between the notions of “graffiti” and “handwritten objects made with the use of unconventional writing materials”. During the analysis, a number of characteristics that can be used as a support for conducting handwritten expertise of considered object were defined and conclusions for those graffiti objects that meet these criteria were drawn.

Online translators for L2 writing: a comparison of student and teacher perspectives

This short paper reports on the preliminary findings of a study into the use of Online Translators (OTs) by university language students. Students of Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish and their teachers responded to comparative surveys on their respective use and evaluation of OTs for L2 writing in formal language learning contexts. Findings indicate that teachers have little awareness of the range of strategies students apply when using OTs as writing tools. Concerns of OT misuse for cheating or as a replacement for language learning seem largely unfounded. Students, however, perceive a lack of guidance for the appropriate use of OTs. Preliminary findings suggest that teachers need to review their assumptions about students’ OT practices and that both students and teachers would benefit from technical and pedagogical OT training.

Introduction to Part II

This chapter introduces the material to be studied in Part II; it outlines the types of evidence for functional domestic artefacts that reveal the experiences of daily life in Roman and late antique Egypt. It explains that an analysis of object function can reveal how objects were used for different activities on a day-to-day basis, and therefore demonstrate some of the experiences of people in the past. The section assesses a range of everyday artefacts in durable materials, like stone, glass, ceramic, metals, and bone and ivory. Artefacts associated with daily activities such as cooking and dining, lighting the home, leisure time, and textile production are discussed in relation to specific examples from the archaeological record and textual sources. The section also addresses the extraordinary organic artefacts surviving from Egypt, and the special value of functional artefacts made of wood, textiles, leather, and other perishable materials. Organic artefacts associated with home furnishings and other textiles, writing tools and materials, basketry, and cleaning equipment, are discussed in relation to the experiences they facilitated in Roman and late antique Egypt. The chapter also discusses how these artefacts reveal the temporal rhythms of the home and multifunctional nature of domestic space and objects.

Unfolding knowledge co-construction processes through social annotation and online collaborative writing with text mining techniques

Despite the positive claims on the pedagogical use of social annotation and online collaborative writing tools discussed in the literature, most of the findings are derived from interviews or self-reported survey data. Very few studies probed deep into the learning processes and examined students’ digital traces and the artefacts they co-construct. In this study, we employed semantic network analysis techniques to examine how the use of a social annotation tool (Diigo) coupled with an online collaborative writing (Google Docs) affects students’ learning outcomes. The results indicate that the use of Diigo coupled with Google Docs helps enhance student engagement in the collaborative process and that the concept connectivity and quality of the text co-constructed by each group using Diigo coupled with Google Docs is significantly higher than those using Moodle’s forum. In addition, the level of collaboration within a group correlates positively with the number of vertices with high lexical relevancy identified in the semantic network of the text co-constructed by each group. Implications for practice and policy: Undergraduate students can use Diigo coupled with Google Docs to enhance their collaborative work. Course leaders could use Diigo coupled with Google Docs to support learning activities, such as flipped learning or collaborative inquiry learning, in which students are required to engage in close reading and the co-construction of artefacts. Course instructors could consider using semantic measures such as the number of clusters and betweenness centrality to assess the quality of students’ co-constructed artefacts.

The Life of a Foreign Traveler in Russia According to Johann Arnold Brand’s Dictionary-Phrasebook, 1673

The article provides for an overview of foreigners’ encounter with the Russian language in the 16th — early 18th centuries; it analyzes, for this purpose, the German-Russian dictionary-phrasebook from the diary “Journey through Brandenburg, Prussia, Courland, Livonia, Pskov, Veliky Novgorod, Tver and Moscow” by Johann Arnold Brand. The phrasebook “Some Muscovite words and expressions that may be useful to travelers”, compiled by Brand on the way from Pskov to Moscow, contains the names of body parts, clothing, household accessories, dishes and drinks, food products, interior items, transport, utensils, writing tools in Russian transliteration with the translation into German. It also includes ready-made speech structures for communicating with fellow travelers, coachmen, owners and staff of the inns, for disposing of servants and property. The analysis of the phrasebook made it possible to recreate the everyday realities of the life of the Brandenburg Embassy on the road, and situations of lexical exchange. The authors provide a commented version of the literal reading of words and expressions in Russian. The independent study of the local language in Russia by foreign travelers was the most effective way to overcome the communication barrier and improve living conditions when traveling to the borderlands. The source under study may be of interest to both historians of the frontier and specialists in material culture and linguistics.

