Thursday 29 September 2011

Modern Business Communication Tools - Dilip Barad

(This article was published in a book titled Understanding and Developing Effective Communication Skills and Soft Skills edited by Jaydipsinh K. Dodia and Nidhi Tiwari. 
Published by Sarup Books, New Delhi. (ISBN-978-81-7625-755-8)
Wordle: Communication Business



How to cite this article:
  • MLA:

Barad, D. P. "Modern Business Communication Tools." Dodiya, J. K. and Nidhi Tiwari. Understanding and Developing Effective Communication Skills and Soft Skills. New Delhi: Sarup Books, 2011.
  • APA:

Barad, D. P. (2011). Modern Business Communication Tools. In J. K. Dodiya, & N. Tiwari, Understanding and Developing Effective Communication Skills and Soft Skills. New Delhi, Delhi, India: Sarup Books.
  • Chicago

Barad, D. P. "Modern Business Communication Tools." Chap. Ch. 12 in Understanding and Developing Effective Communication Skills and Soft Skills, by J. K. Dodiya and Nidhi Tiwari. New Delhi, Delhi: Sarup Books, 2011.



Communication has seen drastic changes in last century. The advancement in science and technology has affected the way people communicated with each other on this globe. The change has been felt more over in Business Communication. One of the reasons of effect of technology on Business Communication has been the phenomenon of Globalization. In past two decades, the world has shrunk into a global village. The immeasurable ‘flat-world of pre-Galilean era has become ‘flat- world’ again in Thomas Friedman’s ‘The World is Flat’ but this time it is no longer immeasurable. This new flat world has become small because of modern tools of communication. The laissez –faire has helped in dissolving borders and making globe borderless in its true sense. This phenomenon is felt, if not in all spheres of life, at least in International Business. The global economic policies and Information and Communication Technology have given facelift to the twenty-first century business communication tools. The effect of global economic policies has opened up floodgates for foreign companies to trade with any country on the globe. This was not possible if advancement in technology did not support its communication links. If the communication is the life blood of business, speedy and on-time communication is its breath and finer spirit. Once upon a time it was believed that the communication is to encode message with right signs/symbols, send it and the receiver decodes it to understand the meaning of the message. The nearer the receiver is to the main message, the better is the communication. But now, along with it what is more important is ‘time’ element. How fast and accurately the message is sent is also very important. Thus, the role of modern technology and internet tools becomes vital in business communication.
In the human history, we have seen that man has always communicated. In the pre-historic times, fire & smoke signals, drums sounds etc tools were used for long distance communication. Even when man learnt to draw signs/symbols or to decipher earlier alphabets, he used birds like pigeons, parrots, eagles and animals like horses and camels to communicate. The first of its own kind of technology was invented in form of printing press. Gutenberg’s printing press (c.a. 15th Century) not only brought renaissance to Europe, but it was affected renaissance in business communication of the day. Printing press enabled faster written communication for the traders of the time. The invention of telegraph (c.a. 1837) and telephone (c.a. 1876) was another big leap in the communication history. But it was the twentieth century which witnessed drastic changes in communication as a whole and business communication in particular. The invention of Radio (c.a. 1901) and Television (c.a. 1929) captured the imagination of the twentieth century till the Internet rose on the horizons in 1970s (c.a.). It is internet enabled information and communication technology which has brought revolution in modern business communication.
Today, to imagine a business house without communication links like Email, Chat-applet, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), Fax, Blog, eGroup, smart mobile phone (not only for texting and calling, but also for social networking), website etc is to imagine a life without blood and oxygen. These modern tools have become part and parcel of business setup. The open international economic system has made it essential for all business houses, big or small, to remain connected, round the clock, with the world. And without these tools no business house can afford to win customers.
Let us study these modern business communication tools in detail and see how effectively they can be used for communication. We shall also throw some light on theirs advantages as well as disadvantages.
Website:
Let us start with a website. A dedicated website for business is not only for marketing or sharing information about the business but it also is a strong communication link to connect with the customers. Most business people are still ignorant of the potential power the website brings to their business. It is still underplayed and so people have their websites but most of them are static and archaic. It is rarely updated and few of them care to respond to customers who are trying to contact them through websites. It is surprising to see that very few business houses are reaping the benefits of cost effectiveness of using it as communication tool.
Advantages of Website as business communication tool:
• A dedicated website can help companies in various ways:
o The company can maintain direct contact with the customers.
o Giving customers a choice to select and compare the products and services. This service helps customers in saving their time and just on a click they can compare products and decide to purchase.
o Opening window for ecommerce, wherein customer can buy products/services online. It helps company in saving revenue share of wholesalers, retailers etc and can give extra benefit to customers. It also saves them from duplication of products.
o Instantly solving grievances of the customers, which is very important in the competitive world – it gives winning edge to the company. For this strong feedback mechanism should be available on website. It saves time of customer and company in delayed communication for complaints and adjustments. It also helps wholesaler to solve grievances of retailers, logistics etc kind of stakeholders involved in chain of business cycle.
o Reading minds of customers – for this, space for ‘comments’ by customers should be available on website wherein customer can ‘text’ some message as feedback. This would not cost any extra bucks to company but can help them a lot in improving their products and services. The commenting can be kept under control so it won’t bother company to control unwanted and spam commenter.
o A separate space for employee login can serve several purposes at a time. Say for instances, management can read minds of employee from their login and reading their experience of working with the company. This helps in times of recession and slowdown of turnovers. It also serves the purpose and advantages of ‘grapevine’ communication channel.
Disadvantages of website as communication tool:
• The website as such does not have implicitly visible disadvantages as they are developed as part of online business marketing, yet when such interactive websites are not managed properly, it may have following disadvantages:
o It should always be under the vigilance. Interactive websites should be protected from hackers. The rival companies or porn sites keep attacking websites popular with customers. If company fails to vigil its website, it can mar the brand image of their products.
o There should be personnel always virtually present to reply to customers’ queries and grievances. As website communication is asynchronous, and not synchronous like chatting, the auto-mode of reply to customer’s complaints, queries, comments etc can help but it should be followed by personalized email from the company. Most of the time, delay in such communication forces customers to stay away from websites to communicate with company.
o One of the biggest disadvantages is ignorance of customers in using website for communication. So, companies should design websites which are user-friendly and the communication links are easily visible on the home page and easily accessible to the novice user of internet also.
However, the dedicated website has immense possibilities, capacities and capabilities to converge various communication tools at a time on single platform. Yet the ignorance, negligence and failure on part of companies and customers to understand its capacities does not allow website to flourish as one of the vital modern tools of business communications. But the days of awareness are not far away. Business houses have begun to use websites for various communication purposes. One can see and feel the experience of such websites. For instance, insurance websites are not only giving information related to their products and services, but also allow customer to pay premiums online. Even the news websites gives opportunity to readers to share their views on news through comments. The websites of electronic gadgets are full of innovations which give feeling of seeing products with real eyes, though they are crafted for virtual visual effect. Some such websites are www.nokia.com, www.licindia.com, www.ndtv.com, www.amul.com
Email:
Electronic mail (email) is a letter transmitted using internet technology. The transmission may be between two computers or smart mobile devices which support transmission of data through internet. The beauty of email is its speed of transmission. Now and then, email is compared with traditional mail where in email stands triumphantly ahead because of its speed and cost effectiveness of transmission of information. The email reaches farthest corner of the globe within millisecond. The only condition is that the said corner should be connected through internet. It does not only send text-messages, but also sends images, colourful graphics, audio and video messages (multimedia messages). Emailing is almost free of cost. Today, there are several email service providers like Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, Rediffmail, Indiatimes etc which give unlimited space for storing incoming and outgoing mails, that too, totally free to the users.
Advantages of Email as business communication tool:
• Email is fast in transmitting multimedia messages.
• It saves time and money as it is very economical.
• The communication is written and thus has more legal importance than other electronic communications. The written record of the communication is generated which is very useful in future.
• It is easy to retrieve email communication for future reference.
• It facilitates communication with multiple parties at a time.
• It is most suitable for open international economic system which is characterized by changing business environment, geographically distributed workgroups, extreme mobility and the need of rapid information dissemination.
• Email services are available on smart phones, PDAs, and other such hand-held devices. So, even without computer or laptop, accessing email is easy and user-friendly.
Disadvantages of Email:
