Number of Posts: 13
Posts 1 - 10
'Ha' Isn't a Laugh. Seriously?
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | abbreviations, emojis, Facebook, research/study, texting, word/writing
Summary | People express laughs in different ways when the text or otherwise communicate online. Some type a version of "haha", others write "LOL" or a similar abbreviation but none of these messages mean that one is actually laughing. Linguists who have analyzed thousands of texts claim that LOLs signal interlocutor involvement like an "uh-huh" on the phone.
Image Description | Cartoon of various people laughing with various noises.
Image Tags | male(s)
Facebook has a plan to let you type with your brain
Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 19.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | brain, Facebook, privacy, word/writing
Summary | Facebook is working on a new technology that would let users type a hundred words per second with their thoughts only. If they could find a way to tap into brain signals it would be a huge leap for augmented reality. Many users are however already worried that Facebook is intruding in their privacy and are anxious about Facebook taping into their brains.
Image Description | A woman standing in front of the Facebook logo.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), logo
Could a text become your will? The plans to revolutionise 'outdated' legacy system
Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 13.7.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | law, texting, word/writing
Summary | The Law Commission thinks that the legacy system is outdated and that it needs to be updated to keep up with our digital world. For instance, the Commission suggests that we should allow notes, emails and voicemail messages instead of a written will.
Image Description | Photograph of a part of a written will
Why Kids Can't Write
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 2.8.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | grammar, punctuation, school, smartphone, social media, spelling, texting, threat, word/writing
Summary | Many students struggle with writing despite various pedagogical models that have been implemented in past years to tackle that perpetual issue. This is all the more suprising considering that today's students may do moret voluntary writing than any generation before it. They text and post on social media a lot but the writing register is different there. The format's main principle is shortness so grammar, spelling, and punctuation take a back seat.
Image Description | GIF of a hand writing and a group of teachers in a workshop.
Image Tags | female(s), gifs, text
Surfing With a New Keyboard
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, GIFs, Google, smartphone, texting, translation, word/writing
Summary | Third party keyboards are now available to download to your smartphone. One of them is Gboard, it is very good at translating your texts in real-time. Some keyboards also offer a search function for emojis or GIFs. The swipe-typing feature is also very popular which allows users to swipe across the letters to enter words rather than type each individual letter.
Image Description | N/A
Serial Fiction on Tap
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 12.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | smartphone, word/writing
Summary | There is now literature that is customized to be read on a smartphone. It is very similar to 19th century pulp/dime fiction: short episodes ending with cliffhangers. They are also layouted in such a way that they are easy to read on conventional smartphones.
Image Description | N/A
Listen up, coaches: Your players might be recording your every word -- to use against you
Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 28.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | privacy, school, smartphone, threat, word/writing
Summary | A high school sports coach has recently been fired because he was secretly recorded while speaking to his team. The record alluded to physical violence - which he corrected in the recorded speech as a mere metaphor, not an actual recommendation - and inappropriate words. It is not entirely clear whether the student was allowed to record the conversation because a locker room speech is not technically in a classroom and was not explicitly classified as private. Coaches need to be aware that there is no privacy with smartphones everywhere.
Image Description | N/A
The Emoji Movie's' trip through a smartphone world lacks imagination
Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 28.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, smartphone, technology-free, word/writing
Summary | The new Emoji movie is like its main character: "meh". The story is unimaginative and pretty obvious. People should try to spend those 86 minutes outside, reading a book, or talking face-to-face to another person instead of watching this movie.
Image Description | N/A
'Ha' Isn't a Laugh. Seriously?
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 9.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | spelling, texting, word/writing
Summary | When the author of the article was dating a man and would text him jokes, she was surprised to see that he would always text her back with HAHAHAs (even if the jokes were not that funny). She then realized the HAHAHAs were not representative of his laugh, but it was the result of the autocorrect function. Even though textual representations of laughter go back to Chaucer and Shakespeare, the difference between HAHAHA or HA only exists nowadays. Michelle McSweeney, a researcher at Columbia University, says that laughter helps establish cohesion. There are many ways people can express laughter online: hahahahaha, haha, HAHAHA, haaaaaaa, hehe, lol, etc. In 2015, LOL was the most common way to express laughter online. Electronic laugh has been evolving like any other dialect.
Image Description | N/A
Boaty McBoatface shows we shouldn’t always listen to the public, says Bank of England chief economist
Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 31.3.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | politics, word/writing
Summary | The public should not always be asked. In the public poll about the name for a new research ship the name Boaty McBoatface won with 80 per cent of the votes - this as an example of how internet crowds can develop "madness". Similarly, the public should not be allowed to vote on financial politics they do not understand. Bankers also have to learn to break down their language so that common people understand what they mean. "Prices and jobs" will resonate much better with the broad public than "inflation and employment". Also, the fewer adjectives and adverbs there are, the easier the message is to understand.
Image Description | Image of a ship, a banker, and an empty marmite shelf.
Image Tags | male(s)
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