3 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2018
    1. Mobile Based User-Centered Learning Environment for Adult Absolute Illiterates

      This study reviewed the education of absolute illiterates globally. It was based on the creation of game-based learning (GBL) which provides a user-friendly learning platform with little cost and little intimidation for the learner. The research also identified 60% of the world's illiterate population residing in rural areas with little access to computers and educational centers. The GBL environments created real world environments that allow learners to practice real-life scenarios in familiar surroundings using 3-D technology. The study also adapted a English language program to meet the needs of various languages. The context of the game is a farmer and a wife then acquire items and count them in their native language. The numbers used in counting are spoken and the game produces the correlating number so the learner becomes familiar with the written form of the letter. In conclusion, the participants identified that the mobile learning was more beneficial than PC applications due to unreliable electrical service at home. The mobile system was also available on demand.and applied to participants real-life usage.

      RATING: 10/10

  2. Apr 2016
    1. In Switzerland, one of my recent ancestors was functionally illiterate. Because of this, she “signed away” most of her wealth. Down the line, I’m one of her very few heirs. So, in a way, I lost part of my inheritance due to illiteracy.

      Explained further in the screencast. My paternal grandfather’s mother came from a well-to-do Schneider family and was a devout Christian, but she “read” the Bible upside-down, according to my paternal grandmother.

  3. Jan 2014
    1. data entropy Normal degradation in information content associated with data and metadata over time (paraphrased from [ 2 ]).

      I'm not sure what this really means and I don't think data entropy is a helpful term. Poor practices certainly lead to disorganized collections of data, but I think this notion comes from a time when people were very concerned about degradation of physical media on which data is stored. That is, of course, still a concern, but I think the term data entropy really lends itself as an excuse for people who don't use good practices to manage data and is a cover for the real problem which is a kind of data illiteracy in much the same way we also face computational illiteracy widely in the sciences. Managing data really is hard, but let's not mask it with fanciful notions like data entropy.