Jakob Voss Measuring Wikipedia PREPRINT 2005-04-12 Measuring Wikipedia
香煽英文翻译
香煽英文翻译Kōshi (香煽), literally meaning "incense offering," is a traditional Japanese Buddhist practice of burning incense as an act of reverence and prayer. During a Kōshi ceremony, the practitioner lights a bundle of incense sticks and places them in a special censer or other container. As the smoke rises, prayers are made for peace, prosperity, long life, and health.Kōshi has been part of Japanese Buddhism since its introduction to Japan in the 6th century. It is believed that when one burns incense, their prayers will dissipate and pass through the smoke, creating a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds.In addition to being used in Buddhist ceremonies and rituals, Kōshi is also commonly used in everyday life. Many individuals burn incense daily as part of their regular meditation practice. It is said to help purify the air and create an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.Kōshi ceremonies vary from temple to temple, but typically involve the lighting of incense sticks and the recitation of Buddhist prayers. A flame is usually lit in the censer or other container for the sticks to be placed in and the smoke rising from the incense is said to carry prayers to the celestial realm. Some practitioners will also chant mantras or recite sutras during the offering.Kōshi is an integral part of Japanese culture and has been practiced for centuries. It is seen not only as a spiritual practice, but also as a form of honoring ancestorsand expressing gratitude to the universe. By engaging in this ritual, one hopes to create peace within themselves as well as with the divine.。
Language Learning Strategies
Language Learning Strategies: An Overview for L2 TeachersMichael Lessard-Cloustonz95014 [at] kgupyr.kwansei.ac.jpKwansei Gakuin University (Nishinomiya, Japan)First published in Essays in Languages and Literatures, 8, at Kwansei GakuinUniversity, December 1997.This article provides an overview of language learning strategies (LLS) for second and foreign language (L2/FL) teachers. To do so it outlines the background of LLS and LLS training, discusses a three step approach teachers may follow in using LLS in their classes, and summarises key reflections and questions for future research on this aspect of L2/FL education. It also lists helpful contacts and internet sites where readers may access up-to-date information on LLS teaching and research.IntroductionWithin the field of education over the last few decades a gradual but significant shift has taken place, resulting in less emphasis on teachers and teaching and greater stress on learners and learning. This change has been reflected in various ways in language education and applied linguistics, ranging from the Northeast Conference (1990) entitled "Shifting the Instructional Focus to the Learner" and annual "Learners' Conferences" held in conjuction with the TESL Canada convention since 1991, to key works on "the learner-centred curriculum" (Nunan, 1988, 1995) and "learner-centredness as language education" (Tudor, 1996).This article provides an overview of key issues concerning one consequence of the above shift: the focus on and use of language learning strategies (LLS) in second and foreign language (L2/FL) learning and teaching. In doing so, the first section outlines some background on LLS and summarises key points from the LLS literature. The second section considers some practical issues related to using LLS in the classroom, outlining a three step approach to implementing LLS training in normal L2/FL courses. The third section then briefly discusses some important issues and questions for further LLS research. In the fourth section the article ends by noting a number of contacts readers may use to locate and receive up-to-date information on LLS teaching and research in this widely developing area in L2/FL education.1. BACKGROUNDLearning StrategiesIn a helpful survey article, Weinstein and Mayer (1986) defined learning strategies (LS) broadly as "behaviours and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning" which are "intended to influence the learner's encoding process" (p. 315). Later Mayer (1988) more specifically defined LS as "behaviours of a learner that are intended to influence how the learner processes information" (p. 11). These early definitions from the educational literature reflect the roots of LS in cognitive science, with its essential assumptions that human beings process information and that learning involves such information processing. Clearly, LS are involved in all learning, regardless of the content and context. LS are thus used in learning and teaching math, science, history, languages and other subjects, both in classroom settings and more informal learning environments. For insight into the literature on LS outside of language education, the works of Dansereau (1985) and Weinstein, Goetz and Alexander (1988) are key, and one recent LS study of note is that of Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes and Simmons (1997). In the rest of this paper, the focus will specifically be on language LS in L2/FL learning.Language Learning Strategies DefinedWithin L2/FL education, a number of definitions of LLS have been used by key figures in the field. Early on, Tarone (1983) defined a LS as "an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language -- to incoporate these into one's interlanguage competence" (p. 67). Rubin (1987) later wrote that LS "are strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learner constructs and affect learning directly" (p. 22). In their seminal study, O'Malley and Chamot (1990) defined LS as "the special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information" (p. 1). Finally, building on work in her book for teachers (Oxford, 1990a), Oxford (1992/1993) provides specific examples of LLS (i.e., "In learning ESL, Trang watches U.S. TV soap operas, guessing the meaning of new expressions and predicting what will come next") and this helpful definition:nguage learning strageties -- specific actions, behaviours, steps, or techniques that students (often intentionally) use to improve their progress in developing L2 skills. These strageties can facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval, or use of the new language. Strategies are tools for the self-directed involvement necessary for developing communicative ability. (Oxford, 1992/1993, p. 18)From these definitions, a change over time may be noted: from the early focus on the product of LSS (linguistic or sociolinguistic competence), there is now agreater emphasis on the processes and the characteristics of LLS. At the same time, we should note that LLS are distinct from learning styles, which refer more broadly to a learner's "natural, habitual, and preferred way(s) of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills" (Reid, 1995, p. viii), though there appears to be an obvious relationship between one's language learning style and his or her usual or preferred language learning strategies.What are the Characteristics of LLS?Although the terminology is not always uniform, with some writers using the terms "learner strategies" (Wendin & Rubin, 1987), others "learning strategies"(O'Malley & Chamot, 1990; Chamot & O'Malley, 1994), and still others "language learning strategies" (Oxford, 1990a, 1996), there are a number of basic characteristics in the generally accepted view of LLS. First, LLS are learner generated; they are steps taken by language learners. Second, LLS enhance language learning and help develop language competence, as reflected in the learner's skills in listening, speaking, reading, or writing the L2 or FL. Third, LLS may be visible (behaviours, steps, techniques, etc.) or unseen (thoughts, mental processes). Fourth, LLS involve information and memory (vocabulary knowledge, grammar rules, etc.).Reading the LLS literature, it is clear that a number of further aspects of LLS are less uniformly accepted. When discussing LLS, Oxford (1990a) and others such as Wenden and Rubin (1987) note a desire for control and autonomy of learning on the part of the learner through LLS. Cohen (1990) insists that only conscious strategies are LLS, and that there must be a choice involved on the part of the learner. Transfer of a strategy from one language or language skill to another is a related goal of LLS, as Pearson (1988) and Skehan (1989) have discussed. In her teacher-oriented text, Oxford summarises her view of LLS by listing twelve key features. In addition to the characteristics noted above, she states that LLS:•allow learners to become more self-directed•expand the role of language teachers•are problem-oriented•involve many aspects, not just the cognitive•can be taught•are flexible•are influenced by a variety of factors.