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Final, Reflections, Uncategorized

Panache Annotated Bibliography Scarlett 2

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Kidney, Gary, Cummings, Leslie, Boehm, Azalea. “Toward a Quality Assurance Approach  to E-Learning Courses.” International Journal on ELearning 6.1 (2007): 17-30. Print.

http://er.dut.ac.za/bitstream/handle/123456789/60/Kidney_2007_Toward_a_Quality_Assurance_Approach_to_E-Learning_Courses.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Gary Kidney is a professor in academic computing with a well respected career in a number of university. He is currently the Deputy CIO for Academic IT Solutions at Yale University.  All the authors of the article are professors in the field of computing or education and have great authority on the subject of the paper.

The purpose of this paper is to examine previous attempts made by the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) to establish what it meant to produce a ‘quality online e-learning course’ and to create a model to ensure the production of quality online learning resources. The article looks at what makes a quality course and specifically looks into the production process that UHCL employed when designing their courses. In the end the article agrees that UHCL’s methods for designing  quality e-learning courses were, to a certain degree, extremely successful and thought the authors warn that “quality is one of those things that can only be pursued and never attained”, they do conclude that the methods taken by UHCL to create a quality course may serve as a model that could be followed in the future of designing online learning facilities.

This is a scholarly paper and the intended audience are professors or professionals in this field. It is an extremely strong paper in that it goes into great detail about the methods used by UHCL to create a quality course however it is by no means a definitive study of quality e-learning courses. It only describes one institutions attempts at creating an e-learning course and can really only be read as a specific case study and not an overall analysis of the field.

The information provided in the article definitely supports our research paper to a certain extent. The e-learning product we are attempting to create is different from the e-learning course described in this paper however we agree with many of the fundamental principles at the centre of the research in this paper; that e-learning resources should be easy to use and navigate and informative yet interesting for the student.

I think this material is extremely relevant in terms of our paper. Although it is talking about a different kind of e-learning resource it touches on many of the issues we will need to address in our paper and will be a really great tool in guiding our research. The paper includes several tables and models about the process of designing an e-learning course which I think will be vital in the next stages of our products development.

Reflections

Panache Annotated Bibliography

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Moats, Louisa C. “Teaching Decoding.” American Educator 22 (1 & 2), 42-49, 95-96. Print.

“Teaching Decoding” by Louisa C. Moats— a researcher, graduate school faculty member, psychologist, and most importantly, a teacher—is an article that addresses the processes by which young children learn how to interpret and understand words in the broader context of reading. In her article, Moats advises the implementation and correction of new and current teaching methods that she advocates will effectively help children learn to read. For instance, Moats points out that most phonic programs, specifically traditional ones, tend to teach children the alphabet by first introducing the letter and then attaching the correct sound with said letter, but this is glaringly wrong seeing as alphabetic writing was made to represent speech, not the other way around. The article points to numerous other teaching methods such as teaching pattern recognition, being systematic and explicit when teaching the alphabet, and encouraging constructive exploration. The overall point of this article is to challenge the way in which the American education system goes about teaching children how to read by addressing the major flaws that exist within the system.

I find this source to be very reliable seeing as it is an article that was published by the American Educator/American Federation of Teachers. The American Federation of teachers is a union of skilled educators that promotes a high standard of public education, economic opportunity, and public services for students across the United States. Dr. Louisa Moats, the author of the article, is a licensed psychologist, former consultant advisor for Literary Research and Professional Development, and President of her own consulting company. At the time that she wrote this article, she was a Professional Development Director at the Greenwood Institute, an intensive summer program that trains teachers in language, reading, and spelling instruction.

I personally find that due to the credentials of Moats, this article is very informative and reliable. Although, Moats is biased seeing as she is a big advocate for change in the public education system, especially in how the current education system approaches teaching children with dyslexia, . The audience for this article in particular consists of educators across America as well as administrators who implement regulations as they pertain to the education system.

