Idea: ‘Got, Got, Need’
A title for [something] about trading cards/stickers.
Plop art” was the dismissive term coined by architect James Wines in 1969 for large, geometric, abstract sculptures in corporate settings, suggesting that their commissioning and placement were too easy. It was as if the corporate owners said to the people of New York, “Here you go, some Art.” But bad imitations should not lessen the impact of superior examples, and as Huxtable points out, the cube is just the right size, shape and color, set just the right distance from the building.
— How to be an Architecture Critic, Alexandra Lange
the defence of the English language… has nothing to do with the setting up of a ‘standard English’ which must never be departed from. On the contrary, it is especially concerned with the scrapping of every word or idiom which has outworn its usefulness. It has nothing to do with correct grammar and syntax, which are of no importance so long as one makes one’s meaning clear. What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way about. When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualising, you probably hunt about till you find the exact words that seem to fit it. When you think of something abstract you are more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a conscious effort to prevent it, the existing dialect will come rushing in and do the job for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your meaning. Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one’s meaning as clear as one can through pictures or sensations. Afterwards one can choose—not simply accept—the parses that will best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what impression one’s words are likely to make on another person. This last effort of the mind cuts out all stale or mixed images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and vagueness generally.
— George Orwell
Idea: Better Texts Database
Using a programme, like the one previously mentioned, a database of essays and academic writings could be formed which are in fact a version of the former text, but are easier to understand and do not violate any copyright law, which has resulted in the loss of similar databases.
The programme used to ‘translate’ texts in a more readable language will also be available for download. If a text you wish to read is not already in the database, but you can get hold of the original, you also have the tool to ‘translate’ your chosen text, and then upload it to the database.
Perhaps a certain poetry would be lost in the changing (simplifying) of the texts, but so long as the theories are carried through well enough, does it matter? Theorists are theorists after all, writing is just the easiest medium for them for get their ideas across, perhaps it doesn’t matter if the original writing is bastardised?
Idea: Essay Simplifier*
*Currently something I am working on.
> Concerning the readability and understanding of an academic text.
An algorithm which picks apart a given text for key words, names, key phrases etc. and performs a simple Flickr image search with these phrases. It then uses the found images to illustrate the text.
Using the Flickr API.
I recently decided that essays which are heavily illustrated with relevant imagery, read a lot better and I find I understand the text more fully.
Another Idea:
Similar to above, but checks the definition and/or synonyms for each and every word, and replaces a complex, uncommon word, with a simpler one or it’s counterpart definition.
Using the Dictionary API.
Kahneman, in Thinking, Fast and Slow, shows that simple language is in fact better remembered, and better understood. So unnecessarily complex words make it harder for the reader.
Ultimately it would be nice if both ideas could be put together, and an online text URL could be entered and analysed.