(Oxford, 1990a, p. 9)Beyond this brief outline of LLS characterisitics, a helpful review of the LLS research and some of the implications of LLS training for second language acquisition may be found in Gu (1996).Why are LLS Important for L2/FL Learning and Teaching?Within 'communicative' approaches to language teaching a key goal is for the learner to develop communicative competence in the target L2/FL, and LLS can help students in doing so. After Canale and Swain's (1980) influencial article recognised the importance of communication strategies as a key aspect of strategic (and thus communicative) competence, a number of works appeared about communication strategies in L2/FL teaching2. An important distinction exists, however, between communication and language learning strategies. Communication strategies are used by speakers intentionally and consciously in order to cope with difficulties in communicating in a L2/FL (Bialystok, 1990). The term LLS is used more generally for all strategies that L2/FL learners use in learning the target language, and communication strategies are therefore just one type of LLS. For all L2 teachers who aim to help develop their students' communicative competence and language learning, then, an understanding of LLS is crucial. As Oxford (1990a) puts it, LLS "...are especially important for language learning because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence" (p. 1).In addition to developing students' communicative competence, LLS are important because research suggests that training students to use LLS can help them become better language learners. Early research on 'good language learners' by Naiman, Frohlich, Stern, and Todesco (1978, 1996), Rubin (1975), and Stern (1975) suggested a number of positive strategies that such students employ, ranging from using an active task approach in and monitoring one's L2/FL performance to listening to the radio in the L2/FL and speaking with native speakers. A study by O'Malley and Chamot (1990) also suggests that effective L2/FL learners are aware of the LLS they use and why they use them. Graham's (1997) work in French further indicates that L2/FL teachers can help students understand good LLS and should train them to develop and use them.A caution must also be noted though, because, as Skehan (1989) states, "there is always the possibility that the 'good' language learning strategies...are also used by bad language learners, but other reasons cause them to be unsuccessful" (p. 76). In fact Vann and Abraham (1990) found evidence that suggests that both 'good' and 'unsuccessful' language learners can be active users of similar LLS, though it is important that they also discovered that their unsuccessful learners "cked...what are often called metacognitive strategies...which would enable them to assess the task and bring to bear the necessary strategies for its completion" (p. 192). It appears, then, that a number and range of LLS are important if L2/FL teachers are to assist students both in learning the L2/FL and in becoming good language learners.What Kinds of LLS Are There?There are literally hundreds of different, yet often interrelated, LLS. As Oxford has developed a fairly detailed list of LLS in her taxonomy, it is useful to summarise it briefly here. First, Oxford (1990b) distinguishes between direct LLS, "which directly involve the subject matter", i.e. the L2 or FL, and indirect LLS, which "do not directly involve the subject matter itself, but are essential to language learning nonetheless" (p. 71). Second, each of these broad kinds of LLS is further divided into LLS groups. Oxford outlines three main types of direct LLS, for example. Memory strategies "aid in entering information into long-term memory and retrieving information when needed for communication". Cognitive LLS "are used for forming and revising internal mental models and receiving and producing messages in the target language". Compensation strategies "are needed to overcome any gaps in knowledge of the language" (Oxford, 1990b, p. 71). Oxford (1990a, 1990b) also describes three types of indirect LLS. Metacognitive strageties "help learners exercise 'executive control' through planning, arranging, focusing, and evaluating their own learning". Affective LLS "enable learners to control feelings, motivations, and attitudes related to language learning". Finally, social strategies "facilitate interaction with others, often in a discourse situation" (Oxford, 1990b, p. 71).A more detailed overview of these six main types of LLS is found in Oxford (1990a, pp. 18-21), where they are further divided into 19 strategy groups and 62 subsets. Here, by way of example, we will briefly consider the social LLS that Oxford lists under indirect strategies. Three types of social LLS are noted in Oxford (1990a): asking questions, co-operating with others, and empathising with others (p. 21). General examples of LLS given in each of these categories are as follows:Asking questions1.Asking for clarification or verification2.Asking for correctionCo-operating with others1.Co-operating with peers2.Co-operating with proficient users of the new languageEmpathising with others1.Developing cultural understanding2.Becoming aware of others' thoughts and feelings (Oxford, 1990a, p. 21)Although these examples are still rather vague, experienced L2/FL teachers may easily think of specific LLS for each of these categories. In asking questions, for example, students might ask something specific like "Do you mean...?" or "Did you say that...?" in order to clarify or verify what they think they have heard or understood. While at first glance this appears to be a relatively straightforward LLS, in this writer's experience it is one that many EFL students in Japan, for example, are either unaware of or somewhat hesitant to employ.What is important to note here is the way LLS are interconnected, both direct and indirect, and the support they can provide one to the other (see Oxford, 1990a, pp. 14-16). In the above illustration of social LLS, for example, a student might ask the questions above of his or her peers, thereby 'co-operating with others', and in response to the answer he or she receives the student might develop some aspect of L2/FL cultural understanding or become more aware of the feelings or thoughts of fellow students, the teacher, or those in the L2/FL culture. What is learned from this experience might then be supported when the same student uses a direct, cognitive strategy such as 'practising' to repeat what he or she has learned or to integrate what was learned into a natural conversation with someone in the target L2/FL. In this case, the way LLS may be inter-connected becomes very clear.2. USING LLS IN THE CLASSROOMWith the above background on LLS and some of the related literature, this section provides an overview of how LLS and LLS training have been or may be used in the classroom, and briefly describes a three step approach to implementing LLS training in the L2/FL classroom.Contexts and Classes for LLS TrainingLLS and LLS training may be integrated into a variety of classes for L2/FL students. One type of course that appears to be becoming more popular, especially in intensive English programmes, is one focusing on the language learning process itself. In this case, texts such as Ellis and Sinclair's (1989) Learning to Learn English: A Course in Learner Training or Rubin and Thompson's (1994) How to Be a More Successful Language Learner might be used in order to help L2/FL learners understand the language learning process, the nature of language and communication, what language learning resources are available to them, and what specific LLS they might use in order to improve their own vocabulary use, grammar knowledge, and L2/FL skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Perhaps more common are integrated L2/FL courses where these four skills are taught in tandem, and in these courses those books might be considered as supplementary texts to help learners focus on the LLS that can help them learn L2/FL skills and the LLS they need toacquire them. In this writer's experience, still more common is the basic L2/FL listening, speaking, reading, or writing course where LLS training can enhance and complement the L2/FL teaching and learning. Whatever type of class you may be focusing on at this point, the three step approach to implementing LLS training in the classroom outlined below should prove useful.Step 1: Study Your Teaching ContextAt first, it is crucial for teachers to study their teaching context, paying special attention to their students, their materials, and their own teaching. If you are going to train your students in using