Waiting for the Wave

Thumann Resources
Posted by lthumann on August 8, 2009

The Google Wave that is.

That's what I heard many of the new Google Certified Teachers (GTCs) whispering to each other this past Wednesday at the Google Teacher Academy in Boulder, Colorado.

In late May, on the Official Google Blog, Google announced that Google Wave was available to developers to tinker with and that you could sign up for an e-mail alert for Wave's public launch later this year. (According to TechCrunch, the first 100,000 invites go out on September 30th.)

So, let me explain, in simple terms a little bit about what Google Wave is. It's about conversation.

There are three key technologies in Google Wave that will make this communication tool more collaborative and efficient than e-mail of the past:

1. Live collaborative editing means that you see the people in the conversation typing in real-time. (Think of Skype, SMS or other chat programs where you wait for the person to hit enter before you see what they have written.) By the way, this can be with more than one person at a time. So if there are six people in the Wave, you can see anyone who is typing in the conversation. They can also send you a private message.
2. Natural Language Tools enable you to focus on what you are typing and not worry about any mistakes you might type. Google's philosophy behind this new technology is that you should be able to type about 5% faster. Google looks at millions of web pages to see statistically how people use language in practice. This works much different than the red and green squiggly lines in a word processing program. Since Wave is web hosted, it doesn't matter whether you are on your Smart Phone, laptop or desktop, you will receive these recommendations for grammar and spelling. These language tools will continue improving as we all continue using the web.
3. Embedding means that you can get the code (html) for your Wave and put it on your website, wiki or blog. You can also add gadgets to your Wave as you would to your iGoogle page.

So, here's the big question? What are the implications for educators and students?

Don't let the technical stuff behind Google Wave get you. This is going to be cool. Though I don't think that it is going to be added to Google Apps Education Edition anytime soon, I do think that Google Wave may just be the answer for those educators that get e-mail, but don't quite get Google Docs yet.

This mashup of e-mail, IM, pictures, video, maps, maybe a little bit of a Twitter-like app will allow administrators, teachers, parents, even some students to be better communicate with each other. The conversation will be more collaborative when necessary. With Google Wave you can go back and play the Wave again (which many of us need). This may just be what we've all been looking for.

Resources:

Google Wave Developer Blog
http://googlewavedev.blogspot.com/

The Official Google Blog
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/went-walkabout-brought-back-google-wave.html

ZD Net: Meet Google Wave
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=18817&tag=rbxccnbzd1

TechCrunch: Google Wave Drips with Ambition
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/28/google-wave-drips-with-ambition-can-it-fulfill-googles-grand-web-vision/

Posted in 21st_Century_Learning, Google | Tagged: Collaboration, communication, email, Google, googlewave, GTA, gtaco, wave, YouTube | 3 Comments »

Technology | Is free the new pay?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Is free the new pay?
Page last updated at 17:50 GMT, Monday, 3 August 2009 18:50 UK

By Tim Jokl BBC World Service

Matthew Szulik, chairman of Red Hat.

Matthew Szulik runs a successful business that gives its products away for free.

What is more, Mr Szulik was recently named the United States Entrepreneur of the Year.

The company he works for - Red Hat - turns a profit by distributing free, open source software; computer programs and applications that anyone can download.

It is one of a several firms that are based on the idea of enthusiastic individuals freely sharing their programming talents.

This community of collaborators has thousands of individuals willing to share their time and ideas in return for not much more than a sense of creative satisfaction.

Open-source now accounts for around 20% of the entire software market.

Against a backdrop of business tradition uneasy with concepts like free and open source, Red Hat offers computer software based on the Linux operating system.

Not only can users download Red Hat software freely but they can also modify it and use it on many different kinds of equipment without having to worry about extra license payments of the kind demanded by the big proprietary software companies.

Chaotic system

Mr Szulik was not at Red Hat from day one. "Red Hat used to be a magazine business when I joined," he told Peter Day on the BBC World Service's Global Business programme.

The business now accounts for 80% of the open-source market, a fact that has led to some people calling it the Microsoft of the open source world.

To improve society through our actions, that's really the genesis of open source software Matthew Szulik

From the outside, the open source concept can seem chaotic and a little unfocused. It can be potentially hard to govern.

Devotees of established models find the lack of structure, the lack of a price tag and the collaboration with strangers unnerving. But for Red Hat it seems to work.

"When you think about having millions of eyeballs being able to see other people's work, the quality should go up because you are getting this constant user feedback," Mr Szulik says of the way Red Hat software is developed.

"If it can be improved and repaired rapidly on the internet, then the customer gets a better product at the lowest cost."

Collaboration

Mr Szulik cites Eric von Hippel, a sort of father figure to the whole collaborative innovation movement, as a key inspiration.

Professor von Hippel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been championing his idea for 30 years.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

"People like Eric von Hippel...really gave birth to this whole idea of free openness, of collaboration and rapid rates of innovation."

So how can people at Red Hat draw a paycheque? How are they making money?

The answer is reassuringly simple, says Mr Szulik.

"We don't charge for the software.

"What we do charge for is the service. That's the economic basis of the business."

Getting into the black has come about by convincing big corporations that this seemingly open and anarchic model is a viable way to go and that they will not be left high and dry if technical problems arise.

To get to that position of trust, Red Hat has had to grow.

The shift involved moving from being a organisation of enthusiastic technologists to becoming expert in legal processes and technical support.

