Semantics in regard to HTML markup is a murky water. This is because web pages are usually not an essay style document, which HTML was designed to markup, and contain information that is not actually relevant to what the page is about. Examples would be: menus, shopping cart information, summaries of forum activity, and the other half of HTML design: user/human interfaces. To say or even think that HTML can encapsulate all the “meanings” that human language structures can come up with (which are actually infinite), not to mention the non-language structures found on web systems representing a computer system interface, is naive. It is also an assumption that has never been backed up by any standards body in argument and thats because its simply wrong. The Microformat standard and now POSH process seem to be unwittingly dealing with the problem without understanding it. This is actually an applied philosophy problem!
Archive for the 'science' Category
Its a hard problem and not many people are tacking it in the web development world. Heres some research into presenting content in different languages via HTML.
To frame the problem heres a good break down of the three technical issues:
There are three considerations for presenting HTML in non-English languages. First, that the document is delivered in the desired natural language (such as English, French, etc.) and dialect (US, British, etc.). Second, that the document is presented in the correct character set. This is a requirement for most Eastern languages (Russian, Japanese, etc.). Third, that the document is presented in the correct directionality. This is a consideration for languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese that are customarily written right-to-left or top-to-bottom.
Who said computer games can’t teach you anything? This video demonstrates that computer games are the doorway to advanced learning with young people. I think if you can keep it fun with a pinch of competition then you can teach people anything.
Suppose ‘consciousness’ could be defined as the ability of a ‘being that can learn’ to understand how its self learns. Thus it then has to ‘decide’, a rudimentary idea in our perception of ‘consciousness’.
I think this explains to a degree then our ‘personality’ which we use to direct our experiences in the world and thus our learning. We, in a manner, feed our learning what it likes best: pleasurable experiences.
If this is true, what does it say about the ‘Turing test’ and there for the way forward for AI research.
There have been 68712966 versions of the ‘Charles Darwin‘ entry on Wikipedia. You might think the Christians have a bit of a chink in their arguments armour. I mean, you don’t see the Buddhist suppressing information, even if they think its a lie.
Hello my dear friend Alexander !
I am very glad that you have responded to my short message to you.
Really pleasantly that I have interested you.
As you know from my short letter my name is Olga!
I hope to you this name is pleasant.
I’m 28 years old!
I hope my age of you I do not confuse also to you approaches!
I was born in city under name Yaransk.
Probably you did not hear about this city because it is small city which is located in a southwest of the Kirov area!
It is about 850 kilometres from Moscow.
You may take a map of Russia and try to find my city.
It is located on the river Yaran so it will be easier to you find it.
My city small but very beautiful.
The beauty is created with set of greens and water.
I have received secondary education in this city.
After the ending 11 Classes at school number 3, I have left to act in Yoshkar-Ola in university and have successfully acted on economical faculty!
On a speciality I the manager!
After the successful ending of university I have come back home and has tried to find work on a speciality.
But as city at us small I can not find anything suitable on my speciality.
In a result I was employed in a shop by the seller where I work now.
The truth I dream of the best work but it is necessary to be content with that that is.
You probably know that in Russia a problem with workplaces.
I have slightly run forward and have overlooked to tell about my childhood.
At school I studied perfectly and all Spoke that I the gifted child.
I was very quick child and inquisitive.
When I went to school I went to dance school and I engaged in dances.
And now I am still engaged in them, in the days off I go in dance school.
Except for that I actively went in for sports.
When I have free time I go to the training hall.
In the winter I loved a ski and skates.
And in the summer I like to swim in the river.
In university I to be engaged began professionally navigation and volleyball.
The first at me turned out better.
I have many diplomas and letters on navigation.
But all of them now lay in a case.
You are interested probably by that why I have addressed to the Internet to find the partner in life?
Simply strangely enough it sounds but I could not grow fond of the person in Russia!
I had many partners but with anybody at me has failed to get serious relations.