• Emails, if not used over personalized web space, are like post-cards, any body can read it. The free email service providers do not guarantee secrecy of the messages transmitted over emails. Thus, it becomes harmful to business if such free service providers’ email platform is used for business transactions.
• It does not create better context for communication, and it does not clarify the tone of messages.
• It is sometimes seen as impersonal and prone to misunderstanding, because verbal cues and context are missing.
• Managing unwanted (spam) mails is biggest problem. Hundreds of unwanted mails waste lots of time even in deleting them. And because of it, at times, even useful ones are deleted or left unread.
• The sender does not always come to know whether the mail has reached right destination or not. Even if it has reached, sender does not know if the receiver has read it or not.
• It is asynchronous communication and so is not as effective as telephonic conversation or chatting communication on IMs (Instant Messages).
• Lack of infrastructure in remote rural areas poses biggest hurdle in its spread and reach.
With all these disadvantages, email is still the most popular modern business tool for communication. The recent survey by META Group, Inc., showed that more than 80% of the respondents said that email is more valuable than phone call for business purpose (META). As compared to disadvantages, email offers several advantages which make it more popular with business fraternity. Corporate houses believe email to be the strongest communication link within and out of the organization.
Blog:
Weblogs or blogs are traditionally known as digital diaries to keep records of journey, routine work or sharing information on relevant topics or used for self expression. Just like email service providers, there are free blog service providers. Some of the popular free blog servers are www.blogger.com, www.wordpress.com, www.bigadda.com etc. The companies have their own personalized blogosphere which is much protected and under control from unwanted users and hackers. The openness and transparent nature of the blog can be used effectively by business houses to provide online platform to their stakeholders (wholesaler, retailers, customers, clients, peer business groups, workgroups, and employee) to access relevant, useful and timely information.
Advantages of Blog as business communication tool:
• It is almost free to start a blog and maintain it. The startup cost and maintenance of website is not free and at times its cost is much higher. Relatively, blog performs almost all those functions of website and its cost is negligible (almost free).
• It helps to disseminate information quickly, efficiently and effectively to their clients and to other operating units of the business.
• It facilitates more open and direct communication channel with all stakeholders. The client feedback mechanism of blog is much stronger than email or website and thus it helps in better understanding of clients. Thus, in longer run, blog is more effective business communication tool as compared to email or website.
• It helps in reduction of cost for communication with clients and other stakeholders.
• It helps in collaboration from various workgroups situated geographically at remote places. Some of the case studies of Google, Microsoft and Adobe can be read at http://www.scribd.com/doc/2385513/Blog-as-a-Business-Communication-Tool. It proves how effective is blog for collaborative work.
• Blogs can be linked with email and SMS. It helps in instant transmission of information as and when blogs are updated with latest information.
• Blogs are better than Websites because:
o Blogs send instant email or XML feeder as and when blog is updated. The customer has to remember to come to website to see the updates, whereas blogs manage it by sending auto-emails and feeders.
o The feedbacks can be published along with blog which helps other customers to read and it helps in solving their queries. Websites needs to be specially designed for such functions and one has to keep special staff to manage it. Blogs manage it automatically.
o The static websites are like ‘dead brochures’. Blogs give the feel of some person on other side, listening and replying to customers.
• Blogs are better than Emails because:
o Blogs complement email by being more permanent and reliable. People receive hundreds of mails and at times, emails are deleted without being read thoroughly. The permanence of blogs allows customers to come at their leisure and read it carefully. The reliability of emails is decreasing day by day because of hackers and spammers. Blogs remain more trustworthy than emails, thus they are more reliable.
o It is less demanding or intrusive for readers, and able to reach a wider audience. Multimedia emails consumes lots of time in downloading and viewing. Receiver gets bored of managing bulky mails. Blogs do not give such botheration to receiver. The links of blogs can be shared and thus it can reach wider audiences.
Disadvantages of Blog as business communication tool:
• Blogs are good for service providers rather than product sellers. As service providers can blog FAQs (frequently asked questions) and other such service related information, it saves their time and money in further communication with clients. The customers also gets answers to their common queries from the blog. But for product seller, where 3D images and more interactivity is requires, Blogs fall short of high definition websites which used flash and 3D effects to display features of products.
• Though blogs are more user-friendly than websites, still it requires skilled hand to make optimum out of it. Ignorance on part of clients is disadvantageous to business houses in effectively communicating with them through blogs.
• As with all modern tools, lack of infrastructure in remote areas is one of the biggest obstacles in reaching out to rural market through blogs.
With all its limitations, blog is becoming quite popular among the business as well as common people. And marketing gurus are going to make hay while the sun shines – they are encashing its popularity by making innovative use of blogs for various business related communications.
Smart Mobile phones:
Mobile phones (smart as well as simple) have better penetration in the market than laptop or computer or internet technology. It is believed that the uses of mobile phones are ten times greater than internet users in India. The growth rate of mobile phone users is far ahead of internet users. Thus, it gives greater opportunity in using smart as well as simple mobile phones as business communication tool. All simple phones come with facility of SMS (Short Message Service). The SMS has tremendous potential to be very effective business communication tool. The smart mobile devices have several inbuilt applications and others are downloadable. Such applications run with the help of GPRS internet connection. Thus, such GPRS enabled mobile devices provide better business communication opportunities.
Advantages of Mobile Phones as business communication tool:
• As compared to all the above discussed modern tools, an SMS can reach wider audience in almost no time and there are far more chances of the message being read instantly than that of website / blog / email.
• The chances of instant feedback are also far better with SMS replies rather than email, blog or website.
• From marketing to spreading awareness or getting opinion from customers, none can beat SMS. However, busy person is, it surely gets time to peep into mobile device whenever it beeps for incoming SMS.
• The SMS ensures less spam, it is cost effective and time saving.
• It is helpful in market campaign, promotion of product, survey and voting.
• For advance version of smart phones which are GPRS enabled, there are again immense possibilities. It helps in viewing websites, blogging and mailing. Thus, such mobile stands quite ahead of other modern tools in its utility.
• The software applications installed in such smart devices helps in ecommerce, paying utility bills, fund transfers etc which cannot be handled by email or blogs.
• Some of the smart mobile devices are VoIP enabled. They can be connected through WLAN for hi-speed internet which helps them in transmission of voice and video over internet connection.
• The 3G enabled phones synergize all the facilities of video calling, websites, blogs and emails in one single device.
Disadvantages of Mobile Phones as business communication tool:
• The health hazards which are supposed to cause terrible mental and physical illness because of extensive use of mobile phones may prevent people form using it habitually. This may cause corporate house to change their customer relationship communication links which they have established through SMS and other mobile applications.
• The ban on unwanted SMS and mobile calls may be disadvantageous to business houses.
• The infrastructure for WLAN or 3G is still at primary level and it may take long time in spreading its penetration in towns and rural places.
• So far as SMS based communication is concerned, it has better opportunities but GPRS and software application based smart devices has its limitations. The cost of devices is normally higher for common man and ignorance of using such device also pose problems for such communication channels.
Mobile devices can be used in business to increase flexibility, speed up communication for faster business decisions and contribute to an efficient and organized communication network. The 3G enabled mobile device can turn the phone into mobile business centre. Thus, mobile phones are fast moving business communication tools which in days to come may beat laptops, computers, PDAs etc to win the race and become the best business communication tools.
VoIP:
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is voice messaging technology. It is a technology that enables voice messages to be sent via the Internet, often simultaneously with data in text or other forms. It is attractive to business people because it helps in making far distance (international) calls and transmission of voice data almost free of cost.
Advantages of VoIP as business communication tool:
• The cost effective long distance calls is the best advantage of VoIP. Internet technology helps in making such calls through some specially designed software or chat applets (IMs) like skype, GTalk, Yahoo Messenger etc. People sitting over laptops or computers connected with hi-speed internet can talk, discuss and run meetings for hours with almost negligible cost.
• It also helps in conducting meeting or video conferencing (if webcam is also connected) with various work groups from various parts of the globe. The only condition is that they all should be connected with internet.
• VoIP is also available on smart mobile phones. It really integrates business needs and optimizes business communication.
Disadvantages of VoIP as business communication tool:
• Its openness does not allow business houses to have secrecy in their communication through VoIP. The VoIP communication can be intercepted, traced and recorded. The third party can hack such conversations.
• It requires both or all the concerned people to get connected to internet through laptop or smart mobile device. It may be difficult for the travelling sales person or executive to have hi-speed internet connectivity wherever he goes.
• The internet must be of good speed and should not get disconnected in between the conversation.
• The lack of infrastructure in remote places may be biggest disadvantage for VoIP.

