Computers and Languages

Well, it's almost the end of 2011, so now is the time to lay down some new foundations for SML209, Computers and Languages, 2012.  Some of you may be wondering what this course is all about, so I thought I should provide a short overview and some pointers to things you can explore in preparation for the course - assuming you manage to grab a few moments of time over Christmas and New Year! First of all, let me try to define what this course is all about. In a nutshell, the course explores some of the areas in which computing overlaps with (or meets) language, language learning and literature. It's important at this stage to clarify what I mean by 'computing' - a brief investigation into the meaning of this word defines it as, "to determine by calculation; to reckon; to count" (Webster, 1913), and is derived from the Latin 'computare' meaning 'to count'. However, more modern usage of the word 'compute' includes the meaning of "t...

Here's an example of a video made using simple tools. Tools Here are some tools that can be used to create video-based learning materials: Free clipart (e.g from  www.openclipart.org ). Smart Technologies Notebook: Download Notebook software here . Screencast-O-Matic screen capture software ( http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ ). Procedures This is one procedure for creating a simple instructional video: Decide on a theme or topic for your video (e.g. vocabulary items, labelling objects, describing scenes); Collect the images you need for this (e.g. a picture of a room; pictures of animals etc.). Create your Notebook sequence of items. Plan and rehearse the narrative of your presentation (make notes on paper to help you remember your narrative). Go to Screencast-O-Matic.com and size the video capture frame to fit your presentation window. Test your microphone. When you're ready, start your recording. When you're finished, play your recording back - redo...

20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web

Hi! In this post I want to show you two methods for opening pop-up windows using the wonderful and powerful scripting language called JavaScript. Example 1 Here is the simplest form of pop-up window . Click the link below to see the window in action. Open a new window Example 2 This is a slightly more sophisticated pop-up. Firstly, it opens in the centre of the screen. Secondly, it re-focuses (pops-up) even when the window is minimised. Try it and see! Open a centred popup window Acknowledgement: The JavaScript itself has been taken from: javascript-array.com . So, perhaps I can now write a piece of text and add some vocabulary glosses. So, a glossary can be very useful in a text.

I've often wondered whether it was possible to insert JavaScript code into Blogger posts. So I decided to have a little search on the Web, where I found a very informative blog: here . I've copied the recommended code and find that it does indeed work. To see a little bit of JavaScript in action: Click me to see Wow! That's quite cool. This opens up quite a few possibilities to add some extra interactive functionality to your blogs!!

I've been exploring some of the features of the Blogger environment. In particular I've been looking through the Design section, and have found that Blogger allows you considerable freedom to modify the underlying HTML and CSS code. This means that you can create a highly customised page and site design. But what I particularly like about this feature of Blogger is that it provides very useful guidelines on how to modify the code. Read more here This, I believe, is a great way to play around with some HTML and CSS.

Last Saturday the Guardian ran an interesting article about a current trend of criticism of social networking technologies (e.g. websites such as Twitter and Facebook).  Read the article here The arguments include claims that social networking makes us lazier, less able to digest large quantities of information, and less human than we were before. An example of this is where we go into a cafe and find people sitting at their laptops or tapping away on their mobile devices, whilst not actually talking to the people around them. So in effect, we ignore the real people around us, and focus instead on communicating through our electronic devices. Those who disagree with these arguments state that social networking actually increases communication and helps us bridge geographical distances. They also argue that the idea that, before the new technologies existed, people used to chat with those around them is actually not true. So the question is, did people really used to chat...