Category Archives: internet

Dictionary evangelist – redefining the dictionary

Erin McKean does more than redefine the dictionary in her TED talk; she redefines our concept of language. She says that our idea of what a dictionary is hasn’t changed since Queen Victoria’s times – we have the idea that a dictionary contains the ‘good’ words (the ‘real’ ones) and keeps out the bad words (‘not real words’). That’s what she finds frustrating about her perceived role as lexicographer – that she is seen as a traffic cop, whereas she’d rather be a fisherman (yes, she used ‘man’). 

But, I hear you say, dictonaries have changed, they’ve come online, they are well connected; they have hyperlinks. Well, according to Erin, an online dictionary has essentially remained unchanged – it’s just a Victorian design with a modern propulsion.

What Erin challenges the audience to do is to rethink ‘good word’/’bad word’. She says when people find a word that isn’t in the dictionary, they think it’s because it’s a ‘bad word’ (think Scrabble), but actually, it’s not in there because the dictionary is too small. The book is not the best shape for the dictionary.

Erin challenges us to look past the artificial constraints of the book-form dictionary; we should study ALL the words. So how do we know that a word is ‘real’? She says, if you love a word, use it. Using it makes it real. It’s less about control and more about description. New words are everywhere, and Boing Boing is an example of the use of ‘undictionaried’ words. Erin suggests we look at the English dictionary as a map of the English language. An antiquated map of the world only contained what we ‘knew’ at that time, but there was much more to discover. As Erin says, when we left out countries in the old maps, we didn’t even know they were missing. So too with words.

And so Erin McKean is in the business of collecting words. She says that words need to be collected with all their background information – a word is ‘like an archaeological artefact’, and ‘a word without a source is like a cut flower – it dies fast’.

Well, I’m swept up by the evangelistic fervour of this New Age lexicographer, but do I dare embrace the new lexicographical freedom and risk chaos? Can we open up the business of word making to the masses when it has traditionally been the hallowed role of unseen word geeks? But then again, Wikipedia has opened up the font of knowledge, and the world hasn’t collapsed yet.

And I recommend Erin’s blog, Dictionary evangelist if you want to discover the unchartered seas of 21st century language. Here, instead of talking about a word’s etymology, Erin delights in its ‘roots, bones, innards, pips, and secret parts’. Or read about the acceptance of new words like ‘chillax’ in Erin’s article in the Boston Globe.

And let’s have some fun with words. To quote Erin, ‘if it works like a word, just use it’.

Microblogging American History – Twitter responses to Obama’s win

day-of-obama

 

In its unique way, Twitter has commented on American history being made today. Never let it be said that Twitter is unable to convey anything more than little snippets of trivia devoid of any substance. The picture built up in the Twitter stream today as Obama’s victory became clearer and clearer was nothing short of emotional. The brief, fast-flowing tweets created a moving picture of people’s reactions to the historic event.

These are only some of the comments that I’ve selected. Remember, the most recent tweets are first, so you’re reading backwards in time. Kind of cool actually. Here goes:

wow – amazing – i’ve woken up in a better world – my only slight concern… what the hell is michael moore going to make films about now?

well done america 🙂 🙂 🙂

asked Yr 2 boy my reason for making him watch news – he said because it’s the first time a “brown person” has been elected president

Obama thanked me by text message. Wow, he looked pretty busy at the time

‘nite twitter. Welcome to Obamanation. The world approves, btw…

I have always been grateful to be American and I served it with my head held high… I have never been this proud

Analysis of Obama’s speech ( http://tinyurl.com/6xlvkl )

It’s been a long time coming, as the man says ♫ http://blip.fm/~ni0i

Balancing my delight in humanity with the grimness of Fox News pro-life, white supremacist babbling http://icanhaz.com/grim

Bless Obama and the people of the US

I may be a Canadian I am blown away by the history I have just observed. Very moving

awesome speech; told my kids that (let them stay up to hear it), both lass and lad noticed

“He talked of having to housebreak the puppy, they’re gunna also have to housebreak that new democratic majority in the congress”-Tom Brokaw

Oh, the place is vibrating

I like this image of Obama leaving the stage – a single man, walking to meet his wife, going off to meet destiny. Hard to hold back tears

I bet there’s a lady in Alaska who just fired HER personal stylist

We have a White House that looks like our country. Look at that stage, kids all over America are reimagining their world.

The last time I saw this much emotion on TV was death of Elvis when I was about 5 or 6. Better this time around

God, the image of the racial, national, and generational mix hugging on the stage in Chicago is a book in itself. History, history, history

Seeing all of the kids together is so cool!!!

Okay, I don’t think I’ve ever cried at a politician’s speech before in my life. Still kind of afraid to hope. But I think I’ll try

I like the sense of marital harmony I get from B and M. They really seem a pair that likes each other, a team. And those kids are fresh air

is it my imagination or did everyone stop tweeting during that speech?

Officially crying tears of joy

“if our children live to see the next century ..what progress we will have made? Open opportunities for our kids – peace. yes we can”

I am crying. Just from my right eye. Obama is great

He’s going to close with the speech we need

v v excited about Obama winning – maybe humans do have some ability to restore balance

Sitting in family room watching Obama’s speech. Wife and daughters waving American Flags at each pause. Great night!

