Suteki Suteiki

The purpose of the project is to create software for teaching Japanese in an immersive style. Language and culture are closely intertwined; understanding one is essential to understanding the other. The goal of the software is to provide a user-driven learning experience in an information-rich environment. A typical user session may involve viewing an interactive video created with the software. A video may start with a conversation between two Japanese people, selected to illustrate a concept. There will be finely-grained controls to advance and rewind video. The user can turn on subtitles, which may be in Japanese or English. When the user encounters an unfamiliar word, phrase, or grammar pattern in Japanese, they can click on the word (in the subtitles) and a translation, explanation, context, or writing instruction may be given. These explanations may contain links to more instruction or other videos that illustrate the concept in order to further explicate content and enhance understanding.

Furthermore, regions could be defined in the video, so that when an object, hand gesture, expression, or other item of interest appears onscreen the user can click on it for contextual information. For example, a conversation in a restaurant may feature clickable dishes which link to explanations; a conversation in a city might feature clickable landmarks or buildings. Interaction on this level creates an immersive style of learning the user can pursue at their own pace.

The method of building each lesson will be patterned after the wiki style. Users will be able to create their own regions, links, and explanations that will be stored with the video. This will require moderators to approve content to ensure authenticity. This would also allow the software to be used as a homework tool - for example, "pick a cultural artifact and link from the video to an information page."

Predecessors to this software include Wikipedia and Nico Nico Douga, a Japanese site that allows users to write text on top of streaming video. The lesson creation software has a scope beyond that of just language instruction, and many potential uses may present themselves.