'Social mission'

"In 2001, Red Hat did not have a business customer. It was technologists and hobbyists," Mr Szulik explained.

The breakthrough came in 2004 when Cisco Systems, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley chose to embrace the Red Hat way.

More recently, Google have taken full advantage of the open source benefits of Linux.

When asked about staying true to principles of openness as the business gains momentum, Mr Szulik said: "It's as much a social mission on my behalf, and on Red Hat's behalf, as it is an economic mission."

"To improve society through our actions, that's really the genesis of open-source software."

Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English

Companion Website for: Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English

Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English: based on the British National Corpus.

Geoffrey Leech, Paul Rayson, Andrew Wilson
(2001) pp. 320, Longman, London. ISBN 0582-32007-0 (Paperback)

Books of English word frequencies have in the past suffered from severe limitations of sample size and breadth. They have also tended to be restricted to word forms alone. Most importantly, almost all have dealt only with written language. This book overcomes these limitations. It is derived from the British National Corpus - a 100,000,000 word electronic databank sampled from the whole range of present-day English, spoken and written - and makes use of the grammatical information that has been added to each word in the corpus.

Includes frequencies for present-day speech (including everyday conversation) as well as for writing

• Rank-ordered and alphabetical frequency lists for the whole corpus and for various subdivisions: e.g. informative vs. imaginative writing, conversational vs. other varieties of speech
• Entries take account of grammatical parts of speech (e.g. round as a preposition is listed separately from round as an adjective)
• Includes discussions of a number of thematic frequency lists such as colour terms, female vs. male terms, etc

This companion website provides:

• List of texts and their categories
• The frequency lists
  These lists are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
• Back cover of the book as an image and text.
• Downloadable samples from the book: (these files are PDF format, you can download a free Acrobat Reader from adobe.com)
  • Contents page
  • Foreword
  • Explanatory notes on words marked * in the frequency lists
  • Page 47 - "Frequency of names of days" interest box
  • Page 120 - first page of "List 1.2. Rank frequency list for the whole corpus"
  • Page 130 - "Frequency of contracted verbs have and be" interest box
  • Page 218 - first page of "List 2.4. Distinctiveness list contrasting speech and writing"
  • Page 244 - "Interjections, discourse markers and fillers" interest box
  • Page 287 - "Adjectives for regions and nations" interest box
  • Page 301 - "List 6.3.1. Alphabetical list of grammatical word classes: conversation v. task-oriented speech"

Based on the British National Corpus:

The frequency data is based on the British National Corpus. The BNC project was carried out and is managed by an industrial/academic consortium lead by Oxford University Press, of which the other members are major dictionary publishers Addison-Wesley Longman and Larousse Kingfisher Chambers; academic research centres at Oxford University Computing Services, Lancaster University's Centre for Computer Corpus Research on Language, and the British Library's Research and Innovation Centre.

Review of this book:

This book has been reviewed in the Language Awareness Journal:

Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English: Based on the British National Corpus. Hunston, Susan (Review of: Leech, Geoffrey; Rayson, Paul; Wilson, Andrew), Language Awareness, 2002, 11, 2, 152-157. Direct link: http://www.multilingual-matters.net/la/011/0143/la0110143.pdf

WordNet’s morphological processing

WordNet documentation

Although only base forms of words are usually stored in WordNet, searches may be done on inflected forms. A set of morphology functions, Morphy, is applied to the search string to generate a form that is present in WordNet.

Morphology in WordNet uses two types of processes to try to convert the string passed into one that can be found in the WordNet database. There are lists of inflectional endings, based on syntactic category, that can be detached from individual words in an attempt to find a form of the word that is in WordNet. There are also exception list files, one for each syntactic category, in which a search for an inflected form is done. Morphy tries to use these two processes in an intelligent manner to translate the string passed to the base form found in WordNet. Morphy first checks for exceptions, then uses the rules of detachment. The Morphy functions are not independent from WordNet. After each transformation, WordNet is searched for the resulting string in the syntactic category specified.

The Morphy functions are passed a string and a syntactic category. A string is either a single word or a collocation. Since some words, such as axes can have more than one base form (axe and axis ), Morphy works in the following manner. The first time that Morphy is called with a specific string, it returns a base form. For each subsequent call to Morphy made with a NULL string argument, Morphy returns another base form. Whenever Morphy cannot perform a transformation, whether on the first call for a word or subsequent calls, NULL is returned. A transformation to a valid English string will return NULL if the base form of the string is not in WordNet.

The morphological functions are found in the WordNet library. See morph(3WN) for information on using these functions.

Rules of Detachment

The following table shows the rules of detachment used by Morphy. If a word ends with one of the suffixes, it is stripped from the word and the corresponding ending is added. Then WordNet is searched for the resulting string. No rules are applicable to adverbs.

POS	Suffix	Ending
NOUN	"s"	""
NOUN	"ses"	"s"
NOUN	"xes"	"x"
NOUN	"zes"	"z"
NOUN	"ches"	"ch"
NOUN	"shes"	"sh"
NOUN	"men"	"man"
NOUN	"ies"	"y"
VERB	"s"	""
VERB	"ies"	"y"
VERB	"es"	"e"
VERB	"es"	""
VERB	"ed"	"e"
VERB	"ed"	""
VERB	"ing"	"e"
VERB	"ing"	""
ADJ	"er"	""
ADJ	"est"	""
ADJ	"er"	"e"
ADJ	"est"	"e"

Exception Lists

There is one exception list file for each syntactic category. The exception lists contain the morphological transformations for strings that are not regular and therefore cannot be processed in an algorithmic manner. Each line of an exception list contains an inflected form of a word or collocation, followed by one or more base forms. The list is kept in alphabetical order and a binary search is used to find words in these lists. See wndb(5WN) for information on the format of the exception list files.

