WordCount is "an artistic experiment in the way we use language. It presents the 86,800 most frequently used English words, rankedin order of commonness. Each word is scaled to reflect its frequency relative to the words that precede and follow it, giving a visual barometer of relevance."

Five tips for overcoming public speaking nerves

Your mouth is dry, heart palpitating, and knees knocking. You go into panic, facing a dreaded public speaking assignment. It doesn’t have to be so. These five tips will give you some strategies to overcome those symptoms and have the butterflies flying in formation. 1. Deep breathing will pull in oxygen. Adrenalin, secreted to help you deal with the fear brought on by little doubts, causes breaths to become shallow, or causes you to hold your breath. Deep breathing will help your brain work to capacity, and forcing the slower pace will quell the panic. 2. Bluff. Stand tall, with shoulders back and chest out. Smile. Even though you don’t feel happy or confident, do it anyway. You will look confident and your body will fool your brain into thinking it is confident. This really works!! Bluff – body and smile 3. Keep you mouth and throat hydrated. Plan to keep a drink on hand while you are speaking., though this sounds impossible. Visualising how you will use it if you need it, and calling up the audacity to do such a thing will carry across to your attitude as you take your place to speak, placing your glass just where you need it to be. 4. Adrenalin sends the blood rushing to the fight/flight centres of your brain at the base of the skull. Place your hand on your forehead and press gently on the bony points. This will bring the blood to the parts of the brain that need it to present your speech best. 5. Know you are prepared. Obviously this depends on actually being prepared, so take every opportunity in the days leading up to the speech to prepare your material. Be familiar with the structure of the presentation, and the ideas to use. Memorise the most important parts, and the parts you are frightened of forgetting. I would memorise the opening of the speech and in the moments before presenting it, would reassure myself that I knew that part, and that would lead on to the rest. It worked!! Further articles to help you with your confident public speaking.

Communication vital to relationships

Once a human being has arrived on this earth, communication is the largest single factor determining what kinds of relationships he makes with others and what happens to him in the world about him." -- Virginia Satir

Verballing

I have to agree with Jay Cross in the post he called Verbals. Words alone really are "a clutzy way to communicate." words are sometimes a clutzy way to communicate. words lack precision. words require mental translation. words force us to play an internal game of telephone, whispering the message to ourselves, reverberating back and forth as the mind seeks patterns. the mind messes with the message as much as a chain of conniving, deceitful interpreters, misunderstanding & shaping & rejiggering the original into what they want us to hear. some educators tell stories to make an end run around the interpreters, to convey meaning even when a few details are out of whack. others turn to multiple media. if i hear it, see it, smell it, taste it, feel it, try it, practice it, challenge it, & teach it, the better the odds that i will learn it. all of which makes one wonder why we cling to words as if words are the only way to teach and to learn. But then in the communications business, particularly in public speaking, we are well aware of that. We use everything we can to harness a person's attention and to get the message across. We supplement verbals with all the body language, gesture and facial expression we can muster to support the message. We vary our pace, pitch and intensity. We use all the "multiple media" we can lay our hands on - judiciously, with forethought about the message, the media and the audience. And what makes him think that teachers don't?

Shock omissions from literary prize list

British author Julian Barnes was named hot favourite for the Booker Prize today, but the biggest shock was the omission of three literary heavyweights from the shortlist for the prestigious award. To the surprise of literary critics, the judges decided not to pick three previous Booker winners - Salman Rushdie, J.M. Coetzee and Ian McEwan - as finalists for the £50,000 ($92,000) prize. Article continues