everything you always wanted to know about text

Everything

you always

wanted to

know about

txt ...

but were

afraid

to ask

Steve WheelerUniversity of Plymouth

Let’s talk about txt conference. 19 May, 2010: University of Bath.

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www.socialedge.org

“Technology is a

human innovation in

action that involves

the generation of

knowledge and

processes to develop

systems that solve

problems.”

- International Network for SMEs

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Language - the first technology

http://trevrev.files.wordpress.com

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What problem did this solve?

http://www.worldofstock.com

What problem did this solve?

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http://www.planetware.com

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Semiotics

Human activities are mediated by culturally established instruments such as tools and language.

~ Lev Vygotsky (1978)

Source: Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

http://www.phillwebb.net

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Language is organic

www.socialedge.org

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constantly evolving

as society changes –

‘Neologisms’

20,000 new words introduced into the English language

each year.http://itre.cis.upenn.edu

A few ‘loan’ wordsBikini – Marshall IslandsAnorak – Inuit Jodhpurs – IndiaPyjamas - India

Chav – RomanyFatwa – ArabicChutzpah – YiddishAppartheid - Afrikaans

Karoake – JapaneseSlalom – NorwegianCzar - RussianBlitz – GermanCappucino – ItalianBaguette - French

Kindergarten – GermanPapparazzi – ItalianSmorgasbord – SwedishBistro - French

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Controversy of txt in school

Of corz! Sum teecherz r jst 2 borin &

they need 2 b up 2 date with wat

goes on 2day!

– Julie (14) ManchesterWe should be allowed it because teachers

are always moaning about us being slow at

our work, and this will make us work faster.

– Ciara (10) Dundee Of corz txt shd b allowd, teachers r jst bein borin n old fashioned. Dey shd chng, nt us kdz! – Stu (15) Barnsley Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews

Is it important to write properly and get the grammar correct, or should you be free to be creative? Children respond:

It's great for texts, e-mails and notes but in school it won't help one bit. It won't give you a good job when you're older and it won't help your education! – Miza (10) Bristol

I don't think it's a good idea because it affects your spelling. When you are older you may not be able to spell harder words. – Luke (13) Ashford

SMS speak should be allowed in school.

However, anybody who uses it should have

to wear a sign round their neck saying "I

am an idiot". – Ben (15)

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“The ethos of 50 years ago was that there was one kind of English that was right and everything else was wrong....There’s a new kind of ethos now.”

~ David Crystal

Evolution of Language

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http://www.utsa.edu

M

www.cs-exhibitions.uni-klu.ac.at

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Mass produced universal

text (Disruptive

Technology)

Gutenberg

The first mobile phone?

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The ‘Brick’

When Martin Cooper invented the mobile phone 35 years ago, he envisioned a world with people so wedded to wireless connections that they would walk around with devices embedded in their bodies.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au

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First SMS Message

In the UK on 3rd December 1992, the first SMS was sent from Neil Papworth to Richard Jarvis (Vodaphone).

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First SMS Message

In the UK on 3rd December 1992, the first SMS was sent from Neil Papworth to Richard Jarvis (Vodaphone). It read:

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www.politicalhumor.about.com

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http://i125.photobucket.com

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digital divide?

“A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five!”

– Marx (Groucho)

http://www.radicalparenting.com

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Text messaging has become the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, e-mail, instant messaging and voice calling as the daily communication tool for this age group....

Source: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx

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Always connected...

http://ohellnawlblog.com


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...but voice calling is still the preferred mode for reaching parents for most teens.

http://leadinghands.org

Daily text messaging among American teens shot up in 18 months, from 38% of teens texting friends daily in February of 2008 to 54% of teens texting daily in September 2009.

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http://www.babble.com

txting

Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. (2009 statistics)

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http://blog.roadandtravel.com

http://i.dailymail.co.uk

Objections from educators

...they are distracting and disruptive. The phone

becomes the focus of attention,inappropriate images/videos

can be taken and sent, leading to invasion of privacy and loss

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Mobile phones are banned in most schools because...

