Category Archives: Tech Stuff

A recent project

Posted on 10 November 2012 by Freddie

Sorry I’ve been so out of the loop. Here’s a description of some current research of mine, taken from something I wrote in a different forum. I’m currently engaged in a research project investigating the composition processes of second language … Continue reading →

Posted in Language and Linguistics, Tech Stuff, The Discipline | Leave a comment

a validity problem, not a reliability problem

Posted on 15 April 2012 by Freddie

Some people are getting overly worked up about this study, showing a high correlation between machine scoring and human scoring of certain writing tasks. Some of it is glee from people in the university-hating media set; there’s also some rending … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Tech Stuff | Leave a comment

my issues with Twitter

Posted on 10 March 2012 by Freddie

Serial pedant and curmudgeon Jonathan Franzen has come out against Twitter, and engendered the typical reaction. I don’t agree with Franzen on almost anything, despite our shared anti-Twitter stance, and would not define Twitter’s problems in the same way as Franzen. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular & Digital Writing, Tech Stuff | 1 Comment

most e-textbooks will probably never look like the demonstrations

Posted on 22 February 2012 by Freddie

Which isn’t, I’ll hasten to say, a big problem. Last week, I was invited to a bull session about a new, tablet-based ebook version of a writing textbook. The publisher had asked the authors to get creative with brainstorming; they … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Popular & Digital Writing, Tech Stuff | 5 Comments

to be a Google user is to be annoyed forever

Posted on 13 February 2012 by Freddie

At this point, I find it hard to imagine a more incongruous marriage of strength and weakness than the cross-Google combination of power and versatility with perpetual annoyance and technological fussiness. This isn’t an argument about Google’s recent missteps re: … Continue reading →

Posted in Tech Stuff | 7 Comments