the LINC Network

I have been wanting to do research looking at actual keystrokes in spontaneous language production for several years. I was blocked by IT security issues until last year when I discovered InputLog, a tool developed by researchers for researchers that that logs keyboard and mouse input. Over this academic year (2009 - 2010), I have been collecting data with the very helpful participation of some of our students who have been willing to let me record their keystrokes during chats. I have been collaborating with my colleague Dr Michelle Aldridge on the analysis and we will be presenting our initial results at the 3rd UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference in July, 2010. The paper is entitled Light a tote bag: Insights into electronic language production through keystroke logging (see abstract here).

Recently I discovered that Dr Mick O'Donnell was working on using keystroke logging in his own research and after some discussion we decided to collaborate. I applied for funding through the Cardiff University International Collaboration Award for early stage researchers to fund travel so that we could collaborate face to face. Luckily I was successful so we should be in a position to move this research forward through the next academic year (2010 - 2011). We will be exploring the ways in which we can study dynamic text using keystroke logging software and Mick's UAM CorpusTool.

I'm also working on a larger proposal - something that will continue over an extended period. The long-term project will hopefully include more people who are interested and willing to work on this. Ideally we will get a small team working together on setting up the full version of the project. It'll be great to see my ideas finally getting tested.

It's very exciting - watch this space!

Insights into electronic language production through keystroke logging

This paper reports on one aspect of our Keystroke Project, namely, repairs and pauses in spontaneous, personal electronic language production found, for example, in e-mails, chatrooms and Facebook. The data used in this study were collected through the computer logging software ‘Inputlog’ (Leijten and Van Waes, 2006).

Keystroke logging is a methodological tool which “offers the opportunity to capture details of the activity of writing” (Spelman Miller and Sullivan, 2006:1). For example, Van Waes and Schellens (2003) investigated writing profiles and the effect of the writing mode on pausing and revision patterns of experienced writers and Miller (2005) used keystroke logging to study second language writing processes. To our knowledge, no work, to date, has explored the use of keystroke logging in spontaneous electronic language production and our aim is to fill this research gap.

We will extend Lindgren’s (2005) claim that keystroke logging closely registers traces of cognitive activity during on-line writing because the more spontaneous the language produced, the closer it is to revealing typical human processing. By analysing the spontaneous occurrences of repairs and pauses in data from Facebook and other personal, spontaneous CMC we will offer a description of electronic language production. We identify where pauses and linguistic repairs (lexical and grammatical) occur; we consider whether there is a distinction between the categories of function and content words; and classify spellings in relation to non-standard spellings and ‘ignored’ spellings. The following examples are typically found in our data

1. Your personal bag can be fairly big, light a tote bag. (‘light’ →’ like’)
2. To discuss what we can over (‘over’ → ‘offer’)
3. You had no write to write in his passport (‘write’ → ‘right’)

Through recording and analysing keystrokes we offer innovative insights into the connection between language and cognition.

References

• Leijten, M.; Van Waes, L. (2006) Inputlog: New Perspectives on the Logging of On-Line Writing. In: K. P. H. Sullivan; E. Lindgren (eds.) Computer Key-Stroke Logging and Writing: Methods and Applications. Oxford: Elsevier, 73-94
• Lindgren, E. (2005). Writing and revising: didactic and methodological implications of keystroke logging. Umea: Department of Modern Languages, Umea University.
• Miller, K. S. (2005). ‘Second language writing research and pedagogy: a role for computer logging’. Computers and Composition, 22(3), pp 297-317.
• Spelman Miller and Sullivan, (2006) Keystroke Logging: An Introduction. In: K. P. H. Sullivan; E. Lindgren (eds.) Computer Key-Stroke Logging and Writing: Methods and Applications. Oxford: Elsevier, 1-10.
• Van Waes, L and Schellens, P. J. (2003). ‘Writing profiles: the effect of the writing mode on pausing and revision patterns of experienced writers’. Journal of Pragmatics, 35, 829-853.