The strength of this article lies in the amount of research and evidence the author presents in her argument for a more effective approach to teaching children how to read. Unfortunately, seeing as this article’s intended audience is that of an educator, I as a student can only relate only so much to the material. I am not an educator myself and don’t have a comprehensive understanding of phonographic programs. In spit of some of the material being very specific to that of educators, Moats does a great job of breaking down her revisions to the current approach.

In the case of this article, the information it presents both counters are argument that Cartoonclopedia is a very efficient tool at helping children learn and comprehend words as well as supports the idea that the more senses that a child utilizes when interacting with something such as a illustration of a word the more likely the child will be to understand it. Overall, there is a lot to take away from this article in how Cartoonclopedia can be implemented in a way that aligns with the strategies and programs that Moats advocates for. Therefore, I would consider this article to be very relevant to our proposal for Panache and our overall research on determining how effective Panache would be if implemented.

NCLD Editors. “What Is FAPE? | Free Appropriate Public Education.”National Center for Learning Disabilities. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://www.ncld.org/checklist/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=187&Itemid=293>.

In the course of researching the United States’s education system I found an article published by the National Center For Learning Disabilities which elaborated on the right that every U.S. taxpayer has, FAPE. As the article states, FAPE stands for Free Appropriate Public Education, a regulation that came into effect with the signing in of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA). Essentially, FAPE requires that the department of education provide taxpayer’s and their children the right to a free specialized education in the case that they have a learning disability. One of the problems with the act though, as the article points out, is that there is a lot of confusion surrounding the act and what it in fact entails. The article clarifies what FAPE does and does not provide for individuals. The main point that NCLD wants the reader, in the case of this article the intended demographic being parents, to take away is that the IDEA is not a entitlement program that provides students who suffer from learning disabilities with a better education than someone who does not have a disability. Therefore, students with disabilities should have equal access to a adequate education as one would get if they did not have a disability.

The National Center For Learning Disabilities is a product of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act 1973 which gave Americans with disabilities, specifically disabilities that effect one’s ability to learn, rights that insured fair educational treatment towards them. The organization was founded by Pete and Carrie Rozelle with the mission of insuring that each individual in America is able to acquire necessary educational skills. The authors of this article consist of the NCLD editorial staff, which is comprised of  professionals that are required to have a comprehensive understanding of the IDEA. Therefore, I find this article to be very reliable and is one of the most trustworthy sources one can tap into in order to acquire disability-related information.

The article is not biased because its information is derived from information that can be found in the IDEA. Therefore, it is a objective source. The strength of this article lies in that it effectively conveys important information that pertains to the IDEA and the larger United States education system as a whole. It clearly points out what rights FAPE does and does not award children with disabilities. One major weakness is that the article is mostly limited to information pertaining to FAPE in particular and not the rest of the IDEA or the way it has been enacted in the public education system .

The information provided by the article gave me a stronger understanding of the United States education system and how it addresses children with learning disabilities. Unfortunately the article didn’t really touch on how hard it is for Americans to fight for the right to have a FAPE for their child. The article neither supports or contradicts are proposal for the implementation of Cartoonclopedia in schools, but it does provide us insight into how it could be implemented in specialized programs that public schools are required to have due to the signing in of the IDEA. Therefore, the article has only a limited degree of relevance to the proposal of Cartoonclopedia.

Pelto, Jonathan and Lecker, Wendy. “Connnecticut Public Schools Woefully Underfunded by State.” Hartford Courant. N.p., 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 05 Dec. 2014. <http://articles.courant.com/2012-11-23/news/hc-op-pelto-lecker-connecticut-schools-underfunded-20121123_1_adequate-education-schools-amount-school-finance-reform>.

