Los trabajos de Olson y Ong nos llevarán de la mano a la hora de explicar la interacción entre ambas. La escritura ha sido responsable de la evolución de nuevas formas de discurso que reflejaban un nuevo enfoque o comprensión del lenguaje y una nueva mentalidad, más subjetiva y reflexiva. Esto, nos puede llevar a concluir que la oralidad es algo inferior y por tanto, un freno para el progreso.

En infinidad de culturas, la oralidas está al mismo nivel que la escritura, pues ésta no está relacionada con la modernidad ni considerada como superior a la oralidad, es simplemente una forma de comunicación y, por qué no decirlo, la más rápida y eficaz. Ong dice que es “tiempo de retirar la hipótesis de la cultura escrita” y por eso se encarga de reformularla y limar sus asperezas para volverla defendible en sus aciertos. Las condiciones para que se concrete esta cultura escrita incluyen cuatro factores:

1. Debe haber algún mecanismo para “fijar” y acumular textos. El principal medio para fijar textos es un sistema de escritura.
2. Debe haber instituciones para usar los textos. El desarrollo de la cultura escrita requiere algunas instituciones que utilicen los textos: la iglesia, la corte, el gobierno, la academia, la familia.
3. Debe haber instituciones para incorporar aprendices a esas instituciones.
4. El más importante de los factores es que debe desarrollarse un metalenguaje oral, ligado a un “lenguaje mental”, para hablar y pensar sobre las estructuras y los significados de esos textos acumulados y sobre las intenciones de sus autores y su interpretación en determinados contextos.

La propuesta de Olson es que la escritura es, por naturaleza, una “actividad metalingüística“. Existe, además de las relaciones de representación entre el lenguaje y la escritura, un metalenguaje oral que consta de términos como “letras”, “palabras”, “oraciones”, “relatos”, “ensayos” y demás, para referirse a aspectos de la forma escrita. Pero hay que reconocer, dice Olson, que la escritura no es el único medio de convertir al lenguaje en un objeto de discurso. Todo lenguaje contiene un metalenguaje.

Sources: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos6/ores/ores.shtml

In this article, I would like to discuss the basic advantages and disadvantages that are related to Hypermedia.

Advantages

 

• One of the major advantages of hypermedia is the ability to quickly follow associations and look up related material.

• References can be traced both back-wards and forward in a way which can be difficult and time consuming with printed media. In addition, the user can annotate the material and create new references.

• Information can also be structured in a variety of ways. Multiple organizations of the same material allow for specialized structures for different user categories. (Conklin 1986, 1987).

• Hypermedia has a strong potential for learning applications since learning by exploration (Papert 1980) might be facilitated in a natural way. The student can browse the material and find new information as she explores a subject area.

• Another possible advantage of hypermedia for learning applications is that hypermedia systems is usually considered as fun to use. Even though this might be a result of the novelty of the medium, the potential for visual richness and high degree of feedback could be regarded as positive by the users.

Disadvantages

 

 

• Ease of browsing might increase the risk that the learner skips through the material much to hasty, and thus get a shallow and fragmented conception of the subject.

• The risk of getting disoriented can result in confusion rather than understanding, especially if the user jumps around between different nodes in a more or less random manner.

• Using a hypermedia system involves a certain cognitive overhead (Conklin 1986, 1987). The problems is that the user has to interact with the system in order to accomplish anything, which can be more or less complex.

• The author of a research paper, for example, might suddenly want to make an note on a new idea which she comes to think of. If this is compli-cated and requires many steps it is possible to loose track of the idea and partly forget it. There is also a risk the one loses track of what one was writing in the first place.

Sources: http://www.ida.liu.se/~mikki/comics/lic/chap2.htm

According to the Wikipedia, given the lack of set standards as to what Web 2.0 actually means, implies, or requires, the term can mean radically different things to different people.

Many of the ideas of Web 2.0 had already featured in implementations on networked systems well before the term Web 2.0 emerged. Amazon.com, for instance, has allowed users to write reviews and consumer guides since its launch in 1995, in a form of self-publishing. Amazon also opened its API to outside developers in 2002. Previous developments also came from research in computer-supported collaborative learning and computer-supported cooperative work and from established products like Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino. In a podcast interview Tim Berners-Lee described the term as a piece of jargon that nobody really knows what it means” going on to say:

“If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along.”

Conversely, when someone proclaims a website Web 2.0 for the use of some trivial feature (such as blogs or gradient-boxes) observers may generally consider it more an attempt at promotion than an actual endorsement of the ideas behind Web 2.0. Web 2.0 in such circumstances has sometimes sunk simply to the status of a marketing buzzword, which can mean whatever a salesperson wants it to mean, with little connection to most of the worthy but (currently) unrelated ideas originally brought together under the Web 2.0 banner.

The argument also exists that Web 2.0 does not represent a new version of World Wide Web at all, but merely continues to use Web 1.0 technologies and concepts. Other criticism has included the term a second bubble, suggesting that too many Web 2.0 companies attempt to develop the same product with a lack of business models.

