Intercultural Communicative

Competence for Global Citizenship:

Identifying cyberpragmatic rules of
engagement in telecollaboration 1st
Edition Marina Orsini-Jones
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/intercultural-communicative-competence-for-global-cit
izenship-identifying-cyberpragmatic-rules-of-engagement-in-telecollaboration-1st-editi
on-marina-orsini-jones/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

(eBook PDF) Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal

Communication Across Cultures 8th Edition

https://ebookmass.com/product/ebook-pdf-intercultural-competence-
interpersonal-communication-across-cultures-8th-edition/

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and

Education 1st Edition Ian Davies

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-palgrave-handbook-of-global-
citizenship-and-education-1st-edition-ian-davies/

Delusions of Competence 1st Edition Robin Pearson

https://ebookmass.com/product/delusions-of-competence-1st-
edition-robin-pearson/

The Global Intercultural Communication Reader 2nd

Edition, (Ebook PDF)

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-global-intercultural-
communication-reader-2nd-edition-ebook-pdf/
Communicative Figurations: Transforming Communications
in Times of Deep Mediatization 1st Edition Andreas Hepp

https://ebookmass.com/product/communicative-figurations-
transforming-communications-in-times-of-deep-mediatization-1st-
edition-andreas-hepp/

Value-Creating Global Citizenship Education for

Sustainable Development: Strategies and Approaches 1st
ed. Edition Namrata Sharma

https://ebookmass.com/product/value-creating-global-citizenship-
education-for-sustainable-development-strategies-and-
approaches-1st-ed-edition-namrata-sharma/

Neuroscience for the Study of Communicative Disorders

5th Edition, (Ebook PDF)

https://ebookmass.com/product/neuroscience-for-the-study-of-
communicative-disorders-5th-edition-ebook-pdf/

Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant

History Max Abrahms

https://ebookmass.com/product/rules-for-rebels-the-science-of-
victory-in-militant-history-max-abrahms/

Dance in Contested Land: New Intercultural Dramaturgies

1st Edition Rachael Swain

https://ebookmass.com/product/dance-in-contested-land-new-
intercultural-dramaturgies-1st-edition-rachael-swain/
 INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATIVE
COMPETENCE FOR
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
Identifying cyberpragmatic
rules of engagement
in telecollaboration

Marina Orsini-Jones
and Fiona Lee
Intercultural Communicative Competence for
Global Citizenship
 Marina Orsini-Jones • Fiona Lee

Intercultural
Communicative
Competence for
Global Citizenship
Identifying cyberpragmatic rules of engagement in
telecollaboration
Marina Orsini-Jones Fiona Lee
School of Humanities School of Humanities
Coventry University Coventry University
Coventry, UK Coventry, UK

ISBN 978-1-137-58102-0    ISBN 978-1-137-58103-7 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58103-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017959335

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-
lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu-
tional affiliations.

Cover illustration: Pattern adapted from an Indian cotton print produced in the 19th century

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United
Kingdom
To Marco, Matteo, David, Astrid, Nancy and Mark
The best times
The worst times
Our greatest joys
With love
 Foreword

In this book, Orsini-Jones and Lee offer us a master class in theorisation

and exemplification of the importance (and pitfalls) of telecollaboration
in today’s HE landscape and beyond for language learners, linguists but
more importantly towards the attributes of global citizenship. Erudite,
theoretically robust and extremely enjoyable, this work is a must read
for all teacher trainers, language teachers, educators and trainees across
the world. It clearly demonstrates how, through well-crafted telecol-
laboration activities educators—in any field of study—may and should
shape the development of a genuine Intercultural Communicative
Competence in their learners—far from the simplistic and reductive
notions of intercultural competence that are currently supposedly
woven in many HE syllabi and often ill understood by faculty and learn-
ers alike.
This book also has the unique merit of casting a light on everything
that is wrong and inept with most language teaching practice—from text-
books to formulaic applications of the communicative approach to lan-
guage teaching and it offers all practitioners an opportunity to reposition
their pedagogy in more meaningful ways.
At a time when our “globalised” world is retrenching with inevitable
and devastating violence around extremism, protectionism and exacer-
bated forms of nationalism, the need to re-conceptualise intercultural
communicative competence is central to any valid notion of global citizen-

vii
viii FOREWORD

ship. This book does so in a way that suggests genuine solutions for educa-
tors. As such it should be on every library shelf and on the reading list of
any teaching and learning form of certification.

