News
Newsletter #11: I'm writing a free ebook about language learning!
Since the last newsletter I have made a couple of announcements on my blog. The most recent one is this I’m going to be writing a FREE ebook about language learning!
It will be a step-by-step guide to using the method I used to learn Polish. This is the same method used on Bibliobird, but the ebook will explain how to use it on your own with other languages and materials - and how to modify it for your needs and personal preferences!
Please read this article for more information and subscribe to my blog if you’d like to receive it when its finished!
2012-03-19 6-7pm CST: Biblobird will be unavailable
BiblioBird will be down on 2012-03-19 from 6pm to 7pm CDT, which is 12am to 1am on 2012-03-20 in Poland (CEST).
We will be performing minor server upgrades. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Newsletter #10: What an amazing month!
Last month I was planning on spending most of time discussing my future plans for Bibliobird with you on my blog, LinguaTrek.com.
Unfortunately, I didn’t end up having time to do that - because I got distracted by a number of really amazing things that happened!
I offered to do language consultations over Skype with the first 30 people who subscribed to my blog.
I only Skyped with 30 people but almost everybody who subscribed ended up sending me an e-mail. We also saw an unexpected increase in new users to Bibliobird (welcome everyone!) many of whom sent me their ideas and suggestions.
All together this gave me the wonderful opportunity to talk with more people about language learning, Bibliobird and the Polish and English language than ever before. For the past 3 weeks I’ve been getting around 50 e-mails a day with requests for advice, suggestions for Bibliobird and words of encouragement.
It’s been a little overwhelming but overall absolutely great to talk with all of you. Thank you so much!
I hope that things will quiet down soon so that I can finally tell you about my plans and then get to work making Bibliobird better for you. ;-)
Newsletter #9: Big changes to come!
Thanks to everyone who talked with me over Skype since the last newsletter! I’ve learned a lot about how you are using Bibliobird and what can be improved.
Based on your input, there are going to be some big changes coming in the near future!
I have lots of exciting ideas I want to share with you and I still have some questions for you. But I promised that this newsletter would only come once or twice a month.
So, I’ve decided to talk about my future plans on my blog, LinguaTrek.com.
If you want to:
- Read articles with tips about language learning, or
- Learn about my plans before they appear in the newsletter, or
- Help me improve Bibliobird!
... please subscribe to my blog via e-mail!
2012-01-27 5-6pm CST: Biblobird will be unavailable
BiblioBird will be down on 2012-01-27 from 5pm to 6pm CST, which is 12am to 1am on 2012-01-28 in Poland (CEST).
We will be performing minor server upgrades. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Newsletter #8: New year, new plan and Skype with me!
Happy New Year!
Do you have any language learning goals for the New Year? I do!
This is a great year to take your English to the next level.
Bibliobird wishes you a wonderful 2012! :-)
Renewed commitment to Bibliobird
You’ve probably noticed that not much has happened on Bibliobird over the last 6 months. That’s because around July, I began building a business that aims to help us conserve the world’s most precious resource: water.
This was a wonderful project, but it ended up consuming almost all of my time. Eventually, I realized that I’d rather be working on my true passion: language learning.
So, as of last week, I quit that project so that I can spend most of my time on Bibliobird!
In the weeks and months that follow, I’ll be looking for ways that I can improve Bibliobird and (hopefully) continue to focus on “him.”
Newsletter #7: Join the BETA and help test new features!
There are several new features that will be released soon, but first they need to be tested!
- Pronunciation: Each entry will be able to have pronunciation (for one or more dialects) written in the International Phonetic Alphabet along with audio recordings! We’ve been able to import a lot of this data from the Wiktionary.
- Forms: Each entry will be able to contain a list of it’s forms, for example: “write” can list “write, wrote, written” or “ox” can list “oxen”. Again, we already have much of this data from the Wiktionary.
- The ability to edit source entries: This is the next step in allowing users to add their own texts to BiblioBird. It also means that normal users will be able to add/remove senses from entries or change their pronunciation and forms. This is important because there are frequently errors in the data from the Wiktionary.
BETA Team members can use these features right now!
Please, if you are already a member of the BETA Team, see this thread on the forum and help test! If you would like to join the BETA Team, please send an e-mail to support@bibliobird.com with your BiblioBird username.
2011-07-06 6-8pm CDT: BiblioBird is moving to the UK
BiblioBird will be down on 2011-07-06 from 6pm to 8pm CDT, which is 1am to 3am on 2011-07-07 in Poland (CEST).
Yesterday, BiblioBird was down again for two hours starting at 7:40am CDT (2:40pm CEST). The hosting company we have been using in Nuremburg, Germany has not been very responsive during these outages so I’ve decided to move BiblioBird to new hosting in the UK.
BiblioBird was down today for 7 hours
BiblioBird was down today (2011-06-26) from about 12:40 to 19:40pm CDT. According to the hosting provider, this was the result of a DDoS attack. Everything appears to working correctly now.
Sorry for the inconvenience!
Regards,
David.
Newsletter #6: Two new features!
Help improve the dictionary!
Thanks to the hard work of the BETA team, normal users can now edit translations in BiblioBird's dictionary.
Have you noticed any problems with the translations that BiblioBird gives? Leave a comment, vote or edit the translation yourself! Learn more about editing entries and the editorial guidelines on our wiki.
In order to keep the quality of BiblioBird's translations high, we've implemented a system of points, badges and votes:
- Translations with five positive votes are considered "verified" and can only be edited by certain users.
- Everytime you contribute to BiblioBird's dictionary (by leaving a comment, voting or editing), you gain points.
- Once you have 50 points, you get the "verifified editor" badge, which allows you to edit verified translations.
This way, people who contribute positively get the ability to do more on BiblioBird! In the future there will be more ways to gain points and more badges you can earn. Eventually, anyone will be able to earn their way to being an administrator by positively contributing to the community!
Start leaving comments, voting and editing entries!
- 1 of 2
- ››