Instant Messenger (IM) / Chat Applet:
The IM / Chat Applets are easily downloadable applications which run with the help of internet/gprs on computers or mobile phones. These applications helps in synchronous communication with the people logged in to it. Some of popular chat applets are Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, MSN messenger, Rediff Bol, skype and several others for mobile devices. As and when two people, remotely situated, get connected through similar chat applet, via internet, they can type and send message to each other. The typed messages are displayed on each computer almost at the same time. Thus such communication is known as synchronous, where as emails/sms are asynchronous communication.
Advantages of IM / Chat Applets as business communication tool:
• The communication is neither limited to only two people nor only through text messaging. Hundreds of people can join conversation at a time, from geographically remote places.
• They an also exchange images, videos, presentation files among each other.
• Not only that, they can make calls and have group discussion or meeting also.
• It converges email, VoIP and SMS into one mode of communication. The chat conversation can be saved and if the other person/s is/are not online, even offline messages can be sent. Thus is fulfills the functions of email. As we can talk, it fulfills the function of VoIP. Just like texting SMS, we can send and receive small messages in chat applets, it satisfies the needs of SMS also.
• It is very effective tool in problem solving as IMs provides instant responses.
• Its compliance with mobile phones gives more power. Just like SMS, people remain constantly connected through IMs.
Disadvantages of IM / Chat Applet as business communication tool:
• Normally, it is more informal form of communication and because people still does not take it as serious business communication tool, its conversation is not considered as serious as email or blog.
• The reliability of chat conversation is much less than email or blog.
• For using it as serious problem solving tool, companies prefer to have scheduled chatting over IMs. But that delimits its real potential and hence people prefer to email or comment on blog or contact through website, rather than waiting for pre-scheduled timing to chat their grievances and queries with company..
Thus, IMs / Chat Applets have its own share of advantages and disadvantages as modern business communication tool. Though, it is still used by teenagers for killing time, several business houses have realized its potential to woo teenage customers and are making effective use of it in establishing essential communication links with younger generation.
At the end, the discussion on modern business communication tools may seem incomplete if social networking sites are not mentioned. Social Networking Sites (SNS) is defined by www.thefreedictionary.com in following terms:
“a web site that provides a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or just to "hang out" together. Members create their own online "profile" with biographical data, pictures, likes, dislikes and any other information they choose to post. They communicate with each other by voice, chat, instant message, videoconference and blogs, and the service typically provides a way for members to contact friends of other members.”
Primarily, the "social networking site" is the 21st century "virtual community," a group of people who use the Internet to communicate with each other about anything and everything. One can find dating sites, friendship sites, and sites with a business purpose and hybrids that offer a combination of these. The popular SNS are Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, etc. The corporate houses have realized the power and potential of popular SNS.
Now-a-days, there are several companies having their twitter account and they create trail of ‘followers’. They tweet to market their product and services. The customers can ‘retweet’ and have discussion, ask questions and have two way communications with the company through twitter. The companies also have their pages and groups / communities on Facebook and Orkut. They make optimum use of free space provided by these SNS to have their website or blog like pages and also woo customers over such web platforms. In fact, they make use of such SNS for linking their blogs, websites and other communication channels. The advantage of having SNS is that it gives opportunity to companies to reach wider audience and it is again free of cost. It gives customers to reach the company without wasting much of their time and money.
Further Reading:
Note: The resources from following websites is used at several places in the above article.

