Whither the Language Lab?

Language Labs have experienced many changes over thepast several years, from changes in names to changes in direction.This edited transcription of a panel discussion at the1994 TESOL conference by six experienced language lab directorsprovides an informal and free-wheeling discussionabout the following questions: (1) What's in a name (change)?(2) What is the most appropriate role for technology with respectto language learning and teaching? (3) What is the roleof the language lab vis-a-vis faculty and adminis tration? (4)What are students' perceptions of language labs? (5) Whathas had the greatest impact on language labs over the last tento twenty years? (6) What are the fundamental characteristicsof the ideal lab director? (7) What is the greatest challengefacing the language lab today, as well as into the next decade?(8) Whither the language lab? What direction do we see ourselvesmoving in the next generation

Noam Chomsky on Where Artificial Intelligence Went Wrong

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Research in nonlinear structural and solid mechanics

Recent and projected advances in applied mechanics, numerical analysis, computer hardware and engineering software, and their impact on modeling and solution techniques in nonlinear structural and solid mechanics are discussed. The fields covered are rapidly changing and are strongly impacted by current and projected advances in computer hardware. To foster effective development of the technology perceptions on computing systems and nonlinear analysis software systems are presented

Selling Technology: The Changing Shape of Sales in an Information Economy

[Excerpt] This book describes and explains the changing nature of sales through the daily experiences of salespeople, engineers, managers, and purchasing agents who construct markets for emergent technologies through their daily engagement in sales interactions… [It] provides a grounded empirical account of sales work in an area that has been the subject of insufficient study, namely contemporary industrial markets where firms trade with other firms

On social function: new language for discussing technology for social action

Designers of technology for social action can often become embroiled in issues of platform and technical functionality at a very early stage in the development process, before the precise social value of an approach has been explored. The loyalty of designers to particular technologies and to ways of working can divide activist communities and, arguably, has weakened the social action world’s performance in exploiting technology with maximum usefulness and usability. In this paper, we present a lexicon for discussing technology and social action by reference to the intention and relationship to use, rather than to detailed functionality. In short, we offer a language to support discussions of social function, and thus to avoid premature commitment or argument about architecture or implementation details.</p

ACM Curriculum Reports: A Pedagogic Perspective

In this paper, we illuminate themes that emerged in interviews with participants in the major curriculum recommendation efforts: we characterize the way the computing community interacts with and influences these reports and introduce the term “pedagogic projection” to describe implicit assumptions of how these reports will be used in practice. We then illuminate how this perceived use has changed over time and may affect future reports