Playing with my Wii

I have to be careful who I say that to, or it might be misinterpreted, but we have just got hold of Nintendo's Wii, and after reading about how wonderful the revolutionary control is, and not really understanding, I finally appreciate just how great it is.



We only have the basic game that came with the console (Wii Sports), but it's a hundred times better than the way the Playstation 2 Eye Toy system works as far as recognition goes. It's great fun, and I'm sure it will be a huge success.



But, what about educational uses? Well, there's nothing out there yet that might tempt me to bring it to the classroom (unlike the PS2), but I like the fact that it's nice and light. Can't understand what makes Stephen Downes say that "Stuff like Wii and mobile computing are much more important" (than Second Life). Mobile computing I can understand, but what has he seen in the Wii to make that statement? Or maybe he's just being controversial? He's not really said much about the matter, but I am intrigued as I respect a lot of what he has written about educational technology. I'll be following this one.

One reason why I'm not blogging as much as I used to

Blogs, wikis & podcasts (& Second Life)

I've just finished a video presentation that I was asked to make for a publisher's in-house conference in Mexico next week. It's not great, but I found making it a lot of fun. I must do more of this!







Here is a better quality version (requires Quicktime 7.0): Web 2.0 & Language Learning

The Geordie who woke up speaking with a Jamaican accent

Reading the ELT Gazette last week, I came across an article about a case of foreign accent syndrome.


It was about a woman in the north-east of England who suffered a change of accent after a stroke. The woman's original Geordie (NE England) accent was replaced by a Jamaican one literally overnight.



Of course, this seems quite comical at first, but the woman actually finds it quite unnerving. This is because our accent is so much part of who we are, (our personality, our being) that it must be disturbing to lose it. And not only is her own state of being unsettled, but the people around her (neighbours, family, friends) treat her differently now because of the way she talks.



All this is food for thought surely for language teachers. I have always thought it difficult (if not impossible for some) to adopt the accent of a foreign language, and whenever asked by students about this, tend to tell them that it doesn't matter if they speak with their own accent so long as their pronunciation is clear enough for them to be understood.

Web 2.0 is a rainforest, Web 1.0 a desert

Recently, I've been enthralled by Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You, especially the chapter on gaming. It's something that I've been reading in preparation for next year's TESOL Electronic Village Online (EVO2007), as I'm putting together a proposal and hoping to co-moderate a session on language learning and computer gaming (I've already set up a Yahoo group, edublog and a wiki in anticipation!)



While working on the wiki today, I decided to see if I could find an email address so as to invite Steven Johnson to particpate as a guest speaker (nothing ventured, nothing gained) and came across
his blog, and an interesting post related to an article he wrote about the state of the Web.Both make very interesting reading.



Update: Since I first drafted this post, I've heard back from Steven's representative - he asked if there was any money involved for taking part in the webcast. Of course, there is no budget, as it's all voluntary. I wrote back with the news, and that's the last I've heard.

Waiting for something to blog...

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

E-Society Classification

Spatial-Literacy.org have devised an e-society classification system for the UK, which caught my eye recently, based on a report of the E-Society (PDF).



Now, UK residents can check to see which of the 23 classifications they are in. The classifications are based on "based on levels of awareness of different ICTs; levels of use of ICTs; and their perceived impacts upon human capital formation and the quality of life."



The report makes highly interesting reading and some of the classification defy belief, but are based on real types.


The actual classification terms (below, with notes) are as follows:


GROUP A: THE E-UNENGAGED



The E – unengaged are people who "do not have access to electronic communications or technologies". Included here are people who are "too old, too poor or too poorly educated to be able to access them."



This group is broken down by the report into:

• Low technologists are people who mainly view the Internet as "an electronic version of a mail order catalogue, and not something that you learn from."
  
• Cable suffices represents a group of people with limited interest in electronic technologies but "without the education nor income to become heavily engaged in using them." Many have access to cable television.
  
• The Technology as fantasy group are
  mainly "old males, some of whom have an interest in electronic technology and like to read about it, but few of whom use it."
  
• Mobile’s the limit have low level computers and Internet usage, but use mobiles a lot. Apparently, this group is mainly female and elderly.
  
• The Too old to be bothered "feel that they predate anything to do with electronic technologies."
  
• The Elderly marginalised are mainly older people who feel that technology is "moving on at a rate faster than they can keep up with."
  

GROUP B: THE ‘E – MARGINALISED’ represents those people who either "lack the disposable income to equip themselves with" new technologies them, or who don't have "the training and education needed to understand how to make effective use of them."



Here are the sub-categories:

• The Net ; What’s that?. This group "are not engaged have very little interest" in most technologies, but are probably interested in owning a mobile phone.
  
• Mobile Explorers :- are mainly young people who "have a high level of access to the Internet both at home at work. They enjoy using computers to play games and to watch videos", but not to acquire information.
  
• The Cable TV heartland group represents people "for whom technology is an important lifestyle statement..." who "...read a lot about technology in magazines and spend a lot of time on the Internet."
  

GROUP C: BECOMING ENGAGED are those who generally acquire their ICT experience at work. They include:

• E-bookers and communicators, who are active users of email and mobile phones, and who download a lot of music, but who do "not make use of the latest technical features of information technology."
  
• Peer group adopters are "even more reliant upon email, text messaging and the use of mobiles to participate in peer group activities" and are generally young people with low incomes who live with their parents.
  

GROUP D: E FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND SHOPPING are interested in the Internet for providing "access to music, games and general entertainment".

• Small time net shoppers are those people who generally "rely upon the Internet to buy music, books and videos"
  
• E for entertainment. This group "access the Internet using broadband" and buy computer games, but they are not very interested in Internet shopping.
  

GROUP E: E-INDEPENDENTS are those who "take a rational and considered view of electronic communications and technologies"

• Rational utilitarians use the Internet for shopping and usually are not interested in its use for games or leisure.
  
• Committed learners "consists of well educated, urban professionals with a high proportion of middle aged females" who "consider information technology as a natural method of acquiring information".
  
• Light users are mainly people who are in late middle age and do not feel the need to keep up with peer groups and are not interested in fashions, but who do have some access to ICTs.
  

GROUP F: INSTUMENTAL E-USERS are those who use ICTs "because they provide a practical method of saving time or money", and they are generally well off, middle class, and many have children.

• E for financial management are people who have access to mobiles, email and the Internet through their work, and who are competent users who use ICTs to keep in touch with people mainly for work reasons.
  
• On-line apparel purchasers. These people are mainly "well educated young professionals, many of them women, who are confident users of electronic technologies and communications" and who use the Internet at home and mainly for shopping.
  
• The E-exploring for fun group uses the computer extensively, buy a lot and are mostly men in their thirties.
  

GROUP G: E-BUSINESS USERS consists of people who need "to keep in electronic contact with...customers. Many of this group are self employed and make relatively little use of the technology as a leisure activity."

• Electronic orderers. Many of these users need technology to manage their businesses.
  

GROUP H: E-EXPERTS make full use of electronic technologies and "prefer on line to inter-personal sources of information and make use of the Internet as an information source...and see leisure time spent on electronic technologies as enhancing their human capital".

• The E-committed "find it easy to acquire and master new technologies" and "rely on the Internet for information"
  
• E - professionals are those people who
  view the Internet, etc "as a indispensable basis of living" and who use ICTs in their professional lives.
  

Finally, the site allows people in the UK to enter their postcode and to see a general summary of their area, according to the survey results. I posted my parent's postcode and (no surprise here I think) this led to these results. Another reminder of why I left the area I suppose!