Development of a High-Throughput Low-Cost Approach for Fabricating Fully Drawn Paper-Based Analytical Devices Using Commercial Writing Tools

This work reports the development and optimization of a rapid and low-cost pen-on-paper plotting approach for the fabrication of paper-based analytical devices (PADs) using commercial writing stationery. The desired fluidic patterns were drawn on the paper substrate with commercial marker pens using an inexpensive computer-controlled x–y plotter. For the fabrication of electrochemical PADs, electrodes were further deposited on the devices using a second x–y plotting step with commercial writing pencils. The effect of the fabrication parameters (type of paper, type of marker pen, type of pencil, plotting speed, number of passes, single- vs. double-sided plotting), the chemical resistance of the plotted devices to different solvents and the structural rigidity to multiple loading cycles were assessed. The analytical utility of these devices is demonstrated through application in optical sensing of total phenols using reflectance calorimetry and in electrochemical sensing of paracetamol and ascorbic acid. The proposed manufacturing approach is simple, low cost, flexible, rapid and fit-for-purpose and enables the fabrication of sub-“one-dollar” PADs with satisfactory mechanical and chemical resistance and good analytical performance.

Identifikasi Hama dan Penyakit Pada Tanaman Anggrek Bulan (Phalaenopsis amabilis)

<pre><em>Orchid is the general name for all types of plants in the family Orchidaceae (family of orchids). This family is one of the largest groups among other flowering plants. It is estimated that worldwide there are around 15,000-20,000 species of orchids with 900 genera (clans) that grow endemic to forests scattered in various countries. Of all orchid species in the world, 5,000 of them are in Indonesia. Broadly speaking, the classification of orchids is divided into 5 subfamilies, 16 tribes (tribes), and 28 subtribes. Phalaenopsis is a genus of orchids which is popular for its diversity and beauty of flowers. The government through presidential decree (Kepres) No. 4 of 1993, on January 9, 1993, designated the moon orchid as a charm flower named Latin Phaleonopsis amabilis, this orchid grows attached to a tree trunk or branch and is one type of orchid endemic to Indonesia. The development of orchid cultivation has never been separated from disease and pest problems. With few disease infections and pest attacks, the beauty will change, of course, the selling price will fall. Orchid plants require extra care to grow with beautiful flowers. Orchid disease can be caused by bacteria, fungi or viruses. Diseases and pests that attack orchid plants can cause death if allowed to continue. Besides that, mishandling can also cause the death of orchids. The purpose of this study was to determine the pests and diseases of the Phalaenopsis amabilis plant.</em></pre><pre><em>This research was conducted on December 2, 2020 and January 13-14, 2021 in Carikan Sukoharjo with 10 samples of Phalaenopsis amabilis plants. The tools needed in this research include writing tools, tables, loops and documentation tools (cellphone cameras). The variables to be observed were diseases and pests that attacked. The methods used were direct observation and interviews, the data obtained were analyzed by qualitative descriptive.</em><em></em></pre><p><em>Research conducted on 10 samples of Phalaenopsis amablis, found 6 pests and 2 diseases. Pests on the Phalaenopsis amabilis Moon Orchid plant are found that very often attack such as ants, snails, grasshoppers, mealybugs, mites and caterpillars. Whereas in the disease of the Moon Orchid plant (Phalaenopsis amabilis) in the search for Sukoharjo, the fungus Fussarium oxyporum and Rhizoctonia solani attack the leaves, stems, roots of Phalaenopsis amabilis. This disease enters the plant tissue through stomata or wounds in plants. In general, the characteristics of a fungal attack include small spots on the leaves, blisters like being scalded, watery, either cloudy or clear.</em></p>