Summer is upon us and lots has been happening at Wordnik! Here are some highlights.
TIME, TIME, TIME
Last month Katy Steinmetz wrote in TIME magazine about redefining the modern dictionary, and spoke with several modern lexicographers and dictionary innovators, including Wordnik’s own Erin McKean. Erin talked to about Katy about how Wordnik “aims to be more responsive than traditional dictionaries but more authoritative than crowdsourced sites,” and about Wordnik’s Kickstarter initiative.
summer.ai + Wordnik at PyCon 2016
Recently Manuel Ebert, founding partner of machine learning agency summer.ai, spoke at PyCon 2016 about working with Wordnik to add a million missing words to the dictionary. Check out his presentation.
The future of language
Leo Johnson, a reporter from FutureProofing, a BBC radio and podcast series, spoke with Erin about language and new technology. They discussed Wordnik’s mission, Twitterbots, infixes (“Absodamnlutely!”), and AI’s effect on language. AI will do interesting things to language, Erin said, creating metaphors, neologisms, and images humans wouldn’t have created but will recognize as “gorgeous.”
Speaking of Twitterbots…
At Medium, Erin wrote about how to create a simple, free, text-driven Twitterbot with AWS Lambda & Node.js.
Button, button, who’s got the button?
For a limited time, when you adopt a word, you’ll get a cute Semicolon Appreciation Society button along with wordy stickers and other cool schwag.
Reminders
Last but never least, a couple of reminders.
Word gamers email. The inaugural issue of Logodaedaly, Wordnik’s word gamers email newsletter, went out last month. It featured an interview with Akiva Leffert, the creator of the word game Whirred; the antiquarian word game of the month (adjectives, anyone?); and the game-related list of the month. Interested in signing up? Go for it!
Wordnik T-shirts. Don’t forget, nifty Wordnik T-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies are available in men’s, women’s, and children’s sizes. Word nerd yourself and all your loved ones.