London, UK Marion Sadoux

20th August 2017
 Preface

This work aims to report on and discuss the lessons learnt from the
engagement with an Online International Learning (OIL) project, also
known as a telecollaborative project, carried out at Coventry University
(CU) in the UK in collaboration with the Université de Haute—Alsace
(UHA) in Colmar (France).
CU is fully committed to the internationalisation of its curricula
through OIL. The authors of this work have been engaged in telecollabo-
ration aimed at enhancing the intercultural awareness of both staff and
students involved in it with various different overseas partners since 2010.
The authors believe that staff in Higher Education (HE) must prepare
students for effective online interaction and explore the linguistic compo-
nents of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) for global citi-
zenship, including the development of students’ critical digital literacies.
Web 2.0 affordances have contributed to re-shape both telecollabora-
tion models and the conceptualisation of ICC. They have led to a hybridi-
sation and blurring of physical and digital, of online and offline personal
and academic representations of self. In these digital liminal spaces partici-
pants in OIL projects struggle to understand what communicative modus
operandi to adopt, some manage to negotiate and reconfigure their iden-
tity via language, but others are, literally, ‘lost for words’. This work aims
to provide insights on how to support students to engage effectively online
in professional and academic settings and illustrates this with the telecol-
laborative case study CoCo (Coventry/Colmar).

ix
x PREFACE

The Internationalisation of the Curriculum (IoC) is becoming a prior-

ity for all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This work is aimed at
academics teaching languages and linguistics, but could provide ideas on
how to internationalise the curriculum in other subjects. It is hoped that
it will provide insights on the teaching and learning of ICC in general and
cyberpragmatics in particular, defined as understanding the intended
meanings of others in online communication.
Chapter 1 introduces the main themes covered in the book: IoC, devel-
opment of global citizenship competences and ICC. Chapter 2 provides
an overview of the evolution of the concept of ICC. Chapter 3 discusses
cyberpragmatics, the main politeness and pragmatic filters used for the
CMC analysis of the CoCo asynchronous discussion exchanges and intro-
duces threshold concepts (TCs). Chapter 4 illustrates the OIL case study
CoCo and discusses the action-research-informed model of role-reversal
threshold concept pedagogy adopted for the project. In Chapter 5 the
research methodology underpinning the cyberpragmatic analysis is out-
lined. Chapter 6 discusses the issues and challenges arising from the
research data. Chapter 7 provides concluding remarks and final recom-
mendations on how to integrate telecollaboration for ICC (or possibly
ICCC—Intercultural Cyberpragmatic Communicative Competence)
development into the HE languages and linguistics curriculum.

Coventry, West Midlands, UK Marina Orsini-Jones

Coventry, West Midlands, UK  Fiona Lee
 Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the staff and the students involved in the tele-
collaborative/Online International Learning (OIL) projects CoCo and
MexCo to date and in particular Elwyn Lloyd in Coventry and Régine
Barbier in Colmar. We would also like to thank the Higher Education
Academy for awarding us the initial funding (Teaching Collaborative
Grant, £60,000) to carry out the action-research on the OIL projects. A
big thank you to Francesca Helm and Sarah Guth for allowing us to edit
and re-use their Telecollaboration 2.0 table and to Benjamin Fröhlich,
commissioning editor at Peter Lang, for granting us permission to edit ad
re-use the table. We are also grateful to the OIL support colleagues in the
Centre for Global Engagement. Finally we would like to thank the learn-
ing technologists both in our former Faculty of Business, Environment
and Society and in the ‘cuonline’ technical support unit at Coventry
University.

