Monday, May 09, 2005

Computer graded essays

I have a good number of friends who hope this software works:

Student essays always seem to be riddled with the same sorts of flaws. So sociology professor Ed Brent decided to hand the work over to a computer.

Students in Brent’s Introduction to Sociology course at the University of Missouri-Columbia now submit drafts through the SAGrader software he designed. It counts the number of points he wanted his students to include and analyzes how well concepts are explained.

And within seconds, students have a score. [...]

Software now scores everything from routine assignments in high school English classes to an essay on the GMAT, the standardized test for business school admission. (The essay section just added to the Scholastic Aptitude Test or SAT for the college-bound is graded by humans).

Hilary’s iPod

The Huffington Post may or may not already be a colossal failure but Hilary Rosen’s Open the iPod post has generated hoots and hollers among those I respect. From Copyfight’s Ernest Miller:

This was and is an obvious consequence of your DRM-ed world, Miss Rosen. Apple is simply doing what comes natural. Having insisted on the means for exclusion being legally protected (i.e. DMCA), Apple is using those means to exclude competitors...You can’t have it both ways Miss Rosen. If you want DRM, someone is going to have to control that DRM. And if you don’t think they won’t use that control to their ultimate advantage, you obviously didn’t learn anything from your association with the music industry.

She was there to earn, not learn. Obviously.

There’s a smoking ban in Georgia

AP:

Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill Monday to ban smoking in most public places in Georgia, ending a guessing game that had gone on for weeks.

The law will allow smokers to light up in only a few places, including bars and restaurants that do not admit people under 18; designated hotel and motel rooms; and workplace smoking areas that have an independent air handling system. Violators face fines of $100 to $500.

The Republican governor had said for weeks that he had misgivings about the bill, believing that government should not become “the end-all and be-all nanny for all people.”

His decision came just one day short of the deadline for him to sign or veto bills passed during the most recent session of the Legislature.

Hooray! I was wrong.

Kerry on gay marriage

I missed it when it was reported last week that Massachusetts Democrats plan to endorse same-sex marriage. John “I think it’s a mistake” Kerry didn’t. HRC responds:

The Human Rights Campaign denounced the statements of Sen. John Kerry yesterday, who called the decision of the Massachusetts Democratic Party adding support to its platform for same-sex marriage equality “a mistake.”

“The Massachusetts Democratic Party is simply affirming the reality that 5,000 same-sex couples and families are stronger and more secure today because of marriage equality,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese.  “As a husband, father and a long time supporter of the gay community Sen. Kerry should understand the importance of the stability and security that marriage provides to all families.â€Â�

A recent poll by the Boston Globe showed that statewide, overall support for marriage equality is at 56 percent, with only 37 percent of residents opposing.  The same poll showed that 71 percent of Democrats, 53 percent of Independents, and 35 percent of Republicans all support equal marriage rights.

I like the poll numbers (and think they can only get better) and am hopeful that new HRC President Joe Solmonese will breath new fire into the organization and on the topic at hand, I agree with John Aravosis, John Kerry should just go away.