Number of Posts: 6
Posts 1 - 6
Qu'est-ce qu'un chatbot?
(What is a chatbot?)
Newspaper | Le Figaro
Date | 8.6.2017
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, social media, texting
Summary | "Chatbot" comes from "chat" and "robot", and is a software that imitates human conversation and natural language. We can come across chatbots on certain companies' websites (e.g. SNCF, Orange, Fnac, Ikea). We can ask them questions online and they usually try to help us. Chatbots are particularly popular today, but the concept is now new; it started in 1960 a program called Eliza (from MIT). Today's softwares are more complex and powerful. They are increasingly used on social media and messaging apps.
Image Description | N/A
Se parler pour de vrai
(To talk to each other for real)
Newspaper | 24 heures
Date | 25.6.2017
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, social media, spelling, texting
Summary | We constantly 'click' and 'follow', but we don't talk to each other anymore. As a result, some people are trying to find new ways to make people talk again.
Image Description | N/A
Das Vong zum Sonntag
(The vong for Sunday)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 27.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | anglicisms, language threat, social media, texting
Summary | The German internet and social media have produced a new language in the last two years: the "vong" language, its main feature being an attributive construction of "vong (noun) her" which roughly translates to and the English phrase (noun)-wise with "vong" replacing the "-wise". It is a language between English and German, uses numericals wherever possible as is known from texting language and is highly influenced by hip hop jargon. Now a German artist has translated the Bible into vong-language.
Image Description | N/A
How can women build better friendships? Start with the right words.
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 11.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | research/study, social media, texting, threat
Summary | Linguist Deborah Tannen has just published her latest book about how women build their friendships through language. Communicating with friends and negotiating the terms of the friendship is fraught with risks especially now that social media lets one know exactly when one is being exluded from group activities. Texting also complicates our friendships.
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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
My friend messages me on every platform. How do I politely say 'back off'?
Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 19.4.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | email, politeness, social media, texting
Summary | How does one deal with a pushy friends that is trying to reach one through all possible media channels? This discrepancy in how both people define the friendship and how often they feel the need to communicate can be quite tricky to maneuver. One can either be passive-aggressive about it (preferred in British culture) and train the friend by always taking your time to respond and choosing the media channel with the least likeliness of a quick response turning into a digital conversation: email. The alternative is to politely but explicitly mark your boundaries by telling the friend that you cannot respond to this many messages.
Image Description | Illustration with text message bubbles colliding and exploding.
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