Ryan Byrd’s Ramblings

“What if just knowing what a word meant could help feed hungry people around the world?”

Over at FreeRice.com, they have a vocabulary game and for every word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger. The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. (FreeRice is a nonprofit site.)

FreeRice has a custom database containing thousands of words at varying degrees of difficulty. The game automatically adjusts to your level of vocabulary. It starts by giving you words at different levels of difficulty and then, based on how you do, assigns you an approximate starting level. You then determine a more exact level for yourself as you play. When you get a word wrong, you go to an easier level. When you get three words in a row right, you go to a harder level. There are 55 levels in all, but it is rare for people to get much above level 48. The program keeps track of how many people get each word right or wrong, and then adjusts each word’s difficulty level accordingly. So the words at the easiest levels are the ones that people most often get right. The words at the hardest levels are the ones that people most often get wrong. As more and more people have played the game, these levels have become increasingly more accurate.

So, go learn and feed the poor!