LLS, it is crucial to know something about these individuals, their interests, motivations, learning styles, etc. By observing their behaviour in class, for example, you will be able to see what LLS they already appear to be using. Do they often ask for clarification, verification, or correction, as discussed briefly above? Do they co-operate with their peers or seem to have much contact outside of class with proficient L2/FL users? Beyond observation, however, one can prepare a short questionnaire that students can fill in at the beginning of a course, describing themselves and their language learning. Sharkey (1994/1995), for instance, asks students to complete statements such as "In this class I want to/will/won't....", "My favourite/least favourite kinds of class activities are...", "I am studying English because...", etc. (Sharkey, 1994/1995, p. 19). Talking to students informally before or after class, or more formally interviewing select students about these topics can also provide a lot of information about one's students, their goals, motivations, and LLS, and their understanding of the particular course being taught.Beyond the students, however, one's teaching materials are also important in considering LLS and LLS training. Textbooks, for example, should be analysed to see whether they already include LLS or LLS training. Scarcella and Oxford's (1992) Tapestry textbook series, for example, incorporates "learning strategy" boxes which highlight LLS and encourage students to use them in L2/FL tasks or skills. One example from a conversation text in the series states: "Managing Your Learning: Working with other language learners improves your listening and speaking skills" (Earle-Carlin & Proctor, 1996, p. 8). An EFL writing text I use has brief sections on making one's referents clear, outlining, and choosing the right vocabulary, all of which may be modelled and used in LLS training in my composition course. Audiotapes, videotapes, hand-outs, and other materials for the course at hand should also be examined for LLS or for specific ways that LLS training might be implemented in using them. Perhaps teachers will be surprised to find many LLS incorporated into their materials, with more possibilities than they had imagined. If not, they might look for new texts or other teaching materials that do provide such opportunities.Last, but certainly not least, teachers need to study their own teaching methods and overall classroom style. One way to do so is to consider your lesson plans. Do they incorporate various ways that students can learn the language you are modelling, practising or presenting, in order to appeal to a variety of learning styles and strategies? Does your teaching allow learners to approach the task at hand in a variety of ways? Is your LLS training implicit, explicit, or both? By audiotaping or videotaping one's classroom teaching an instructor may objectively consider just what was actually taught and modelled, and how students responded and appeared to learn. Is your class learner-centred? Do you allow students to work on their own and learn from one another? As you circulate in class, are you encouraging questions, or posing ones relevant to the learners with whom you interact? Whether formally in action research or simply for informal reflection, teachers who study their students, their materials, and their own teaching will be better prepared to focus on LLS and LLS training within their specific teaching context.Step 2: Focus on LLS in Your TeachingAfter you have studied your teaching context, begin to focus on specific LLS in your regular teaching that are relevant to your learners, your materials, and your own teaching style. If you have found 10 different LLS for writing explicitly used in your text, for example, you could highlight these as you go through the course, giving students clear examples, modelling how such LLS may be used in learning to write or in writing, and filling in the gaps with other LLS for writing that are neglected in the text but would be especially relevant for your learners.If you tend to be teacher-centred in your approach to teaching, you might use a specific number of tasks appropriate for your context from the collection by Gardner and Miller (1996) in order to provide students with opportunities to use and develop their LLS and to encourage more independent language learning both in class and in out-of-class activities for your course. As Graham (1997) declares, LLS training "needs to be integrated into students' regular classes if they are going to appreciate their relevance for language learning tasks; students need to constantly monitor and evaluate the strategies they develop and use; and they need to be aware of the nature, function and importance of such strategies" (p. 169). Whether it is a specific conversation, reading, writing, or other class, an organised and informed focus on LLS and LLS training will help students learn and provide more opportunities for them to take responsibility for their learning3.Step 3: Reflect and Encourage Learner ReflectionMuch of what I have suggested in this section requires teacher reflection, echoing a current trend in pedagogy and the literature in L2/FL education (see, for example,Freeman & Richards, 1996, and Richards & Lockhart, 1994). However, in implementing LLS and LLS training in the L2/FL classroom, purposeful teacher reflection and encouraging learner reflection form a necessary third step. On a basic level, it is useful for teachers to reflect on their own positive and negative experiences in L2/FL learning. As Graham suggests, "those teachers who have thought carefully about how they learned a language, about which strategies are most appropriate for which tasks, are more likely to be successful in developing 'strategic competence' in their students" (p. 170). Beyond contemplating one's own language learning, it is also crucial to reflect on one's LLS training and teaching in the classroom. After each class, for example, one might ponder the effectiveness of the lesson and the role of LLS and LLS training within it. Do students seem to have grasped the point? Did they use the LLS that was modelled in the task they were to perform? What improvements for future lessons of this type or on this topic might be gleaned from students' behaviour? An informal log of such reflections and one's personal assessment of the class, either in a notebook or on the actual lesson plans, might be used later to reflect on LLS training in the course as a whole after its completion. In my experience I have found, like Offner (1997), that rather than limiting my perspective to specific LLS such reflection helps me to see the big picture and focus on "teaching how to learn" within my L2/FL classes.In addition to the teacher's own reflections, it is essential to encourage learner reflection, both during and after the LLS training in the class or course. In an interesting action research study involving "guided reflection" Nunan (1996) did this by asking his students to keep a journal in which they completed the following sentences: This week I studied..., I learned..., I used my English in these places..., I spoke English with these people..., I made these mistakes..., My difficulties are..., I would like to know..., I would like help with..., My learning and practising plans for the next week are... (Nunan, 1996, p. 36). Sharkey (1994/1995) asked her learners to complete simple self- evaluation forms at various points during their course. Matsumoto (1996) used student diaries, questionnaires, and interviews to carry out her research and help her students reflect on their LLS and language learning. Pickard (1996) also used questionnaires and follow-up interviews in helping students reflect on their out-of- class LLS. In a writing class, Santos (1997) has used portfolios to encourage learner reflection. These are just a few examples from the current literature of various ways to encourage learner reflection on language learning. As Graham declares, "For learners, a vital component of self-directed learning lies in the on-going evaluation of the methods they have employed on tasks and of their achievements within the...programme" (p. 170). Whatever the context or method, it is important for L2/FL learners to have the chance to reflect on their language learning and LLS use.An Example of LLS TrainingLet me give one example of implementing LLS training within a normal L2/FL class from my experience in teaching a TOEFL preparation course in Canada. After studying my teaching context by considering my part-time, evening college students (most of whom were working) and their LLS, the course textbook and other materials, and my own teaching, I became convinced that I should not only