8.08 Study Questions

Name: Date: School: Facilitator:

1. The “Internet Users by Language” pie chart shows that 27% of internet users speak English and 25% speak Chinese, yet the “Websites by Language” pie chart shows that 57% of websites are in English but only 5% are in Chinese. Given that the proportion of English- and Chinese-speaking internet users differs by only 2%, how do you explain the disproportionate amount of English- versus Chinese-language websites? (Hint: If you need help, consult The World Fact Book: China or other reference sources.)

2. In paragraph two of “Why ebooks Are a Different Genre than Print,” author Stuart Kelly presents his thesis that two aspects of ebooks affect the relationship between the reader and the text, and the remainder of the article discusses these aspects. Summarize the author’s two points and evaluate how effectively he develops and supports his discussion.

3. In paragraph four of “Why ebooks Are a Different Genre than Print,” Kelly uses the metaphor of “guerilla editors’—readers re-making the text.” Explain why his “guerilla editors” metaphor is suitable, given the context of the paragraph.

4. In the article “Why ebooks Are a Different Genre than Print,” the final sentence of paragraph six utilizes challenging vocabulary to make an important point about traditional, printed books: “[The traditional, printed book] manages to balance the solipsism of reception and interpretation with a communal, agreed space in which those interpretations can be discussed.” Consult Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary and Thesaurus or The Oxford English Dictionary to verify the meaning of any unfamiliar words, and then paraphrase the sentence.

5. Based on your experiences reading both traditional books and ebooks, how are the two experiences similar and how do they differ? (If you have not read ebooks, base your response on the reading you have been doing for this online English class as opposed to the reading with traditional books you have done in your site-based English classes.)

6. In the video clip that accompanies the article “Summly and Its Teen Founder Snapped Up by Yahoo,” Nick D’Aloisio mentions several tech entrepreneurs who have inspired him. Name at least one of these people and explain why D’Aloisio might admire him or her. (Hint: If you need more information about the people he mentions, consult a reference source.)

7. Describe what the Summly app does, and explain why the app will be useful to many people.

8. Based on your understanding of what the Summly app does as well as the indirect quote from Yahoo CEO Mayer about her desire “to make Yahoo a place where people go to meet the needs of their daily habits” and “the Summly deal seems to be right in line with that vision,” what inferences can you draw about people’s lifestyles?

9. Think about what you have learned about root words and etymology and explain why “Summly” is a suitable name for this new app.

10.Consider all of the information you have learned from the texts, video clips, and graphics in this lesson to answer this question: In future years, how do you think the act of reading will be similar as well as different from the process of reading in today’s world?