xi
 Contents

1 Introduction   1

2 Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) Revisited   7

3 Cyberpragmatics  25

4 The CoCo Telecollaborative Project: Internationalisation at

Home to Foster Global Citizenship Competences  39

5 CoCo Research Questions and Answers  53

6 Emerging Online Politeness Patterns  63

7 Conclusion  93

xiii
xiv Contents

 ppendix 1: Intercultural Digital Learning Project (IDLP)—

A
Mahara Checklist  99

Appendix 2: Participant Information Form 103

Appendix 3: Sample Brown and Levinson Analysis 107

Appendix 4: Sample Leech analysis 115

Index 121
 List of Abbreviations

CC Communicative Competence
CoCo Coventry/Colmar (OIL project)
CMC Computer Mediated Communication
COIL Collaborative online international learning
CP Cooperative Principle (Grice, 1975)
CU Coventry University
ECTS European Credit Transfer System
FEA Face-enhancing Act
FLE Foreign Language Education
FTA Face-threatening Act
GCE Global Citizenship Education
GSP General Strategy of Politeness (Leech, 2014)
H Hearer = the hearer or addressee of an interaction
HE Higher Education
HEA Higher Education Academy
HEI Higher Education Institution
IC Intercultural Competence
ICC Intercultural Communicative Competence
ICCC Intercultural Cyberpragmatic Communicative Competence
IDLP Intercultural Digital Learning Project
IoC Internationalisation of the Curriculum
L1 First Language
L2 Second Language
MexCo Mexico/Coventry (OIL Project)
OIE Online International Exchange

xv
xvi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

OIL Online International Learning

PIS Participant Information Sheet
RQ Research Question
S Speaker = the speaker or addresser in an interaction
TC Threshold Concept
VLE Virtual Learning Environment
 List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Telecollaboration 2.0, Hem and Guth (2010, p. 74) 18

Fig. 3.1 Role-reversal model of threshold concept pedagogy, “through
the looking glass” of the “expert students” 33
Fig. 4.1 Screenshot of the Open Moodle CoCo course web 43
Fig. 4.2 Word cloud for “individualism” (UK responses) 45
Fig. 4.3 Word cloud for “individualisme” (French responses) 45
Fig. 4.4 Chart of strategies: positive politeness (Brown & Levinson,
1987, p. 102) 47
Fig. 4.5 Chart of strategies: negative politeness (Brown & Levinson,
1987, p. 131) 48
Fig. 4.6 Chart of strategies: off record FTA (Brown & Levinson,
1987, p. 214) 49
Fig. 4.7 The component maxims of the General Strategy of Politeness
(Leech, 2014, p. 91) 49
Fig. 4.8 The categories of constraint violation of the “General Strategy of
Impoliteness” (Leech, 2014, p. 221) 50
Fig. 6.1 Pie chart summary of Brown and Levinson analysis of all 3
exchanges66
Fig. 6.2 Pie chart summary of Leech analysis of all 3 exchanges 78

xvii
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Byram’s ICC schema—Factors in intercultural communication

(adapted from Byram, 1997) 13
Table 5.1 Analysis of unit #61 58
Table 5.2 Analysis of unit #89 58
Table 5.3 Analysis of unit #102 59
Table 5.4 Units #3 and #12 60
Table 6.1 Forum structural details 64
Table 6.2 Units #9–10 and #30–31 67
Table 6.3 Units #35 and #82–84 68
Table 6.4 Units #61–63 and #75 68
Table 6.5 Units #54 and #62 69
Table 6.6 Units #79–80 and #95–98 70
Table 6.7 Units #13–14, #30–31 and #71–73 71
Table 6.8 Units #22–23, #46, #89 and #94 73
Table 6.9 Units #19–22 76
Table 6.10 Unit #89 76
Table 6.11 Units #39–43 79
Table 6.12 Units #6–8 80
Table 6.13 Units #56–58 80
Table 6.14 Units #6–7 81
Table 6.15 Units #13–15 82
Table 6.16 Micro-­linguistic features in the CoCo fora 84
Table 6.17 Unit #46 84
Table 6.18 Units #12, #46 and #62 85
Table 6.19 #89 and #50 86

xix
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Abstract Chapter 1 introduces the themes contained in this volume, which

is based on the CMC (Computer Mediated Communication) lessons learnt
from the engagement with a small scale telecollaborative/Online
International Learning (OIL) project, CoCo, between the UK and France,
that took place in academic year 2015–2016. It discusses how OIL projects
are supporting the internationalisation of the Higher Education (HE) cur-
riculum and the development of global citizenship competences, including
intercultural communicative competence (ICC) for the digital age.
The chapter provides some ICC insights stemming from OIL, with
particular reference to the teaching and learning of cyberpragmatics,
defined as understanding the intended meanings of others in online
communication.