introduce LLS but also teach them and encourage learners to reflect on them and their own learning. To make this LLS training specific and relevant to these ESL students, I gave a mini-lecture early in the course on the importance of vocabulary for the TOEFL and learning and using English, and then focused on specific vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) by highlighting them whenever they were relevant to class activities. In practising listening for the TOEFL, for example, there were exercises on multi-definition words, and after finishing the activity I introduced ways students could expand their vocabulary knowledge by learning new meanings for multi-definition words they already know. I then talked with students about ways to record such words and their meanings on vocabulary cards or in a special notebook, in order for them to reinforce and review such words and meanings they had learned.In order to encourage learner reflection, later in the course I used a questionnaire asking students about their vocabulary learning and VLS in and outside of class, and the following week gave them a generic but individualised vocabulary knowledge test where students provided the meaning, part of speech, and an example sentence for up to 10 words each person said he or she had 'learned'. I marked these and handed them back to students the next week, summarising the class results overall and sparking interesting class discussion. For a more detailed description of this classroom activity and a copy of the questionnaire and test, see Lessard-Clouston (1994). For more information on the research that I carried out in conjunction with this activity, please refer to Lessard-Clouston (1996). What became obvious both to me and my students in that attempt at LLS training was that vocabulary learning is a very individualised activity which requires a variety of VLS for success in understanding and using English vocabulary, whether or not one is eventually'tested' on it. Though this is just one example of implementing LLS training in a normal L2/FL class, hopefully readers will be able to see how this general three step approach to doing so may be adapted for their own classroom teaching.3. REFLECTIONS AND QUESTIONS FOR LLSRESEARCHImportant ReflectionsIn my thinking on LLS I am presently concerned about two important issues. The first, and most important, concerns the professionalism of teachers who use LLS and LLS training in their work. As Davis (1997, p. 6) has aptly noted, "our actions speak。
Bilingual Education
Anti-Bilingual Initiative "Babel" in SchoolsBilingual BallotsBilingual EducationBilingual ResearchCanardsDemographic Change Endangered LanguagesEnglish OnlyEnglish PlusLanguage RightsLanguage LegislationLife After Prop. 227LouisianaMuhlenberg Legend "Multilingual Government" National IdentityOfficial EnglishOpinion PollsPuerto RicoResearch ControversyRecent MonographsJ im Cummins, Beyond Adversarial Discourse (1998)Jay Greene, A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Bilingual Education (1998)Stephen Krashen, A Note on Greene's "Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Bilingual Education"(1998)Kenji Hakuta, Memorandum on Read Institute press release Issues in U.S. Language Policy Bilingual EducationFor many Americans, bilingual education seems to defy common sense – not to mention the Melting Pot tradition. They ask:∙If non-English-speaking students are isolated in foreign-language classrooms,how are they ever going to learn English,the key to upward mobility?∙What was wrong with the old "sink or swim" method that worked forgenerations of earlier immigrants?∙Isn't bilingual education just another example of "political correctness" runamok –the inability to say no to avociferous ethnic lobby?Some English Only advocates go further, arguing that even if bilingual education is effective –which they doubt –it's still a bad idea for the country because bilingualism threatens to sap our sense of national identity and divide us along ethnic lines. They fear that any government recognition of minority languages "sends the wrong message" to immigrants, encouraging them to believe they can live in the U.S.A. without learning English or conforming to "American" ways.on NRC Report (1997)Diane August and Kenji Hakuta, Letter to Rosalie Porter(1997)Such complaints have made bilingual education a target of political attacks. One of the most serious to date is now under way in California,a ballot initiative that wouldmandate English-only instruction for all children until they become fully proficient in English.No doubt many of the objections to bilingual education are lodged in good faith. Others reflect ethnic stereotypes or class biases. Sad to say, they all reflect a pervasive ignorance about how bilingualeducation works, how second languages are acquired, and how the nation has responded to non-English-speaking groups in the past.Reinforcing popular fallacies requires less space thandeconstructing them. That's why my writing on these issues grew from a handful of newspaper articles into a 310-page book, Bilingual Education: History, Politics, Theory, and Practice (3rd ed., 1995).Nevertheless, a few points:Science is often counterintuitive. Its breakthroughs tend to upsetcommon-sense notions, not to mention cherished myths. Linguistics is no exception. In fact, it invites more than its share of opposition from nonspecialists – witness the"Ebonics" controversy – because most people feel like experts when it comes to language. Our reactions are often visceral. Perhaps that's because our speech defines us ethnically,socially, and intellectually. It's tied up with a sense of who we are –and who we are not – evoking some of our deepest emotions.What once seemed obvious aboutbilingualism – for example, that it handicaps children's cognitive growth – has usually proved unfounded. Since the 1960s, research has shown that multiple language skills do not confuse the mind. Quite the contrary: when well-developed, they seem to provide cognitive advantages, although such effects are complex and difficult to measure (Hakuta 1986).Another discredited notion is thatchildren will "pick up" a second language rapidly if "totally immersed" in it. For generations, this philosophy served to justify policies of educational neglect –assigning minority students to regular classrooms, with no special help in overcoming language barriers. Disproportionate numbers failed and dropped out of school as a result. The sink-or-swim approach was ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lau v. Nichols (1974).Research has shown that the quality– not the quantity – of English exposure is the major factor in English acquisition. That is, the second-language input must be comprehensible(Krashen 1996). Otherwise, it's just noise.English as a second language (ESL)is best taught in natural situations, with the second language used in meaningful contexts rather than in repetitious drills of grammar and vocabulary. One variant of ESL, known as "sheltered subject-matter instruction," adapts lessons to students' level of English proficiency. This approach is common in bilingual education programs, coordinated with lessons in students' native language.Native-language instruction alsohelps to make English comprehensible, by providing contextual knowledge that aids in understanding. When children already know something about dinosaurs, a lesson on the subject will make more sense when instruction shifts to English. Not only will they learn more about dinosaurs; they will also acquire more English.The same principle applies when itcomes to acquiring literacy. Teaching in the native language can facilitate the process, as the linguist Stephen Krashen (1996) explains:∙We learn to read by reading, by making sense of what we see on the page. ...∙If we learn to read by reading, it will be much easier to learn to read in a languagewe already understand.