Where to put presentations and how to find info. about sources

On Feb 12, 2019, at 16:16, Paul Beaufait wrote:

Hi G...,

I was thinking of you earlier today, ....

... your questions about pres. storage and retrieval sites, and identifying copyright material in extant presentations, might be a bit wide of the PSG's self-circumscribed remit. You still might [want to] inquire of JALT CALL SIG folk. Nevertheless, here's my two-cents['] worth. 

You're right about LinkedIn's appeal outside academic circles. I opted for SlideShare years ago, for ease of use as I recall–probably before integration with LinkedIn. However, I've been unable to find any spec's for free storage space today. Once you've uploaded to Slideshare (PDFs were recommended), content becomes virtually static, i.e., un-collabor-able. That is, unless you consider deep-diving (threaded) discussions [in comments] collaborative, which they may well become in certain other venues. I don't recall ever encountering or engaging in discussions like that on Slideshare.

You didn't mention how many previous presentations you'd like to publicize. Since Dec. last year, however, I've been bouncing against the ceiling for free storage space on Google (all sorts of content counted together: Gmail, PDFs, photos, videos[,] ... – but not including Google-native Docs and Slides). That has been even though Google offers more space for free (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/01/google-hasnt-updated-gmail-drive-photos-storage-limit-in-5-years.html) than does MS OneDrive (https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-US/plans/).

Regarding possibly copyright or otherwise licensed material in ready-made presentations, if it's images you're concerned about, Google (or other) image searches might turn up original sources and contextual authorship/licensing details. On blogs or other websites, I've found, those details usually appear on top pages and in page footers. 

YouTube once unceremoniously removed sound from a video I'd mixed with a tune that had come pre-packaged in the Mac video software that I'd used to produce it. Rather than attempt to argue (or litigate) the point against YouTube's done-deal, I simply replaced the tune with similar licks from a free music source. [A similar tactic may serve for image or text mash-ups.]

Searches for text snippets you'd like to retrieve and acknowledge [the]... sources for might turn up periodicals (behind paywalls) or books (with sample pages visible on Amazon) as well. Covers and copyright pages of books (or previous citations with publication details) may be visible in or accessible via search results. Newsy articles may no longer be accessible at original URLS, if at all.

Rediscovering exact page numbers for reference citations can be time-consuming if not troublesome. Requesting full texts of periodical articles from authors (via Academia or ResearchGate) or sending inquiries to journal editors are options. Both such sources may be keen on planned or projected citations.

The best advice I can offer is forward-looking; collect all the details you think you may need–and more, when you first encounter suitable source material. 

If you do find primers covering those sorts of intellectual property rights re-discovery [emphasis added], please point them out to me! I'll be happy to add them to the PSG's Diigo Group bookmarks.

Warm regards,

PB

Paul A. Beaufait

Owner/Curator/Admin.

The Beaufait Collaboratoire

https://goo.gl/wYW1ks ([a] Google site)

We No Speak Americano - Understanding International Students' Writing

In this video by Wibergh and Hawthorne (2010), grammatically competent international students explain challenges they'd faced in academic writing in the U.S. 

Reference

Wibergh, Felix (Producer), & Hawthorne, Nicholas (Director). (2010). We no speak americano: Understanding international students' writing [YouTube video]. U.S.: Nick Hawthorne's Channel. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/V7pYB6W049I

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Collective Maps and [Rough] Outlines . . .

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who shared topic suggestions in class today to build into the maps and outlines in this post. I'd also like to point out that the two maps and corresponding outlines in this post cover some divergent, some similar, and some overlapping topics and sub-topics.

Neither the maps below nor the outlines farther below completely cover the topic for your next essays. Since the maps and outlines below cover only a few of the ideas upon which you may wish to focus in your essays about learning with computers, I want to encourage all of you to feel free to draw ideas for your draft essays (2-03a) from both sets of shared ideas (§1A & §1C). You also are welcome to combine those ideas with others from your individual outlines and essay prep. posts, as well as from previous posts on the Writing Studio Blog including outlines or about computers.

For convenience, I arranged the main ideas (in blue) in alphabetical order during and just after class. However, as you compose your draft essays, I hope you will find better ways to organize your main ideas than that. Moreover, some of the topics in green may be just as important as the main ideas in blue. So I expect you to demonstrate flexibility in composing important and related ideas into unified paragraphs that will enable readers to follow your thinking easily from one main point in your essays to the next.