Keywords Online International Learning (OIL) • Telecollaboration •

Internationalisation of the curriculum (IoC) • Intercultural communica-
tive competence (ICC) • Global citizenship • Threshold concept (TC) •
Cyberpragmatics

This work aims to report on and discuss the CMC (Computer Mediated
Communication) lessons learnt from the engagement with a small scale
telecollaborative project, CoCo, between the UK and France, that was

© The Author(s) 2018 1

M. Orsini-Jones, F. Lee, Intercultural
Communicative Competence for Global Citizenship,
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58103-7_1
2 M. ORSINI-JONES AND F. LEE

modelled on larger scale one, MexCo, between the UK and Mexico

(Orsini-Jones, Lloyd, Gazeley, Lopez-Vera, & Bescond, 2015).
Telecollaboration or OIL (Online International Learning) is also
referred to as Online Intercultural Exchange—OIE and Collaborative
Online International Learning—COIL. O’Dowd and Lewis (2016, p. 3),
refer to it as OIE and define it as “the engagement of groups of students
in online intercultural interaction and collaboration with partner classes
from other cultural contexts or geographical locations under the guidance
of educators and/or expert facilitators”. In this study telecollaboration
and OIL will be used interchangeably.
OIL has become one of the major ways of internationalising the cur-
riculum for all subjects, not just languages, as reflected in a publication
coordinated by staff who operate within the COIL fellowship at SUNY
(State University New York): Globally Networked Teaching in the
Humanities: Theories and Practices (Shulteis Moore & Simon, 2015),
which includes examples from Performing Arts, Film Studies, Literature
and Feminist theory. OIL projects aim to make the HE curriculum at each
of the partner institutions involved more intercultural and international,
in keeping with the strategic priority to encourage their students to
become digitally literate global citizens. The IoC and the acquisition of
global citizenship competences are priorities in the UK HE sector.
Internationalisation, according to literature from the Higher Education
Academy (HEA) prepares graduates to live in and contribute responsibly
to a globally interconnected society (HEA, 2016). Implementing interna-
tionalisation in HE requires not only content to be modified, “it also
requires changes in pedagogy to encourage students to develop critical
skills to understand forces shaping their discipline and challenge accepted
viewpoints” (Zimitat, 2008, p. 143). In the field of language learning
these skills include the development of Intercultural Communicative
Competence (ICC) as originally defined by Byram (1997) and further
developed by other scholars (e.g. Kramsch, 2009/2015, p. 199).
Interculturality is more than accepting linguistic and cultural diversity: it is
about interculturally competent speakers engaging in dialogues between
cultures (Byram, 2012) while at the same time acknowledging that it is
not just two cultures we are dealing with, or two languages, or two nations.
Kramsch proposes to go beyond these dualities and talks about ‘symbolic
competence’ (2006) to place ICC within a multilingual perspective
(2009/2015, p. 199). The development of ICC competences, including
the ability to critically reflect on one’s own cultural assumptions, to recog-
 INTRODUCTION 3

