google’s voice in translation

Do you have Google voice? Have you ever seen a transcription of a voicemail left for you in a foreign language? The other day I had the pleasure of receiving this and the linguist in me found this really amusing. The message, left in italian, was transcribed in English.

Google asks you if the transcript was useful. I’d say yes and would love to use it an intro course to Italian phonetics!!

Here is the voicemail in Italian, if you care to play a linguistic game comparing Italian phonemes to English words 🙂

Buon pomeriggio dottoressa Conforti. Ho ricevuto il suo messaggio ma non ho avuto l’opportunità di risponderle quando ha chiamato. Sì, mercoledì andrebbe bene se avremo la possibilita di incontrarci. Umm, se ha la possibilità di richiamarmi sarebbe fantastico altrimenti mi lasci un messaggio per cortesia almeno per sapere a che ora possiamo incontrarci e parlare, okay? Grazie mille e buona giornata.

PLN, website or web space(s)?

I spent the better part of my morning trying to update my personal/academic webpage hosted on our college server. I was using  Dreamweaver to update my professional addresses page and realized that I have this information on some many different social media sites that perhaps my limited knowledge of Dreamweaver didn’t tap into all the available information that already exists elsewhere.

So then I thought about getting off my a** and creating the personal start page on Netvibes that I never got around to. Then, I thought, why not a wordpress blog as a web space and could use various widgets there too. Then I thought, maybe my knowledge is far too limited and there are other tools that I could be using that I don’t know about. Then I thought…it’s time to stop thinking and start asking questions to my personal learning network. So, PLN, what do you use for your web space? My space currently is like an online CV, but it could be so much more, couldn’t it?

Any suggestions would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks 🙂

Similies & smiles

Happy 2009!

Before I get back to the grind, I had to catch up on some e-reading…tweets, blogs, news. It seems that some people never really take a break from their social networks, and for that I am grateful. Much reading, as you can imagine, also occurred as it was written, in real time, so to speak. So for those who also spent time away and played catch up like me, their return was also appreciated.

In particular, I would like to thank @ophelia for these precious gems this morning. Being I love food as much as I love social networks (able to resist overindulgence but also known to binge time and time again), I had to compile them for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Twitter in the Foreign Language Classroom – my investigation

Another update: paper has been removed as it is under revisions as  you read this. Will share once again in the near future…

update: if you would like to read the manuscript, it is password protected. Thanks for the head’s up Luke.

I’ll keep this post brief and to the point, as I should be concentrating on my upcoming Personnel Action Committee (PAC) class observation tomorrow. I am, however, deliberately trying not to think about it.

We’ve been asked to post our entire manuscript on the wiki (of which I spoke some time ago) even though it is currently being peer-refereed. Last night, in a fit of sleeplessness, I cut, paste and formatted “Micro-blogging on Twitter: Social networking in Intermediate Italian I“, and now it is up for public perusal, if you so desire.

Any comments would be appreciated, but I believe they have to be given here, as you do not have permission to join our wiki discussions. Also, anyone good with titles? This current one is missing something…

*Can’t view the site? use your openID to view the chapter*

Nota bene, “Contributions to https://secondgenerationcall.wikispaces.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License.”

read-write web vs. academic publishing

Preparing this tenure application has led me to another question about academia in the age of social media. I have mulled over the process vs. the content in a previous post, the medium as the message based on Wesch’s article and also posted on how-to integrate technology in my teaching without disrupting the flow of the teaching and learning process.

The question I have been pondering lately is this:
What role does a read-write web platform play in the dossier of an academic?

This may seem like an absurd question given the level of expertise a scholar is to establish in her research. This level is validated by publications in prominent journals and books, by invitations to speak at international conferences and to participate at different events as an expert, and it is hoped that these invitations come both within academia and beyond.

I’ve been truly fortunate to have had a paper accepted by the official journal of the American Council for Foreign Language Educators, which has a circulation of approximately 10,000 subscriptions in membership and also has found in approximately 1000 libraries. Now, past issues are available on the net for members only, but anyone affiliated with a university can access the journal online through institutional library services. Impressive numbers, are they not? Well, I’ve been trying to do the math and realize that I cannot do more than determine the probability of people actually reading it. In reality, there is no way I can ascertain how many people actually read my article. If I’m lucky, maybe a 100 at best.