∙Once you can read, you can read. The ability to read transfers across languages."Language is not a unitary skill, but a complex configuration of abilities" (Hakuta and Snow1986). Social communication skills – a.k.a. playground English–should not be confused with academic English,the cognitively demanding language that children need to succeed in school. While playground English tends to be acquired rapidly by most children, academic English is typically acquired over a period of five to seven years (Cummins 1989).Research on the effectiveness ofbilingual education remains in dispute, because program evaluation studies – featuring appropriate comparison groups and random assignment of subjects or controls for pre-existing differences – are extremely difficult to design. Moreover, there is considerable variation among the pedagogies, schools, students, and communities being compared. While numerous studies have documented the benefits of bilingual programs, much of this research has faced methodological criticisms – as noted by an expert panel of the National Research Council (August and Hakuta 1997a).Certain critics of bilingualeducation have interpreted the NRC report to mean that, despite a generation of research, "there is no evidence that there will be long-term advantages or disadvantages to teaching limited-English students in the native language" (Glenn 1997). This conclusion – widely circulated by the so-called READ Institute –has been rejected by the NRC study directors.To the contrary, they say, the expert panel concluded that "agreat deal has been learned from the research that has been conducted on English language learners." Moreover, there are "empirical results . . . support[ing] the theory underlying native language instruction" (August and Hakuta 1997b). According to the panel's chairman, the "attempt by READ to place its own political spin" on the report hardly advances the cause of objective research (Hakuta 1997).Other critics continue to deny thatsuch empirical support exists. A recent "review of the literature" (Rossell and Baker1996) reports that bilingual education is inferior to English-only programs of all kinds, including sink-or-swim. Yet these conclusions owe more to the manipulation of program labels than to student performance in the classroom. Critiques of Rossell and Baker by Cummins (1998) and Krashen (1996) show that, among other distortions, the researchers rely heavily on studies of French immersion in Canada – bilingual or trilingual approaches that they portray as monolingual "immersion" or "submersion" models. Meanwhile, a meta-analysis of the same body of research reviewed by the critics, but using a more rigorous methodology, found quite different results: a significant edge for bilingual education (Greene 1998).The most sophisticated evaluationstudy to date – a four-year, longitudinal study of 2,000Spanish-speaking students in five states –found that "late-exit," developmental bilingual programs proved superior to "early-exit," transitional bilingual andEnglish-only immersion programs (Ramírez et al. 1991). That is, in programs that stressednative-language skills, students' growth in English reading and mathematics continued to increase long after it had leveled off among their peers in the other programs. While this study has been praised by many, others have rejected the comparison as invalid because all three programs were not tested in the same school districts.Nevertheless, a consensus ofapplied linguists recognizes that the following propositions have strong empirical support:∙Native-language instruction does not retard the acquisition of English.∙Well-developed skills in the native language are associated with high levelsof academic achievement.∙Bilingualism is a valuable skill, for individuals and for the country.Bilingual education was adopted by manylocal school districts in the 1960s and 1970s to remedy practices that had denied language minorities an equal educational opportunity. Yet it was hardly a new invention designed to replace the Melting Pot with the Salad Bowl or some other model of ethnic pluralism. There is a long bilingual tradition in the U.S.A., in which minority-language schooling has played a central, albeit largely forgotten, role.seeRivera Center.Hakuta, Kenji. 1997. Memorandum on Read Institute press release on NRC Report.Hakuta, Kenji. 1986. Mirror of Language: The Debate on Bilingualism.New York: Basic Books.Hakuta, Kenji, and Snow, Catherine. 1986. "The Role of Research in Policy Decisions about Bilingual Education." NABE News 9, no. 3 (Spring): 1, 18-21.Krashen, Stephen D. 1996. Under Attack: The Case Against Bilingual Education. Culver City, Calif.: Language Education Associates.Ramírez, J. David; Yuen, Sandra D.; and Ramey, Dena R. 1991. Final Report: Longitudinal Study of Structured Immersion Strategy, Early-Exit, and Late-Exit Transitional Bilingual Education Programs forLanguage-Minority Children.San Mateo, Calif.: Aguirre International.Rossell, Christine, and Baker, Keith. 1996. The effectiveness of bilingual education. Research in the Teaching of English,30,pp.7-74.Copyrigh t © 1998 by James Crawford. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for free, noncommercial distribution, provided that credit is given and this notice is included. Requests for。
MEASURING APPARATUS, MEASURING SYSTEM, ELECTRIC PO
专利名称：MEASURING APPARATUS, MEASURINGSYSTEM, ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLYAPPARATUS, AND ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLYMETHOD发明人：KATSUKI, Koji,SHIRAKI, Yasunori申请号：EP18164426.1申请日：20110117公开号：EP3360478A1公开日：20180815专利内容由知识产权出版社提供专利附图：摘要：A technique is provided, which makes it possible to continuously supply thedriving electric power stably to a sensor even when the continuous monitoring period ranges over a long period of time when the numerical information is measured in relation to a test substance contained in a sample. A measuring apparatus 1 for measuring numerical information in relation to a test substance contained in a sample comprises a glucose sensor 4 which continuously generates a signal correlated with the numerical information in relation to the test substance contained in the sample; a power generating unit 110 which generates an electric power for driving the glucose sensor 4; an electricity accumulating unit 111 which is charged by the electric power supplied from the power generating unit 110 and which supplies the accumulated electric power to the glucose sensor 4; and a power generation control unit 32 which monitors a power generation amount generated by the power generating unit 110.申请人：ARKRAY, Inc.地址：57, Nishiaketa-cho Higashikujo Minami-ku Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 601-8045 JP国籍：JP代理机构：MacDougall, Alan John Shaw更多信息请下载全文后查看。
VITAL MEASURING INSTRUMENT
专利名称：VITAL MEASURING INSTRUMENT发明人：NISHIO KOSUKE,西尾 広介申请号：JP2012210855申请日：20120925公开号：JP2014064654A公开日：20140417专利内容由知识产权出版社提供专利附图：摘要：PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vital measuring instrument capable of efficiently measuring a respiratory rate by a low-cost system, especially capable ofmeasuring a respiratory rate of a sleeping subject without waking up the subject placed on a fluid bag.SOLUTION: A vital measuring instrument 10 includes a fluid bag 20 forplacement which is filled with a fluid and is disposed in such a manner that a subject 90 can be placed on it, and a sensor 50 for detecting the pressure fluctuation in the fluid bag 20 for placement based on the respiratory movement of the subject 90, and has a detection part 30 detachably attached to the fluid bag, and a control part 46 for measuring and outputting a respiratory rate based on the result of the detection by the sensor 50.申请人：TERUMO CORP,テルモ株式会社地址：東京都渋谷区幡ヶ谷二丁目４４番１号国籍：JP代理人：八田国際特許業務法人更多信息请下载全文后查看。
Birds and beasts evasion device
专利名称：Birds and beasts evasion device发明人：外間 将太,高原 祐樹,比嘉 聖季,古賀 朝博,小波津敬成,比嘉 大助,上原 朝光,金城 美江子,比嘉 圭野申请号：JP2007001524申请日：20070207公开号：JP3132947U公开日：20070628专利内容由知识产权出版社提供专利附图：摘要：< Topic >Former Naruko sound and reflected light of the mirrors depend on the power of the wind, when the wind is weak and when it is calm even, generating sound and reflected light, it prevents the invasion of the birds and beasts.SolutionsOne side orboth sides the mirror surface the sheet metal which is finished in order 1 or more in the vertical to hang at least with the spring and the like, one arm was locked, by the fact that it vibrates the sheet metal to horizontal direction with vibrating means, the sound which the birds and beasts dislike resounded to long way, in addition reflected light irregular reflection in four side eight one, made the structure which possesses the effect which can evade the birds and beasts.< Choice figure >Drawing 1申请人：知念 豊孝地址：沖縄県那覇市字仲井真１４番地 コートブルーデージー１０２号室国籍：JP更多信息请下载全文后查看。
How to Get the Poor off Our Conscience全文
---------a fat and bad-looking lady
Outline
• Part I(1&2) opening: the search of ways of “getting the poor off our conscience”has been and continues to be an intellectual preoccupation
• He opposed the involvement of the United States in the war.
• In the years after the Vietnam War, Ken Galbraith put his energy into writing. In 1996, his book "The Good Society" was published. It was an update of his book "The Affluent Society." He pointed out that the United States had become even more a place for the wealthy, or a "democracy of the fortunate."
Rocketing defense budget
• “星球大战计划”的出台背景是在冷战后期， 由于苏联拥有比美国更强大的核攻击力量 和导弹破防能力，美国害怕“核平衡”的 形势被打破，需要建立有效的反导弹系统， 来保证其战略核力量的生存能力和可靠的 威慑能力，维持其核优势。同时，美国也 是想凭借其强大的经济实力，通过太空武 器竞争，把苏联的经济拖垮。这项计划于 1984年由美国总统R.里根批准实施.