As it can be seen, Web 2.0 has been critisised by many fields, companies and persons. If the pros of using it outweigh the cons will be checked as time goes by.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

As I have already said in other articles, an E-book is in Wikipedia’s words:

“the digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book. Such documents are either read on personal computers, or on dedicated hardware devices known as E-book devices or E-book readers”

E-books as such, have many advantages and also disadvantages. I find it interesting to mention the following pros:

Advantages

1. Text can be searched automatically, and cross-referenced using hyperlinks. This makes e-books an excellent choice of format for works that benefit from search and cross-reference capabilities, such as dictionaries, reference works, certain kinds of textbooks.

2. Less physical space is required to store e-books. Hundreds (or thousands) may be carried together on one device.

3. Readers who have difficulty reading conventional books can benefit from the adjustment of text size and font face. Text-to-speech software can be used to automatically convert e-books to spoken books. In addition, e-books may be read in low light or even total darkness, with a back-lit device.

4. An ebook doesn’t need to be held open like a paperback, so it can be much more comfortable to hold. It can also be set down and read hands-free.

5. Since there is only one page, there is not a problem with the text near the interior margin getting obscured or shadowed by the other page.

6. It costs nothing to replicate an e-book. Copies can be made instantly and in as great a quantity as desired.

7. Errors in texts may be easily and quickly corrected.

8. No environmental resources are consumed by e-book replication, cutting down on paper and ink production.

Now, I will focus my attention on disadvantages, which are the following:

Disadvantages

1. An e-book requires an electronic device to display it. Many e-book formats require special software to display them, which may not be freely available or compatible with a reader’s existing computing device. As an e-book is dependent on equipment to be read, it can be affected by faults in external hardware or software, such as hard disk drive failure.

2. Digital rights management techniques may be used to restrict what the user may do with an e-book. For instance, it may not be possible to transfer ownership of an e-book to another person, though such a transaction is common with physical books.

3. Unfortunately most e-book publishers do not warn their customers about the possible consequences of the Digital rights management scheme on their books.

4. With Digital rights management, it is more apt to consider the exchange of money for commodity to be a rental or lease rather than a purchase. The restricted book comes with a number of restrictions, and eventually access to the purchase can be removed by a number of different parties involved.

5. Current e-book devices still offer a lesser reading experience than physical books. Many readers prefer paper and print to a computer screen

6. From a publisher’s point of view, e-books can in some cases be hacked, or disseminated without approval from the author or publisher.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book

In Wikipedia’s words, Hypermedia is a term created by Ted Nelson, and used in his 1965 article Complex information processing:

“A file structure for the complex, the changing and the indeterminate. It is used as a logical extension of the term hypertext, in which graphics, audio, video, plain text and hyperlinks intertwine to create a generally non-linear medium of information”

It is also possible to establish the contrast between the term multimedia, which may be used to describe non-interactive linear presentations as well as hypermedia. The World Wide Web is a classic example of hypermedia, whereas a non-interactive cinema presentation is an example of standard multimedia due to the absence of hyperlinks. The first hypermedia system was the Aspen Movie Map, while the first truly universal hypermedia was Hypercard.

In hypermedia terminology, associations between different information items are called links, and the individual items are called nodes. A node can contain one or more links to other nodes, forming a network of nodes and links. Typical applications for hypermedia systems include: information dissemination, interactive encyclopedias, learning, education, reference databases, interactive presentations, simulations, idea processing, writing tools, personal information management, collaboration tools, games and entertainment, like interactive fiction and adventure games.

Among the types of hypermedia it is possible to find:

• Hypertext

• Hyperfilm

• Hypergram

Currently, examples of hypermedia can be:

• The above mentioned World Wide Web

• Films on DVD

• PowerPoint or Flash presentations

“El entorno de hipermedios desvela un sentido informatizado que sólo un usuario avezado puede comprender. Si desea alcanzar la actitud mental del experto al consultar un documento hipermedio, no deberá perderse nunca el mando de su navío”.

RHEAUME, Jacques, 1991.

 

Sources:

• Wikipedia

• http://www.ida.liu.se/~mikki/comics/lic/chap2.htm

• http://www.c5.cl/ieinvestiga/actas/ribie98/261.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Web 2.0 hints at an improved form of the World Wide Web. It is an attitude and not precisely a technology. Everything started when Dale Dougherty from O’Reilly Media used the term in a conference in which he shared a brianstorming session with Craig Cline from MediaLive while talking about the renaissance and the evolution of the Net. According to Tim O’Reilly,

‘Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.’

Stephen Fry (actor, author and broadcaster) describes Web 2.0 as:

‘An idea in people’s heads rather than a reality. It’s actually an idea that the reciprocity between the user and the provider is what’s emphasised. In other words, genuine interacivity if you like, simply because people can upload as well as download.’

Given the lack of set standards as to what Web 2.0 actually means, implies or requires, the term can mean radically different things to different people. Web 2.0 websites allow the user to do more than just retrieve information. They can provide ‘Network as platform’ computing, allowing users to run software applications entirely through a browser. In the year and a half since, the term Web 2.0 has clearly taken hold, with more than 9.5 million citations in Google. The future way of considering the Net has arrived.