The article “Schools Woefully Underfunded, Formula Broken”—published by the Hartford Courant— was written by both Wendy Lecker, a columnist at the Stanford Advocate and parent of three children who attend Stamford schools, and Jonathon Pelto who is a former member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. Elected in 1984, Pelto was able to rise through the governmental ranks over his five terms in the House eventually assuming the role of Deputy Majority Leader. Pelto also was on the Appropriations and Education Committee. Now, Pelto works as a communications strategist. Therefore, I would say that both these people are qualified to address the issues facing public schools in Connecticut. The two argue that the state of Connecticut has an overall poor quality of education because of how grossly underfunded the public school system is. In specific, they point to a report issued by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities which determined that there is a need of major reform as the report states that the current public education system in place is underfunded by upwards of $763 million. Also, the pair draws on the consistent assessment made by courts in other states across the United States that there is a correlation between the underfunding of public schools and a poorer quality of education.

The target audience of the piece is taxpaying citizens of the state of Connecticut, specifically that of Stamford. The piece also targets Mayor Malloy of Stamford who the article points at as supporting resolutions that do not adequately address the underfunding of public schools. The article, for the most part, is objective because the authors corroborate all of their combined claims with evidence provided by state courts and other objectively-based sources. With that said, I still think it could be construed as being biased slightly seeing as Wendy Lecker, one of the co-authors, is a parent to three children who attend Connecticut public schools. Therefore, she could be a hardline advocate for the need of additional funding towards public schools because she wants her children to get the best education they possibly can. The one major weakness I would point to in the article is that it only addresses the Mayor of Stamford very briefly at the end of the article. I think they could of elaborated more on the Mayor’s failure to take into account the recent report by the CCM, also I think they could have proposed ways in which Mayor Malloy could help provide or direct additional funding towards public schools. Despite these weaknesses, I think that overall the article is well supported by research-based reports and effectively conveys its argument. The information brought forward in this article helps support Panache’s argument for the extreme need of the free educational tool in public schools seeing as public schools are looking for any help they can get to provide an adequate education for their students as the article indicates. Panache will help compensate for the lack of resources available to public schools, which are due to a lack of funding, because Panache is a free education resource. All in all, I would say that this article is very pertinent to our overall argument, specifically that of our target audience, which is public school students, particularly LD-students which the article addresses as being a group that suffers the most from the underfunding of public institutions.

Final, Reflections, Uncategorized

Panache Annotated Bibliography Scarlett

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Chapman, Cameron. “Website Archives Design: Good Practices and Examples.” Smashing Magazine. Smashing Magazine GmbH. 24 May 2010. Web. 23 November 2014. <http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/05/24/website-archives-best-practices-and-showcase/>

This is an article written for Smashing Magazine, an extremely popular online magazine offering professional resources and advice to Web developers and Web designers. It was launched in 2006 by Sven Lennartz and Vitaly Friedman. It has a very large audience and over 800,000 Twitter followers. The author of this article, Cameron Chapman, is a professional Web and graphic designer and journalist. She writes for a number of blogs such as Mashable and Smashing and she is the author of The Smashing Idea Book: From Inspiration to Application, a collection of inspirational designs, photos and web site looks.

While often website’s or blogs can be unreliable sources, Smashing magazine is a well established site aimed at professional web designers and people with some experience in the web design field. This article in particular seems aimed at individuals who already run a website and are looking at ways to improve their design and layout.

The article is broken up into three sections, the first examines common layouts for website archives, the second questions whether specific sites actually need archives and the third showcases some website’s with archives that the author thinks are particularly well designed or successful in their goals. The author puts particular emphasis on the fact that the archives should be spacious, concise and easy to use while still informative and encompassing all the information available on the site.

There is definitely a major bias in the article as it is all written from one individuals point of view regarding what she thinks are the most successful web designs. However I still think it is very interesting to read in regards to our project. Our project will include archiving a huge amount of data in a well designed, easy to use way and this article presents a lot of different, well researched examples regarding the different options available for doing this.

Another thing to take into consideration is that this article was written four years ago, as the internet moves so fast it means that much of the information could be outdated. However after reading the article I think some of it is still definitely relevant.

Although this article is biased to the authors personal taste I still think it’s something we should look at during our research. Her experience as a web designer gives her more authority on the issue’s she’s talking about and she draws from so many different websites that you really get a good overview of the different options available for web archiving.