Single Words

In general, single words are relatively easy to process. Morphy first looks for the word in the exception list. If it is found the first base form is returned. Subsequent calls with a NULL argument return additional base forms, if present. A NULL is returned when there are no more base forms of the word.

If the word is not found in the exception list corresponding to the syntactic category, an algorithmic process using the rules of detachment looks for a matching suffix. If a matching suffix is found, a corresponding ending is applied (sometimes this ending is a NULL string, so in effect the suffix is removed from the word), and WordNet is consulted to see if the resulting word is found in the desired part of speech.

Collocations

As opposed to single words, collocations can be quite difficult to transform into a base form that is present in WordNet. In general, only base forms of words, even those comprising collocations, are stored in WordNet, such as attorney general . Transforming the collocation attorneys general is then simply a matter of finding the base forms of the individual words comprising the collocation. This usually works for nouns, therefore non-conforming nouns, such as customs duty are presently entered in the noun exception list.

Verb collocations that contain prepositions, such as ask for it , are more difficult. As with single words, the exception list is searched first. If the collocation is not found, special code in Morphy determines whether a verb collocation includes a preposition. If it does, a function is called to try to find the base form in the following manner. It is assumed that the first word in the collocation is a verb and that the last word is a noun. The algorithm then builds a search string with the base forms of the verb and noun, leaving the remainder of the collocation (usually just the preposition, but more words may be involved) in the middle. For example, passed asking for it , the database search would be performed with ask for it , which is found in WordNet, and therefore returned from Morphy. If a verb collocation does not contain a preposition, then the base form of each word in the collocation is found and WordNet is searched for the resulting string.

Hyphenation

Hyphenation also presents special difficulties when searching WordNet. It is often a subjective decision as to whether a word is hyphenated, joined as one word, or is a collocation of several words, and which of the various forms are entered into WordNet. When Morphy breaks a string into "words", it looks for both spaces and hyphens as delimiters. It also looks for periods in strings and removes them if an exact match is not found. A search for an abbreviation like oct. return the synset for { October, Oct } . Not every pattern of hyphenated and collocated string is searched for properly, so it may be advantageous to specify several search strings if the results of a search attempt seem incomplete.

Special Processing for nouns ending with 'ful'

Morphy contains code that searches for nouns ending with ful and performs a transformation on the substring preceeding it. It then appends 'ful' back onto the resulting string and returns it. For example, if passed the nouns boxesful , it will return boxful .

BUGS

Since many noun collocations contains prepositions, such as line of products , an algorithm similar to that used for verbs should be written for nouns. In the present scheme, if Morphy is passed lines of products , the search string becomes line of product , which is not in WordNet

Morphy will allow non-words to be converted to words, if they follow one of the rules described above. For example, it will happily convert plantes to plants .

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES (UNIX)

WNHOME

Base directory for WordNet. Default is /usr/local/WordNet-3.0 .

WNSEARCHDIR

Directory in which the WordNet database has been installed. Default is WNHOME/dict .

REGISTRY (WINDOWS)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WordNet\3.0\WNHome

Base directory for WordNet. Default is C:\Program Files\WordNet\3.0 .

FILES

pos .exc

morphology exception lists

SEE ALSO

wn(1WN) , wnb(1WN) , binsrch(3WN) , morph(3WN) , wndb(5WN) , wninput(7WN) .

What is WordNet?

What is WordNet

WordNet is a database comprised of nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives in a lexical relational structure. These words are then grouped by synonyms call synsets that are easily used to find related words and usage. The result of these synsets can be navigated and explored using a web browser. This basic structure of WordNet allows it to be easily used and researched for computational linguistics and language processing for a variety of applications such as voice recognition software and dictation software. WordNet is free to use and has a downloadable version for UNIX, Linux, PC, and Mac computers.

WordNet has been developed by Professor George A. Miller at the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory at Princeton University. The WordNet database is also available from MIT Press and a Windows interface called WordNet TreeWalk which helps users not familiar with UNIX based pages and command lines. Using WordNet online is as simple as using a browser search function. A simple form is presented on the page and any word may be searched from there. The page includes links to the WordNet home page, the glossary, and a help section with information on how to use WordNet. WordNet is made up of lexicographer files, code to transfer the files into a database, and protocols for searching the database. Synsets are also related to other synsets creating an even easier and wider encompassing list of language devices and terms for the searched word.

Two kinds of relations are used in WordNet, semantic and lexical. The lexical relationships hold between semantically related forms of words and the semantic relationships hold between related word definitions. These relationships point towards related words and synsets after searching a word; different types of words are arranged differently in the database. People who use WordNet can be from a diverse number of fields as language is used in every aspect of every business and industry, but is primarily used in the research of and development of cognitive hierarchies that will give insight into the way humans use language and how the brain interprets it. Specifically it applies to the research of ontology which deals with the idea of what entities exist and how they are related; it was once part of metaphysics and is derived from the Greek philosophies of the Golden Age of civilization. Recently this idea of relating that which exists has been applied to information as in the case of WordNet, and ISPs.