• META. http://www.mariosalexandrou.com/technology-trends/2003/80-percent-of-users-prefer-email.asp
• Dellow, James. For better, or worse: Living with e-mail in the workplace http://www.box.net/shared/6k8cx93sws
• http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/ business-blogging/comparing-blogs.html
• http://www.scribd.com/doc/2385513/Blog-as-a-Business-Communication-Tool
• http://www.article-buzz.com/Article/Nokia-E51-VOIP-Mobile-Phone-Ready-for-Your-Integrated-Business-Needs-Optimise-your-Business-Communication-System-with-Nokia-E51-VOIP-Mobile-Phone/366654

Sunday 15 May 2011

Artificial grammar reveals inborn language sense, study shows

Artificial grammar reveals inborn language sense, study shows
ScienceDaily (2011-05-13) -- How human children acquire language remains largely a mystery. A groundbreaking study by cognitive scientists confirms that human beings are born with knowledge of certain syntactical rules that make learning human languages easier.
Parents know the unparalleled joy and wonder of hearing a beloved child's first words turn quickly into whole sentences and then babbling paragraphs. But how human children acquire language-which is so complex and has so many variations-remains largely a mystery. Fifty years ago, linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky proposed an answer: Humans are able to learn language so quickly because some knowledge of grammar is hardwired into our brains. In other words, we know some of the most fundamental things about human language unconsciously at birth, without ever being taught.

Now, in a groundbreaking study, cognitive scientists at The Johns Hopkins University have confirmed a striking prediction of the controversial hypothesis that human beings are born with knowledge of certain syntactical rules that make learning human languages easier.

"This research shows clearly that learners are not blank slates; rather, their inherent biases, or preferences, influence what they will learn. Understanding how language is acquired is really the holy grail in linguistics," said lead author Jennifer Culbertson, who worked as a doctoral student in Johns Hopkins' Krieger School of Arts and Sciences under the guidance of Geraldine Legendre, a professor in the Department of Cognitive Science, and Paul Smolensky, a Krieger-Eisenhower Professor in the same department. (Culbertson is now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rochester.)

The study not only provides evidence remarkably consistent with Chomsky's hypothesis but also introduces an interesting new approach to generating and testing other hypotheses aimed at answering some of the biggest questions concerning the language learning process.

In the study, a small, green, cartoonish "alien informant" named Glermi taught participants, all of whom were English-speaking adults, an artificial nanolanguage named Verblog via a video game interface. In one experiment, for instance, Glermi displayed an unusual-looking blue alien object called a "slergena" on the screen and instructed the participants to say "geej slergena," which in Verblog means "blue slergena." Then participants saw three of those objects on the screen and were instructed to say "slergena glawb," which means "slergenas three."

Although the participants may not have consciously known this, many of the world's languages use both of those word orders-that is, in many languages adjectives precede nouns, and in many nouns are followed by numerals. However, very rarely are both of these rules used together in the same human language, as they are in Verblog.

As a control, other groups were taught different made-up languages that matched Verblog in every way but used word order combinations that are commonly found in human languages.

Culbertson reasoned that if knowledge of certain properties of human grammars-such as where adjectives, nouns and numerals should occur-is hardwired into the human brain from birth, the participants tasked with learning alien Verblog would have a particularly difficult time, which is exactly what happened.

The adult learners who had had little to no exposure to languages with word orders different from those in English quite easily learned the artificial languages that had word orders commonly found in the world's languages but failed to learn Verblog. It was clear that the learners' brains "knew" in some sense that the Verblog word order was extremely unlikely, just as predicted by Chomsky a half-century ago.

The results are important for several reasons, according to Culbertson.

"Language is something that sets us apart from other species, and if we understand how children are able to quickly and efficiently learn language, despite its daunting complexity, then we will have gained fundamental knowledge about this unique faculty," she said. "What this study suggests is that the problem of acquisition is made simpler by the fact that learners already know some important things about human languages-in this case, that certain words orders are likely to occur and others are not."

This study was done with the support of a $3.2 million National Science Foundation grant called the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship grant, or IGERT, a unique initiative aimed at training doctoral students to tackle investigations from a multidisciplinary perspective.

According to Smolensky, the goal of the IGERT program in Johns Hopkins' Cognitive Science Department is to overcome barriers that have long separated the way that different disciplines have tackled language research.