nise and value cultural diversity, to feel empathy for others—can be chal-
lenging for both teachers and learners (Leask, 2008, p. 128), yet it is also
transformational, leading to dynamic and reflective dialogue (Leask, 2015,
p. 114). Orsini-­Jones et al. (2015, p. 205) argue that the development of
ICC through telecollaboration is troublesome, but brings benefits that
outweigh the challenge it poses. Through telecollaboration the learner’s
identity is negotiated and reconfigured.
Thorne states that Web 2.0 (definition coined by O’Reilly in 2005)
technologies have enabled a novel “intercultural turn” in second language
education (2010, p. 139) by facilitating distant connections not previously
possible.
The work reported here reflects the shift from previous models of tele-
collaboration focusing on tandem language learning (e.g. O’Rourke,
2007), to the development of new intercultural competences for global
citizenship for both staff and students involved in exchanges that do not
necessarily involve a stress on language learning and teaching of a foreign
language as their primary focus. The emphasis is on practising the inter-
cultural competences and the digital literacies necessary to operate in an
interconnected world both when using English as the shared language of
communication online and when engaging in bilingual and/or ‘hybrid’
communication involving code-switching.
It could be argued that the polarisation of feelings towards the “others”
caused by the referendum vote for ‘Brexit’ in June 2016 in the UK makes
the raising of UK-based students’ awareness of Byram’s ICC components
relating to knowledge, skills, attitudes and values (Byram, Gribkova, &
Starkey, 2002) more urgent. There is an ethical and appealing dimension
to OIL, as there is evidence (Tcherepashenets, 2015) that it can also sup-
port the fostering of students’ awareness of social justice themes relating
to the development of the ability to operate in a difference-friendly world.
Cyberpragmatics (Yus, 2011), defined as understanding the intended
meanings of others in online communication, is one of the integral com-
ponents of ICC that can be developed through telecollaboration. Staff
involved in teaching languages in HE should support students with per-
fecting their cyberpragmatic competence with targeted curricular inter-
ventions. The engagement in telecollaboration raises students’ awareness
of the conventions of effective online engagement. In agreement with
Stroińska and Cecchetto (2013, p. 175) the pragmatics of politeness pro-
posed by Leech (1983) is being revisited here and applied to the analysis
of the CMC asynchronous written exchanges on CoCo. Politeness literacy
4 M. ORSINI-JONES AND F. LEE

for telecollaboration is an integral part of ICC. HE staff need to be aware

of the online ICC ‘rules of engagement’ and integrate cyberpragmatic
practice into their teaching.
As pointed out in various telecollaborative studies (e.g. Kramsch,
2009/2015; O’Dowd & Ritter, 2006; Ware & Kramsch, 2005) it can be
challenging to maintain communicative momentum and effective interac-
tion in online intercultural exchanges that normally require a long-term
task-based-learning approach. It would appear that even in carefully scaf-
folded telecollaboration activities breaks in communication can occur.
This study applies linguistic politeness theory frameworks (Brown &
Levinson’s, 1987; Leech’s, 2014) to the asynchronous interactions in
the telecollaborative CoCo exchanges linked to the intercultural tasks
the students engaged with. Leech’s concepts of pragmalinguistic and
sociopragmatic appropriateness are explored and the interactants’ use
of micro-linguistic features to replace contextual cues in the online set-
ting will be highlighted. It is suggested that ICC is a threshold concept
(more about this in Chap. 3) and cyberpragmatics is one of its funda-
mental components.

References
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative compe-
tence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M. (2012). Conceptualizing intercultural (communicative) competence
and intercultural citizenship. In J. Jackson (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of
language and intercultural communication (pp. 85–98). Abingdon: Routledge.
Byram, M., Gribkova, B., & Starkey, H. (2002). Developing the intercultural
dimension in language teaching: A practical introduction for teachers.
Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Higher Education Academy. (2016). frameWORKS: Essential frameworks for
enhancing student success: 05. Internationalising higher education. Retrieved
April 27, 2017, from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/down-
loads/higher_education_academy_-_internationalisation_frame-
work_-_210416.pdf
Kramsch, C. (2006). From communicative competence to symbolic competence.
Modern Language Journal, 90(2), 249–251.
Kramsch, C. (2009/2015). The multilingual subject. Oxford: OUP.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
by permitting it to be drawn up into the pump which supplies the
water to the water-jacket. This method is sometimes used, but is
satisfactory only when the bilge water can be kept clean, which is
difficult.—Francis B. Dashiell, Baltimore, Md.
 A Hinged Window Box

The Flower Box is Arranged to Swing Away from the Window so That It will
Not Be in the Way

