Some people may have heard of the short-lived existence of Microsoft’s AI chatbot called ‘Tay,’ others may have completely missed the event. The latter would come as no surprise, given that Tay was released on March 23rd of 2016 and was taken down the very same day. This artificial intelligence chatter bot was published on Twitter and was designed as a 19-year…
“I’m just a squirrel looking for a nut You are a wizard harry I’m a what Glad to believe in #Jesus, He’s the best… From Fresno to Pomona fuck the rest” – By Pentametron (https://twitter.com/pentametron?lang=en) This may seem like a random compilation of Twitter posts that happen to rhyme and that is because they are. Well, the fact that they rhyme and…
And here we are: the last blogpost of my little journey into the field of language published in this semester. You are finally released! Almost!I would like to use this last post to provide you with a short recap and a reflection what we have explored during the last weeks. I was trying to raise your awareness but also interest in the…
The last weeks in class, we’ve been talking about games and the gamer scene in general. That made me think about if there are any connections to my field of study: linguistics. As you may have noticed in my blogposts of this semester, I’ll try to discuss the language component in all different areas of the digital. So, how can that be…
The video titled ‘We Are All Cyborgs’ is a short introduction and artistic interpretation of Donna Haraway’s ‘Cyborg Manifesto’ (1985). What is a cyborg you might ask? Well, as most of you are by now well aware a cyborg is defined as “a person whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent upon a mechanical or electronic device.” This means that each…
Hello there! Nice that you are joining me for part three – the final part – of my little series about English in digital environments. First, I’ll give you a quick recap for those of who you that haven’t read part one and two and for those who already forgot what I was talking about 😀 In the first part, I was…
The other day I went shopping in a garden centre. You know, one of those very large ones that require a map to navigate. Why I was there is of no importance; the fact of the matter is that I was there, and that I got lost. In my own –very human- hubris, I had decided to not follow the clearly laid…
Growing up I watched a lot of animated series, and I still do because they are amazing. My animation journey thus started early on with baby-books, followed by educational channels, followed by the infinite imagination of anyone with a budget and connection to a broadcasting network. Just like sommeliers, an animation connoisseur will be able to distinguish various types of animation, and…
Welcome back to part 2 of my deep dive into the question if and why English is pushed as universal language in digital media. Last week, I elaborated on the omnipresence of English concerning memes, social media, digital advertisements and news. I wanted to leave some room for yourself to think about possible reasons why that could be the case and if…
Today, I am going to start of my post a bit different. I have a little task for you: think about the last memes your friends tagged you on and now think about the last advertisement slogan you read online. Do you see it in front of your inner eye? Can you tell what language has been used? I bet that most…