Text Researcher Caroline Tagg, Phd in Texting

  I'm not surprised.  Another worthless degree for someone who can't do any real studying or research on worthwhile subjects, getting attention for intelligent-sounding blather on something just because it's trendy. 

  What a waste.

As a Linguistics graduate, I would like to take this opportunity to question your implication that Dr Tagg's research lacks any kind of intellectual significance.

Texting is a domain of language use, with its own unique set of formal and functional features. It is therefore just as worthy of academic linguistic study as any other area of language use - if not more, given that Dr Tagg's is the first of its kind. Furthermore, if you take the time to look into some of the recent work undertaken at the University of Leicester and the Centre for Forensic Linguistics at Aston University, I hope you will agree that there are major positive implications of Dr Tagg's work.  

 This from the web regarding the murder of Danielle Jones (I can't post links, Google "Danielle Jones" and "text" and you will find many similar):

"A prior case where this was used was the investigation of murder a few years ago. At the 2002 trial an alibi was broken based on the evidence that the murderer and not the victim had sent crucial messages from her phone. Text analyses revealed that the texts had not been written by the victim herself, but that they had been faked to deflect suspicion from the killer as there were a number of differences in the texting styles between the victim and murderer. Linguistic analysis is therefore a useful tool which can reveal secrets within the criminal investigation, which otherwise would not be apparent. This present study aims to develop the technique further by investigating text language and style.

I hope this encourages you to re-evaluate the significance and applicability of Dr Tagg's research, and perhaps even to congratulate her on her success.

lame

you see this is how we know the human world is going to hell.  We have PHDs in ice skating, and texting.  Soon respectable Doctors won't want to be addressed by Dr. simply because it has lost it's meaning, and greatness.  What's next a PHD in the primitive art of passing notes in class?  I can see it now.. Journalist "and what exactly do these notes read Dr?" Dr. Blah "simply the most important things in the child in question's life at the time..Does Jimmy love me..will I be grounded if I..Mr Harrison looks like a gerbil" Journalist "fascinating!"

With the movement of thought, goes communication in all forms. If this is not a matter of "serious" enough thought to warrant study, why did anyone come this site, read the content, feel moved enough to provide their comment on the subject that is on this site, why are YOU here, reading or answering then? Face it, those of us who communicate in the texting world in any form, are in a new world. Not as new as in, just now started this form of communication, but new enough to realise it's here to stay. This is now a part of our history. It will be studied, gone over with "a fine tooth comb" type of study. I imagine the cavemen and women would laugh their asses off to see just how VERY seriously their cave drawings are being taken. But the people who carry degrees in the studies of them, take them very seriously. Study all history, it helps prevent repeating the the worst and building onto the best of it. With the movement of thought, goes communication in all forms. If this is not a matter of "serious" enough thought to warrant study, why did anyone come this site, read the content, feel moved enough to provide their comment on the subject that is on this site, why are YOU here, reading or answering then? Face it, those of us who communicate in the texting world in any form, are in a new world. Not as new as in, just now started this form of communication, but new enough to realise it's here to stay. This is now a part of our history. It will be studied, gone over with "a fine tooth comb" type of study. I imagine the cavemen and women would laugh their asses off to see just how VERY seriously their cave drawings are being taken. But the people who carry degrees in the studies of them, take them very seriously. Study all history, it helps prevent repeating the the worst and building onto the best of it. With the movement of thought, goes communication in all forms. If this is not a matter of "serious" enough thought to warrant study, why did anyone come this site, read the content, feel moved enough to provide their comment on the subject that is on this site, why are YOU here, reading or answering then? Face it, those of us who communicate in the texting world in any form, are in a new world. Not as new as in, just now started this form of communication, but new enough to realise it's here to stay. This is now a part of our history. It will be studied, gone over with "a fine tooth comb" type of study. I imagine the cavemen and women would laugh their asses off to see just how VERY seriously their cave drawings are being taken. But the people who carry degrees in the studies of them, take them very seriously. Study all history, it helps prevent repeating the the worst and building onto the best of it. With the movement of thought, goes communication in all forms. If this is not a matter of a serious enough thought to warrant study, why did anyone come this site, read the content, feel moved enough to provide their comment on the subject that is on this site, why are YOU here, reading or answering then? Face it, those of us who communicate in the texting world in any form, are in a new world. Not as new as in, just now started this form of communication, but new enough to realise it's here to stay. This is now a part of our history. It will be studied, gone over with "a fine tooth comb" type of study. I imagine the cavemen and women would laugh their asses off to see just how VERY seriously their cave drawings are being taken. But the people who carry degrees in the studies of them, take them very seriously. Study all history, it helps prevent repeating the the worst and building onto the best of it. With the movement of thought, goes communication in all forms. If this is not a matter of "serious" enough thought to warrant study, why did anyone come this site, read the content, feel moved enough to provide their comment on the subject that is on this site, why are YOU here, reading or answering then? Face it, those of us who communicate in the texting world in any form, are in a new world. Not as new as in, just now started this form of communication, but new enough to realise it's here to stay. This is now a part of our history. It will be studied, gone over with "a fine tooth comb" type of study. I imagine the cavemen and women would laugh their asses off to see just how VERY seriously their cave drawings are being taken. But the people who carry degrees in the studies of them, take them very seriously. Study all history, it helps prevent repeating the the worst and building onto the best of it.

I fully agree with Nicci MacLeod and Cheri N. I have read that Nietzsche scholars can trace a clear change in style and even in content in his writing to the point at which he stopped writing by hand and adopted the typewriter...The implications of texting with its new use of language and incredible frequency & potential triviality could be very far reaching indeed. Well done Dr Caroline Tagg, I will google you with interest !

She got her PhD from University of Phoenix

As someone with a PhD (in engineering geology if you care - though it is of course unverifiable by you, it is nonetheless true) who travels all over the world, I have come to recognize that Shakespeare had it right when he said in Hamlet (and this is verifiable...;-)), "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy".  Language is fascinating the world over, and the study of languages and how we communicate is the study of human culture itself.  Talking with a learned philologist in the Caucuses of Russia, I learned one day that Japanese is the only language without swear words.  Think about the implications of that!  I also learned of languages where the women and men speak a different dialect (obvious jokes aside - this was formal).  And I'm told that telegraph operators during World War II could identify the operator that they were spying on by his style of dots and dashes.  Again, think of the implications!  I admit to laughing pretty hard initially at the notion that someone was undertaking such a study; but in part because it is such a commentary about where our society is at this moment in time.  Walk down the street...no wait, if your not in Europe, ignore that and walk into a mall.  What is everyone doing...just watch for a bit, it is a massive phenomenon.  Why wouldn't we study this?  It's pretty easy to scoff from the sidelines without really knowing the extent of the study or the implications.  But on the other hand it's not so hard to open up a bit and be curious about the nature and outcome of such a study.  It's not about being bored, but about being interested.I for one would love to chat with this woman and find out all about it.  You may have another view.