Project: Multi-tasking

Well, the topic I will focus on for my project is multi-tasking while using communication devices of any sort (i.e. phone, computer, tablet etc). I want to know whether people believe that they are more productive or efficient while multi-tasking. For example, Are you really paying close attention to the professor while using your laptop or tablet in class? Questions like that will help reveal whether people are truly capable of multi-tasking and still be 100% or so attentive to whatever it is that they are doing.

At this point, I am in the process of making some revisions to my project proposal ;) I have also completed a survey at surveymonkey.com. It is an 8 question survey and It would be great if you guys can help me gather some data. If you would like to take the survey, please press here.

I created the survey just yesterday night, (Sunday April 27) and I have so far, 17 responses. It is an anonymous survey, so I cannot see who has responded but I can see the completed survey results. I sent some to family, friends, classmates and even lehman staff memebers (Particularly, the Early Childhood Education and Speech Dept staff) I thought I will give it a try to see if people really reply. It doesn't hurt to try!

Next, I will be gathering information based on statistics and other research data available on the internet. I have browsed and skimmed through some articles, but nothing has really caught my attention just yet.

That's all folks....For now!! :)

Project: Google Translate(II)

     I have started writing my article. At the beginning, I introduced the company, Google, including the founders, services that Google provides. After that, I introduced Google Translate, mentioning how it works, how many languages it supports, how it can be used. After that, I began to  discuss the problem of Google Translate.
      I have created couple examples and have them to be translated by Google Translate. My target languages are English, Korean, and Chinese. When there is a problem occurred, I put it in my article and describe what the problem is. For example, I have a sentence "Do you need anything?" translated from English into Korean. This sentence became "What do you have to do?" when it is in Korean. I started to investigate this sentence. At the same time, for the examples that translation problem occurs, I make changes on them such as replace a noun by another noun or use other modals instead.

      That was what I have done so far. Next, I will be looking for few more examples and find out what are the patterns of those weird translation.

Final Project: Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Relationships via Texting

For my final project, I’ll be looking at the way one communicates via texting while having synchronous and asynchronous relationships. I’m hypothesizing that when one is involved in an intimate relationship, (synchronous relationship), one is more inclined to send more responsive, (and longer) text messages. On the other hand, having asynchronous relationships (less intimate relationship) with friends or accomplices, here, text message length become relatively shorter, and less interesting.

In my final project I’ll be referring to synchronicity, and asynchronicity as:

-          Synchronous: Intimate relationship (best friend, significant other, mother, father, etc.).

-          Asynchronous: Less intimate relationship (friend, accomplice, boss, professor, etc.).

I’ve also created a survey using Survey Monkey (it’s easy to use, free, and super effective). This way, the survey will serve the purposes of the quantification of data, and the postulation of hopefully (more specific) generalizations. Please feel free to take the survey (at your leisure), and send it to your comrades by May 9^th. Thank you!

Take the survey here. 

Project: Google Translate

For my project, I will be working on Google Translate. Google Translate allows users to do translations between various languages. However, most of the users realize that Google Translate often generate weird translations, translations that do not make sense.
I will be gathering examples, have them to be translated by Google Translate and see what's wrong with those translations.
So far, I have introduced Google and Google Translate in my paper. Also, I mentioned how Google Translate works and what is statistical machine translation. Next, I will be looking into examples. I will be putting them into groups according to the problem of the translation. I still feel a little confused but I will try to tackle it.

Final Project: Preferences

         My topic for the final project is looking into the different mediums such as: Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, texting, face-to-face, and Instagram, and seeing what and why do people today prefer when speaking to others. The reasons why people would prefer to use the different mediums would be because of easiness, convenience, social distance, and popularity. I will take a polls from Imagoo, an iPhone Application, to see in general why people prefer one medium over the other. In this, it will make clear which medium is most popular today. To see why certain groups of people prefer one medium over the other, I will conduct a survey that will help me see exactly why some mediums are more likely than other preferred by people between gender, age, and ethnicity. Finally, I will present the polls and the results of the survey by using Pinterest.

       So far, I have taken polls on ratings, challenges, and reviews of unknown people using the application, Imagoo. I have started the survey process by using google forms and will be expecting my dear classmates to answer them as well as other random people. 
 

Final Project - Netiquette

My final project is based on Grice's Maxims and how they are applied to Netiquette (internet etiquette). These two themes go hand in hand because in order to successfully use and behave on the internet, you should always try to adhere to Grice's Maxims. To summarize Grice's Maxims*, they are to:

1. Always make sure that what you are saying is relevant to the conversation/topic.
2. Always be truthful and have information to support yourself.
3. Do not be ambiguous; always give enough information. 

Because we use the internet as a means to communicate with immediate friends as well as acquaintances (via emails, texts/chats, social media, etc), it is necessary to adhere to these Maxims as much as we would in face-to-face conversations. There are usually three ways someone can use a Maxim: they can either fully adhere to them, they can be violated (it isn't obvious that the speaker has either lied, not given enough information, or gone off-topic), or they can flout a Maxim (it's obvious to both people that one of the speakers has not adhered to a Maxim).

In order to adhere to Netiquette, you must be understood (which is where Grice's Maxims kick in), and you also have to adhere to the social expectations that are required when you speak to certain people (friends, family, teachers, complete strangers, etc.).


I decided that the best way to explain my topic would be by creating a webpage, since I would need to talk a lot (and I don't wish to bore my peers to death). I'll probably use either WordPress or Tumblr to create my site, especially because I feel a bit more comfortable using those blog platforms. As far as my data collection goes, I will be collecting samples of emails, texts (iMessage), and FB chats from my personal accounts and select the best examples that either adhere, violate, or flout the Maxims. These examples will not have any sensitive information, nor will they be graphic in any nature.

So far, I haven't had any big problems when it comes to collecting data examples. Probably my biggest issue would be perhaps giving too much information that would confuse the audience. I have to go over all of my information and decide what is best to use, as well as have enough examples for the audience to understand and follow.

*Peccei, Jean Stilwell. Pragmatics. New York: Routledge, 1999. NOOK file. 

Translation service

 If we have an assignment from a language class, or we need a translation for something, people usually think of Google Translate. How does it work? In the article “Find out how our translations are created”, it introduces Google Translate. Google Translate offers instant translation on sentences, words, and web pages. It looks for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents that have already been translated by human translators to decide the best translation. This process calls "statistical machine translation". Since the translations are generated by machines, they are not perfect. Moreover, as some of the languages have fewer translated documents available, the quality is varied. But the users are welcome to give feedback.
      In the article, “Breaking The Language Barrier: Technology Is The Great Equalizer”, written by Ashley Taylor, she pointed out that in the past, using Google Translate to finish homework is not a good idea. It basically translates sentences literally word by word. The grammar and word use is wacky. Taylor introduced Google Translate and translation service on smartphones. Verbalizelt on smartphone provides live translation.  To indicate the translator is available, the person pushes a button on the dashboard of his or her phone’s VerbalizeIt app. When the user need a translation, what they have to do is to make a phone call the app.
           In the past, I used to think Google Translate is a great tool to use. When my family needs translation on certain websites and documents, I asked them to use Google Translate. However, the more I use it, the more  hilarious I realize Google Translate is. It literally translates word by word, as Taylor mentioned in her article. It is impossible to understand its translation. Now I understand how Google Translate operates and how come the translations come out to be so interesting. These days, I don’t really use Google Translate because of its quality. Instead, I will be using other dictionary websites to translate words. Then, I will translate the entire sentence by myself. Hopefully, I  will figure out more about the Google Translate in my project.