Final, Uncategorized

Annotated Bibliography: Josh

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Deno, Stanley L. “EFFECTS OF WORDS AND PICTURES AS STIMULI IN LEARNING LANGUAGE EQUIVALENTS.” Journal of Educational Psychology 59(3) (1968): n. pag. APA PsychNET. American Psychological Association. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/59/3/202.pdf>.

Stanley Deno is a PhD in educational psychology who has been studying the effects of pictoral language learning since the late 1960’s. His thesis is that image-based learning helps people learn language more quickly than word-based learning. In this specific case, he is looking at learning a second language. His intended audience is teachers and curriculum writers who hope to improve their ability to teach people language. Given how quick he is to dismiss conclusions that would even support his thesis, so long as they are within standard deviation, I would argue that the bias in this article is negligible.

The strengths of this article lie in its thorough transparency and its comprehensive results section. Everything that went in to this study is available to look at and criticize, so the results are under no suspicion as far as how they were reached. The results specifically indicate that pictoral learning offers specific benefits in terms of learning languages, which supports our thesis that our product would help people learn languages. This study is very relevant as far as a base outline for why the product would be beneficial, however, given that it is about learning a second language rather than a first, it is more useful in the context of the product aiding those who have already learned a language rather than children. That said, it doesn’t disqualify our notion that it would help children, rather it supports a secondary goal of ours.

 

Klinger, Walter. “EFFECTS OF PICTURES ON MEMORY & LEARNING.” EFFECTS OF PICTURES ON MEMORY & LEARNING (2000): n. pag. University of Shiga Perfecture. University of Shiga, 2000. Web. 28 Nov. 2014. <http://www.usp.ac.jp/english/pdf/wk00-EffectsPictures.pdf>.

Walter Klinger is a researcher for the University of Shiga and has been publishing papers since 1996. This paper is about what effects images as teaching tools have on learning. He concludes that they are very useful for teaching people who are unfamiliar with the subject matter they are being taught. He compares using them to instruct children to their effects on college students, and he concludes that children learn much better with images than adults, but the study doesn’t address adults who aren’t already familiar with the subject matter. It is consistent with his research that Panache could be used effectively for adult literacy as well as child literacy.

There is very little bias in the paper. He tends towards the middle, as his overall conclusion that images are helpful for some but not others. This kind of lack of lopsidedness indicates that there is likely very little bias. The strengths of this article lie in its child literacy support. It is a comprehensive, peer reviewed paper, and as such, it is at least somewhat reliable. There is information in the paper that both supports and opposes the objective of Panache. That said, most of the relevant information supports it, and the parts that refer to Panache’s weaknesses simply conclude that we shouldn’t expect it to be popular with groups that we hadn’t considered our audience.

 

Canning-Wilson, Christine. “Article 48: Visuals & Language Learning: Is There A Connection?” Article 48: Visuals & Language Learning: Is There A Connection? By Christine Canning-Wilson. Center for Excellence in Applied Research and Training (CERT College), Higher Colleges of Technology – Abu Dhabi, Feb. 2001. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. <http://www.eltnewsletter.com/back/Feb2001/art482001.htm>.

Christine Channing-Wilson has a masters degree and is a regularly invited speaker at conferences. She has been the chairperson of multiple academic committees and has been published numerous times in both article and book form. Her thesis is that there are unexplored capabilities of images in teaching language to non-native speakers. In her case, she specifically uses English in the United Arab Emirates. This article was written for people intending to teach second languages. It specifically references what kinds of visuals help in what contexts for language learning and why those kinds work better where they do.

Given the author’s seeming intent in writing this paper, there is definitely some chance for slant. The cited studies all appear to be unbiased, but given that the paper concludes on one side, there is definitely a chance for selection bias. Given the nature of the studies cited, though, it appears to be unbiased. The strengths of this article lie in its clarity. It uses charts and concise writing to summarize the points of the studies that it is citing. The information in this paper lean heavily in favor of our thesis. She concludes that “more emphasis should be put on the possibility that visual images affect how learners learn and how teachers teach.” This is extremely relevant to our project, as it directly supports the idea that Panache would be a valuable resource for teachers and students.