Now, let’s turn to the world of the read-write web. Perhaps I wouldn’t be able to determine with certainty how many people read it, but I could see how many views my article gets, as Intellagirl tweeted yesterday. Let’s look at this exchange:

(refers to her presentation on Web 2.0 Secrets: SEO, SEM, and Web Traffic)

Would any member of the administration of an American college or university consider the number of hits, favorites, downloads, etc. as valuable for a decision on hiring, tenure, promotion, recognition, etc.? I believe in the age of web 2.0, where social networking fosters an environment for sharing and transmitting knowledge (no longer limited to the ivory-tower library), we can’t ignore the importance of web views.

My next question is who determines how these significant numbers play into the decision-making process?

rethinking my chapter title

given the negative press twitter has had of late, I really should not have been surprised by this headline: How Twitter could be worth nothing in a year

I’m thinking I should just go with a general microblogging theme…

Podcasts and FL Learning

I was invited to provide some thoughts on podcasting and language acquisition. Maybe some of the comments may be published in an article in a popular business magazine, but in the meantime, I thought I should share them on my blog.

Podcasts (both audio and video) in foreign language (FL) learning are invaluable both as a self-teaching tool and as a supplementary tool in the FL classroom. The podcasts available on the Internet enhance the type and amount of comprehensible input (a necessary component to language acquisition) as they range the gamut from elementary language lessons—(fill in the language)Pod.com or podclass.com—to authentic and culturally-rich materials from various media sites (newspapers, radio, television).

The advantages of podcasts that differ from previous content delivery via technology in the history of FL learning include the following:

• Streaming audio/video or downloadable podcasts – having the option to hear/view the podcast streaming from the website or downloading the files to listen to/view on mobile devices
• mobile learning/audio Internet on the go* (Stanley 2006) – files and listening/viewing devices are much more portable and sophisticated that podcasts are more readily integrated into daily habits (no more forgetting the audiocassette/CD in the car, at home, etc.).
• content delivery occurs beyond contact time (teacher and student meeting times) – in a classroom environment, students have additional available resources to continue the language learning process beyond contact time that are also not restricted to a language laboratory setting.
• ease with which new podcasts are updated on the various source sites, downloaded, accessible and immediate (in particular if RSS feeds are used) – there is no need to wait for updates via new book editions or delivery by postal service
• contextual support for language teaching (McQuillian 2006) – research indicates that there are required, recommended and optional components for both oral and written language acquisition. Audio is required. Visual components are required or recommended (according to level of learner). Video podcasts (a.k.a. video blogging, vlogging or v-casts) enhance other modalities to accommodate learning styles in the language acquisition process.
• Podcasts can also be a form of output. Users can easily create their own podcasts that can be a simple recitation of a podcast lesson to practice pronunciation to a creative original podcast developed from a language lesson. The ability to create and publish learner podcasts and then share it with the language teacher, class or target language community. Voice-recording is no longer the sole objective of audio technology in language acquisition. Podcasts are for listening, practicing, sharing and receiving feedback.

Some caveats:

• Podcasts are only effective FL learning tools if they are properly integrated into a FL program. Like all tools, including technological ones, the success of such is tool can be measured if it is level-specific and oriented toward the learner. It would not be recommended that an elementary autodidactic learner begin by downloading podcasts available by news, radio or television programs. He would find more useful podcasts geared at beginning FL learning. Similarly, a teacher would want to integrate podcasts that are tied to curriculum goals and themes, which are level-specific.
• Podcasts are not the sum total of a language program. By perusing the FL podcasts available on the Internet, you immediately notice that other materials are available for subscribing/paying users. They include transcripts, exercises and grammar rules, as did “teach-yourself” audio programs with textbooks and workbooks (remember Berlitz?).

Podcasts can be the foundation of an online, autodidactic FL program or can be used as a supplement in the FL classroom. Is there an advantage to teaching yourself or enrolling in a course? The former allows you to get your feet wet by introducing you to the language and certain aspects of culture. The latter, on the other hand, allows you to dive deep into the language and culture nexus.

is social media really an “us” vs. “them”?