WordNet is supported and used by various organizations and associations for a myriad of reasons and designs. The National Science Foundation is currently supporting the Evocation project at WordNet which aims to connect all the parts of speech in the database. This will allow phrases, exclamations, and the like to be related to the existing nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The American Resort Development Association is also a large supporter of the WordNet database and has given monetary support for the project over the last several years.

External links

• The WordNet Home Page
• Wordnet Related Projects – comprehensive list of interfaces and extensions
• Global Wordnet + DEBGrid (Global Wordnet web interface)

Top 100 Language Blogs 2009 - bab.la & Lexiophiles

Top 100 Language Blogs 2009 - bab.la & Lexiophiles

The Top 100 Language Blogs 2009 is the largest language blog competition and is hosted annually by bab.la and Lexiophiles. It is aimed at finding the best blogs related to languages and awarding language-loving bloggers. This year there were 473 nominated blogs from 26 different countries in four categories. You will find the Top 100 Language Blogs below (more on the ranking method here).

In addition, you might want to check out the Top 10 Blogs for each category as well:

Language Learning | Language Teaching | Language Technology | Language Professionals

	1.	Listen to English
		Podcast and blog for learners of English. Topics include current events, items of interest and cultural quirks.
	2.	The Linguist on Language
		Language blog for people who love languages or would, but were discouraged.
	3.	Der Englisch Blog
		New explanations and exercises for the English language every day.
	4.	Tofugu
		A wonky Japanese language and culture blog
	5.	The English Blog
		Blog covering both old and new Internet resources for learners and teachers of English. Not only reviews and presentations, but also advice on how to get the most out of it.
	6.	Fluent in 3 months
		Language learning tips from Benny the Irish polyglot, who speaks 7 languages, and his story as he travels the world to learn new ones!
	7.	All Japanese All the Time
		How you can learn Japanese (and many more languages) without taking classes, by having fun and doing things you enjoy—watching movies, playing video games, reading comic books—you know: fun stuff!
	8.	Inglês Online
		Tips, experiences and websites for people learning or teaching English.
	9.	Nihongo Notes
		Lessons and Advice to Help You Learn Japanese ...and a little bit about life in Japan
	10.	Grammar Girl
		Blog with quick and dirty tips for better writing.
	11.	larryferlazzo
		…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
	12.	Angela Maiers
		Putting Learners and Learning First
	13.	English Experts
		Blog on studying english as a second language online for Portuguese speakers.
	14.	separated by a common language
		Observations on British and American English by an American linguist in the UK
	15.	Becoming a Better EFL Teacher
		Know Better. Live Better.
	16.	Box of tricks
		Technology and Education
	17.	Languagehat
		General language blog covering academic language realted issues. Among other things discussing recent developments in the field of language studies.
	18.	Joanne Jacobs
		Joanne Jacobs presents her views on current educational topics and themes.
	19.	todo ele 2.0
		Spanish as a second language, resources, lessons.
	20.	Teach42
		Education and Technology. Looking att different tools to use and how to use them, by Steve Dembo.
21.	education & tech	Blog covering the latest in fields of Learning, Knowledge, Tech and Social Media
22.	the shifted librarian	Library related materials
23.	Self Made Scholar	Learn free.
24.	always learning	Teaching technology abroad
25.	Better at English	Real English for real people
26.	English Spark	Putting a spark in the English learning community with tools to learn, share, collaborate and connect.
27.	Wishydig	English language blog
28.	The Name Inspector	Naming, taglines, and other verbal branding.
29.	David on Formosa	Blog focusing the commentary to all things Taiwanese — Taipei, Taiwan
30.	2c Worth	Teaching & Learning in the new information landscape
31.	Moving at the Speed of Creativity	The weblog of Wesley Fryer
32.	Confessions of a Comunity College Dean	Education and teaching blog
33.	Schrift&Rede	Language blog from the research group of the German language (Forschungsgruppe Deutsche Sprache)
34.	Fritinancy	Names, brands, writing, and the quirks of the English language.
35.	Kalinago English	Teaching EFL Teachers How To Teach Speaking
36.	Esperanto Blog	Our Esperanto Blog is a series of frequently published articles about Esperanto language. Our blogger, Alex Joy, speaks and studies Esperanto and is very passionate about sharing his knowledge with our readers.
37.	Tecla SAP	Blog created to help English learners with their studies focused on common difficulties that Portuguese speakers have when learning English.
38.	Über Setzer Logbuch	German blog on language, Russian and translation. Includes articles on the latest news on related areas.
39.	There's Something About Translation...	A freelance translator blogs about lessons learned at the wordface, her experiences as a freelancer and the changes facing the profession.
40.	Arabic Blog	Our Arabic blog addresses learners of Arabic as a foreign language. It introduces some aspects of the Arabic language: grammar, vocabulary and dialects, as well as certain aspects of Arabic culture and history.
41.	LETUTOR	LETUTOR's guide to languages
42.	Spanish Only	The blog about learning Spanish, to fluency, on your own and without ever visiting a classroom.
43.	Betchablog	Education + technology + ideas
44.	Sinosplice	Blog to help understand all things China. Includes articles on language, culture and everything inbetween.
45.	The Engine Room	Blog about language use, publishing and the media in general
46.	eduFire	Live Video Learning
47.	Speaking English Podcast	Tips on sounding like a native speaker. Videos and other tools to help eliminate mistakes common for both foreign and native speakers of English.
