In this essay I have used three different AI apps to analyse a piece of my writing, and to make suggestions for improvement.
Read MoreCritical analysis of the Borgesian story: Using AI as a soundboard or critical friend
Research
Libraries and readers in an age of conflict (book review)
The Book at War is a fascinating study of how books and other reading matter have variously influenced politics, propaganda and history over time.
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Robot reporter, by Terry Freedman
Can artificial intelligence be used to write blog posts?
I decided to find out! In this post I show the results of:
Asking AI to create some personas, ie target readers.
Come up with some blog post ideas.
Write an outline for one of them.
Write an article for one of them.
Can AI write book reviews?
in Bookshelf, News & views, Reviews, Research
I thought I would test ChatGPT’s mettle in a rather self-interested way. I write a lot of book reviews — a lot. I have three books I need to review for an education magazine by 21st January, plus two books I need to review for other websites soonish, and I have to write a review of an exhibition for a different education magazine by next week <gulp>.
Therefore I have two (competing) concerns.
Read MoreStyle matters
If a piece of writing is too self-conscious, if it’s basically shouting “Hey, look at me. Isn’t this a fine piece of writing?” I lose interest. And I’m in good company: Trollope felt the same way.
Read MoreEssay for an advanced literary course
One of the things we should all do as writers is study other people's works to try to discern how they achieved particular effects, or how they use language. It's known as 'close reading'.
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Cover of The Author magazine, by Terry Freedman
On this day: Authors ands their rituals
in On this day, Research
What rituals do writers rely on to help them write?
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Books, by Terry Freedman
An unintended consequence of wishing to be nice when reviewing books by female authors
in News & views, Research
I’ve been reading Phillipa K. Chong’s “Inside the Critics’ Circle”, in which she attempts to discover the process by which books get reviewed. It’s a very interesting read. I haven’t finished it yet, so am not in a position to review it as such, but I was struck by the extract cited here.
Read MoreReview: Book Parts
When you start to read a new book, what’s your routine? My routines differ according to whether the book is fiction or non-fiction, and whether I’ve been sent it to review or not.
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Distrust, by Terry Freedman
Journalists under fire
in Journalism, Research
A new report from the Reuters Institute is disturbing. As usual, journalists are being imprisoned or even killed for simply doing their jobs.
Read MoreOn this day #6: A useful search engine
A search engine I wrote about in 2010 still works, and is still useful.
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A fascinating read
Why don't people finish reading long articles on the internet?
in Research
Apparently, the average read-through rate (who knew such a measurement existed?) on Medium is 40%. So why do people tend to not see an article through to the bitter end?
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Library shelves, by Terry Freedman
Search engine vs librarian: who "wins"?
In the central library close to my home, around 30 years ago, there was a brilliant librarian in the Reference section. It didn’t matter what you asked him, he would know the answer.
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Buzzsaw screenshot, by Terry Freedman
Bad PR jargon, and how to detect it
If you’re tired of people “reaching out” or “circling back” or sending you sales “literature” that bears no relevance to you whatsoever, you will enjoy learning that you’re not alone.
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Inside a second-hand bookshop, by Terry Freedman
Not quite nearly fine: some terms used by antiquarian booksellers
Like all professions, book selling has its own peculiar nomenclature.
Read MoreFinding a book when you can't remember its name
If you can’t remember the name of a book you wish to read, fret not. Here are some ideas for finding it. UPDATED!
Read MoreCovid19: who ya gonna trust?
An Australian news channel has hit upon an astonishingly original idea: a podcast about coronavirus featuring people who have some idea of what they’re talking about.
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The Writer, by Terry Freedman
The benefits of attending writing courses
Although I've been getting articles published and paid for since 1990, I still take writing courses. How come?
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Listening to a podcast, by Terry Freedman.png
Further thoughts on listening to documents on the Kindle Fire
I found listening to documents on the Kindle Fire very useful on the whole, so today I extended the practice by listening to a document while driving. Here’s what I found.
Read MoreListening to documents on the Kindle Fire UPDATED
in Reviews, Technology, Research
The Kindle Fire has a text-to-speech facility. I’ve been using it to listen to a book in the form of a pdf document. Here’s my evaluation of it.
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