Wordia is 1 year old today! But it’s not just our big day…

September 18, 2009 in Uncategorized

Today, I’m very proud to say that we’ve reached our first birthday!

As you might well know/remember, Wordia was launched this time last year from Dr. Johnson’s house, in the City of London.

Today it’s not only Wordia’s first birthday, it’s Dr. Johnson’s tercentenary! 300 years to the day that the pre-eminent English scholar was born (1709!). Birthday celebrations all round! [popping of corks!]

It was a crazy few months getting Wordia built, creating seed video content and getting the project out the door, ready to deliver to coincide with Doctor J’s big day. To be honest, we could have done with a few more months to test and perfect things – but when is anything perfect (as a tech start-up)?! We worked long days and even longer nights in the run up to launch, and I am happy to say on reflection, our efforts then – and over the last 365 days – have been worth it.

We’ve broken new ground, creating something that hasn’t been done before. Yes, there are many online textual dictionaries, but none to date use an audio-visual entertainment mechanic to engage and entertain – and our latest, top-secret project – to educate!

That’s right, we’re working on a dedicated schools version of Wordia, that gets around the problem of YouTube not passing schools safety filters. Video brings the dictionary to life and in educational sense, makes literacy more engaging – more palatable to a young audience than a standard online textual dictionary.

If you’ve like to find out more about our Wordia Schools pilot (joining other literacy educators we have on board, to create something of real educational merit!) then we’d be delighted to hear from you and tell you more about the pilot and programme! Drop us a note here, and we’ll get back to you quick sharpish:

schools@wordia.com

This week’s theme is, would-you-have-guessed-it, Dr. Johnson Week! We’ve been scouring the Internet for Dr. Johnson experts, logophiles and word-lovers and have the pick of the bunch: 7x Johnson experts exploring words associated with the great man.

Test your knowledge! What’s the connection with Dr. Johnson and the following word?

‘Scrofula’ Not so sure? Well click here

If you have any suggestions for weekly themes, definitions or people you’d like to see on Wordia, or thoughts on Wordia Schools, literacy or ICT in the classroom then we’d be delighted to hear from you.

Thanks for all your support (and emails) over the last year. We’re the sum of our parts, and we’ll continue to develop Wordia to the communities’ feedback.

Ed Baker

CEO / Founder

Today, I’m very proud to say that we’ve reached our first birthday!

As you might well know/remember, Wordia was launched this time last year from Dr. Johnson’s house, in the City of London.

Today it’s not only Wordia’s first birthday, it’s Dr. Johnson’s tercentenary! 300 years to the day that the pre-eminent English scholar was born (1709!). Birthday celebrations all round! [popping of corks!]

It was a crazy few months getting Wordia built, creating seed video content and getting the project out the door, ready to deliver to coincide with Doctor J’s big day. To be honest, we could have done with a few more months to test and perfect things – but when is anything perfect (as a tech start-up)?! We worked long days and even longer nights in the run up to launch, and I am happy to say on reflection, our efforts then – and over the last 365 days – have been worth it.

We’ve broken new ground, creating something that hasn’t been done before. Yes, there are many online textual dictionaries, but none to date use an audio-visual entertainment mechanic to engage and entertain – and our latest, top-secret project – to educate!

That’s right, we’re working on a dedicated schools version of Wordia, that gets around the problem of YouTube not passing schools safety filters. Video brings the dictionary to life and in educational sense, makes literacy more engaging – more palatable to a young audience than a standard online textual dictionary.

If you’ve like to find out more about our Wordia Schools pilot (joining other literacy educators we have on board, to create something of real educational merit!) then we’d be delighted to hear from you and tell you more about the pilot and programme! Drop us a note here, and we’ll get back to you quick sharpish:

schools@wordia.com

This week’s theme is, would-you-have-guessed-it, Dr. Johnson Week! We’ve been scouring the Internet for Dr. Johnson experts, logophiles and word-lovers and have the pick of the bunch: 7x Johnson experts exploring words associated with the great man.

Test your knowledge! What’s the connection with Dr. Johnson and the following word?

‘Scrofula’ Not so sure? Well check here:

http://wordia.com/wotd/2009/8/24

If you have any suggestions for weekly themes, definitions or people you’d like to see on Wordia, or thoughts on Wordia Schools, literacy or ICT in the classroom then we’d be delighted to hear from you.

Thanks for all your support (and emails) over the last year. We’re the sum of our parts, and we’ll continue to develop Wordia to the communities’ feedback.

Ed Baker

CEO / Founder