Announcements, Reflections

Event of Interest (Extra Credit)

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Infrastructures of Labor

December 8

| 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
20 Cooper Square | 5th Floor Conference Room
Infrastructures of Labor explores how infrastructures are not just technical artifacts but are comprised of human labor. From networked infrastructures in the global North to do-it-yourself “people as infrastructure” systems in the global South, the panelists will present research considering how human bodies and communities are interwoven with the built environment and its technological systems.
Panelists
Kafui Attoh – Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, The Murphy Institute, CUNY
Catherine Fennell – Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
Malini Ranganathan – Assistant Professor, School of International Service, American University
Rosalind Fredericks – Assistant Professor, Gallatin School of Individualized Study, NYU
 
Moderator:
Penny Lewis – Associate Professor of Labor Studies, The Murphy Institute, CUNY
If you attend and post a short description relating this event to our course you can ear 5 points extra credit.
Announcements, Reflections

Privacy as a Human Right

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To follow-up on our discussion of privacy and data-surveillance, here is an interesting article that looks at this issue from the angle of policy-makers worldwide:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/23/privacy-human-rights-frontier/
“We need a more powerful moral narrative, more powerful technical narrative… Here’s where this issue is different from many other issues, the knowledge level is very low, amongst people more widely, because it is very technical, because it’s very complex, so although it’s the new frontier of human rights it’s a very complicated frontier of human rights… It’s very different from other human rights issues — it’s one where we have to educate others because they will not always see the importance of it.”
I also strongly suggest reading The Circle by Dave Eggers, which is a utopian/dystopian near-future novel addressing these concerns.

And in case you missed it, here is the documentary I suggested (and some students used in their midterms): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084953/

You can watch a trailer here: http://tacma.net/tacma.php

 

Final, Uncategorized

Synesthesia Annotated Bibliography Karen

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Annotated Bibliography

Cytowic, Richard E. “What Color Is Tuesday? Exploring Synesthesia – Richard E. Cytowic.” YouTube. YouTube, 10 June 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkRbebvoYqI>.

Richard Cytowic is a well-known neurologist who has written and taught about synesthesia and was trained at Duke University, London’s National Hospital for Nervous Diseases and George Washington University. The author’s thesis is that synesthesia is beneficial for memorization and already a way in which people think. The author’s intended audience includes students and individuals interested in neurobiology and synesthesia.

Cytowic’s bias is trying to educate people about synesthesia and may not be including all of his opinion on its benefits and how there may be counter-arguments to this information. The strength of this video is that it explains the content with a lot of detail, explaining it visually so that it is easy to comprehend. Another strength is that with authority he can outline the results of his research. Yet, the source is limited as it is too short for Cytowic to expand on missing pieces of the research or specific results to prove this theory. It furthers the argument made for our final project because it mentions that people are predisposed to think in this way, and having a tool to boost this ability would therefore be successful. The video is relevant because gives more insight in to how synesthesia works, thus becoming a source of inspiration for the apps for the project. Moreover, it gives insight into the human brain and how the average person would transition well into utilizing synesthetic functions to learn. However, the source is not directly related to education and may be to general to draw any strong conclusions from.

Massy-Beresford, Helen. “How We All Could Benefit From Synesthesia.” The Guardian. The Guardian, 26 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2014%2Fapr%2F27%2Fbenefit-synaesthesia-brain-injury-mental-decline>.

Helen Massy-Beresford is a freelance reporter, who writes about business, travel, lifestyle, science and technology and health. In the article How We All Could Benefit From Synesthesia, Massy-Beresford argues induced synesthesia could help with memorizing and learning information. She draws upon various compelling research results conducted across different universities and the predictions they have for the implications to further this argument. The author’s intended readers are those interested in neuroscience, health, ageing, psychology, biology and medical research, as seen through the topic tags that have been used for this article.