§1A, 2014.12.03

§1C, 2014.12.03 

Outline from §1A

Learning with Computers

• Applications
  • PowerPoint
  • Other
• Challenges
  • keyboarding
• Convenience
  • Google
    • Drive
    • Gmail
  • Search
    • Google
      • Images
    • Yahoo!
    • Other
  • Recording
    • Microphones
      • Built-in
      • Attached
  • Playback
    • CDs
    • DVDs
• Economy
  • Paper-less materials
    • Homepages
    • Other
  • Other?
• Importance
  • School
    • English
      • Keyboarding
        • Numeric keypad
        • Typing
      • Classes
        • Listening
          • Classwork
            • Pronunciation practice
            • Viewing
              • News programs
          • Homework
            • Pronunciation practice
        • Reading
          • Websites
            • News articles
            • Other?
        • Speaking
          • Classwork
          • Homework
            • EnglishCentral
              • speaking points
              • (pronunciation practice)
        • Writing
          • Book reviews
          • Comments
          • Extensive writing
            • Essays
            • Reports
    • Homepages
  • Society
    • Communication
      • Commentary
      • Other
    • Information
      • News
      • Publicity
        • Homepages
        • Other
    • Internationalization

Outline from §1C

Learning with Computers

• Applications
  • Computer-based
    • Search function
    • Typing programs
  • Cloud-based (online)
    • Sharing
    • Typing practice
    • Language learning
      • PowerWords
      • EnglishCentral
• Benefits
  • Ease of correction
    • written work
      • reports
  • Exposure to vocabulary
  • Increase in typing speed
• Coursework
  • Listening Classes
    • Classwork
      • CDs
    • HW
  • Reading Classes
    • Classwork
      • Online texts
        • news articles
    • HW
      • PowerWords
      • Reports
  • Speaking Classes
    • Classwork
    • HW
      • EnglishCentral
        • speaking points
  • Writing Classes
    • HW
      • typing
      • blogging
        • reviewing
    • Classwork
      • Mapping
      • Outlining
      • Peer-reviewing
• Disadvantages
  • Time loss
    • computer set-up
  • Dependencies
    •  
  • Diminished skills
    • calculating in your head
  • Physical strain
    • Eyes
    • Neck
    • Shoulders
• Other activities
  • job-hunting
  • ???

If you have concerns or questions about those maps or outlines, or how to use them, please feel free to spell them out in comments on this post, or voice them in person during the next class meeting.

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Grammar Resources - University of Chicago Writing Program

The Grammar Resources page on the University of Chicago Writing Program website introduces students to "grammar and writing resources from around the web" (¶1). In addition to main sections covering various grammar, usage and style guides, there are sections explaining and pointing out resources for scientific and technical writing as well as for non-native speakers of English (see the sidebar on the site for details).

I'm so impressed with that webpage that I've bookmarked it already for the WinK Core: Weblogging in Kumamoto group on Diigo, and will add it to the Course Links list in the Writing Studio Blog sidebar right away.

Reference

The University of Chicago Writing Program. (n.d.). Grammar resources [webpage]. Retrieved from http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/resources/grammar.htm

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via Blog this

Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1A

The graphic in this post is to remind you of topics that you and your classmates shared from your free-writing posts on Wednesday, June 11. If you click on the graphic, you will be able to get a close look at the sub-topics on small branches of the mind-map. I've made two such posts: 

• Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1A; and
• Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1C.

Please feel free to adopt topics, sub-topics, and organisational ideas from either of them to include in your next draft essays. 

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Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1C

The graphic in this post is to remind you of topics that you and your classmates shared from your free-writing posts on Wednesday, June 11. If you click on the graphic, you will be able to get a close look at the sub-topics on small branches of the mind-map. I've made two such posts: 

• Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1A; and
• Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1C.

Please feel free to adopt topics, sub-topics, and organisational ideas from either of them to include in your next draft essays. 

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Springboard for Reflections and Predictions

In a six-minute TED Talk, The Psychology of Your Future Self (March 2014), Dan Gilbert, a research psychologist, suggested:

Most of us can remember who we were 10 years ago, but we find it hard to imagine who we're going to be ... [10 years from now]. Only when we look backwards do we realize how much change happens in a decade" (Interactive Transcript, ¶¶ 7-8, via Blog this).

As a step towards the next essay assignment, language learning stories, please watch that TED Talk, keeping your own language skills in mind. The next step will be to create a free-writing post in which you:

1. Describe ... your language skills ten years ago,
2. Describe your language skills at present, and
3. Predict your language skills ten years from now.

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VocabKitchen: Awesome Vocab. Profilers!

http://vocabkitchen.com/Default.aspx

VocabKitchen's Academic Word List (AWL) Vocabulary Profiler (beta version) is already awesome! It quickly highlighted, listed, and sorted on- and off-list vocabulary in sample texts. It also was "dictionary enabled," which means you can get Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online definitions of almost any words by double-clicking on them (not a name like Tanaka). Though the percentages of on- and off-list words for the first sample I tried didn't add up (7% + 101%, respectively), text and highlight colours were easy to read on the white background.