48.	dangerously irrelevant	Ruminations on technology, leadership, and the future of our schools
49.	wéb-tränslatiôns	The Web-Translations blog is a mixture of informative, serious, and light-hearted content focusing on various areas of language and the localization industry. All members of staff are welcome to contribute, and we encourage comment from our readers.
50.	The Hesitant Scribe	Procrastinations, musings, digressions, and a little bit on writing. Or the miserable little life of a PhD student and would be novelist
51.	Inglês na Ponta da Língua	English teacher sharing his knowledge with English learners
52.	Wasaty tlumacz O tlumaczeniach przy fajce i kawie	Tips and tricks, toys and tools - everything about translation.
53.	Langwitches	The Magic of Learning through Technology
54.	Cuaderno Intercultural	blog which collects and organizes information, resources, advices, new, and everything that can be useful to intercultural teaching and foreign students
55.	BLOGBOGSTAVER	A blog on the danish language.
56.	Beyond Words	Beyond Words is ALTA Language Services' blog, wherein ALTA's language professionals comment on issues involving translation, interpreting, language testing, and the intersection of language with current events.
57.	Pensamientos	"If you talk in his language, that goes to the heart." Nelson Mandela
58.	Educational technology in ELT	Experimenting with web 2.0 tools to enhance language learning
59.	The Smiling Eggplant	All about Italy
60.	algo más que traducir	Personal page of a translator, lots of resources
61.	Musings from an overworked translator	Featuring musings life in general and the translation industry.
62.	Reflections on Teaching	I use this blog as a place for me to reflect on best practices, and the practices I'm (trying to) putting in place in my classroom.
63.	The Power of Educational Technology	Demonstrating the power of technology to transform learning, energize communities and inspire innovative thinking.
64.	Le petit Champignon illustré	Fun articles about languages and French in general
65.	alice's posterous	You will find my attempt to use web 2.0 tools in my teaching and to enthuse my students, recipes, singing news, film reviews, unusual stuff, stuff I've discovered thanks to my amazing PLN.
66.	English Caffe	English learner willing to share his knowledge through tips and lessons for other English learners.
67.	Voices en Español	A bilingual blog
68.	Russian Blog	Our Russian Blog is a series of frequently published articles about the Russian language and Russian Culture. Our blogger is Josefina Lundblad, a talented and prolific Swedish-born writer who has been living in Russia for several years.
69.	英文ライティング講座	This is a blog provided by アイモ君 and i-osmosis for English learners. It brings you news and useful information for leaning English
70.	English Virtual Community	A English Virtual Community online
71.	Polish Blog	Our Polish Blog is a series of frequently published articles about Polish language and culture. Our multilingual blogger Anna Etmanska, a Polish native, makes this blog very educational but also very exciting.
72.	Deutsch lernen und studieren in Deutschland	Tips to learn German and study in Germany.
73.	wedblogg-ed	Learning with the read/write web
74.	El taller del traductor	A Spanish blog about Technology
75.	TEFLtastic	News, views and reviews
76.	TecnoTraduBlog	Blog by Natalia Zudaire, professional translator and geek.
77.	Verba Molant	Linguistical blog for Italian language lovers
78.	educational technology & change	A co-operative blog journal for educational technology & change.
79.	Human	For fellow teachers…
80.	John Wells's phonetic blog	Everything to do with phonetics.
81.	Stephen's Web	Stephen works for the National Research Council, Institute for Information Technology, in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. He specializes in online learning, content syndication, and new media.
82.	el blog para aprender inglés	English teacher shares her knowledge, lots of resources, everyday a new "lesson"
83.	En francais s'il vous plait	A blog from a French teacher on which his Korean students can post articles in French
84.	busuu.com	busuu.com is an online community for learning languages.
85.	Women Learning Thai	Expat making her way through Thai language and culture
86.	Mandarin Student	English person attempting to learn Mandarin from the Internet. Resources and advice to help other budding Mandarin students in a similar position.
87.	Dr. Goodword's Language Blog	English language blog
88.	Fidus Interpres	Translator Portuguese-English-German and his experiences with the language.
89.	Translate This!	Strategies for Lossless Langage Convrson
90.	Italy From The Inside	A Scoop of Real Italian Life for Travelers & Friends
91.	Alex Ermakov	About the special learning techniques aimed at language learning
92.	A Swedish American in Sweden	Return to Sweden
93.	Blogos	News and views on language and technology
94.	The Grammaphobia Blog	Q and A blog on grammar. Readers questions on use of English are answered and discussed on a daily basis.
95.	Keith's Voice on Extreme Language Learning	Learning Japanese Blog
96.	Business English Blog	Blog on use of English in business
97.	e-Learning Goddes	Blog about e-learning
98.	Medical Translation Blog	Medical Translation * Regulations * Technology
99.	Naked Translations	Reflections on words, expressions and the difficulties encountered on the bridge from the English to the French language.
100.	German Blog	Our German Blog is a series of frequently published articles about German language and culture. Our original blogger, Nathalie La Vache, is a multilingual teacher who lived in Germany for several years.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the competition. Without all of you, the users, this competition would not have been possible. If you are on the list, you might want to add a Top 100 Language Blogs 2009 button to your blog. We hope to see you back soon on Lexiophiles or the bab.la dictionaries.

