Tagged: Week 04: The Entrepreneur Bootcamp RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • kstooshnov 3:49 pm on September 28, 2011
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    Tags: semantic web, , Week 04: The Entrepreneur Bootcamp   

    Professor David Crystal, OBE, co-founder of Crystal Semantics, designer of Shakespeare’s Words website, author and linguist Crystal Semantics Limited is an innovative Web marketing technology that makes use of Crystal’s research into semantics.  The company, launched in 2001, ‘is the result of 8 years and $8 million investment in research and its ground breaking technology […]

    Continue reading David Crystal & Shakespeare’s Words Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
     

    • Everton Walker 4:10 pm on September 28, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Interesting production. I like this idea of the site staving off bad commercials and yielding to the impact of multinational companies. The glossary idea is a great one as it facilitates the linguistic idea perfectly. Although this is a major investment, I think it’s a rewarding one even if profit is not gained. I strongly believe that once persons are educated from such a venture, it is a natural success.

      • kstooshnov 10:03 pm on September 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Everton,

        Like you, I am not a big fan of advertising in any form, and the less cluttered a website can be, the better. Of course, not all of them are bad, but even the good ones are manipulative in some way. I like the idea of designing a fabulous website freely accessible by all, but like the Dark Knight’s Joker says “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” David Crystal seems to have found the ideal balance between commerce (selling off Crystal Semantics and Reference System to ad pepper media) and his passion for linguistics, going back to Shakespeare’s contributions to the English language.

    • Deb Giesbrecht 5:19 pm on September 28, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Interesting concept. I wonder how he got $8 million dollars rounded up by his investors?!
      Great marketing campaign though and I am sure the payoff is well received. English has always been the language of business, but never thought of it as the language of the internet. Wonder if they put Spanish McDonalds ads together in Spanish websites?

      • kstooshnov 9:39 pm on September 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Deb,

        Thanks for your comments, and something I learned while teaching English in Japan is the mercurial qualities of my native language. More than just adapting to other languages (sushi, kamikaze and otaku are familiar enough imported words), English takes almost every noun, adjective and some conjunctions can be made into a verb, for instance. I also found this great article by David Crystal explaining how Shakespeare’s words are not so far off from modern English, only 15% of his words are not commonly used today.

    • David William Price 4:43 pm on September 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Interesting site… I think I’d prefer cursor-driven popups vs. searching in the sidebar.

      • kstooshnov 9:06 pm on September 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Thanks David,

        I agree, there are still lots of thing that could be improved with the website. Some interesting things are happening with Internet Shakespeare Editions published for the Internet by a team at the University of Victoria, with introductions, choices between different editions, and other clickable features, but there is no glossary at all. Hopefully both the Crystals and UVic keep tinkering with their sites.

  • jenaca 6:41 am on September 27, 2011
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    Tags: Week 04: The Entrepreneur Bootcamp   

    http://www.goknow.com/ The Venture: GoKnow Mobile Learning is a $20 million dollar software company that utilizes smartphones and other portable devices geared for k-12 educational purposes-school work (GoKnow). It allows students and teachers to engage in classroom assignments through the use of their mobile phones, as well as provides 1-1 computing. It also provides the necessary […]

    Continue reading http://www.goknow.com/ The Venture: GoKn… Posted in: Uncategorized
     

    • verenanz 7:42 am on September 27, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Jenaca!
      Great work. I still can’t quite figure out what the founders want to “do” with their product, so I will go and check out the website. Both of these founders have a solid educational and tech base. It sounds like a “safe” product for teachers who are intimidated by technology or those who question privacy and security issues…I’m curious and want to know more….Good job!

    • Juliana 8:56 am on September 27, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Jeneca,

      Great analysis. I also was wondering how cost-effective it would be to implement this into the classroom. The public school system is already tapped for funds and this sounds like an expensive option. I think it is interesting that one of the founders was actually a school teacher. I don’t think you find that a lot. Also, I was wondering about what the digital divide was like with respect to mobile technologies. I know that most students have a computer, but do they all have phones, iPads, Blackberry etc. to support this technology? I am out of the classroom right now, so I am not sure if all students have access to such mobile technologies.

      Juliana.

    • schiong 11:34 am on September 27, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      “From increased test scores to improved classroom behavior, GoKnow Advanced Mobile Learning offers a myriad of benefits that will propel your school district to new levels of academic achievement. Plus, students will be excited to jump into the curriculum because they can access it through the technology they already use and love! ” (http://www.goknow.com/index.html?pg=about)

      I speculate that what the company is offering is more on supplements. .. something like Enopi and Kumon. But, what makes this different is that it is done through mobile.

      $20M is a lot of money. I am curious about how they would position the product/service considering that what they offer is not entirely unique or can easily be duplicated.

    • bcourey 4:00 pm on September 27, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Amazingly, my school board was involved in a project with GoKnow and we had the founder, Elliot fly to our board and work with us in our Pocket PC project using the old (but not that many years ago) Palm Pilots for mobile learning…they are so outdated now!! Elliot’s company was extremely supportive and helpful. We purchased a software/tools package for the project and Elliot was just a phone call away for any of our questions. Their PD for our teachers was excellent and was followed by several video-conferences and 2 support staff from his team flew to Ontario to visit our schools later in the year. Not sure what they offer today compared to the product and service back then ( about 7 years ago).

      • Angela Novoa 4:20 pm on September 27, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Brenda, thanks for sharing your experience. I also wanted to know more how GoKnow works out. I imagine that the tools that they now offer are different from the software you received but, from your description we can have an idea about it.
        Angela.

      • jenaca 5:56 am on September 28, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hey Brenda, that sounds very interesting! Thanks for sharing! I wasn’t sure how the program would work in classrooms but it sounds like it was a great experience for you!! I will definitely read more up on it and find out more about their software!!

    • David William Price 5:22 pm on September 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      I watched a few minutes of his pitch video on the homepage and have to say I was not impressed. Within 2:15 his basic pitch was that every kid will have a cell phone and kids think anything without “interactivity” is boring. To me, this raises the classic Clark vs Kozma debate. “Boring” comes from poor pedagogy, not from the lack of technology. If an entrepreneur is unable to quickly get to the point and describe the problem they are solving, I don’t give much credit to their pitch. I’m not keen on raising generations of kids who are unable to practice anxiety management skills to learn how to learn and work their way through problems using their minds. Gadgets are great tools, but tools are about efficiency and do not replace effective problem-solving heuristics. Part of problem-solving is the requirement to manage anxiety well enough to work through a proper thinking process and identify areas that require effort to learn.

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