“Our story is singular but our destiny is shared. A new dawn of American leadership is at hand.”

I gotta remember to buy different newspapers and magazines tomorrow to put in my daughter’s memory box

Okay, seriously… “the new puppy that is coming with us to the White House?” That absolutely made me laugh with delight.

holy wow… can that man speak.

Obama takes the stage! What a night!

anyone else terrified about what Those Who Hate Obama might attempt to do once he’s president, or before? I can’t shake it from my mind…

From another student — “I feel as if I can really do anything in the world now. Like for real.”

Just got a text from one of my advisees that made me cry, “Lehmann!!! We did it! President Obama!” This election really was about hope.

goodnight, tweeps. Pray for this nation, now more than ever.

Oh hurrah! My American friends have just texted me the news!!! Good old America, good old Americans! Xxx

Wow McCain’s speech was amazing. That was the McCain that should have been showing more during the campaign

well done to the people of America (and Obama), congratulations are in order. change is a necessity and a good thing

Magnanimous concession by John McCain. Well done.

There are moments in life that are too big to grasp. This is one of those moments. In total blissful shock. Too shocked to even cry… yet

Congratulations America!

Woo hoo! Just saw that Obama has won the election! I’m crying! Tears of joy 🙂

History in the making. . was this the first presidency tweeted through? Will Obama be known for changes in technology?

wow, nyc is going crazy, so loud outside.

“Don’t deny it, Obama is all Web 2.0” – http://is.gd/6n9j

When I watched his speech at the DNC 4 years ago, I thought “He could seriously be president.” Never thought it’d be in 2008.

“This is something so much bigger than Senator Obama”

nice to see my friends cheering too… yay twitter. hi dudes. i love loving america this morning.

McCain conceded via phone

Huzzah!

I am so proud of us right now…

wow. I don’t believe it. I just don’t believe it. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

O.M.F.G. Thank you America. You have made me extremely proud. Thank YOU!

Playing “Signed, Sealed and Delivered,” with all of the American flags waving is really moving

So happy to call Obama my PRESIDENT!

Congrats to President Obama! So much for going to sleep, gotta see his speech now!

Congratulations to my US friends – looks like you just got yourself a President

Hopes and Dreams!

gotta go hug my wife!

I can’t imagine being in the room with Barack when he got the word about becoming the next president……amazing time…..

Wow! This is exciting!

Fox just called it for Obama. That’s about as done as it gets. Congratulations President Obama! Please fix our country soon!

Obama. It’s over.

ABC News declares Obama the next President of the United States

I just got chills………..

CNN just called it

CNN calls it. Obama is the 44th President of the US

called. Omg

It’s all over!!!!!!!!

 

 

Confessions of an online junkie

In leaving a comment in a discussion about the balancing act between actual life and online life, I quoted Lauren O’Grady in her blogpost “Hyperconnection!! Arggh this changes everything.. for me anyway” where she talks about a time when a friend made her realise how much her hyperconnectedness was affecting her relationships with family and friends. She also talks about Ariel Meadow Stallings whose addiction to the internet you can read about in her blog. After going to a workshop about finding balance between technology and soul, Ariel decided to unplug one night a week for a year – and then blogged about it (as one does). Her blog includes a video of her 52 nights unplugged on the Today Show. Kind of ironic. Like compensating for internet abstinence by embedding the experience online. Online therapy, if you will.

I have to admit that, since plugging in, my life has also been undeniably affected. I go to bed later, am less fastidious about housework, rarely bake, read less fiction, and never answer the phone! And I’ve started to develop some disturbing habits; I find myself scuttling furtively from blog to Twitter to Facebook to gmail to internet, and so on. And at the end of the day (well, yes, it’s already the next day by then) I find it almost impossible to disconnect cleanly, at least not without a final few rounds of furtive scuttling. Now I ask you – should I be looking at therapy?

I could justify my dependence on being online by saying that there is so much online that is interesting and important for my professional and personal development, but then I would only be saying a half-truth. Not everything I read online is absolutely essential; there are too many tempting forks in the road, and not so much forks as capillaries branching out like fractals. That’s why the question of balance is, for me, an important one while I still have my husband with me, and while I can still get out of the chair. I know I have to do something about it, but I don’t know what. And if anyone says moderation, let me say that I know that I should only eat chocolate in moderation, but how??

Stephen Downes, in his Seven habits of highly connected people, suggests that we should stop wasting time in order to make way for meaningful online time. Surprisingly, he includes in his definition of time-wasting such things as reading and telephone conversations. I had to re-read the paragraph about ‘connection’ a few times to make sure he wasn’t being facetious. I don’t think he was. We should be careful with our definition of what is a waste of time. There are always unproductive periods or times that could be labelled as time-wasting. But these times are hardly insidious. They might be essential for germinating ideas. Creative people – artists, musicians and writers – are not being productive all the time. We all have our ‘down time’, and I’m certain that this is some sort of ‘pause’ mechanism which gives us the break we all need. A reflecting time, a processing time, a human time….