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I must admit that the course, Introduction to Writing Arts, offered for the first time exclusively at Rowan University, of which I am a student, has thus far, in my opinion, been a huge success and has opened my eyes to not only my own potential as a writer; but the mass potential of writing spaces available to me as a writer in a world of every increasing technology, most specifically the internet. It is a world I knew little about coming into this course and has, in fact, been one that has opened up to me as a result of the second module taught by Professor William Wolff, entitled: Technologies and the Future of Writing. My only complaint is that as a full-time, commuting, part-time employed student, seeking to hang on to some semblance of a social life, time constraints put a damper on just how much one can give and take from a class like this one. I guess I find solace in the fact that that is just the nature of college. That being said, I want to put my stamp of approval on the effectiveness of this class and advocate for its continuance in the Writing Arts program.
A topic of discussion that was addressed on Wednesday, October 30, 2007, was that of the nature, effectiveness, efficiency, quality, and effects of such formats or platforms as chat rooms, and instant messaging, the two being similar in nature. Many different ideas or views about this type of communication were brought out as a result of spending 40 minutes “chatting” with classmates in response to several quotes from several authors who shared their thoughts about computers and emerging technologies and how they have shaped and are shaping communication, specifically writing. Such spaces or platforms as MUDs (multi-user domains) and Blogs are open doors for writers to make themselves known and possibly effect social change, bring a smile to someone’s face, or move someone deeply, entertain, or make people think about things they wouldn’t normally think about. I love what Julian Dibbell writes in his article entitled: “A Rape in Cyberspace”. I believe he is referring to the accountability of an author, specifically one who seeks to post their work on the World Wide Web. He writes: “…The commands you type into a computer are a kind of speech that doesn’t so much communicate as make things happen, directly and ineluctably, the same way pulling a trigger does…This is a dangerous magic, to be sure a potential threat—if misconstrued or misapplied—to our always precarious freedoms of expression…”
I have been reading The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell for a class and since reading the book I have made connections to the book with other subjects. Rebecca Moore Howard’s article “Understanding Internet Plagiarism” speaks about information being sold off the Internet and being sold as one’s own.
According to Gladwell, there is a point where everything that causes an event to occur tips. The crime rate in New York City lowered once the environment changed and the law enforcement agencies cracked down. Turnitin.com is comparable to the New York City’s police department. Putting aside the fact that it alleviates extra checking time for teachers, what about students? This useful tools no longer allows students to plagiarize. Online sources and website caused a tipping point where students were cheating and knowing that they were cheating. WithTurnitin, it will be in their faces and no longer does the environment allow the student to commit the crime.
The situation allowed for the student to cheat. Taking away the environment removes the broken window idea. If the broken window is there, someone will cheat. Without the broken window, no longer do students have the opportunity for use another’s as their own. Turnitin.com reverses the tipping point and will cause a trend to stop evolving and stop more students from committing the crimes of others.
If we stop those committing crimes now then we rehabilitate and allow individuals to understand that plagiarizes creates a world we no longer expect to have our own thoughts and promote the betterment of oneself. No longer does it matter that an individual received a Ph.D., if their dissertation was plagiarized.
We need to have our own ideas; what has happened to a world where we can’t think for ourselves and the outside world is thinking for us?
