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The Big Word Project is a website created by Paddy Donnelly and Lee Munroe, two Masters students from the University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland. 〔(University Of Ulster News Release - The Big Word Project )〕 Launched on February 25, 2008, the project is aimed at redefining the English dictionary with websites. Users can buy a word from a list of over 170,000 at $1 a letter and that word is then permanently linked to a URL of their choice. In its first week, the project saw thousands of visitors and added more than 2,000 words, thanks largely to a glowing review by the popular blog Daring Fireball.〔(Irish News: Online dictionary allows users to create and buy new words )〕〔http://blog.thebigwordproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/irishnews.jpg〕 But growth cooled; seven weeks after launch, the site stood at 2,345 words.〔http://thebigwordproject.com/, retrieved 17 April 2008.〕 However, an April 21 article in ''WIRED'' magazine〔(Grad Students Redefine Easy Money With $1-a-Letter Web Site )〕 renewed interest, and on May 22, the word count passed 5,000.〔http://thebigwordproject.com/, retrieved 22 May 2008.〕 As of 29 January 2010, the count was 7,025.〔http://thebigwordproject.com/, retrieved 29 January 2010.〕 ==Origin== The collaborative project was set up as part of Paddy and Lee’s Masters course in Multi-Disciplinary Design and drew upon Paddy’s viral marketing experience and Lee’s knowledge of Ruby on Rails applications and web usability. The creators, who are web designers, created a simplistic web 2.0-style website with few colours and no advertisements.〔(Thebigwordproject.com - Define a Word | Visit Thebigwordproj )〕 Paddy is currently researching Viral Marketing, looking at how information is spread through word of mouth and the internet and how certain things can become phenomena overnight. Lee has been freelancing in web design and development for several years and is now concentrating his studies on web usability and web applications.〔(Irish News Breaking News Player )〕 The students wanted to create a mass collaboration project where a global movement could be made by combining a small effort from thousands of people and research what words mean to different people. The project made use of a viral marketing campaign and relied on other people, primarily bloggers, spreading the word throughout the internet. The project has been featured in newspapers and magazines in Northern Ireland and beyond.〔(Web designers offer letters for a dollar - Belfast Today )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Big Word Project」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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