Open Educational Resources | Pao Yue-kong Library, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Video

Writing-mediated Cross-border Communication Face-to-face: From Sinitic Brush-talk (漢文筆談) to Pen-assisted Conversation

In this CIHK webinar, we will discuss the material conditions of and historical background to the use of Classical Chinese or Literary Sinitic in writing-mediated brush conversation between literati of Sinitic engaged in cross-border communication within Sinographic East Asia or the Sinographic cosmopolis, which corresponds with today’s China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan (including Okinawa, formerly the Ryukyu Kingdom) and Vietnam. Compared with speech as a modality of communication, real-time writing-mediated interaction between talking humans, synchronously face-to-face, seems uncommon. In any society, speaking is premised on one condition: the interlocutors must have at least one shared spoken language at their disposal, but even then, there are circumstances under which speaking is either physically not feasible or socially inappropriate. Could writing function as an alternative modality of communication when speaking is not an option due to the absence of a shared spoken language, as in cross-border communication settings? Whereas real-time writing-mediated face-to-face interaction is rare where a regional lingua franca was known to exist (e.g., Latin and Arabic), there is ample historical evidence of literati of Classical Chinese or Literary Sinitic from different parts of Sinographic East Asia conducting ‘silent conversation’, synchronously and interactively in writing mode using brush, ink, and paper. Such a pattern of writing-assisted interaction is still practiced and observable in pen-assisted conversation – pen-talk – between Chinese and Japanese speakers today, thanks to the pragma-linguistic affordance of morphographic, non-phonographic sinograms (i.e., Chinese characters and Japanese kanji). We will outline the historical spread of Classical Chinese or Sinitic texts from the ‘center’ to the ‘peripheries’, and the historical background to the acquisition of literacy in Sinitic by the people there. Their shared knowledge of Sinitic helps explain why, for well over a thousand years until the 1900s, literati from these places were able to speak their mind by engaging in ‘Sinitic brush-talk’ 漢文筆談 in cross-border communication.
Even date: 13/5/2022
Speaker: Prof. David C. S. Li
Hosted by: Confucius Institute of Hong Kong, Department of Chinese Culture

Subjects:: Chinese Language and Language and Languages
Keywords:: Chinese characters History Chinese language -- Written Chinese Written communication China East Asia
Resource Type:: Video

Video

PolyU 85th Anniversary : distinguished lectures in humanities : the democratization and technologization of expertise and their consequences

The notion of expertise is integral to all forms of institutional and professional practice in many domains – in education, healthcare, social welfare, law, journalism, banking, information technology, marketing, translating and interpreting services etc. It is a concept addressed by scholars across many disciplines – cognitive science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, language/communication studies, among others. There are, however, enduring problems of definition, description and measurement of expertise. Some scholars draw attention to the ongoing ‘crisis in expertise’ and others pronounce the ‘death of expertise’ in contemporary society.
More humbly, I begin with a characterisation of professional expertise very broadly to include scientific, experiential, technological, organisational, legal, ethical and communicative knowledge. This then leads me to the notion of ‘distributed expertise’, which extends beyond the individual remit and the conventional lay-expert divide. For instance, in the healthcare domain, a significant development afforded by internet-based technology is the increased level of patients’ e-health literacy and, consequently, democratisation of expertise. This amounts not only to accessing health information digitally, but also the phenomenon of patients ‘doctoring’ themselves in ‘the now of its presence’, i.e., ‘expert patients’ becoming instrumental in self-diagnosis and even self-treatment.
Additionally, ‘distributed expertise’ is also constitutive of ‘expert systems’, e.g., diagnostic and interventionist technologies as well as decision aids mediated by algorithms and templates. This is what I refer to as the technologization of expertise. I suggest that there is overreliance on ‘expert systems’ by both experts and lay persons in everyday decision making. Access to and use of ‘expert systems’ in optimal ways inevitably necessitates a reconfiguration of the very conditions and consequences of professional expertise.

Event Date: 25/11/2022
Speaker: Prof. Srikant Sarangi (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Hosted by: Faculty of Humanities

Keywords:: Information technology -- Social aspects Democratization Expertise
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Be a Fashionable Pop word User!