"Using this grant, we are training a generation of interdisciplinary language researchers who can bring together the now widely separated and often divergent bodies of research on language conducted from the perspectives of engineering, psychology and various types of linguistics," said Smolensky, principal investigator for the department's IGERT program.

Culbertson used tools from experimental psychology, cognitive science, linguistics and mathematics in designing and carrying out her study.

"The graduate training I received through the IGERT program at Johns Hopkins allowed me to synthesize ideas and approaches from a broad range of fields in order to develop a novel approach to a really classic question in the language sciences," she said.

MLA citation: Johns Hopkins University. "Artificial grammar reveals inborn language sense, study shows."ScienceDaily, 13 May 2011. Web. 15 May 2011.

Monday 13 December 2010

Literary Criticism in the age of information: Digital Humanities

Literary Criticism in the age of information: Digital Humanities

Dilip Barad

The literary theories and criticism has witnessed several shifts in 20th Century. Beginning with 'New Criticism', it ran through 'Reception Theory', 'Stylistics', 'Russian Formalism', 'Structuralism', 'Marxism', 'Psycho-analytical school', post-structuralism', 'Feminism'; along with voices of Modernism, Post-modernism, post-colonialism, cultural studies, new historicism . . . and what not.

All these glasses (spectacles for some) gave us varied ways - colourful most of the times, 'cleared our vision if we have cataract' at times and also concave or convex on several occasions or a rainbow kind of spectrum passing through the prism glass. All these glasses transforms into mirror and we see our own self projected in your reading of literature.

However, it is important to inquire, what is the reason of such turns and twists in the 'studies' of the study of literatures?

Well, what John Wain (though said in some other context) wrote in 'Strength and Isolation: Pessimistic Notes of a Miltonolater' in Frank Kermod's The Living Milton (1960: Routledge) may have some answer to this shifting paradigms of 20th century.
He wrote: "The modern sensibility works in naturally with a medium like the cinema, with its endless fading in and fading out, its tracking, panning and all the rest of the devies for keeping dimension and angle in a continually shifting state . . . Symbolism on the one hand, the cinema on the other; concentration and discontinuity ..."

How far can we blame cinematic habit to these scenario is a debatable issue. But if it has a grain of truth, then what can we think about the sensibility of the man in the age of information - in an era of internet - the digital age - amidst flood of information and constantly changing world/reality? And what sort of theories and critical practices are we to confront in the 21st century?

The reading of these articles can help us make our position more sound and significant in the making and reading of 21st century literature:





  • What Is Digital Humanities and What’s It Doing in English Departments? Matthew G. Kirschenbaum.


  • A New Computer-Assisted Literary Criticism? Raymond G. Siemens
  • Research Prospects in Digital Humanities
  • Matthew Jockers's Macroanalysis: (Down load chapters from the book)
  • Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture
  • Humanities in the Digital Age



  • Marie-Laure Ryan quite categorically argues in ‘Introduction’ Cyberspace Textuality: Computer Technology and Literary Theory: “Computers were once thought of as number-crunching machines; but for most of us it is their ability to create worlds and process words that have made them into a nearly indispensable part of life. If computers are everywhere, it is because they have grown into ‘poetry machines’. The digital revolution of the last decade has let words on the loose, not just by liberating their semantic potential, as most avant-garde movements of the past hundred years have done, but in a physical, quite literal sense as well.” (Ryan). She further remarks which opens up the floodgates for those who wants to research on language on the screen: “Sometimes the words on the loose become malleable substance in our hands, as we grab them with a hand-shaped cursor, move them, erase them, banish and recall them, pull more words form under words, cut them out and paste them into a new context; sometimes they become actors and dancers on the stage of the computer screen, animated by the scropt of an invisible program; sometimes they fail to regroup at the end of their trip, and the screen fills up with garbage, dismembered text, visual nonsense, or surrealistic graphics. Whether we play with them or watch them perform for us, whether we control them or they rebel against us, electronic words never stand still for long, never settle down on a page, even when a copy is sent to the printer; for the printer merely outputs a lifeless replica, as still photograph of objects in motion.” (Ryan).

    Any idea? Please share in comments . . .



    Digital Humanities and Computer Assisted Literary Criticism from Dilip Barad



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    Activity: (Give your response in the 'Comment' section below this post)

    Works Cited

    Aarseth, Espen. "Aporia and Epiphany in Doom and Speaking Clock: The Temporality of Ergodic Art." Ryan, Marie-Laure. Cyberspace Textuality: Computer Technology and Literary Theory. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1999. 285.
    Aiden, Erez and Jean-Baptiste Michel. Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens of Human Culture. Global: Penguine, 2013.
    Arnold, Matthew. "The Study of Poetry(1880)." 1909-14. Bartleby.com > TheHarvard Classics. 21 Jan 2014 <http://www.bartleby.com/28/5.html>.
    Coldewey, Devin. "Data mining the classics makes for beautiful science." 20 Aug 2012. NBC News Technology. 21 Jan 2014 <http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/data-mining-classics-makes-beautiful-science-954577>.
    Deresiewicz, William. "Professing Literature in 2008." The Nation (11 March 2008).
    Dryden, John. "Of Drammatick Poesy." 1668.
    English, James F. The Global Future of English Studies. First. UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
    Frye, Northrop. "New Directions from Old." Frye, Northrop. Fables of Identity: Studies in Poetic Mythology. New York: A Harbinger Book, 1963. 264.
    Frye, Northrop. "The Archetypes of Literature." Frye, Northrop. Fables of Identity: Studies in Poetic Mythology. USA: A Harbinger Book, 1963. 264.
    Jockers, Matthew. "Characterization in Literature and the Macroanalysis Lab." 8 Jan 2014. Matthew L. Jockers. 21 Jan 2014 <http://www.matthewjockers.net/>.
    —. "Macroanalysis: Digital Methods and Literary History." 2013. University of Illinois Press. 21 Jan 2014 <http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/88wba3wn9780252037528.html>.
    Kermod, Frank. 'Strength and Isolation: Pessimistic Notes of a Miltonolater' in The Living Milton (1960: Routledge)
    Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. "What Is Digital Humanities and What’s It Doing in English Departments?" ADE Bulletin (2010): 7.
    Levy, Pierre and Rikka (Tr. from French) Stewen. "Toward Superlanguage." SOH University of California-Irvine. 21 Jan 2014 <http://www.hnet.uci.edu/mposter/syllabi/readings/levy.html>.
    McLemee, Scott. "Crunching Literature." 1 May 2013. Inside Higher Ed. 21 Jan 2014 <http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/05/01/review-matthew-l-jockers-macroanalysis-digital-methods-literary-history>.
    Peacock, Thomas Love. "The Four Ages of Poetry." Literary Miscellany 1820.
    Popova, Maria. "From Galileo to Google: How Big Data Illuminates Human Culture." 17 Jan 2014. brainpickings.org. 21 Jan 2014 <http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/01/17/uncharted-big-data/>.
    Ricoeur, Paul. "Time and Narrative." Chicaco and London VOl III (1988).
    Rockwell, Geoffrey, Peter Organisciak, Megan Meredith-Lobay, Kamal Ranaweera, Stan Ruecker, Julianne Nyhan. "The Design of an International Social Media Event: A Day in the Life of the Digital Humanities." digital humanities quarterly (2012): http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/6/2/000123/000123.html.
    Ryan, Marie-Laure. Cyberspace Textuality: Computer Technology and Literary Theory. Ed. Marie-Laure Ryan. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.
    Wikipedia, Contributors. Digital Humanities. 10 Jan 2014. Wikipedia. 21 Jan 2014 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_humanities>.


