Academics
I graduated from Dartmouth cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in June, 2002. My major was Linguistics, and I specialized (somewhat) in web site usability. I also learned numerous languages at some level while studying (enough for a second major, if such a thing existed).
You can read about the courses I took while at Dartmouth, if you’d like.
Research Interest
Dartmouth has what it calls “distributive requirements,” which means that students have to take courses in various fields in order to graduate. This is a good thing, because it gives you a broad range of experience, and you might even decide to major in something that you hadn’t originally thought about, but it has the drawback that it becomes difficult to specialize in anything. I went back and forth between Computer Science and Linguistics majors for most of my time there, so that didn’t help matters either.
Nonetheless, since I started running NAVGAP, particularly with Reflection, I’ve been interested in how web sites work best. Everyone has seen bad web site design, but what makes for good web design?
In order to find out, I did two independent studies, one in the Linguistics department, and one in the Computer Science department. I also did a lot of work outside of these two classes, and I’m continuing to learn about web usability even after having graduated.
Other Areas of Interest
In addition to web usability, there are a number of areas that I either research or would like to research in the future. These include (in no particular order):
Newfoundland English — Newfoundland, Canada has a distinctive dialect all of its own, and it is one that I would like to learn more about, particularly since I’m from there, and have a Linguistics degree.
Computer/Internet Security — I find this a fascinating area to study, and no doubt a practical one as well. We’re in an era where a teenage geek can cause billions of dollars of damage without leaving home. And, really, that’s just the beginning of the possibilities and realities of what’s happening over the networks.
Church/Christian History — Many claim that Jesus Christ was the most influential person who ever lived. Some do so for religious reasons, others for reasons of social justice or teaching. I’ve taken up the study of what people have done in his name over the centuries, both good and bad.
Languages
Linguists are quick to point out that a linguist is not someone who knows a lot of languages. Such a person is generally considered a “polyglot” (from Greek “many tongues” or “many languages”).
However, due to the nature of their research, which is the study of how languages work, linguists tend to learn bits and pieces of many languages through their study, which doesn’t help the stereotype at all.
I took a particular interest to learning languages while at Dartmouth, so I’m certainly not changing the stereotype myself. I’ve devoted a separate page to the languages I’ve either learned or studied.