Massy-Beresford is not a researcher but a reporter on the findings and she seems to be fascinated by the results, which could imply that she may be overrating the possible repercussions of this research and she may not know the pitfalls of the studies. A strong factor of the article is that she draws upon quotes of authority figures in the scientific arena and explains the experimental process that the researchers went through to reach these conclusions.  Although, the article falls short of proposing counter-arguments or aspects of the research that could be limited to draw any grand relationships between learning and synesthesia. Another weakness is that the article fails to demonstrate the research and the specific method that was used to conduct the experiments. This article furthers our argument that memorization can be helped by inducing synesthesia on the non-synaesthete population. Although, it focuses more heavily on the results on how it can help the elderly and it doesn’t have evidence on how it can affect child education. Nevertheless, the article does mention the possible effect and future investment on pedagogical research because of scientific belief induced synesthesia can be beneficial.

Final

Synesthesia Annotated Bibliography

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“Reading with Your Ears: Readers’ Advisory and Audio Books.” Reference & User Services Quarterly. Vol. 37–50. American Library Association. 318–323. Web.

 

The author, Katie Mediatore, is library professional and has worked with a number of library associations. She specializes in reading trends and programming for adults. Mediatore explains the format preferences for listeners as well as what makes audio books so appealing to people who use them. She does this by proposing why people would need or want to use audio books as opposed to traditionally reading text. By using various examples and situations in which the user may prefer audio books, Mediatore is able to show that this medium is perhaps more relevant than previously thought. The casual nature of her writing suggests that her book is meant for the average reader and does not strive to be overly intellectual.

Due to her role as a library professional there may be a slight bias or over exaggeration on the popularity of audio books. She makes it sound as if audio books are more common place when in reality, it is probably more of a niche market. The strengths of this article is that it provides a number of reasons why someone would choose audio books in particular over reading. However, a weakness is that is does little to come up with theories about why audio books are still overshadowed by more popular mediums like books or kindles. In addition, her examples are highly theoretical, and there is no scientific support for her arguments. As a result, there is appears to be a lack of solid research and few quantifiable facts that can bolster her claims. The article still however definitely falls in line with our thesis because it shows how utilizing one of our other senses, hearing, has positively affected a number of people’s reading experience. With this, it is easy to claim that fully using synesthesia will garner the support from a number of readers. While the article focuses only on audio books and the sense of hearing instead of synesthesia as a whole, it still holds relevance by closely examining one particular form of medium that strays from the traditional reading experience.

 

Adam, Halley-Prinable. The Oculus Rift and Immersion through Fear. Bournemouth University, 2013. Web.

 

Halley-Prinable is an expert at using C++, Lua and Python. He primarily works as a game programmer but also works as a contract programmer to work on any project. In this book Halley-Prinable claims that the Oculus Rift may have a greater potential to be more immersive than a regular computer screen monitor. By attempting to quantify fear through heart rate monitors and using test subjects, he shows the extent of immersion from the Oculus Rift. The author’s intended audience is probably gamers although its research exceeds that of just gaming. It calls into question the idea of a true virtual reality and the effects that is has on people.

Being a game programmer, Halley-Prinable may be too quick to praise the Oculus Rift and want to promote the new gaming device. The strength is that the author uses a scientific approach to come up with an experiment that measures the effect of the Oculus Rift in a way that is more than pure speculation. Due to the nature in which he conducted his research, there are many arguments that are backed up with facts instead of unsubstantiated, bold claims. The weakness, however, is that it emphasizes the emotion of fear while ignoring any other effect the Oculus Rift could potentially have. Another weakness is that it mostly focuses on the difference between the Oculus Rift and a normal computer screen monitor. Comparisons to other mediums of engagement are largely ignored. It is also important to note that not all experiments are perfect. There will never be a perfect control and test group. Certain individuals may be more prone to fear than others resulting in swayed results. This book supports our theory that creating an experience that fully utilizes our sense can create a positive, immersive experience for all users. Despite the fact that the Oculus Rift only triggers the sense of sight and sound, the information provided still shows studies of levels of immersion that can help support our argument for a product rooted in the idea of synesthesia.