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2

• http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

• http://www.maestrosdelweb.com/editorial/web2/

An E-book or electronic book is a book or a digitalized publication that has been made to be commercialized on the Internet, it is also the digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book. The term is ambiguous because it is referred not only to the individual work but also to the device created to develop the reading of such work.

Several devices can be used as an E-book, a PC, a PDA, a Laptop… and generally anything which has a screen and a memory. Among its advantages, we could mention the paper effect, (not proper illumination and high contrast), their low consume and the role they play as nature savers as less trees are being cut down.

According to Cory Doctorow, “it’s worth having a book. It’s worth having an E-book. It’s much better have them both“. Besides, electronic books are a better business to authors because the reward they receive is rather wretched. The future of the book isn’t purely digital, paper will be an important factor to take into account even though many genres of books are rapidly migrating to digital form. This makes me call into question the fact that Publishing Industry might have been suffering from this phenomenon called E-books since their services will probably be no longer needed in the future.

The future digital book will take us far beyond today’s printed books and Publishing Industry, in many different and sometimes unexpected directions, though our points of departure will inevitably be an important influence. Let us welcome the future and be open-minded.

Common reader device

Sources:

• http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_6/lynch/

• http://jamillan.com/doctorow.htm

• http://es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Libro-e&oldid=12051692

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book

Nowadays, the Net is considered as a place where people can communicate with each other quickly and efficiently. Billions of chat pages, blogs, and myspaces are now in circulation and we have then two clicks away. However, I cannot help but wonder: Are we exchanging personal relationshiops for virtual ones? Are they on the same level?

Last night, surfing the Internet, I came across two desesperate comments: “I found on the Net the friends I never had, a place where I can feel free and where I can be what I would like to be and I cannot because of my shyness” and “Some days i can be chatting all night long but in the morning I cannot even sit up”, this shows the 100% addictive nature of the Net. Making up a new life and being what we always wanted to be is wonderful, but when the moment comes to face reality, depression is the most common effect on this kind of users. On the other hand, what sort of solutions do we have for this problem? We cannot get rid of the bigger communicatuve advance ever, being conscious of the potential dangers is fundamental for a good usage.

Although it sounds ironical, every single ADSL pack should include some indications about the dangers of getting hooked on the Net and its psychological consequences. Hence, I declare my own war on fighting the secondary effects on blogs, myspaces, and chats. Let’s be level-headed!

Sources: http://hipersociologia.org.ar/papers/zelenersp.html

The list of linguistic challenges linked with the Net has no end, so I will force myself to focus this article on two of them: Linguistic competence and minority languages on the Internet.

Linguistic ability is undoubtedly an issue inherent to improving one’s competence at writing good essays on the Web. Being fluent at any language is absolutely necessary not only for our daily life but also if our duty or our hobby is producing essays, articles, chronicles… etcetera and publishing them on the Net.

It is a fact that there are plenty of people who are incapable of producing texts on the Web of the same quality as the ones they usually produce.. I am not talking about what is grammatically correct and what is not, it does not seem pertinent to discuss that here, instead, the focus is on the lack of linguistic competence while producing texts on the Net. The solution for this problem could be developing new skills that increase our linguistic ability and also make us think twice before publishing unworthy texts.

Another matter is the strength minority languages have on the Internet which is almost null. “The Guardian” newspaper comes to the conclusion that English’s dominance on the Web is quickly being “eroded”, hinting at the Chinese as the culprits. But what about the minority languages and their influence? For instance, SE (the Internet Infrastructure Foundation), launches the possibility to register domain names in all the official minority languages (Finnish, Meänkieli, Sami, Romani, Yiddish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroe, Icelandic…) but this cannot fight against the multi-media, which is making the minority languages and ethnic languages fade away. The solution for this matter can be out of our hands to keep them alive at least in our society, and maybe this way they can be enriched.

To summarise, the linguistic challenges on the Web should be called into question and discusses because it may mean the survival of an ancient language or the great development of somebody’s linguistic abilities.

Sources:

http://techdirt.com/articles/20050816/1054217.shtml

http://oldweb.iss.se/english/nyheter/news/2007-05-14?lang=en

http://www.sil.org/asia/ldc/parallel_papers/ebrahim_monajemi.pdf

Following Philology into a career is something that not everybody understands. People who support Sciences as much as a football club are the ones that commonly look down upon us, the Philology students. This is something we should not worry about, studying Philology is a vocation that comes from inside and makes you sure that this is the path you want to follow in your lifetime.

I will not call into question the fact that earning money is the goal in the twenty first century, but I am absolutely against those who choose a career that will give them a sure fortune instead of choosing what they always wanted to. I am proud of having chosen Philology, even though it was last year when I started being attracted to it. Studying English is something I have always enjoyed like a game and Philology gives me a change at being not only fluent at English but also seeming like a native speaker, which has always been a dream of mine. Besides, the list of jobs we can develop has no end and that is why I can see no cons in studying Philology.

In conclussion, I can only encourage future students to choose Philology as a way of life, the spiritual benefits outweigh the future great amount of money that can be earned in other careers.

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