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Measuring Wikipedia*Jakob Voß (Humboldt-University of Berlin, Institute for library science) jakob.voss@nichtich.de Abstract: Wikipedia, an international project that uses Wiki software to collaboratively create an encyclopaedia, is becoming more and more popular. Everyone can directly edit articles and every edit is recorded. The version history of all articles is freely available and allows a multitude of examinations. This paper gives an overview on Wikipedia research. Wikipedia’s fundamental components, i.e. articles, authors, edits, and links, as well as con-tent and quality are analysed. Possibilities of research are explored including examples and first results. Several characteristics that are found in Wikipedia, such as exponential growth and scale-free networks are already known in other context. However the Wiki architecture also possesses some intrinsic specialities. General trends are measured that are typical for all Wikipedias but vary between languages in detail.IntroductionWikipedia is an international online project which attempts to create a free encyclopaedia in multiple languages. Using Wiki software, thousand of volunteers have collaboratively and successfully edited articles. Within three years, the world’s largest Open Content project has achieved more than1.500.000 articles, outnumbering all other encyclopaedias. Still there is little research about the pro-ject or on Wikis at all.1 Most reflection on Wikipedia is raised within the community of its contribut-ors. This paper gives a first overview and outlook on Wikipedia research. Wikipedia is particularly in-teresting to cybermetric research because of the richness of phenomena and because its data is fully accessible. One can analyse a wide variety of topics that range from author collaboration to the struc-ture and growth of information with little effort for data collection and with high comparability.A short history of WikipediaWikipedia is one of the largest instances of a Wiki and one of the 100 most popular Websites world-wide.2 It uses Wiki software, a type of collaborative software that was invented first by Ward Cun-ningham in 1995 (Cunningham & Leuf, 2001). He created a simple tool for knowledge management and decided to name it WikiWikiWeb using the Hawaiian term “wiki” for “quick” and with allusion to the WWW. Briefly a Wiki is a collection of hypertext documents that can directly be edited by anyone. Every edit is recorded and thus can be retraced by any other user. Each version of a document is available in its revision history and can be compared to other versions.Wikipedia originated from the Nupedia project. Nupedia was founded by Jimmy Wales who wanted to create an online encyclopaedia licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. In January 2001 Wikipedia was started as a side project to allow collaboration on articles prior to entering the lengthy peer review process. Soon it grew faster and attracted more authors than Nupedia which was closed in 2002. In addition to the original English Wikipedia Wikipedias in other languages soon were launched. In March 2005 there are 195 registered languages, 60 languages have more than 1.000 and 21 languages more than 10.000 articles. The English Wikipedia is the largest one, followed by*Accepted paper for Proceedings of the ISSI 2005 conference (in press)1 See /wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedistik/Bibliographie (retrieved April 10, 2005) on Wikipedia and /~CYBERSTACKS/WikiBib.htm (January 30, 2005) on Wikis.2/data/details/traffic_details?y=t&url=, retrieved April 7, 2005German, Japanese and French. In June 2003 the Wikimedia Foundation was founded as an independ-ent institution. It is aimed at developing and maintaining open content, Wiki-based projects and to provide the full contents of these projects to the public free of charge. Meanwhile Wikimedia hosts also Wiki projects to create dictionaries, textbooks, quotes, media etc. In 2004 a German non-profit association was founded to assist the project locally. Associations in other countries follow. Their main goals are collecting donations, promotion of Wikipedia and social activities within the com-munity of “Wikipedians” – the name that around 10.000 regular editing contributors call themselves. Wikipedia ResearchWhile Wikipedia is mentioned more and more often in the press, there is currently little scientific re-search exclusively about it. Ciffolilli (2003) describes the type of Wikipedia’s community, processes of reputation and reasons for its success. Viégas, Wattenberg and Kushal (2003) introduced a method for visualising edit histories of Wiki pages called the History Flow and found some collaboration patterns. Lih (2004) analyzed citation of Wikipedia articles in the press and the ratio between number of edits and unique editors. Miller (2005) deals with the blurring border between reader and author. By far most articles consist of introductions, reviews and comments such as its first mention in Nature (Mitch, 2003) or detailed descriptions (Voss & Danowski, 2004). Several masters theses are under way.3Wiki research in general is likewise in the beginnings. Important papers after the book of Cunning-ham and Leuf (2001) are Aronsson (2002) and Mattison (2003). There is more stimulus in research on social software for instance weblogs (Kumar et al., 2004), and in research on collaborative writing at large as well as on the Wiki community itself. Further progress is expected at the first Wikimania conference in August, 20054 and the symposium on Wikis in October, 2005.5All content of Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (Free Software Foundation, 2002) or a similar license. The license postulates that when you publish or distribute the content you have to provide a “transparent copy” in a machine-readable format whose specification is available to the general public. Except for some personal data one can download SQL-dumps of Wikipedia’s database. The entire dump of texts in all languages is more than 50 gigabyte compressed (15 for just current revisions). The current versions of each English Wikipedia’s articles without im-ages are 585 megabyte and 285 megabyte for the German version.6 Erik Zachte has written the Wikistat Perl script that creates extensive statistics out of the database dumps and some server log-files.7 In addition one can extract data out of the live Wikipedia using the Python Wikipedia robot framework.8 Furthermore there are several smaller statistics distributed on different Wikipedia pages. In the following the SQL-dumps of the German, Japanese, Danish and Croatian Wikipedia and some other languages of January 7, 2005 will be used, as well Wikistat statistics of May 9, 2004. By num-ber of articles German and Japanese are the second and third largest Wikipedias while Danish and Croatian are examples of middle-size and small-size. The English Wikipedia was not used because in 3/wiki/Research, retrieved April 7, 20054, retrieved April 10, 20055, retrieved April 7, 20056/, retrieved March 9, 20057/wikistats/EN/Sitemap.htm, retrieved April 10, 20058/, retrieved April 7, 2005October 2002 around 36,000 gazetteer entries about towns and cities in the USA were created auto-matically which still biases some statistics. Authors per article and articles per author statistics are based on the database dump of September 1, 2004 that was used to create the first Wikipedia-CD.Structure of WikipediaAll Wikipedias are hosted by Wikimedia Foundation using MediaWiki – a GPL licensed Wiki engine that is developed especially for Wikimedia projects but also used elsewhere. There are many sugges-tions for features though the main challenge is to deal with Wikipedia’s enormous growth. After a look at growth, Wikipedia’s fundamental components will be analysed followed by a discussion of content and quality.GrowthSoon after its start Wikipedia began to grow exponentially from about 2002.Figure 1: Growth of German Wikipedia between May 2001 and February 2005 Figure 1 shows six fundamental metrics of Wikipedia’s growth. These are:1. Database size (combined size of all articles including redirects in bytes)2. Total number of words (excluding redirects and special markup)3. Total number of internal links (excluding redirects and stubs)4. Number of articles (at least contain one internal link)5. Number of active Wikipedians (contributed 5 times or more in a given month)6. Number of very active Wikipedians (contributed 100 times or more in a given month)You can divide three phases. After the first, linear phase exponential growth started around April 2002 when 10 active Wikipedians and 2.000 articles were exceeded. Until February 2005 all metrics increased similarly with around 18 percent increase per month. Only the number of articles increased slower with 13.8 percent. Around March 2005 the growth abruptly changed to linear growth but with a big jump in total growth at the same time. A similar effect can only be observed at the Japanese Wikipedia around November 2003. All other Wikipedias are in the first (linear) or second (exponen-tial) phase – including English that only dropped increase rate around March 2005. Probably the third phase (linear) at the German Wikipedia is caused by technical limits and may only be a transitional state. At regular intervals Wikipedia becomes slow because software and hardware cannot cope with the exploding number of users. Obviously Wikipedia cannot grow