A window box arranged to rest in a hinged bracket on the outside

of a window, as shown in the sketch, has advantages over the usual
method of fixing the box permanently. The box is separate from the
supporting frame and may be removed from it. The frame is attached
to the window casing by means of T-hinges and is strongly
supported by a bracket. When it is desired to clean the window, the
device may be swung around and out of the way. This feature is also
desirable when it is raining, for the flowers in the box may be
watered conveniently in this way.—L. J. Hough, Toledo, Ohio.
 Denatured Alcohol to Start Gasoline Stove
Considerable smoke and dirt is caused by the burning of gasoline
used to generate gas in starting a gasoline stove. This may be
eliminated by keeping an oilcan filled with denatured alcohol
convenient to the stove, and filling the starting pan with alcohol
instead of gasoline. The spout of the oilcan is also convenient in
pouring only a small quantity into the pan.—Spencer A. Pease,
Chicago, Ill.

¶A strip of adhesive tape, fixed to the lower side of a straightedge

used for cutting glass, will prevent it slipping.
 Playing-Card Holder

While disabled with a broken arm and being anxious to play cards
for diversion, I was at a loss to hold my “hand.” I soon devised the
card holder shown in the sketch, and found no difficulty keeping in
the game. It is made of a strip of wood provided with a groove near
the front edge, into which the cards are inserted.—W. E. Thomae,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
 Cocoanut-Shell Trays

Trays for holding matches, or other articles, may be made of

cocoanut shells by cutting them to appropriate sizes and smoothing
the surface to a polish. The tray shown in the sketch was made in
this manner, as were a number of match trays which were fitted with
small sheet-metal dishes. The outside of the shell is first scraped as
smooth as possible, sandpapered, and then oil-polished, producing a
beautiful finish.—John F. Long, Springfield, Mo.
 Nail Carrier Made of Cans

Four ordinary tin cans, fastened to a wooden block as shown in

the illustration, make a serviceable and practical carrier for nails,
staples, or similar materials, used in making repairs on the farm or in
the shop. The tops of the cans are cut out carefully and the edges
smoothed off so as not to injure the hand in removing nails from
them. The tops are cut to the shape shown, as attached to the block
and provided with a handle, making it convenient to carry the
contrivance. If cans are used having covers which may be pried off,
the central block should be extended and the handle nailed directly
to it.—Dale R. Van Horn, North Loup, Neb.
 Stopping Rattle in Motorcycle Stand

Annoyance while traveling over rough roads by the rattling of the

rear stand on a motorcycle may be overcome by taping the part of
the brace which hooks into a catch at the end of the rear mud guard.
The sketch shows a view of the lower portion of the rear wheel with
the stand raised and in place in the catch.
 Novel Covered Box for Index Trays

The box shown in the sketch is novel in that it provides a

nonsliding cover with a minimum of wood for the construction and
the use of no extra space for the lid. Where index, or other boxes
must be provided in considerable numbers, or stored in a limited
space, the saving will be worth while. Index cards, or other material,
may fill the box to its upper level without hindering the availability of
the cover. The small portions attached to the cover are cut from the
side and end pieces.—DeWitt C. Ramsay, Bridgeport, Conn.
¶Small parts may be soldered conveniently by holding them with a
clip made of a piece of clock spring.
 A Simple Barometer
A barometer that will indicate weather changes with reasonable
accuracy may be made of two bottles. A milk bottle nearly filled with
water is used as the container and a smaller bottle fitting snugly into
the top is inverted in the mouth of the milk bottle. The mouth of the
inverted bottle should extend about an inch below the surface of the
water. Weather changes will cause the water to rise and fall in the
neck of the inverted bottle.
 Removable Posts for Tennis Court

