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Archive for March, 2014

File renaming utilities

When working with foreign language (learning) digital media files electronic repositories, typical problems include having to:

  1. adding metadata information to the filename
  2. handling of foreign language characters in filenames across operating and file systems, including code pages

A good file renaming  utility can work wonders in such situations.

I have been using the excellent BRU (Bulk rename utility) for a while, and always liked its flexibility – which is apparent from in its (initially somewhat intimidating) UI:

Now I found to my surprise, and confirmed with the help of the support forum, that the foreign language character support is lacking from BRU’s Regular Expression implementation.

Enter Renamer, another file renaming utility, which features a stable and beta version, pdf documentation and a wiki.

As you can see in the following screenshot, Renamer makes it possible, using Unicode character codes in Regular Expressions, to replace e.g. all Mandarin characters in a filename.

Renamer also has in-built support for common tasks like cleaning up filenames by stripping common tags, transliterating foreign alphabets or adding file numbering (serializing).

Both utilities are free and highly recommended, but also see TBA:part II for limitations.

UPDATE:

image

Keyboards not loading on pc35


Did this PC get out of synch? It was out of sync with the JAVA also.

Configuring UNCC staff (MS-Exchange 10) email on Android 4.1.2

Screenshot_2014-03-15-15-17-08Screenshot_2014-03-15-15-16-31

Screenshot_2014-03-15-15-19-37image

May come in useful not only during initial setup… I had trouble sorting out the webpages addressing different versions, and translating the picture-less instructions, an so have others when they come to the LRC  for help. May this help some.

Common commands in Speech Recognition for all languages supported

(I cut a corner and left out the language variants ZH-TW and EN-UK, sorry, we do not teach those here):

Our Drupal now allows Add to Calendar links.

  1. Neat: Click on the calendar icon at the end of the date line:
  2. image
  3. When prompted, Click open (which will stat your default file association for ICS files, likely MS-Outlook):
  4. image
  5. if necessary, add a suitable reminder, and click””save&close”image
  6. Your appointment, with location, will be put in your calendar and come alive when you need the reminder(and where, if you connect your other, home and mobile devices to MS-Exchange): image
  7. But as of yet, not everybody seems to be using this handy facility (I find myself manually copying over info into manually created appointments).
  8. Unfortunately, this is still only a static ICS file, not a subscription which would be automatically updated in your calendar if the originator/organizer changes the schedule.

Why meeting organizers should cancel meetings from their calendar and not by email

  1. Because cancelling from the calendar like in video2 here sends  the meeting participants not only a (0)message, which includes a handy “Remove from calendar” button,
  2. but also – in case they fail to see the message – a (1) “Cancelled” indicator on their calendars,
  3. while third parties who want to schedule a meeting with the meeting participants, see those participants (including an Rooms that “participate”) as (2) free/available during the time slot of the cancelled meeting,
  4. as you can see in this example: image

Faculty Workshop Spring 2014: "Mira, mamá! Sin manos!". Practice speaking L2 with automatic intelligent feedback by operating LRC PCs through speech recognition instead of keyboard/mouse

  1. When: March 28, 2:15-3:15, April 4, 2:00-3:00
  2. Where: LRCRoomCoed434
  3. What: Language learning speaking practice assignments with automatic intelligent feedback using Windows Speech Recognition
    1. As part of the foreign language tools we installed with Windows 7 this past Fall, we got speech recognition on the LRC PCs for 6 languages (English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Spanish ) representing over 85% of our enrolment.
    2. Unlike the speech recognition that comes with learning content packages like Auralog or Rosetta Stone
      1. which had to be purchased, for individual languages, but stopped functioning on the server on a long time ago,
      2. was limited to built-in content ,
      3. was restricted by a separate account system,
    3. Windows Speech Recognition is
      1. free (with the operating system), runs on the local lab pcs, and should be a bit more robust,
      2. content agnostic and hence can integrate flexibly with your curriculum and contribute meaningfully to your students’ progression,
      3. can be integrated with the existing user accounts.
    4. We combine Windows speech recognition with the new LRC screencast software, MS-Office and Moodle to offer a simple self-access assignment type that
      1. is available on all 45 LRC PCs (= scales even to large enrolment languages and 1st-year classes that cannot use the 24-seat Sanako for face-to-face speaking proficiency training)
      2. and blends the “artificial intelligence” of speech recognition with human intelligence to provide students with immediate automated feedback during pedagogically sound speaking practice, with minimal grading overhead for the teacher (= grade secure assignments by looking at the very end of a student-submitted screencast).
    5. This workshop will show actual speech recognition usage and assignment samples
      1. so far in English, French, German;
      2. if you want to bring your own samples to this workshop – there might still be time- , or to an upcoming faculty showcase, I can help you during my biweekly LRC clinics (see LRC main schedule, or schedule your own).
    6. We will step you through – hands-on, including tips&tricks – a sample voice training and assignment completion: Better than my made-up assignments would be if you could bring one or more concrete tasks to be solved using speech recognition that we could prepare assigning to your students. Here are some parameters for that:
      1. Speech recognition can replace mouse and keyboard when operating the computer. Voice commands are simpler than sentences, so this could be a beginner task, as long as you have students study the (limited) command vocabulary (which I will make available during the workshop).
      2. Speech recognition can replace any writing task with dictation. Suggestions for proficiency levels:
        1. I have dictated a web page assigned for reading comprehension in a textbook used in 1200 or even a as a false beginner.
        2. However, a one-time training helping the computer recognize an individual’s voice is required and comes sentences that vary in complexity between languages
          1. English: very easy, Beginner level;
          2. German, French: let’s have a look together, I’d say 1202 level;
          3. Japanese: 3000 level, I was told;
          4. Please test with me during the workshop: Spanish, Chinese.
  4. Download the SlideDeck (too big too embed)

Windows Live Writer can once again load more than 500 WordPress posts without “Invalid Server Response”

Evidence:

image

Version (recently updated – thank you! This bug bugged me a lot, I am chatty):Version 2012 (Build 16.4.3522.110). Not sure it is not server-related, but consider upgrading on download.live.com if you still see this error on the metaWeblog.getRecentPosts from XmlRpc server: image