infinitely but at the moment there is no evidence that it will not continue growing exponentially. De Solla Price (1963) gives some forms of reaction when exponential growth nears its natural boundaries. In one case the subject changes and the measure becomes absurd. In another case new techniques create new phases of expo-nential growth. In any case Wikipedia will have to change its nature in some way in the future. An understanding of its growth process can be useful in doing so.Generally all measures but number of articles increase in the same way. That means article’s size, number of links and numbers of active Wikipedians per article continuously rise. This effect is steady in different languages with different expansion rates. German is one of the faster growing Wikipedias with 15.6% word number increase per article and month in 2004 (Japanese: 16%, Danish: 7.2%, Croatian: 18.6%, English: 7.8%).ArticlesEvery article in Wikipedia is referenced via unique name. You access it with an URL like/wiki/name-of-article where the subdomain (here: ‘en’) mostly corresponds to the particular ISO-639 language code. For synonyms Redirects that directly forward to another article can be created. Due to the fact that there is a special Wiki syntax which can be learned quickly, art-icles or single chapter can be directly edited without knowledge of HTML. Extensions allow timelines, hieroglyphs and formulas in LaTeX. Easy graph drawing, map generation and music markup is also being developed.For each article there is a Talk page for discussions. Articles on the project itself belong to a special Wikipedia namespace. Uploaded image or other media files can be described at pages in the Media namespace. Each logged-in user has a User-page where he can introduce himself. Talk pages of user pages are essential for personal communication within the project. Furthermore there is the Template namespace for text modules that can be used in multiple articles, the Category namespace for categor-ies that can be assigned to articles and the MediaWiki and Help namespace for localisation and docu-mentation of the software.Comparing namespace sizes is a simple method for getting an overview of a Wikipedia structure. Fig-ure 2 provides an example. The percentage of all pages (no redirects) except for those in MediaWiki and Help namespace is compared. Talk pages are added to their corresponding page but for articles in the default namespace. Unsurprisingly normal articles make up the majority of pages with 60 to 80 percent. Together with talk and media pages they amount around 90 percent. Categories and user pages are used on a varying amount. German and Japanese Wikipedia have similar structures but there are less normal articles and more media, talk and other pages in the German Wikipedia.Figure 2: Namespace sizes of German (de), Japanese (ja), Danish (da) and Croatian (hr)Table 1 contains some values that show the diversity of different Wikipedias. In German there is a talk page for around 19% of all articles, so it is probably more usual to comment on articles. The number of user talk pages by user pages in the Japanese Wikipedia is remarkable high because there are more than twice as much of the former than of the latter. Supposable Japanese Wikipedians better like notifying and discussing with each other then presenting themselves. A statistical comparison of all Wikipedias and the change of namespace fractions in time should give more precise results as well as the number of edits in each namespace.Table 1: Some comparisons based on namespace countingEach article should only deal with one concept so article titles form a controlled vocabulary. In addi-tion to redirects for synonyms there are disambiguation pages for homonyms. A disambiguation page lists different articles that might reside under the same title to let the reader choose between. Up to now there is no special software support for disambiguation pages, so you get no feedback if you ac-cidentally link to a disambiguation page. More or less one could detect disambiguation pages auto-matically. Ideally disambiguation pages could serve as dictionary entries on words or phrases while normal articles cover topics. Unfortunately many disambiguation pages also contain some content that meant to be part of a normal article. In further research disambiguation pages have to be treated separately. Other kind of special articles in the default namespaces are list pages that only list a num-ber of other articles. Most Wikipedias also have heavily linked articles for years, day month, decades,etc. which constitute an almanac.Approximately article sizes are lognormal distributed. In the beginning, when a Wikipedia is small, it also contains more small articles (“stubs”) with dropping fraction (Figure 3). Lognormal distributions are known for many natural processes where the growth over a time step is a normal distributed ran-dom factor independent of the current size (Crow & Shimizu,1988). Overall Wikipedia articles may grow in percentage what leads to a lognormal-like distribution but probably the perfect article size is also influenced by its topic.0 %5 %10 %15 %20 %25 %30 %32641282565121024204840968192163843276865536size in bytesde 2005-02-28de 2004-08-31de 2003-08-31de 2002-08-31de 2001-08-31Figure 3: article sizes distribution in German Wikipedia.Because of the skewed distribution one should not use the mean but the median as an average meas-ure for values like number of words and links per article. The median article size grows linearly with different speed depending on the language. Between January 2003 and December 2004 it steadily grew around 28.7 (German), 11.5 (Japanese) and 14.1 (Danish) bytes per month achieving 1,190(German), 459 (Japanese) and 366 bytes (Danish). The Croatian Wikipedia’s average article size was not yet growing significantly.AuthorsSince everyone is invited to contribute, Wiki articles can have a large number of authors. Meanwhile multiauthorship is also the norm in scientific papers. It has increased markedly in recent years and differs between journals and subject area but is more or less normally distributed around 3 and 4 au-thors (Vuèkoviæ-Dekiæ, 2000; Regalado, 1995). The number of distinct authors per Wikipedia article – a number that Lih (2004) called diversity – follows a power law distribution. Figure 4 shows the distribution of authors per articles based on the data of the first Wikipedia CD-ROM (Directmedia,2004). It contains all articles of the German Wikipedia on September 1, 2004. For articles withbetween 5 and 40 distinct authors the number follows a power-law with γ ≈ 2.7. Some special articles have more authors. ‘September 2003’, ‘Gerhard Schröder’, ‘März 2004’ and ‘2004’ were leading with more than 100 contributors each. Almost half of the articles (47.9%) have less than 5 distinct authors and almost a quarter (27.6%) of all articles in the German Wikipedia of September 1, 2004 had only been edited by one logged-in user. Note that anonymous edits are omitted in this calculation. The number of anonymous edits varies by language between 10% (Italian) and 44% (Japanese). A deeper investigation may also factor in anonymous edits, number or size of edits by one author and edits ondiscussion pages. There is also special interest in whether there is any correlation with quality, size, age and other metrics. Generally you can say that multiauthorship in Wikipedia begins with 4 or 5 users and follows a power-law.Figure 4: Distinct authors per article (γ ≈ 2.7)The same data is used in figure 5 to show the number of distinct edited articles per author. A third of them have only contributed in one article and only 20% has ever touched more than 16 articles. This in-cludes tiny edits like spelling corrections as well as “real” authorship on articles. It is to be expected that there is a similar distribution of edits per author. To get more precise values, edits of bots (software agents to batch article edits) have to be removed and successive edits of one author within a short period of time have to be counted as one edit. Lotka’s Law has numerously been determined in scientific pub-lishing. It can be found in other areas for instance open source development (Newby, Greenberg and Jones, 2003) and seems to apply also for Wikipedians as shown in figure 6. Based on the fact that themore experience you have in editing articles the more articles you will edit, this is not surprising.Figure 6: Edits per author for five Wikipedias as counted by Wikistat April 9, 2005 (γ ≈ 0.5) The total number of authors is difficult to measure because of multiple accounts and anonymous ed-its. Wikistat counts all accounts as “contributors” and all accounts with 5 or more contributions in one month as “active Wikipedians”. Obviously the latter is more significant. There is large interest in so-ciology of Wikipedians within the community. Most likely one can determine subcommunties. Wales (2004) mentioned some role models he is going to observe in detail. The Wiki concept highly facilit-ates division of work. Some users concentrate on correcting language and grammar, some on linking articles and some on arbitrating in a dispute. Like other online media Wikipedia also attracts vandals (users intentionally writing nonsense) and trolls (users provoking for sake of discussions) but the pos-sibility to restore any article version decreases their ability to do harm. Reliable Wikipedians get ad-min status so they can restore articles more quickly, delete