I have girlfriend which too has found the love in the Internet and she has advised me to try.
And it at me the first experience and I hope that all to turn out I always I hope for the best.
We shall look that will be farther.
And why you search for the girl in the Internet?
Do you like Russian girls and why?
Did you have serious relations earlier?
Probably you were married?
Do you have children?
And in general as you concern to children?
I very much love children.
In future I’ll want have 2 children: boy and girl.
Though my dream to work at the big company.
As you probably interests on my intentions how many are serious?
And that I want further?
I in general very serious person also do not joke with such things as love a marriage and so forth.
I am going to construct serious relations and it is possible to leave for the husband further!
In a word I search for the big love!
Probably she still exists in our world where so much bad.
And if she is that I necessarily her Finde.
Who knows probably we with you we shall go far in our relations.
Who knows probably you and there is my prince on a white horse.
Now I want to learn what your intentions and that you want from relations?
Do you want a marriage?
Do you want family and children?, or you search simply friendship?
What the marriage means for you?
For me the marriage is the most important and serious step in life and he needs to be made safely and is considered.
Many people concern not seriously to this and as a result get divorced. I do not want to make such mistakes.
Now I live with my mum which call Nadezhda or am simple Nadya!
She works as the cook at school where I studied.
She perfectly is going and has learned me to make masterpieces of cookery.
Daddy at me is not present and there was no he has thrown my mum when she was pregnant.
And my mum forbids to me to speak about him.
As you can see it was necessary she to my mums is not sweet also does not want that with me has taken place as.
Somehow at us conversation was and she has told that even if to me will come she will not leave her against if only I was in reliable and loving hands.
On this note I want to finish this letter to you.
Sincerely I hope that you will answer and that I have liked you.
It will be pleasant for me to continue with you correspondence!
Yours faithfully Olga from Russia!
This is a summary of the article titled ‘Criteria for the Assessment of Foreign Language Instructional Software and Web Sites‘.
This article develops standards ‘for assessing language-learning software and Web sites’. It gives examples of assessments using these standards of all the note worth language packages/websites for the learning of Russian.
A note on general language acquisition:
research in second language acquisition shows us that learners need to have good, authentic input—listening to and reading comprehensible texts—and many opportunities to practice speaking by using the language to negotiate meaning in situations that resemble culturally authentic communicative contexts.
Three criteria for effective learning software are stated to be:
- More of the students will reach higher proficiency levels in one or another modality in the same amount of time. (This is a cognitive goal.)
- More of the students will be sufficiently engaged and energized in the learning process to want to continue for a longer period of time. Students will thus attain higher proficiency levels in one or more modalities than they would have if they had stopped the learning process earlier. (This is an affective goal leading indirectly to a cognitive goal.)
- More of the students will be able to organize their studies and thus achieve better learning outcomes. (This is a metacognitive goal leading indirectly to a cognitive goal. Software and Web sites that meet this criterion usually put at the learners’ disposal resources that might otherwise not be available or as accessible, such as online dictionaries and strategy tutorials.)
Also stipulated are:
five characteristics of pedagogical design for multimedia applications or classroom lessons:
- Learners must know what they are expected to do and what goals they are expected to achieve by completing the task.
- Learners must be adequately prepared to begin the task.
- Learners must be adequately trained to complete the task.
- Learners must be adequately tested to assess their completion of the task.
- Learners must be given opportunities to expand their learning beyond the task.
Finally he offers ‘two caveats’ for software designers in addition to the above which are:
- the integration of image and sound
- the power, given to the learner, to move back and forth through the lesson as he or she sees fit.
Sound advice.
The hope here is to produce some software that can be used as a learning aid that can not only track the students progress but adapt to it and augment it. Ideally such a method could be applied to subjects other than language acquisition providing students with a completely personalised teacher that uses continual testing to provide feedback and direction.
Continue reading ‘Pedagogy and Customized Curriculum’