    Tuesday 8 June 2010

    Workshop by KCG on NME-ICT and role of ICT in Higher Education



    Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat (initiation of Department of Education, Govt. of Gujarat) organised one day workshop on 7th June 2010 to orient university and college teachers towards National Mission of Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT) – a multi-crore project set in motion by Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India.

    The resource persons were invited from IIM-A, IGNOU and Delhi University. I was pleased to be one of the resource persons among such an elite class of educationist. I made presentation on 'How some web 2.0 tools can be used in Continuous Internal Assessment and prepare ePortfolios of students, institutes and teachers'.



    As I have to reach at Amhedabad Management Association, Ahmedabad before 9 am, I left Bhavnagar sharp at 6:20 am. The weather was cloudy and windy.
    The mornings are normally very cool and breezy on the highway towards Ahmedabad. But this morning was gloomy and dark – reminded of the environment created by Shakespeare for the encounter of three witches with Macbeth and Banquo.

    I feared not witches, but equally ill-omened rain and cyclone.
    I drove Zen-Estilo at its highest speed. I cannot run it faster than 160 KMPH. The small cars have their limits.

    I was not able to escape the cyclonic wind and torrent of rain. Soon I was amidst tumultuous outpouring of waters from the sky and tempestuous storm.




    Fortunately, I did not confront any ill-incident and reached AMA safely and before time.



    The AMA campus was fully drenched in rain and presumed a resemblance to newly wed bride. Each and every leaf of the trees, shrubs, bushes and grass were glowing with blissful glisten.



    AMA is one of the most appropriate venues for such academic gatherings. They have fully equipped auditorium and have facilities to manage all the logistics required for seminar, conferences and workshops.

    As I reached a bit early, I got chance to take snaps of the simple, sober and orderly kept auditorium.

    I enjoyed sharing my experience of using some of the web tools for specific purpose like Continuous Internal Assessment and ePortfolio.
    The gist of my presentation was to share an idea regarding internal assessment of students in semester system and use of ICT. With appropriate integration of Web tools (ICT), the teacher can make the classroom live, interactive and full of active participation from students.



    It can open vistas of multiple communication channels in the (virtual) classroom which is normally one way communication (Teacher to Students) in traditional mode of teaching. It can also bring transparency to the internal assessment system as all the assignments, presentations and test records with comments of teachers are available of websites and accessible to everybody. All the students can see what their peers have done and parents can also tract the academic records of their students. This activity of taking learning on the web platform can lead into auto-generation of ePortfolios of not only students, but also of the teacher and the institute. It can be of great help to students when they are out in job market. It can be helpful to teachers in their self appraisals and to the institute, in academic evaluation by external agency like NAAC or ISO. The session ended with some inquisitive questions from the participants.

    Monday 8 June 2009

    Workshop UGC NET / SLET

    This presentation was prepared for the workshop at HMP Institute of English Training and Research, Gujarat (INDIA). It deals with some important questions for the preparation of UGC NET / SLET examination for the qalification of Lecturer. It also gives brief introduction about some important books on Literary Theory and Criticism.

    Wikipedia and Twitter in School Curricula



    ‘UK primary schools to include Twitter and Wikipedia in the curricula’


    It is, in deed, a commendable move. If we want to make our future generation think out of the box, catch them young. Right from their childhood give them web 2.0 tools and let them toy with them. We do not want our next generation to be merely master-users of virtual world. Unlike today’s younger generation, we want them to be ‘creator’ of virtual wealth. We do not want them to be mere ‘users’, we want them to be ‘contributors’ to the wealth of information, knowledge and growing wisdom. To have our future generation to be such, we have to teach them the tricks at early stage of their edu-career.

    Moreover, Wikipedia is free sharing web encyclopedia. By teaching our kids to master such web 2.0 tools, we also teach them moral lesson. We teach them the ethics of sharing FREE. Knowledge is not of sale, information is to be shared with one and all, wisdom is no man’s monopoly, irrespective of class, creed, colour, community or country, it should be shared, contributed and used by one and all. Indian Gurus never patented or copyrighted thier inventions and writings. It was all FREE for the bettermentof human beings. Let us instill Indian traditional ethics in our young generation by giving them reigns of technology.

    Sunday 7 June 2009

    Communication Skills for Teachers - I

    This presentation was presented in the Orientation Programme at Academic Staff College, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. It deals with some basic communication skills required among the teachers to be effective communicator and efficacious teacher.
    Communication Skills for Teachers
    View more OpenOffice presentations from Dilip Barad.