This is a post I’ve wanted to write for some time but hadn’t found my courage voice for it. It was born from a comment of a student evaluation from a fall course that stated that not only were my “clothes inappropriate” but I also “had Facebook”. The comment on my wardrobe is completely off (my outfits are always professional and tasteful) but then again the idea of fashion has always been a generational thing … has technology now become the next great generational divide?

Of late, there has been a resurgence of talk about parents on Facebook and MySpace and what kind of parents has his/her own account. Over the weekend, at a BBQ in the rain, this became part of what started as a small exchange between 3 moms (myself included) to a group conversation with many parents. In a previous post on texting, the generation gap is obvious…new technologies sometimes elude people who are not interested in learning (isn’t that always the case though?). So one of the first questions that arose was “How old do you have to be to have a Facebook account?”. One of the mom’s replied “under 40”. The parents all laughed and said “that counts us out”.  Of course, it is an easy out…we don’t fit the age criterion so we are safe. Then a friend turned to me and said “Wait, you’re not 40. Do you have one?” And that started an engaging conversation about technology, media literacy vs. literacy, and what all this means.

As I have mentioned in the past, each exploration of new applications, platforms, networks, etc. was purely academic in nature. Unfortunately, it has become much more than work. I have become a partisan of social media for many reasons: it is informative, educational, entertaining, enlightening and allows me to meet not just my neighbours, colleagues, and friends but expand my geographical limitations by allowing me to converse and “friend” people from the far corners of the earth.

In my humble opinion, the idea that certain sites become “theirs” (students, teens, kids) and others “ours” (educators, adults, parents) is speculative. There are too many social dichotomies that become reinforced (and perhaps validated?) when we fall into the trap of dividing technological culture according to our biases, fears and misunderstandings. This mutual exclusivity of sites and apps for certain age groups demonstrates an unwillingness of users to see beyond their own nose. Perhaps this is one key difference between “us” and “them”… are we adults more “global” in our use of technology? Are they more “solipsistic”? lol! I fell into the trap, didn’t I?

These sites can provide different services and serve different needs for a multitude of users and I think it is up to each user to accept and open her/his mind to the unending possibilities that things like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Plurk, etc. can provide without wanting exclusive rights to it.

Is this just another phase in the evolution of generational gaps or is it something more? What do you think?

more on plurk

On June 2^nd, I received my invite from Adamo to join Plurk. You may be asking: “Why another micro-blogging site? Is the honeymoon with Twitter over?” Not at all, except I understand its shortcomings and the recent rash of problems was driving me over the edge (you must understand, addiction is a nasty thing). So I accepted Adamo’s invitation and signed up to Plurk – comments made so far is that it is a Twitter clone and that it isn’t. Users and non-users alike are talking about it … “I’ll never use it” to “I love Plurk”… “a lot more noise” to “more social/fun” (compared to Twitter) … “user interface is neat” to “UI is very confusing”.

From an end-user’s perspective I have discovered the following:

1. since many friends are new on  (read, early adopters of) Plurk (even though they use Twitter), I tend to talk to more strangers and socialize more
2. I read many more replies. Given you can’t filter responses to get notices only if someone else replies to a post to which you have also replied, I get lost in looking at the extensive conversations.
3. I read more replies because it is easy to see the entire “conversation” – See Robert Scoble’s
4. I friend people randomly. And no it’s not ‘cause I want more karma…I’m good being in a state of maintenance.
5. I friend people indiscriminately. Since profiles aren’t detailed, if someone friends me, I do the same.
6. Content of Plurk posts tend to be a cross between Twitter, MySpace, Facebook

Things I’d like to comment on about Plurk:

• the ability to include video and images in Plurk is cool. I don’t like that the pop-up box disappears if you click on anything else.
• The timeline is really not conducive to tracking anything. Really easy for me to lose friends or find certain posts that I had read or commented on previously.
• Responses tend to take on a life of their own and you could discover some really interesting conversations that have nothing to do with the original post.

I’m going to stop here for now. As far as first impressions go, I’ve decided to stay awhile and determine where this will take me. At some point, I will provide a comparison between Twitter (and no, we’re not cheating 😉 ) and Plurk, if I think it’s worthwhile. In the meantime, see the following posts:

• Live Crunch – Plurk vs. Twitter
• Is Plurk a Twitter Killer?
• Plurk How Tos

twitter is back up…or is it

tip of the hat to Catepol for this gem