Dr Angela Tse's lecture on the topic "Be a Fashionable Pop-word User! (潮爆英文你要識)" received over 800 registrations and was attended by around 500 participants.Her lively presentation plus interactions with the participants made the talk very interesting. Many participants also expressed they liked the talk very much. Can LongTimeNoSee and AddOil be used in formal occasions? Find out more interesting and practical knowledge about #PopWords from the video!

Subjects:: English Language
Keywords:: English language -- China -- Hong Kong Language culture Pop culture
Resource Type:: Video

Video

香港理工大學言語治療所 - 口吃 Stutter

Have you ever come across times when you get particularly nervous, say during a presentation, you find it extra hard to speak smoothly? Most of us may stop at times when we talk, so how do we differentiate between Normal Dysfluency and Stuttering? Are kids struggling with words due to language ability or are they stuttering? Will they naturally outgrow stuttering? How do speech therapists help adults and children who stutter?
大家有否試過在某些時間特別緊張，例如在發佈會中，你覺得難以流暢地說話? 其實每一個人說話時也會有停頓的時候，到底我們如何分辨「口吃」和正常的不流暢呢？孩子到底是口吃還是因語言能力較弱而在找字呢？是否長大後自然會沒有口吃的問題？言語治療師可以如何幫助受口吃困擾的小孩和成人呢？

Subjects:: Health Sciences and Communication
Keywords:: Stuttering Speech disorders
Resource Type:: Video

Video

PolyU ELC YouTube Channel

Welcome to the official YouTube channel of the English Language Centre of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. English Language Centre Objectives: 1. To enhance students' communication skills so that they can pursue academic and professional excellence 2. To foster students' independent, life-long English language learning and whole-person development 3. To support the pursuit of English language excellence within the PolyU and in the wider Hong Kong community Find more about us here: https://elc.polyu.edu.hk/

Course related:: ELC6001 Presentation Skills for Research Students
Subjects:: English Language
Keywords:: Education Higher -- Computer-assisted instruction English language -- Study teaching Web-based instruction
Resource Type:: Video

Video

In what ways creativity and imagination help studying history at university?

In this video, Prof. Mark Hampton share his view on how to make a creative video.

Subjects:: Statistics and Research Methods
Keywords:: Creative ability History -- Research Humanities -- Research
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Understanding intellectual property

In this video, a team of students are suggested to digitize the works of the exhibition.

Subjects:: Statistics and Research Methods
Keywords:: Intellectual property Humanities -- Research Copyright
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Creating new knowledge

In this video, a team of students have been collecting the various type of information that needed for the exhibition. One of them suggested to show some videos during the exhibition to the public and you found the TV programmes about the cinema development of Hong Kong that was broadcasted in television channels found are extremely useful for the exhibition.

Subjects:: Statistics and Research Methods
Keywords:: Exhibitions -- Planning Intellectual property YouTube (Electronic resource) Humanities -- Research Copyright
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Why we need to care about other historians' ideas? Why don't we just finding facts?

In this video, Prof. Mark Hampton share his view on why we need to care about other historians' ideas? Why don't we just finding facts.

Keywords:: Communication in the humanities Humanities -- Research History -- Research
Resource Type:: Video

Video

How to evaluate the information is relevant to your work

In this video, Prof. Mark Hampton shares his view on how do historians select relevant information.

Subjects:: Statistics and Research Methods
Keywords:: History -- Research -- Methodology Information resources -- Evaluation Humanities -- Research History -- Research
Resource Type:: Video

Video

To assess the relevant primary and secondary sources for the exhibition

In this video, a team of students arrive the university library and meet the Reference Librarian at a discussion room. The Reference Librarian firstly recaps the concepts of the AAOCC. Then, she mentions the additional criteria for evaluating the primary and secondary sources!

Subjects:: Statistics and Research Methods
Keywords:: Information resources Information resources -- Evaluation Information literacy
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Evaluating historical resources

In this video, a team of students meet again with the Prof. Brown after finding various kinds of primary and secondary resources for the exhibition. Prof. Brown had taken a look at the resources that they have collected and commented that some of the primary resources. He reminded them to use a list of criteria to evaluate the resources the plan to use for the exhibition. Let's check out what are the criteria he suggested to use!