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55 Ways to Bring Open Source into Education

LinuxPlanet - Reports - 55 Ways to Bring Open Source into Education
Cynthia Harvey
Monday, August 3, 2009 12:25:26 PM

1 Management, Collaboration, Science
2 Elementary School
3 Library, Math, Music, E-Learning, Courseware
4 Physics, Testing, Typing, Robotics

1. Management, Collaboration, Science

While some educators have been quick to grasp the potential and promise of open source software, many others have been hesitant to stray from the comfortable zone of commercial applications. Yet that's changing.

More teachers and institutions are now participating with organizations like SchoolForge, the Open Source Education Foundation, and Open Source Schools. These educators are beginning to see that the open source philosophy has the power to transform education in several key ways.

First, schools can use open source apps to replace costly commercial software and free up resources for other purposes. For example, openSIS performs the same tasks as closed-source school administration programs (scheduling, grades, report cards, attendance, etc.) while reducing total cost of ownership up to 75 percent.

Second, open source applications are changing the ways students and teachers interact, as applications like Moodle make eLearning simple an affordable. Some institutions, notably MIT and UC Berkeley, have taken the concept of open source distance learning one step further. As members of the OpenCourseWare Consortium, they've made the content of some courses available for free, so that anyone in the world can benefit from their expertise.

Finally, open-source software gives educators more options than ever before. Today, instructors have dozens, if not hundreds, of options for free and open source applications that help them present lessons on everything from learning the ABCs to modeling the complex interactions of molecules during biochemical processes.

The list below provides just a small sampling of the open source applications available to help educators teach and inspire their students.

Just added to this list: Open source educational apps by KDE (see entries #50-55).

Administration

1. openSIS

The "Open Source Student Information System," or openSIS, claims to lower a school district's total cost of ownership by 75 percent when compared to comparable commercial systems. It includes student demographics, contact information, scheduling, grade book, reporting, report cards, transcripts, health records, attendance, a built-in parent portal, and advanced security features. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

Astronomy

2. Stellarium

Downloaded more than 7 million times, Stellarium is one of the most popular open-source education apps available. With this app, you can input coordinates for any point on earth and view the night skies for any particular point in time. It's so accurate, it's even used to power many planetariums. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

3. Celestia

Like Stellarium, Celestia lets you view the night skies from earth, but it also lets you fly through 3D space to any place in the known universe. When possible, it uses actual photographs of planets, asteroids, and other objects, so that you can see what they really look like. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

4. Space Trajectory Analysis

This app lets researchers analyze, simulate, and visualize the paths of objects that have been launched into space. It's currently being used by the European Space Agency and a number of international universities. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

Biology

5. ByoDyn

Scientists building models of biochemical networks or pathways can use ByoDyn to estimate and analyze the parameters underlying these processes. In addition to the downloadable version, it can also be accessed online as a Web app. Operating System: Linux, OS X.

Chemistry

6. Jmol

This java-based app lets students create diagrams of atoms, molecules, macromolecules, crystals, and more. The site includes a handbook and tutorials for helping you learn how to use the software. Operating System: OS Independent.

7. ProtoMol

ProtoMol is a framework for molecular dynamics simulation. It's designed to be highly flexible, easily extensible, and to meet high performance demands. Operating System: Linux, Unix, Windows.

Classroom Management

8. iTALC

Short for "intelligent teaching and learning with computers," iTALC makes it easier for teachers to interact with students using PCs in the classroom or those joining from home via a VPN connection. With it, you can view a snapshot of every screen in the class, show students a demo from your screen, lock workstations (so students have to pay attention to you), send text messages, and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

9. Mando

Mando lets you create an interactive whiteboard. If you have your computer connected to a camera and a projector, you can use your laser pointer to control the computer in front of the class, just as you would use a mouse at your desk. Operating System: Linux.

Digital Content Management

10. Archon

Winner of several awards, Archon simplifies the process of creating a searchable Web site to house archival materials. Administrators can input or edit information via Web forms, and the software automatically uploads and publishes the data. It's currently being used by more than 40 universities, zoos, historical societies, and other institutions. Operating System: OS Independent.

11. Fedora Commons

Fedora Commons allows you to manage, preserve, and link different types of digital content. For example, you can use it to create an archive of video, audio, and text files on a particular topic which users can then search or comment on. Operating System: OS Independent.

2. Elementary School

Earth Science

12. Seismic Toolkit (STK)

This app makes it easier for scientists and researchers to analyze data from seismic events. It includes tools for filtering and plotting data, evolutive polarization, and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

Elementary Education

13. Tux Paint

This award-winning art program lets kids create small drawings using paintbrush, rubber stamp, line, shape, and text tools, as well as "magic" special effects. TuxPaint is designed for kids age 3-12, but its simple design and cartoon characters (including help from Tux the Linux penguin) make it most suitable for kids in preschool through second grade. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

14. TuxMath

In this arcade style game, kids prevent comets from destroying igloos by solving math problems. You can set the preferences so that it focuses on a particular type of problem-anything from simply locating the right number on the keyboard through addition and subtraction to multiplication and division with both positive and negative numbers. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

15. ChildsPlay

ChildsPlay includes a number of different games suitable for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Some of the games are educational (letter memory) and some are just fun (classic Pong). The CognitionPlay version contains similar activities designed for people suffering from mental illness. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

16. GCompris

This educational suite currently contains more than 100 educational activities for children ages two through ten and more are being added all the time. It includes games that teach keyboard skills, math, science, geography, reading, and several games that are mostly fun, but also develop problem-solving skills (chess, sudoku, etc.) Operating System: Windows, Linux.

