I like words. Don’t use them particulary well – so I use dictionaries. Sometimes more that one but generally just one because it’s typically spelling not meaning that I’m after.
I stumbled upon Kate Trogovac’s site (she has some interesting things to say about online marketing). She must also like words because on her personal blog she linked to I a great video of Erin McKean the editor of the New Oxford Dictionary, telling Google “10 things I wish People knew about dictionaries“.
It’s 50+ minutes of entertaining insightful discussion of a tool we all use but rarely think about. Her turn of phrase and stories are inventive and kept me wishing for a working vocabulary that was 10 time bigger. (Back to that dictionary again)
In keeping with the theme of this blog listen carefully though and your hear some insightful ideas about the online content and copy right protection (who knew that dictionaries put in fack words as copy right traps).
Here’s someone who sees how form influnces use – for instance browsing a dictionary is fundamentally a different expereince that searching electronically for a word. But also understands that giving people the information they want in a variety of different ways – means both greater use - and new and different types of use.
Doesn’t everyone need a Treo with a 2000 page dictionary – I do. But then I like words.
