Predictive text

I have a new toy for work. It's a tablet, which comes with a word processing application.  I'm writing this post on the device while attending a meeting.

So far, I have been able to write several sentences using the thing without having to type more than three or four letters for any given word. It amazes me how often I am able to make do without needing to write anything at all.  The predictive text isn't just predicting the word I've started to write, but also the word I'm likely to want next.

I don't know by what magic the device is doing this, but I suspect it has something to do with corpus linguistics.

Corpus linguistics  is a strange and slightly disturbing branch of linguistics that involves dumping entire texts into a database in order to find and analyze patterns.

One of the most interesting things to come out of corpus linguistics is the increased understanding of collocation (and, yes, the device has also been predicting the words corpus, linguistics and collocation).

Collocation looks at words that turn up next to each other (like "next to" and "each other"). We generate a lot of patterns when we speak and write, and certain words tend to follow each other over and over again (like "over and over again").

I think the predictive text used by this device has quite a lot of collocation built in.

When I type "next", the device instantly offers me "to", and when I  type "each", I  get "other" - I don't even have to type the first letter for these words, they are just automatically generated by the device.

I am making quite a lot of sentences by simply touching the next word offered to me.

In fact the next sentence is going to be written using nothing except the options given to me by the program:

I have been in contact with the new version of the world, but I think I can say that I have been able to get some good ideas about what we want to know.

I didn't type a single word for that.  Sure, it didn't exactly make sense, but that's beside the point.

Collocation.  It just might change the way I write in the future.

More on that later. 

Computers

People have strange ideas about computers.

Some people seem to regard them as these magic boxes that should be able to do anything and everything they want - and do it instantly. I have found this is rarely the case, but they still expect it. Oh, and they take it as a personal affront when the computer

a) doesn't do everything they want
and/or

b) takes longer than a few seconds to do it.

You would think actual experience with computers would encourage them to see the beasts differently, but they don't. Go figure.

Then there are the people who are in awe of computers, and regard them as some minor deity with an uncharitable disposition. They're almost afraid to touch them for fear of angering the gods, and they always work on the assumption that whatever doesn't work is their fault, not the computer's.

These people are quite easy to please, actually, because all you have to do is tell them that they didn't do anything wrong and they're happy. It's amazing how much joy the words "No, it's not you, the system is having problems" can bring to some people.

Then there are the tech guys. They know it is neither a magic box, nor a minor deity, but rather a tool. Sadly, however, they seem to think it's a universal tool, and if it can't be done using that tool, then it can't be done at all.

Me, I see them as like a species of some musteline-type animal. Cunning, clever on a basic level, capable of being trained - but moody, and as likely to bite you as not. Nasty little beasts, they are, happy to gull you into a false sense of security before completely wiping whatever memory device you happen to be using at the time...

I may have spent too much time with computers. I may have spent far too much time helping people with their computing problems, seeing as I'm a librarian, not tech support. I may still have a bit of the drama teacher floating around in my psyche somewhere...