    The transcript of the presentation:
    • 1. Communication Skills for Teachers Dr. Dilip Barad Dept. of English, Bhavnagar University dilipbarad@gmail.com 5th May, 2009: Friday ASC, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad
    • 2. Plan of Action • Introduction: What is communication? • Importance of communication – esp for teachers? • Why/how teachers fail – bulgaria? Penny • Important points to be a good communicaitor in the classroom… • Types of learning styles: • Follow-up action in communication with the help of technology – sms/email/scrap/tweet/forum/ • Uploading lesson plans/classroom presentations on websites/SIGs- yahoo- Google • Real life situation: Group activity: Discuss your communication problems and how you try to overcome them?
    • 3. Myth Vs Reality Communication Myths Communication Reality Communication is a conscious / deliberate Communication is an unconscious process process. (e.g. Osho’s visit to disciple, and it goes on at every moment of time! father-2 son,) We communicate primarily through We communicate through ‘verbal’ as well ‘words’ only. (Vodafone) as ‘non-verbal signs. Words mean the same to everyone. Meaning of the words lies more in (Pardon, women) perception of reality. (Idea ? EduSpread or joblessness) Communication is a one-sided process Communication is a two-way process and and it is controlled by communicator. it always happens, controlled by none. Message sent and message received are Transmission and reception of message the same. (see next slide for e.g.) can never be identical.
    • 4. http://www.towerofpower.com.au/the-greatest-15-myths-of-communication
    • 5. Introduction: • Morgan, Algiro L. in his paper ‘Communication Skills for Teachers’ • “One of the most neglected aspects of teacher training is thorough preparation in the diverse communication skills that are needed by good teachers in today's schools.”
    • 6. Why doe he say so and what does he mean by it? • Why: What do you mean by communication? • Peter Little: “Communication is the process by which information is transmitted so that an understanding response results.” • Lyndsay Swinton: “It's not about whizzy powerpoint slides or wordy reports. Effective communication is about being understood.” • Success comes in direct proportion to the command one has over communication. • Knowledge is power – but it is potential power – it should be acted upon – otherwise . . .
    • 7. Algiro Morgan • “Pre-professional teachers require a grounding in communication theory, a thorough knowledge of how children acquire competence, an understanding of how language is used, an ability to discern and to respond sensitively to the body language used in a communicative transaction, rhetorical skills for the organization and delivery of specific knowledge and skills, and a grounding in group dynamics and group discussion skills.”
    • 8. Communication Skills for teachers • Teaching is generally considered – – 50% knowledge and – 50% interpersonal or communication skills. • What consists of this communication skills?
    • 9. Six Important Points: CS 4 T • Positive Motivation: create interest, enthusiasm, remove fear and inhibition. • Effective Body Language: Gestures, body movement with verbal skills – never sit and teach - Moving in aisles. • Sense of Humor: do not confuse dirty jokes with humour. • Understanding the Students: prefer dialogue over monologue – listen students’ opinion. • Team Formation: helps in mutual understanding students as well as teacher. • Technical skills: Up-to-date with latest techno-tools for teaching.
    • 10. Is it as easy as it is said??? • No… it is not that easy. To learn to communicate is a difficult task. • Some teachers can produce the effect – quite effortlessly…. Others die hard to, but never succeeds!!! • Are teachers born or made???Penny Ur – 1997, conference presentation:
    • 11. Penny Ur - 1997 • In this respect she identifies some essential qualities, which relate to teaching rather than other professions: • – I sense where the learner is at, what their problem is: I feel what they know and what they don’t know. – I know how to transform what I know about the language into a form that is accessible to my learners – I know how to design and administer activities and exercises that will foster learning – I know when learning is and is not happening by the way the learners behave: I don’t need tests – I get my ‘buzz’ from when the students succeed, learn, progress
    • 12. Very important to remember whil teaching: various Learning Styles: • Auditory Learner: It is a learning style in which a person learns through listening. • Visual Learner: Itis a teaching and learning style in which ideas, concepts, data and other information are associated with images and graphs/charts/playcards. • Kinesthetic Learner: It is a teaching and learning style in which learning takes place by the student actually carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration.
    • 13. How to identify them? • Auditory Learner: • Visual Learner: • Kinesthetic Learner:
    • 14. Use of technology as follow-up actions in communication skills • Pedagogy is evolving with newer technological aids for better communication in classroom. • Various ICT components helps teacher in enhancing their skills in teaching. • It also has its deep rooted impact on the learning of the students. • Here, we discuss how can we sharpen our communication skills by using it for follow-up actions?
    • 15. • SMS, email, scrap, tweet, chat, web spaces, SIG, etc can be used effectively for: – Replying questions of the students – Solving their doubts/queries etc – Giving some task for next class in advance – Having group discussion out of the class – Uploading lesson presentation to web spaces – Running web sites with LMS to check students progress – Managing e-groups (SIGs) – file upload, poll, discussion, photos etc.
    • 16. Real life classroom problems in communication !!! • Group activity: • Discuss with your partners some of communication crisis you faced in your classroom and how did you manage to overcome it? • The group representative will present the report of their discussion. • 20 mins for discussion • Each group representative will get 5 mins to present their discussion.
    • 17. Thank You… • Questions???? • Before you ask, please view next slide! • References • Cullen, R., 1998, “Teacher talk & the classroom context”, ELTJournal 52/3 • Gower,R., Phillips,D. & Walters,W. 1995, Teaching Practice Handbook, Heinemann • Malamah-Thomas, A. 1987, Classroom Interaction, Oxford University Press • Ur, P. ,1997, “Are teachers born or made?”, IATEFL UK conference proceedings • http://searchwarp.com/swa10270.htm • http://www.latitudes.org/articles/learn01.html • http://successfulteaching.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-to-teach-tactile- kinesthetic.html • http://www.educ.uvic.ca/epls/faculty/rowles/301.htm • http://www.studyingstyle.com/auditory-learners.html • http://www.wikipedia.com • http://www.abbahomeschool.com/typestyle.html
    • 18. Dr. Dilip Barad can be contacted @... • dilipbarad@gmail.com • www.dilipbarad.com • http://dilipbarad.blogspot.com • www.wikieducator.org/user:Dilipbarad • Yahoo Messenger: d_barad • Google Talk: dilipbarad • Orkut: dilipbarad • Facebook: dilipbarad • Presentations: www.slideshare.net/dilipbarad

    Monday 9 March 2009

    Mahatma’s Memorabilia



    Auctioning and Vijay Mallya's winning auction of Mahatma's belonging is the mother of all ironies. The hype and uproar made for the belongings of the man who abstain from all sort of material possession is surprising. More than that, the memorabilia of the man who stood for teetotalism throughout his life is proudly bought back to our country by the man who earned his money form liquor business. What more do you expect from mother Irony!   

