Dear Colleagues
The massive open online course (MOOC) “Understanding English Dictionaries”
begins its second run on 20th January 2020. You can join the course at any
point during its six-week run, and participation is free.
To sign up for the course, go to:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-dictionaries ;
<https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-dictionaries>
“Understanding English Dictionaries” was developed by Hilary Nesi and Sharon
Creese (Coventry University), Barbara McGillivray (Turing Institute), Katalin
Süle (Macmillan Dictionary), and Michael Rundell (Macmillan Dictionary and
Lexical Computing). The first iteration ran between September and November
2019, and attracted almost 2500 students.
The MOOC covers topics such as the scope and content of dictionaries, the use
of corpora, word sense disambiguation, the automation of lexicographic tasks,
and the future of reference publishing. It also features interviews with
well-known figures from the dictionary community, including Patrick Hanks,
Ramesh Krishnamurthy, and Jane Solomon.
The following comments (reprinted with permission) are typical of participant
responses:
“The mentor and instructor participation on the course forums was outstanding,
as was the content. Really fascinating course and I'll be sure to recommend it
widely. A HUGE thanks!”
“I have never imagined there was so much work behind dictionaries! I have
learned about different dictionaries, different uses, the parts of a
dictionary, the latest technology, their future... Now I see things more
clearly and I appreciate dictionaries much more. It has been a fantastic trip.”
Michael Rundell