VocabKitchen's General Service List (GSL) Vocabulary Profiler (beta version) performed similarly well on the same sample. Highlighting, listing and sorting was speedy, but again the percentages didn't add up (see below). It's still a quick, cool, easy-to-use tool. However, VocabKitchen's choice of tint for highlighting words in in the GSL 2nd 1K (RGB: 48, 152, 204) offered slightly less background-to-text contrast than had the AWL Vocabulary Profiler's on-list colour (especially when used on a grey heading bar), and the location of the sort button in the GSL-beta profiler differed for off-list words.

VocabKitchen's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) Vocabulary Profiler was available in both a beta and a regular version. The main differences seemed to be that 1) the CEFR-beta version was "dictionary enabled" like the AWL-beta profiler, and 2) the CEFR-beta version also provided an Export to Word function. Nevertheless, background-to-text contrast, at least for B1 level words and corresponding headings (RGB: 249, 154, 0), seemed a bit problematic.

On the CEFR-beta display, VocabKitchen avoided the low-contrast problem on grey header bars by using a shade close to black (RGB: 34, 34, 34). Something closer to black (0, 0, 0) might be even better!

VocabKitchen (also in beta), please keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to trying out the Social Reader Tool. In the mean time, I'll strive to cut down on off-list words–at least on this blog!

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PaperRater Grammar and Spelling Check

"PaperRater.com is a free resource, developed and maintained by linguistics professionals and graduate students. PaperRater.com is used by schools and universities in over 46 countries to help students improve their writing" (About PaperRater, ¶1, 2014.03.04).

Screen snapshot of graphic on the PaperRater site

This post frames a comment that I posted today on the Digital Mobile Language Learning blog (Writing Tools for the Self-directed Learner Part 2, 2014.01.19), after trying out PaperRater, which provides, among other free services:

• Spelling and grammar checks,
• Style and word choice analyses, and
• Readability statistics (PaperRater: Features).

After trying a Google+ post that was too short to ... [get] feedback on many of the categories, I gave Paper Rater (PR) another spin on a working paper I ... [had written] a while back. The whole paper turned out to be too long for free assessment, so I cut the sample back to the end of the first section: 719 words per PR's count, 777 per Microsoft® Word 2008 for Mac. 

PR results, as Dan [Ferreira] suggested they would be, were quite interesting: 

+/- The spell check flagged one word apparently broken in the PDF from which I'd copied the sample, but also returned a false positive on the word conflate.  

+ Grammatical analysis revealed no errors. 

+ The numerical score for inappropriate word choices was, I guess, low (0.998). 

+/- The feedback on style in the web display focused mostly on sentence length (the longest: 53 words), but mistakenly indicated that more than half of the sentences were passive. I checked by hand, but found only one passive clause–in a quotation. 

-/+ Though the feedback on style in the PDF output was different, focusing on transition words, the PDF included general tips for using such words. 

+/- The vocabulary score seemed high (96), yet the feedback included only a subset (9 of 20) sophisticated words counted. Paper Rater did not mark such words in the sample. 

The numeric grade from the auto-grader bore a note to the effect that it was "based on [a] college grading scale," which was followed by a stronger one indicating that PR "does NOT examine the meaning of your words, how your ideas are structured, or how well your arguments are supported" [(Auto Grader, NOTE, ¶1)].

All in all, PR looks like it's worth asking students to try, as long as they can grasp its limitations.

I'm looking forward to trying it out with students soon.

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Prep. for exams in §§ 1A § 1C

At the end of class yesterday (July 10), one of your classmates asked what she could do to prepare for the exam on July 24. 

I told her, as I had told students who had asked earlier (about early exams for students heading overseas) that some previous exam items are accessible online in my Slideshare presentation library, which in turn is accessible from a gadget in the Writing Studio Blog (WSBlog) sidebar. That gadget, which is quite a ways down the WSBlog sidebar (currently on the right), looks like this:

All of you are welcome to review previous test items on Slideshare, as well as your predecessors' responses to them on the Writing Studio Blog. Please keep in mind, however, that:

1. Not all previous exams are in that library;
2. New exam items _will_ be different; and
3. Exam formats may vary.

To find out more about previous exams in Writing III (and IV), it also would be a good idea to speak with your predecessors in person. Then I suggest that you share what you learn from them, and prepare jointly for exams with classmates or peers in §§ 1A or 1C. To get started, please tell your classmates and peers about this post!

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