and undelete articles and ban users if needed. In the community there is heavy effort to reach consensus in such decisions. A public survey in the German Wikipedia collected ages of 284 users between 12 and 77 years and resulted in a mean of 31 and median of 29 years for December 2004.9 A scientific survey on motivation of Wikipedians will be published soon.10 Details of the community structure can be determined by social network analysis. Links between actors are detectable by frequent co-authorship on articles, sequent edits, dis-cussion on talk pages and so on. One can easily create user profiles from the list of a user’s contribu-tions but depersonalisation is absolutely recommended because of privacy.EditsWhenever someone changes an article, his edit is recorded and gets listed in the article’s version his-tory where one can highlight differences between selected versions. Users can add articles to their watch list to get notified on changes. All changes are listed at the recent changes, an important place to observe new contributors and suspect edits. Some structures – for instance two authors who revert each others edits (“edit war”) – can be detected automatically. Averaged there are 16 edits per minute in the English Wikipedia with daily oscillation (6.6 in the German version). Percentage of anonymous9http://de.wikipedia/Wikipedia:Altersumfrage/Auswertung, retrieved January 24, 200510http://wy2x05.psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/ao/research/wikipedia.php, retrieved April 10,2005edits varies by language (English: 22%, German: 26%, Japanese: 42%, French 15%, Croation 16% till end of 2004).To measure the amount of an edit, the shared information distance between two versions can be used.It was used first to calculate the similarity between sequences of genomes (Li, Ma & Vitany, 2003)and also applied to other mutating sequences, for instance chain letters (Bennet, Li & Ma, 2003). The shared information distance between two strings is calculated with their Kolmogorov complexities (the minimal number of bits needed to encode a string) and the complexity of the string that results in concatenating them. Compression techniques give sufficient approximation. Using a compression function z the similarity between two strings a and b can be calculated as d (a,b ) = [ z (a ) + z (b ) ] / z (ab ) – 1. For small texts you should also factor in the tiny difference between z (a ) and z (aa ). A more subtle application of shared information distance can help in determining main authors and detect how parts of articles have been moved to another article (although it won’t detect semantic changes and translation).Linking structureWikipedia articles and links between them form a network of concepts. Networks have extensively been studied in social sciences, graph theory and network research (Newmann, 2003). Many real-world networks are mostly found to have a very right skewed degree distribution with power laws in their tails that means p (k ) ~ k γ for the number p (k ) of nodes with degree k and some constant exponent γ. Networks with power-law degree distribution are also called scale-free networks. Link distribution for existing articles of all namespaces in the German Wikipedia is shown in figure 7. The number of articles with less than 5 outgoing links is lower because articles that do link to other articles will be enlarged or deleted soon.1 10 100 1000 10000 100000110100 100010000100000ingoing links1 10100100010000100000110100 100010000outgoing linksFigure 7: Distribution of articles per ingoing and outgoing links in the German Wikipedia Models of network growth that explain scale-free degree distribution mainly base on preferential at-tachment (Barabási & Albert, 1999). Heavily linked nodes get linked more likely. The principle was introduced to network growth by Price (1976). Naranan (1970) explains how power law distribution arises from items that grow exponentially in number and in size. However the evolution of links between Wikipedia articles is more complex.Links can be removed and added any time and links may point to pages that do not exist yet. Links to such a page (“broken links”) are marked red to encourage people to create missing articles. Figure 8shows a log-log diagram of the number of wanted pages in the German Wikipedia, number of broken links pointing to them and a visual power law fit with γ ≈ 3.Pages with more than 17 incoming links (less then 1 percent with 190 of 19791) are omitted because they are special cases for instance links in templates that are copied in multiple articles automatically. The clean power law can be explained by the exponential growth of links and the assumptions that the more a not-existing article is linked, the more likely someone will create it. Most languages have similar values but one can also find some ex-ceptions and differences between small and large Wikis.ContentContent structure of Wikipedia articles can be identified using samples or using categories. Wikipedi-a’s category system is a special form of social tagging (Mathes, 2004) related to classification and subject indexing. But the “Folksonomy” that is created in this process is still very inhomogeneous. In several Wikipedias there is a variety of special pages for organisation and navigation, for instance subject portals, lists, articles for single years, month and dates, templates, and navigation bars. There are also attempts to add more semantic markup. In German Wikipedia there are special templates to judge articles, to mark links to external databases and for collecting metadata on people. Beside such special pages, every article links to its most related topics. First tests on deriving thesaurus structures out of the linking between Wikipedia articles showed interesting results. Detailed comparisons with existing thesauruses and semantic networks and linguistic methods are even more promising. Bellomi and Bonato (2004) are doing research in this area. They applied HITS (Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search) algorithm to Wikipedia to find lexical authorities.QualityRichard Stallman’s open source statement “given enough eyeballs all bugs are shallow” partly fits for Wikipedia too. The more people read an article the more errors are emended. But one can hardly be sure how many qualified people have read an article and how many errors remain. Edit history and user contributions are auxiliary clues but very time-consuming to review. Lih (2004) used the number of edits and the number of unique editors as a very simple and arguable approximation for quality. Wikipedia has been evaluated several times by journalist with very good results and Wikipedia art-icles are regularly cited in press. Strongest critics one can find within the community itself. Many methods to improve quality – for instance rating or stricter policy on what should belong into Wikipe-dia – are discussed but in the end the openness is the most important feature the community does not want to give up. In some Wikipedias there are proceedings to selected articles which then are re-viewed and improved until they get “featured article” status. Their number increases linearly around 20 to 30 articles a month.11 WikiReaders12 are another approach: an editor (or group) is accountable to select articles from Wikipedia on a certain topic to print or publish them as PDF.Viégas, Wattenberg and Kushal (2004) have been cited as proof that vandalism gets removed quickly. This is true for obvious nonsense but other false statements may remain longer. Several people did simple tests with anonymously vandaling articles13 but most interesting questions regarding vandal-ism and amateurism remain open. The overall quality of Wikipedia mainly depends on your definition of (information) quality and the time scale you are interested in. Wikipedia still is a young and rapidly changing project and it’s not even clear if it is an encyclopaedia at all or if it will become an entirely new form of a knowledge base.ConclusionsThis paper presented a first overview on Wikipedia research. After a linear phase, Wikipedias grow exponentially with different rates per language. Generally the growth rate of the number of articles is smaller than other ratios. Different Wikipedias can be compared with indicators such as their growth rates, namespaces and article types. Article sizes are lognormal distributed with a linear growing me-dian. For articles with 5 or more distinct authors its number follows a power law, so does the number of distinct articles per author. More detailed methods for measuring edits exist. Because every Wiki-pedia article covers a single concept and links to related ones, you can derive thesaurus-like structures out of the network of articles. The network is scale-free on ingoing links, outgoing links and broken links. There are many possibilities for deeper investigation, especially about quality and content. Like Wikipedia itself, research about it is at the very beginning but very promising.ReferencesAronsson, L. (2002). Operation of a Large Scale General Purpose Wiki Website. In Carvalho, J., Hü-bler, A. & Baptista A. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 6th International ICCC/IFIP Conference on Elec-tronic Publishing. Berlin: Verlag für Wissenschaft und ForschungBarabási, A.-L. & Albert, R. (1999): Emergence of scaling in random networks. Science 286, 509-512. Bellomi F. & Bonato R. (2004). 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