Foreign Language

17. jVLT

The Java Vocabulary Learning Tool, or jVLT combines a flashcard-like tool with a dictionary and a quiz tool to help students learn a foreign language. You can input your own vocabulary list or use one of the downloadable files, which include German-French, Thai-English, French-English, practical Chinese, and several others. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

18. ZWDisplay

Input Chinese characters and ZWDisplay will show the pronunciation (in Pinyin) and the English translation. You can also use it to create flashcards and keep track of which Mandarin characters you've learned. Operating System: Linux.

19. Zkanji

Zkanji is designed to help English speakers learn Japanese. It includes a dictionary, vocabulary lists, a study program, tests, and other helpful features. Operating System: Windows.

Flashcards

20. FlashQard

With FlashQard, you can create flashcards to help students review just about any subject matter. It allows you to create different cards for different purposes, insert pictures, record answers, and it includes an "espeak" feature. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

21. The Mnemosyne Project

In addition to allowing you to create your own flashcards, this app uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine which card should appear next in order to maximize your learning (in other words, the cards you get wrong frequently will appear most often). If you use the software, you can also choose to upload your data to a research project studying memory. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

22. Pauker

This flashcard app is designed to strengthen your ultra-short-term, short-term, and long-term memory. Because you create your own flashcards, you can use it to help you remember vocabulary words, capitals, important dates, and other facts. In addition to the standard version, it's also available in a mini version for mobile devices. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

23. jMemorize

Like the other software in this category, jMemorize lets you create your own flashcards and then quizzes you on those cards. The feature that sets this app apart is the series of graphs on the main screen which make it easy to keep track of how many of your cards you know well, which you sometimes know, and which you don't know at all. Operating System: OS Independent.

Geography

24. WorldWind

Developed by NASA, WorldWind allows you to access satellite imagery of any point on earth. It's very similar to Google Earth, but does offer some different features, including the ability to access satellite imagery of the moon. Operating System: Windows.

Language Arts

25. BingoCardMaker

Elementary school and foreign language instructors often find that a game of Bingo breaks up the monotony of learning new vocabulary words. This app makes it easy to generate random cards from a set of images. Operating System: OS Independent.

3. Library, Math Music, E-Learning, Courseware

Library

26. OpenBiblio

OpenBiblio is an automated library system that includes a public catalog, circulation, and administration features. It works with any scanners that can display a barcode as keyboard input, and a list of scanners known to work with the system is available on the site. Operating System: OS Independent.

27. VuFind

Designed by libraries for libraries, VuFind replaces the traditional online public access catalog (OPAC) with a Web 2.0 portal for searching all of your library's resources. Unique features include the ability to browse all resources, faceted results to search queries, a "more like this" link for searches, and the ability to text yourself a call number so you don't have to write it down on a little slip of paper. Operating System: OS Independent.

Logic/Debate

28. Argumentative

This app lets you build an "argument map": a visual representation of the structure of an argument. It's helpful for students studying critical reasoning, logic, debate, philosophy, and persuasive writing, as well as lawyers and law students. Operating System: Windows.

Math

29. gnuplot

Gnuplot creates both 2D and 3D graphs to make it easier to visualize mathematical functions or scientific data. Graphs can be saved or exported in numerous file formats or sent directly to your printer. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X, and others.

30. GeoGebra

Multiple-award-winning GeoGebra creates dynamic models useful for learning about geometry, arithmetic, algebra, and calculus. In addition to the downloadable version, you can also use the applet version while you're online. At the site, you'll also find extensive wikis, worksheets, and other help for math teachers. Operating System: OS Independent.

31. GraphCalc

Why buy a graphing calculator when you can run GraphCalc for free on your PC? It's at least as easy to use as a standalone graphing calculator and it creates graphs in both 2D and 3D. Operating System: Windows.

32. TTCalc

TTCalc is a scientific calculator that lets you use really big numbers. Features include arithmetical functions, trigonometric and inverse trigonometric functions, hyperbolic and inverse hyperbolic functions, logical operators, logarithms, and more. Operating System: Windows.

33. Maxima

This computer algebra system solves equations and plots data and functions in both 2D and 3D. The Maxima Web site also includes a handy list of links to other open-source computer algebra software. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

Music

34. LenMus

LenMus combines a bunch of useful tools for learning music into a single download. It includes ear training activities, music theory exercises, and a score editor so you can write your own compositions. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

35. GNU Solfege

Wish you had perfect pitch? GNU Solfege is an ear-training application that teaches students to identify and sing intervals, recognize rhythms patterns, sing scales and chords, and identify harmonic progressions. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

36. BestPractice

If you're trying to transcribe, orchestrate, or just learn how to play a particular piece, it can be really helpful to be able to slow down a recording. But slowing down a recording usually changes the pitch. BestPractice lets musicians slow down CD tracks or MP3s without lowering the pitch of the music. Operating System: Windows.

