Category: Uncategorized

Privacy is something that everyone can appreciate and unfortunately far too many violate.  We are especially vulnerable in this latter regard when we are exploring on the internet.  For it is there where so much information about our behavior, electronic equipment, whereabouts, interests,  inclinations, and time spent is collected without our knowledge.  From this data entire stories can be created about our person that may or may not be true depending on who is collecting the data and creating the story.

In contrast, without data collection it is difficult for service providers to tailor their services to their customers wants and needs.  Accordingly, please do not be surprised that a service provider would collect data about its users that they do not intentionally give.  Indeed, the very nature of human communication demands that more information is exchanged than is ever intentionally given.

What is more, data collection is a two-way street!  How, for example, can a service provider know that his freely offered information, instruction, or advice is not being used for criminal purposes?  He cannot!   In this light, if a user cannot trust the service provider whose data he collects, then why in the world would he be collecting the provider’s data in the first place?

In the end, it is not so much what data is exchanged and collected, but how this data is used.

Grammar Captive makes the assumption that most users do not mind that data about their person or behavior on a given site is collected, so long as it is stored securely and not used to their disbenefit.  And, in good faith Grammar Captive makes no attempt to disguise the nature of the data that it collects, how this data is used, and the purpose of its use — namely,  enhance the user’s experience and thus make Grammar Captive an attractive place for him to spend his time.

With the incorporation of Matomo into the Grammar Captive web application important decision had to be made about what data would be collected and what would not, and to this end Grammar Captive has updated its Iubenda legal advisory.  Please visit the Grammar Captive mainpage and look  for the subheading Legal/Privacy under the heading Other in the navigation bar.

Roddy

 

 

 

As unfortunate as a broken hard disk may seem, it appears for the moment that the final leg of the development journey will continue as planned, though greatly delayed and at a much slower rate.

Roddy

Introducing a multiple language listing for the Seven Gates newsletter was a relatively easy task, making the necessary modifications for the files and pieces of code that depend on the same files and code that make the multiple language listing possible proved far more daunting.

In the short run, the benefit of a multi-lingual introductory newsletter may prove unworthy of its cost of implementation.  In the long run, however, I cannot help but believe that it was well worth the effort.  In any case, the worst of it is now water under the bridge, and I can at last begin the implementation of Matomo — Grammar Captive’s Google Analytics without Google.

Roddy

In order to sign up for a Grammar Captive account a user must enter his native tongue.  In his confirmation email is included this language.  When he confirms this information is sent to the database, and the user receives a copy of Seven Gates in his preferred language automatically.  Whereupon he can choose to subscribe, if he has not already, or even unsubscribe, if he changes his mind.

An introductory letter in your native tongue is likely to be more easily digested and encourage subscription or discourage unsubscription.  Once received, advanced users can select the English version with a simple click, if they so prefer.

The multilingual nature of Grammar Captive is an important selling point of the site, and now users will be able to select newsletters in the language of their choice.  This is the newest addition to the Grammar Captive mainpage.

At present there is only one alternative language — namely, Japanese;  this said, the technology is now in place for many more.

When you land on the page look for the word Archives under the heading Regular Updates / Weekly Newsletter in the navigation bar, or alternatively, perform a search in Japanese or English under the heading Search Grammar Captive.

Nearly a week has been lost due to a failed system upgrade, but we are nearly back on track.  Certainly the fundamentals for a mass mailing in multiple languages is now in place, and the long promised counter that replaces Google Analytics has already been installed.  What remains is coordinating the data bases for the mass mailing  and choosing what to count for Grammar Captive’s substitute for Google Analytics — namely, Matomo.

Roddy

小さな一歩でも、日本人は国語で文法キャプチッブの「Seven Gates」というニューズレターの初版を読めます。取り敢えず、国語初版は第一の版として、英語で書いたレターと一緒に同様のアーカイブに保管されています。アーカイブの第二ページにご覧ください。も少し初版だけではなく、全部の国語で書いたレターは自分のアーカイブに預かられます。

Roddy

Grammar Captive has produced its first Japanese newsletter.  It is currently listed as Letter No. 1 on Page 2 in the newsletter archive.  In an effort to not to confuse readers, however, the creation of separate archives for different languages is now under way.  This will insure the integrity of the letter numbering, as well as uniformity in the formatting of different languages.

Hopefully, the last of two remaining development tasks before the new counter is initiated and podcast production begins!

Roddy

While creating the Grammar Captive online search engines an important design flaw in the way many of the site’s forms were created was discovered. Users could submit their data by clicking on the button provided, but they could not submit it by depressing their ENTER/RETURN key.  In fact, when they depressed the key, the page would refresh and their data would vanish.  As many users would be discouraged by this outcome and fail to submit their data, and as many users are surely accustomed to submitting their data by this latter method, a solution had to be found.

After three days of experimentation users can now submit their data with the button or the key.  This success has led, however, to still another task:  fixing the design flaw for all of the other forms — another unwanted, but necessary delay.

A thankful, but weary developer.

Roddy

Users are no longer limited by the options provided by Grammar Captive for their selection of information. Users can now query the newsletter, podcast, and question-answer data tables using their own search information!

By way of example go to the Grammar Captive mainpage and click on Newsletters, Podcasts, or Q&A under the heading Search Grammar Captive in the navigation bar Having clicked enter the following italicized words or phrases:

• Newsletters:  lorem ipsum
• Podcasts:  podcast
• Q&A: Frage

and watch what happens.  Please keep in mind that these selections are based on non-information included merely as a surrogate for real information that will be provided in the future.  For the moment, the focus is on the mechanics, not the substance.

Roddy

 

As all of the substantive text related to Grammar Captive newsletters and podcasts is stored in rows and columns of several tables in the Grammar Captive database, the column definitions of these tables must be modified to accommodate natural language full-text search and match operations.  As this modification has now been achieved, I can begin writing the code that receives the user’s search request, matches it against the data contained in the various tables related to his request, and returns it in a user-friendly, readable format.

In the meantime a user interface for a new search engine has been added to the Grammar Captive mainpage.  Look under the heading Search Grammar Captive.  This engine will match the user’s search request with the Seven Gate’s weekly question-answer pairs.

Have a great day!

Roddy

What follows is truly exciting for a novice developer with natural political enemies.

Grammar Captive has discovered Matomo (formerly called PIWIK or Kiwi-P spelled backwards).  Matomo is Google Analytics on your desktop.  In other words, the data with which Grammar Captive does its analysis will not become the property of Google, but remain that of Grammar Captive.

What is more, the software that collects and process the data can reside on the user’s  computer, or a third-party host-server of the user’s own choosing.  Alas, Grammar Captive is free from the clutches of “Big Brother”!

Finally, Matomo costs nothing additionally, but the time of installation and set-up. Indeed, rather than reinventing the wheel and creating my own counters for activity on the Grammar Captive site, I will now write script to tell Matomo what it is that I want counted and how I want it analyzed.

This discovery has also resulted in a new task, but one that is fairly easy to implement and will not cause a great amount of additional delay — an onsite search engine.

The reason that I am adding this fourth, pre-production, development task is the important user information that it offers.  Where before users had to select newsletters and podcasts with the alternatives that I provided, they are now free to select Grammar Captive material without constraint.  The ramifications are both grand and immediate, as I will no longer have to second guess what my users want, for they will tell me directly each time they submit a search in the new Grammar Captive newsletters and podcasts search boxes.  Such information is simply too valuable to be without.

If you would like a preview of what is to come, open to the Grammar Captive mainpage and click in the navigation bar under the subheading Search Grammar Captive.

Roddy