PhoneticExplorer

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Basic idea

A phonetics toy, allowing children basic exposure to sounds of the world's languages, via the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA - [[1]]).

The IPA symbols are displayed; user can click on a symbol and hear it pronounced.

Features

  • sounds are organized into rows (e.g. nasals) and columns (e.g. bilabials) and other categories
  • hover mouse over a symbol to see its full name
  • click on a symbol to hear it pronounced (in context?)
  • double-click a symbol to add it to your "tray" at the bottom of the screen
  • click a "play" button next to the tray to play the sounds of the tray in sequence
  • save your tray contents as "my phonetic words" (could integrate to word list building, dictionary building, etc.)

Challenges

  • There is far more information that *could* be displayed than will fit on the screen.
    • Scroll it? OK, if necessary.
    • Display the broadest categories only, and drill down to get to the symbols? Not great for exploring.
    • Display only most common symbols on main page, and drill down for less-common symbols?
  • Finding reliable quality, copyright-unencumbered sound recordings
    • Wikipedia seems to provide recordings in GNU Free Doc License; is the quality good, across the board?

Development approach

  • Copy an existing activity like TamTamMini to make a grid of symbols linked to sounds
  • Set up a few (half a dozen) sounds with symbols, names, sounds, grid layout
  • User testing with children
  • Fill in the gaps
  • Release early and often (as soon as presentable): don't get bogged down in comprehensiveness, complexity and advanced features
  • What does sharing mean in this activity? Sharing the tray?

References