The Post may be Removed for Mowing the Court or When Not in Use
 It is sometimes desirable to have tennis-court posts arranged to be
easily removed from the lawn or the court when the grass is being
mowed, or during the winter. The method of fixing the posts in the
ground, as shown in the sketch, makes it convenient to remove the
posts and still gives the necessary stability. A square wooden box,
tarred to resist the moisture, is placed in the ground, and the post is
fitted into it. The upper end of the box is level with the surface, and
when the post is removed a wooden block is fitted into the opening.
Removal of the posts permits the mowing of the grass close to them
and leaves the place free from obstructions when the court is not in
use.—Edward R. Smith, Walla Walla, Wash.
 Lightning Switch for Wireless Aerials
Amateur wireless operators often cannot afford to buy a lightning
switch such as is required to ground the aerial when not in use. The
sketch shows such a device, which was made of a marble slab fitted
with copper strips cut from discarded half-tone plates. The base was
smoothed and polished to the size indicated, 4 in. wide and 9 in.
long. The upper edges were beveled off, and holes were drilled near
the ends through which bolts were passed to fasten the small
brackets supporting the crossbar.
 Discarded Copper Half-Tone Plates and a Piece of Marble were Used in
Making This Lightning Switch for the Wireless Aerials

The copper pieces were made as follows: The plates of ¹⁄₁₆-in.

copper were cut into strips, 1¹⁄₄ in. wide. Two were made 8 in. long;
four, 3 in. long, and four, ⁷⁄₈ in. long. The 8-in. strips were fastened
together with small bolts and a hole was drilled through one end of
the joined pieces to fit the bolt which forms the pivot for the switch.
The 3-in. strips were bent to form a ³⁄₄-in. angle, through which holes
were bored for fastening to the base. The ⁷⁄₈-in. strips were clamped
between the brackets at their lower ends to provide a slot for the
crossbar. The bolts, by which the brackets were clamped together,
were provided with binding nuts to which the wires were connected.
A handle might be fixed to the crossbar, but this is not essential.
 Stenciling with Photographic Films

Serviceable Stencils may be Cut from Photographic Films, and Afford a

Practical Means of Making Signs and Other Forms

Photographic films make excellent material from which to cut

stencils for use in marking show cards, placards, etc., as well as for
other uses to which stencils are put. Pictures, or other designs to be
stenciled, may be pasted to the film and the outline cut, care being
taken that the design is adapted for stenciling. This is important,
since frequently binding strips must be left in the design in order to
make it possible to cut a satisfactory stencil from it. The films are
used with the rough side down, to prevent them from slipping. A
variety of subjects for stencil design may be adapted from pictures
clipped from publications or other sources.—Robert Smith, New
Westminster, B. C., Canada.
 A Gas-Stove Lighter
For lighting the gas stove, matches are not only untidy but
inconvenient. In lieu thereof I use a simple affair consisting of a wood
handle with a large nail set in the end, with which it is only necessary
to touch the burner in order to start a flame. There is nothing to wear
out and no parts to renew. Furthermore this gas lighter uses only one
wire—a fact that is apt to strike a person as being rather unusual on
first thought. However, if the reader will connect one terminal of a 60-
watt lamp with the gas main or to the gas stove and then touch the
other terminal successively with each of the two ends of the live
wires it will be found that the lamp will light up with one terminal but
not with the other, for the reason that one side of the circuit is usually
grounded at most electric-light plants as a precaution against
lightning.
All that is necessary to get a spark is to provide a suitable
resistance coil with an iron core, so that the fuse will not be blown
and to secure sufficient inductance to get a hot spark. The writer
uses an ordinary 50-ohm telephone induction coil, in which the
primary and secondary are placed in series by the diagonal
connection indicated in the sketch. Almost any coil or electromagnet
of 25-ohm resistance, or more, connected in a circuit will prove safe
and give a hot spark. Place the coil in some out-of-the-way corner,
and run one strand of the usual flexible cord to the handle, which
should be hung at some convenient point at the right-hand side of
the stove. Let the handle itself be long enough so that there will be
no tendency to catch hold of the metal point. Run the flexible cord
through the center and out at the lower end, into which a wire nail
with the head removed is driven. Solder the wire to the nail, and the
lighter is ready.
 Single Contact Point for Making a Spark to Light a Gas-Stove Burner or Tip

For lighting Bunsen burners, and other fixtures using rubber

tubing, a small wire may be run down the center of the tubing so as
to ground the burner, or else a small surface on the workbench may
be covered with tin and this grounded, so that it is only necessary to
set the burner thereon to get a light.—John D. Adams, Phoenix,
Arizona.