Final

Annotated Bibliographies: White Space

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Joram, Elana, Earl Woodruff, Mary Bryson, and Peter H. Lindsey. “The Effects of Revising with a Word Processor on Written Composition.” National Council of Teachers of English 26.2 (1992): 167-93. JSTOR. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. <http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2100/stable/40171302>.

Elana Joram, Earl Woodruff, Mary Bryson, and Peter H. Lindsey, the authors of this journal, are all professors and a part of the National Council of Teachers of English.  As they are all educators, this journal article has the bias of educators; they are looking at the word processor as a way of improving the writing process. The article is very focused on the idea of a word processor verses the traditional pen and paper, and  the negative and positive affects of the word processor.  Because of this focus, the article seems to have been written by educators, for educators.

This article claims that word processors improve writing by making the revision process easier and simpler. Word processors make surface revision easy- they tell you when you spell something wrong, when your grammar is incorrect, etc. While they improve writing on the surface, they also discourage creativity. The National Council of Teachers of English composed a study in which they addressed the question of  whether word processors improve or detract from written composition. Word processors would either improve composition because make you revise through the writing process, or the revising would interfere with the composing process and detract from the final piece. They predicted, and later found to have predicted correct, word processors would get in the way and detract from the composing process. It was found that students focus more on surface level corrections when writing on word processors, while when they write with paper and pen they are less likely to correct small errors and focus on the piece of writing as a whole. The one weakness of this article, which clearly stood out, is that it is rather contradictory. It starts off saying word processors improve writing, and ends saying that they detracts from the writing process. This aside, this article is still beneficial to the creators of White Space because it highlights positive and negative aspects of the word processor.

Dalton, David W., and Michael J. Hannafin. “The Effects of Word Processing on Written Composition.” The Journal of Educational Research 80.6 (1987): 338-42. JSTOR. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. <http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2116/stable/27540262>.

This article was written based off of a study done by the Journal of Educational Research. Dalton and Hannafin are both professors of educational psychology. Since they are both educators, the piece is heavily focused on how the word processor affects students rather than how it affects humans as a whole. The piece is a a psychology heavy study and was likely written for other psychologists studying education.

The article discusses the idea of how writing skills are approached- holistically or reductively. The holistic approach focuses on the process of writing rather than minute mechanics while the reductive approach focuses on punctuation, syntax, etc. The article claims that the holistic approach is more beneficial for low achievers who tend to be preoccupied on form rather than substance. Word processors have an effect on each of these approaches. In this study, there is a treatment group and a control group. The treatment group used word processors to complete written assignments three times a week while the control group used the traditional method of a pen and paper. The results of the study show that the use of the word processor had little impact on high achieving students, but was effective for low achieving students. I would say the weakness of this study is the date- it was conducted in 1987. However, this can still be helpful to the creators of White Space because the goal is to create a more simple word processor. If we do more research on what the word processor used at this time was, we will be able to see exactly how this affected those that were a part of the study and the benefits and detriments.

Purcell, Kristen, Judy Buchanan, and Linda Friedrich. “The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing Is Taught in Schools.” Pew Research Center’s Internet American Life Project. Pew Internet, 16 July 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.

This article is based on a survey done by Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers to see how today’s digital tools have impacted student writing. Purcell is the director of research at Pew Research Center’s Internet American Life Project and Buchanan and Friedrich are teachers. The teachers saw how digital technologies and social networking greatly affect teen’s personalities and creativity and how it encourages writing in more forms. The survey was given to teachers and is therefore has the bias of educators.

The majority of teachers surveyed believed that digital technologies have been beneficial to student’s writing processes. They believed that these technologies allow students to share their writing with a wider audience, encourage personal expression, and encourage collaboration among students. However, the survey also showed the concerns educators have with students using digital technologies. Since short-form writing has become so prevalent in the live’s of teenagers, this manages to slip into formal writing. Students tend to use informal language in formal writing assignments. Students are also more likely to slip into short-form writing styles if they are multi-tasking, like if they are writing a paper while simultaneously on social media. This study is helpful for the creators of White Space because of the distraction mode feature. The distraction mode shuts off the internet which, according to this study, would improve the writing styles of students.

