Number of Posts: 10
Posts 1 - 10
Faire le bien pour se sentir mieux
(Doing good to feel better)
Newspaper | Le Temps
Date | 29.10.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | (mental) health, research/study
Summary | According to a study, altruism makes people live longer and happier. Thanks to new technologies, people can help others more easily. For instance, Airbnb introduced a disaster response program to help people in need. Big corporations like Starbucks, Peugeot or Visa have also started to help people. Philanthropy has always existed, but it only concerned management positions. Now it also concerns everyday consumers.
Image Description | N/A
L’intelligence artificielle, aussi raciste et sexiste que nous
(Artificial intelligence, as racist and sexist as us)
Newspaper | Le Temps
Date | 4.5.2017
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, research/study, threat
Summary | A new research shows that artificial intelligence can also have biases and prejudices. The results are not really surprising but it can be dangerous if one uses AI to hire people for instance. The study shows that some AI programs actually reproduce racist and sexist stereotypes that exist in language. Researchers created an "association test"called GloVe and demonstrated that, for example, the machine associated names of flowers with positive connotations, and names of insects with negative ones, as would human beings do. The results are not surprising because learning machines are actually a mirror of human behavior.
Image Description | N/A
Les jeunes passent plus de temps sur le net
(Young people spend more time online)
Newspaper | 20 minutes
Date | 9.11.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, research/study, smartphone, social media, threat, youth
Summary | According to a study, young people spend an average of 2 hours and 30 minutes online during the week, and 3 hours and 40 minutes on the weekend. Also, young people cannot live without their smartphone. They don't usually use their phone to make phone calls or text; they rather use their phone for social media (e.g. Snapchat, Instagram). Even though young people spend a lot of time on their phone, they still meet with friends face-to-face. Smartphones do not replace physical relationships. Finally, families should have rules for new media use at home.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of teenagers (their faces are cut off from the picture); they are sitting next to each other using their phones.
Image Tags | smartphone
La nomophobie est-elle vraiment le mal du siècle?
(Is nomophobia today's ill?)
Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 17.1.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, research/study, smartphone, technology-free, youth
Summary | A lot of people are stressed and anxious just thinking they might lose or forget their phone. This pathology is called "nomophobia" (no mobile phobia). An American study showed that 50% of participants could not live without their smartphone for 24 hours. Some even mentioned a feeling similar as loosing a limb.
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Les jeunes parlent romand
(Young people speak Romand (Swiss French))
Newspaper | Le Matin
Date | 18.5.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, research/study, texting, What's up Switzerland, WhatsApp
Summary | Interview with Federica Diémoz at the University of Neuchâtel. She talks about a study related to the different expressions used in the Swiss French part of Switzerland. People also use their local expressions in text messages. The "What's up Switzerland" project is going to analyze WhatsApp messages. From what researchers have observed so far, people sometimes use regional expressions and don't always write the same way. They also add emoticons and images that replace words.
Image Description | Photograph of the interviewee, Federica Diémoz.
Image Tags | female(s)
Non, le langage “sms” ne nuit pas à l’orthographe!
(No, text message language does not harm spelling!)
Newspaper | 24 heures
Date | 22.3.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, school, texting, youth
Summary | Some people are worried that the new language of text messages is going to replace grammar, and that our children might forget how to write words properly. According to a study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, the answer is no. The results of the study show that 48% of the words are spelled according to standard spelling. The research also shows that there is no link between traditional spelling skills and text message features. Finally, they claim that the best students are the ones who use text message features the most. Other similar studies prove the same point.
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Il faut archiver nos vies pour que l’histoire vivante ne s’arrête pas
(We need to archive our lives so that history does not stop)
Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 26.3.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, school, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | Some people claim that writing with abbreviations is harmful for standard language. Others claim that it does not; some studies demonstrate that students can perfectly write abbreviations and their "standard" equivalent. Moreover, a study showed that students who are skilled in text message language have also better spelling skills in general. Writing is part of our culture; we write more and more. Thus, our practices resemble our forefathers’. The only difference is that nowadays it is more difficult to save and record our texts, whereas in the past people used to keep their letters and messages.
Image Description | Photograph of Benjamin Chaix, the author of the opinion piece.
Image Tags | male(s)
Le langage sms, éternel accusé de tous les maux des mots
(Text message language, always blamed for the ills of the words)
Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 30.8.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, school, smartphone, texting, youth
Summary | Although we can now send unlimited texts on our smartphones using the spellcheck feature, text message language is still widely used, especially among the younger generation. Should we be worried about that? Researchers claim that we shouldn’t be worried; texting does not threaten the French language. According to a study, young students can make the difference between a text message and a written school assignment; they can adapt their language according to the medium. Although no study has demonstrated that text messages have any deleterious effect on spelling skills, more research is needed.
Image Description | N/A
On rigole toujours mais on ne LOL plus
(We still laugh but we don't LOL anymore)
Newspaper | 20 minutes
Date | 10.8.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, Facebook, research/study, youth
Summary | According to a Facebook study investigating the different ways to translate “laugh” online, the use of “lol” is outdated. People prefer using “haha” or “hehe”, and 34% of participants would rather use emojis, especially young people. Only 2% of participants still use “lol”, and they are a little bit older; their average age is 30.
Image Description | Digital image of the "face with tears of joy" emoji.
Image Tags | emojis
Les émojis, ces drôles de petites bêtes virtuelles
(Emojis, those funny little virtual creatures)
Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 6.2.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, research/study, texting
Summary | Emojis are becoming a “global” phenomenon. For example, Facebook recently introduced a set of emojis, companies use them in their advertisement campaigns, and some people would like to create a “language” with emojis. Should we fear an impoverishment of “traditional languages”? Some linguists claim that emojis do not replace words but serve as complements in our communication. They can substitute a gesture or an intonation that we usually have in our oral exchanges. Another study concluded that text messages are not a threat to orthography, and that we have always used images to express ourselves.
Image Description | Digital image representing different emojis: sick emoji, cowboy emoji, tongue-out emoji, winking eye emoji etc.
Image Tags | emojis
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