Cyberbullying – textual harassment?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/

"Children can escape from the school playground bully, but they find it harder to escape from the bully who invades their home, their desktop, their mind. Cyber bullying isn't going to replace traditional bullying; it will take it to a whole new dimension.“

~ Wheeler (2010)

The Goal of Education

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“The goal of education is to enrich the lives of students while producing articulate, expressive thinkers and lifelong learners that are socially responsible, resilient, and active citizens of the world. Education is about teaching students, not subjects.”

– Dave Truss

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Transforming Education?

Source: Chambers English Dictionary

"In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad."

~ Nietzsche

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http://thescholasticdiary.wordpress.com

The texture of words

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http://4.bp.blogspot.com

The power of words to

make us ‘feel’

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rage at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

http://aarkangel.files.wordpress.com

Dylan Thomas

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Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling,Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could paceBehind the wagon that we flung him in,And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,The old Lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

http://home.clara.net

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“The most important thing in communication is to hear what is not being said.”

~ Peter Drucker

arbroath.blogspot.com

‘Hearing’ and understanding

Smart Mobs

http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu

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“Smart Mobs consist of people who are able to act in concert even if they don’t know each other. [They can] cooperate in ways never before possible.”

Rheingold, H. (2002) Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.

Flash mobs

http://idirekt.cz

The power of texting to organise collective action

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“We are now implicitly and explicitly connected to each other. Mobile phones do this more than anything else, because now our connectedness travels with us everywhere we go.”

Source: Curtis, M. (2005) Distraction: Being Human in the Digital Age. London: Futuretext.

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http://opengardensblog.futuretext.com

What is this?

http//wordle.com

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Barack Obama’s inauguration speech …

http//wordle.com…in Wordle

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What is this?

dad@hvn ur spshl. we want wot u want & urth 2b like hvn. giv us food & 4giv r sins lyk we 4giv uvaz. don't test us! save us! bcos we kno ur boss. ur tuf & ur cool 4 eva! ok?

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‘Squeeze’ TextThe competition was for re-writing the Lord's Prayer for the mobile phone, using just 160 characters or less. It was judged for Ship of Fools by the Churches' Broadcasting Conference. The task itself was not easy. The traditional version of the Lord's Prayer is 372 characters long, so whittling it down to 160 characters meant cutting the prayer by more than half but without losing anything important.

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http://www.canada.com

...and in second place…

r pa in evan, respect 2 u, may u rain ear as in evan. giv us r needs, 4giv r sin as we 4giv r nmes. resq us from the evil 1. 4 ur always the most xlent dude. yo

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What does the research tell us?

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Kingston University uses SMS in induction weeks:

“First year students desire support in managing their time and activities in both physical and virtual space”. Students felt SMS was more personal .

~Stone (2004)http://junipermedia.ne

SMS used during lectures for interaction...

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“The lecturer can view the messages and verbally develop the interactive loop with students during class. The SMS are available online after class, allowing interactive loops to further develop via threaded comments.”

~ Markett et al (2006)


http://clivesimpkins.blogs.com

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No statistically different results between SMS and non-SMS users in knowledge retention for formalised exam results

~ Traxler & Riordan (2003)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com

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Near East University, Turkey: Learning New English vocabulary...

Students enjoyed learning new technical English language words using SMS text messaging.

~ Cavus & Ibrahim (2008)http://www.foreignlanguageexchange.com

Digital Cultural Capital“Where digital communication has fractured the tyranny of distance and computers have become pervasive and ubiquitous, identification through digital mediation has become the new cultural capital.”

Source: Wheeler, S. (2009) Connected Minds, Emerging Cultures. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

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http://www.coreideas.com.au/

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Thank you

Steve

WheelerFaculty of

Education

University of

Plymouth


W: www2.plymouth.ac.uk/distancelearningE: [email protected]: steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

UK: England & Wales Licence.

Steve Wheeler [email protected] University of Plymouth, United Kingdom


mailto:[email protected]