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White Space Annotated Bibliography

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Byfield, Bruce. “Linux.com.” Online Word Processors: A Hands-On Comparison. N.p., 5 Sept. 2006. Web. 22 Nov. 2014. <http://archive09.linux.com/articles/114171>.

Bruce Byfield discusses word processing in his article “Online Word Processors: A Hands-On Comparison.” This article, written for people looking for information and advice on which word processors to use, compares four online word processing applications: ajazWrite, ThinkFree Online, Writely, and Zoho Writer, in the following categories: interfaces, basic formatting tools, advanced formatting tools and unique features, and document export and administration. Byfield outlines how each word processor addresses these word processing needs and compares their performance. At the end of each section Byfield declares a verdict, stating which processor he believes does its job the best in each category. In his conclusion Byfield makes a general comparison the word processors and is quick to point out that online word processors were still in their early stages, as the article was published in 2006. Byfield claims that online word processors were a regression, that their simplicity and reliance on the internet made them less efficient than other word processors.

Bruce Byfield is a computer journalist focusing on free and open source software. He has written over 1,200 articles for a variety of online journals and other websites. His past work includes working at as a university English professor and technical writer, as well as communications, marketing, and design consultant. His bias in “Online Word Processors: A Hands-On Comparison” is that of a person who is well-versed in word processing technicalities and has expectations for maximum efficiency in the programs he uses. This article has some weaknesses in that it is a short article and does not provide outside resources for the reader to go to to find more information. While its 2006 publishing date could be seen as a weakness because word processing has changed significantly since then, I believe it can be seen as a strength for our project. Seeing reviews of word processors in their early days can be very informative to the creators of White Space as they decide which features people have found most and least appealing in word processors throughout the years. Part of White Space’s goal is to give users the option to revert to a simpler software if needed, and this article provides ample information about older word processors and their relationship with the internet. Use of this source in our research would strongly support White Space’s thesis that the ideal processor takes the best from word processors already available.

Collier, Richard M. “The Word Processor and Revision Strategies.” College Composition and Communication 34.2 (1983): 149-55. JSTOR. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/357402?ref=no-x-route:eae95b932ea3538933238188507e6a01>.

In his 1983 article “The Word Processor and Revision Strategies,” Richard Collier outlines a hypothesis about the way using a word processor will affect the editing process for students. The intended audience was fellow educators that were possibly looking to incorporate word processing into their curriculum. Collier predicts the word processing revision process will be difficult for those who are less computer-savvy and that they will stick to smaller revisions and only use the simplest features in the processor. He then tests his hypothesis on four female writers between nineteen and thirty-two years old, asking them to revise handwritten essays on word processors. Collier finds that the revision process was very difficult for those who were less computer-literate, but resulted in more active revisions and slightly longer, more experimental essays. He decides that his hypothesis was wrong because the changes in the essays were not as significant as he had predicted. At the end of the article Collier claims that word processing has a long way to go before it is an efficient process, but if students learn how to use it well they will benefit from it immensely.

Since the article was published by The National Council of Teachers of English, I can deduct that Collier was an English educator. His bias is that of an educator; he wants word processing to be a tool that enhances student writing. One weakness of this article, which basically outlines an experiment in word processing, is that Collier only tested four students, all of which were adult women. This does not provide a wide scope for the way word processing was used by students, it just gives a narrow glimpse into Collier’s classroom. The early article publication, 1983, limited the processing software that Collier could use as well. However, this article gives an interesting insight to the way people expected word processors to develop. In a time when word processors were still very new and had almost no precedent, Collier provides an academic’s goals and wishes for the future of the word processor. For White Space it is essential to go back to the original goals and intentions of word processors in order to find out what is needed to apply to its design.