Online education/eLearning

37. Claroline

Claroline makes it easy to set up an online class or organize student activities on the Web. With it, teachers can write a course description, publish multimedia documents for students to view, prepare online exercises, administer a wiki and a forum, assign homework, send announcements, track student usage, and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X.

38. Moodle

One of the most popular open source class management systems, Moodle boasts more than 24 million users. Key features include assignments, blogs, chats, forums, polls, surveys, quizzes, wikis, and more. The site includes a great deal of help for teachers and administrators new to online education. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

39. eFront

Like Claroline and Moodle, eFront lets you author online content, create tests, communicate with the class, assign homework, and track progress, and it also includes a survey feature and the ability to create your own certifications. In addition to the free community edition, eFront is also available in fee-based editions that are customized for educational institutions or enterprises. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

40. ILIAS

Widely used internationally, you can attend ILIAS conferences and user meetings around the world in order to learn more about this learning management system. Like the others in the category, it includes features like course management, online exercises, surveys, chat, forums, etc. It also boasts compliance with relevant standards and strong authentication protocols. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

41. CoFFEE

Short for "Collaborative Face-to-Face Educational Environment," CoFFEE aims to help groups of students work together on problem-solving activities. It includes a set of tools for collaboration, shared work, individual work, and communication that can be managed and monitored by the instructor. Operating System: OS Independent.

42. BOSS Online Submission System

Developed by the University of Warwick, the BOSS Online Submission System isn't a complete eLearning solution, but does allow students to submit assignments online securely. Teachers can then run tests on submissions and grade assignments online. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X.

OpenCourseWare

43. eduCommons

A number of universities around the world aren't just utilizing open-source software, they're "open-sourcing" the content of their courses by making it freely available online. EduCommons is a content management system designed for these OpenCourseWare projects. (More information about the movement is available from the OCW Consortium.) Operating System: OS Independent.

4. Physics, Testing, Typing, Robotics

Physics

44. Xoscope

Xoscope turns any Linux PC into a digital oscilloscope for analyzing sound waves. You can visualize up to eight channels at once, control the time scale, make measurements, and more. Operating System: Linux.

Report Authoring

45. WIKINDX

Remember the days of making note cards and bibliography cards by hand? WIKINDX replaces that laborious process with a digital system that makes it much easier to search for a quote or collaborate with multiple authors. And it automatically formats footnotes, endnotes, and bibliography for you based on your chosen style guide. Operating System: OS Independent.

Robotics

46. The Player Project

More middle and high school are offering classes in robotics, and The Player Project provides some of the software that supports instruction in robotics. It includes Player, a network server for robot control; Stage, a 2D multiple robot simulator; and Gazebo, a 3D multiple robot simulator with dynamics for simulating outdoor environments. Operating System: Linux, Unix.

Testing

47. TCExam

Compared to traditional pen-and-paper testing, TCExam makes grading much faster and more accurate, and it makes it more difficult for students to cheat. It installs on any server, and students can take the test from any computer or PDA with a browser. Operating System: OS Independent.

48. Safe Exam Browser

This app locks down students' PCs so that they can't use any unauthorized materials while taking an online exam. By default, it prevents students from closing or leaving the testing window, using keyboard shortcuts, using the right-click menus, switching to other applications, or surfing the Internet. Operating System: Windows.

Typing

49. TuxType

In addition to typing lessons, TuxType includes two games for practicing your keyboarding skills. In Fish Cascade, kids help Tux the Linux penguin eat fish by typing the correct letters, and in Comet Zap, they save Tux from destruction by typing the correct letters. With its simple nature and cartoon character, this app is best for elementary-school kids who are just learning their way around the keyboard. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

50. Klavaro

In addition to the standard "qwerty" keyboard, Klavaro supports five other international keyboards and even lets you custom design your own keyboard. It includes a basic course for learning the locations of letters, as well as exercises for increasing adaptability (typing unfamiliar words), velocity, and fluidness. It also includes a progress tracking and a Linux-only game where students can challenge each other in the fluidness exercises. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

Open Source Education Apps by KDE

Astronomy

51. KStars

Developed by the KDE Education Project, KStars is a planetarium program that's very similar to Stellarium. Unique features include an altitude vs. time tool, what's up tonight tool, and an AAVSO Lightcurve Generator. Operating System: Linux.

Chemistry

52. Kalzium

Kalzium contains more information about the periodic table of the elements than most high school students ever wanted to know. It also solves chemical equations, shows pictures of the elements, and includes a helpful glossary. Operating System: Linux.

Flashcards

53. Parley

Part of the KDE Education Project, the Parley flashcard app stands out because of its extensive set of pre-existing flashcard files available for download. In addition to sets of cards to help you learn more than a dozen different languages, it also has cards to help you learn important dates, anatomy, music theory, chemical elements, and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

Geography

54. Marble

Marble is similar to WorldWind and Google Earth, but in addition to satellite imagery, it also lets you explore maps of the world. Choose from topographic maps, street maps, temperature and precipitation maps, and flat, Mercator projection, and globe views. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X.

Physics

55. Step

Sometimes it's difficult to demonstrate the principles of physics in a live lab. Enter Step. With this physics simulator, you place an object in a scene, add forces like springs or gravity, and see what happens. Operating System: Linux.

Article courtesy of Datamation

Skip Ahead 1 Management, Collaboration, Science 2 Elementary School 3 Library, Math, Music, E-Learning, Courseware 4 Physics, Testing, Typing, Robotics