Extension School student wins AbleMedia Silver Chalice
NOTICE
October 2, 2006
Alexei Grishin, a computer programmer and Latin graduate student at Harvard Extension School, is this month’s AbleMedia Silver Chalice winner for his Latin Assistant published on the Classics Technology Center on the Web. “Forget your Blackberry and your Palm Pilot; download the best digital assistant available for translating Latin from CTCWeb,” said Wendy E. Owens, CTCWeb editor in chief. “I am sure anyone who has had to translate a passage from Cicero will be as thankful as I am that Alexei is sharing his Latin Assistant with the world via CTCWeb.”
Grishin’s Latin Assistant makes life easier for anyone who needs help with Latin translation. The downloadable application enhances CTCWeb’s most popular program, WORDS Latin-to-English dictionary by William Whitaker. Like WORDS, Grishin’s Latin Assistant is available for free on CTCWeb. Grishin’s program works with WORDS to reformat how a typical WORDS dictionary entry is presented, exchanging the clunky DOS interface with an intuitive graphical one. Simplicity and efficiency are the keys to Grishin’s Latin Assistant. With Latin Assistant WORDS users can explore the WORDS dictionary, save the dictionary entries, and locate the translation of the Latin word for which they are looking quickly and easily.
Grishin values Whitaker’s WORDS program greatly and through experience is keenly aware of its utility. “I have been using WORDS probably from the time the program was first made available. As a dictionary it is infinitely more convenient than the Oxford Latin Dictionary or Lewis & Short,” Grishin said. “In fact, a few times it appeared to be the only source of particular definitions in some of my translation projects.”
Each week AbleOne’s sponsor, AbleMedia, salutes contributors for outstanding submissions to the AbleOne Consortium, the CTCWeb Showcase, and CTCWeb Netshots. Each receives the Bronze Chalice award. AbleMedia awards Silver Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the month. At the end of each year, AbleMedia awards Gold Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the year.