    The message of the man who told that 'my life is my message' is lost in the oblivion. The man who killed Mahatma wanted to kill his ideas and beliefs. He failed. He could only kill the man. Now the people who want to keep the Mahatma alive are in reality killing the ideas and beliefs for which he stood and are trying to keep the man alive through his belongings. How ironical!

    Wednesday 4 February 2009

    CALL - Computer Assisted Language Learning

    Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is a form of computer-based learning which carries two important features: bidirectional learning and individualized learning. It is not a method. CALL materials are tools for learning. The focus of CALL is learning, and not teaching. CALL materials are used in teaching to facilitate the language learning process. It is a student-centered learning material, which promotes self-paced learning.

    Thursday 25 December 2008

    Experimenting ICT in English Language and Literature

    This article was published in 'The AsiaCall Online Journal (ISSN: 1936-9859). The full article can be downloaded from this link: Click here to Download full article.

    We live in an era of information explosion. Once there was famine of information, today we are drowned in the deluge of information. Gale of change is blowing in the pedagogy of Teaching English Language and Literature (TELL). Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a catalyst agent. ICT has initiated new possibilities into the classroom. The marriage between education and Internet technology has made a deep impact on perspectives about teaching and learning. The role of the teacher, the nature and context of learning, as well as the function and relative importance of course content have all been challenged and redefined. Technophobic teachers have no place in this new world order.
    This paper aims at sharing practical experiments with ICT in Teaching English Language and Literature. It deals with pragmatic aspects of using ICT with the student community of Business Management and Humanities. The extensive use of web 2.0 components, internet, blogs, e-groups, SMSs, emails, socializing portals, e-dictionaries, e-ncyclopedia, ppt presentations, webcasting, audio-video etc as teaching tools were experimented in the classroom. The student community was motivated to make use of cyber cafes and GPRS mobiles to interact with the teacher.
    The paper deals with very pertinent questions:
    • How far is ICT useful to student community?
    • What is the role of ICT in teaching English language and literature?
    • What kind of methods can be used to overcome students' problems?
    • Can it empower student community? Can it improve their proficiency of learning?

    How to cite this article:

    APA
    Barad, D. (2010). EXPERIMENTING ICT IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. AsiaCALL Online Journal, 4(1). Retrieved 2010-07-04, from 

    MLA
    Barad, Dilip. "EXPERIMENTING ICT IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE" AsiaCALL Online Journal [Online], 4 3 Jul 2010
    CBE
    Barad, D. 2010 Jul 3. EXPERIMENTING ICT IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. AsiaCALL Online Journal. [Online] 4:1
    ABNT
    Barad, D.. EXPERIMENTING ICT IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. AsiaCALL Online Journal, North America, 4 3 07 2010.
    Bib Tex
    @article{{ACOJ}{21},
                   author = {Barad, D.},
                   title = {EXPERIMENTING ICT IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE},
                   journal = {AsiaCALL Online Journal},
                   volume = {4},
                   number = {1},
                   year = {2010},

                   url = {http://asiacall.info/journals/asiacall_online/index.php/olj/article/view/21/16}
    }

    Ref Works
    @article{{ACOJ}{21},
                author = {Barad, D.},
                title = {EXPERIMENTING ICT IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE},
                journal = {AsiaCALL Online Journal},
                volume = {4},
                number = {1},
                year = {2010},

                url = {http://asiacall.info/journals/asiacall_online/index.php/olj/article/view/21/16}
    }
    Turabian
    Barad, Dilip. "EXPERIMENTING ICT IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE" AsiaCALL Online Journal [Online], Volume 4 Number 1 (3 July 2010)



    Dictionary Skills

    Dictionary is the Geeta, the Bible, the Qoran for the genuine learners. As one cannot achieve spiritual salvation without the Guru and the Granth (the religious book), similarly, one cannot achieve knowledge without the Dictinary. Dictionaries are both the Guru and the Granth. It is the book which can well be termed as the friend, philosopher and the guide. It is up to the user as to how better advantages can be taken from dictionaries. Dictionary is like Shakespeare. Remember what Mathew Arnold wrote in his poem on Shakespeare: "We ask and ask - Thou smilest and art still,/ Out-topping knowledge." Let us see the following presentation to learn 'how to make best use of Dictionary?'
    Dictionary Skills
    View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: dictionary online)

    Academic Writing Skills 2

    We think Study Writing is most suitable for students whose English level is between intermediate and early advanced (approximately IELTS 5.0 - 7.0, TOEFL 480 - 600, Computer based TOEFL 160 - 250, or new generation iBT TOEFL 55-100). These presentations on Academic Writing skills will help you in five main ways. Firstly, it will introduce you to key concepts in academic writing, such as the role of generalizations, definitions and classifications. Secondly, you will explore the use of information structures such as those used to develop ans present an argument, a comparison or a contrast. Thirdly, you will be guided through the language as it is used in academic writing. Fourthly, you will become familiar with particular genres such as the research paper. Finally, you will try out some of the processes which we have found help students to improve their writing abilities, such as how to participate in a virtual peer group and how to get feedback on a piece of writing before you present a final draft.
    Academic Writing Skills 2
    View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: academic writing)

    Academic Writing Skills 1

    Of all the skills of language learning, viz., L-S-R-W, Writing Skills is one of the most important one. Today, we live in an era of specialization. It is time to give special attention to writing skills for special purpose. Here, in the given presentation, we shall discuss the writing skills required for academic purpose only. Writing for academic purpose, say for instance, for research article, for Ph.D. or M.Phil. dissertation, etc is not as simple as writing for communicative purpose. Academic writing has some unique features. These features will be highlighted in this presentaiton series on AWS (Academic Writing Skills.
    Academic Writing Skills 1
    View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: academic writing)