Personally, I was never a big fan of YouTube. I would occasionally watch videos that my friends or family would send to me but other than that, I never really checked it out much. Over the years, it has become increasingly more popular to post things on YouTube. Now it is possible to find almost anything on there from music videos and TV shows to people’s personal videos. I have friends that are completely addicted to YouTube. They can sit there for hours checking out the most popular videos or what other people seem to be watching. Sometimes when I’m at work, we will all just sit there huddled around the computer screen watching To Catch a Predator. It makes the time go by so much faster and we have a blast making fun of the predators together (as sick and weird as that may sound). I had only heard of the LonelyGirl15 when it came out that she was a paid actress reading from a script. Before that I had no idea who Bree was or what was so interesting about her video blog. Even when I was watching some of the videos for this assignment, I still couldn’t understand what was so compelling about this blog. It’s really just a girl talking about her normal everyday life and the problems and situations that go with it. I have enough problems of my own, why would I want to hear about hers? I don’t know her, we aren’t friends, and I don’t really care. As mean as that may sound, I would much rather watch some ridiculous homemade music video that will make me laugh than some girl complaining about her problems. In a world full of problems, I don’t really need to hear about some more of them. What I really need is something that will entertain me and take my mind off of my own problems or the world’s problems for the time being.
After reading Rebecca Moore Howard’s “Understanding Internet Plagiarism” I found myself thinking about the website www.turnitin.com. For those who are not familiar with the site, it is a place where a user may submit text, such as a Word document, and Turnitin compares the user’s text to a vast database of text. The site then discerns whether the text in whole or in parts was plagiarized and displays a report.
It is generally understood that by submitting your text it becomes part of the massive database. This growing database is necessary to filter out plagiarism. I wondered what other possible uses the company might have for this ever-expanding collection of user-submitted original work, so I checked out the site’s http://www.turnitin.com/static/usage.html. I saw this:
Your License to Us: Unless otherwise indicated in this Site, including our Privacy Policy or in connection with one of our services, any communications or material of any kind that you e-mail, post, or transmit through the Site (excluding personally identifiable information of students and any papers submitted to the Site), including, questions, comments, suggestions, and other data and information (your “Communications”) will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. You grant iParadigms a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, world-wide, irrevocable license to reproduce, transmit, display, disclose, and otherwise use your Communications on the Site or elsewhere for our business purposes. We are free to use any ideas, concepts, techniques, know-how in your Communications for any purpose, including, but not limited to, the development and use of products and services based on the Communications.
I underlined “excluding personally identifiable information of students and any papers submitted to the Site” because it was the sentence that stood out to me.
For now, Turnitin’s policy is to not use submitted works in the database as a means for profit — but how long will this policy be standard with databases such as these? What would it take for a hacker to access this database of ideas and thoughts? What will be the limit on the price for a third party to purchase such a varied, digital think-tank? While Turnitin follows this policy above, what about other sites that will be forced to develop in the face of growing plagiarism and piracy in the online world?
Personal information is bought and sold around the globe in the millions. What happens when original thoughts and ideas of a person become a resource? A person’s genes can be patented by corporations and used for profit, what will it mean when your words can be as well? Who will be profiting from your next big idea?
I would like to bring up and perhaps address a topic of discussion that came up in class last Friday. It was in response to the article, A Rape In Cyberspace; or How an Evil Clown, A Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database into a Society by Julian Dibble. The question that was raised by Professor Wolff dealt with an attribute of character and identity. The reaction to the “coming out” of Lonelygirl15 as being fraudulent, and the uncertainty of the validity of You Tube subscribers to be authentic, unscripted and/or unrehearsed, posed the question: How do we know if what “You Tubers”, and My Space/ Facebook users put out for the world wide web to see is a true depiction of who they really are? What makes us believe their legitimacy? Why would anyone want to paint a false portrait of who they are? Why would people want to make a false claim about themselves? Duplicity is the fact of being deceptive, dishonest, misleading or double. Why would someone want to be two-faced, showing one side of themselves to one group and another side to another group? This question leads me to note something professor Wolff brought out for class discussion, which is true; but I am not so sure if it is right. Selah! He said that we present different sides of ourselves in different spaces; whether on paper, on My Space/Facebook, with friends, among colleagues, in a place of worship, with our family, in the classroom, among strangers, wherever. This is a very true social phenomenon! Can we therefore be likened to the characters in a play in which we wear a different mask for every part or role? Did you know that this is where the word “hypocrisy” derived? Should our environment or the context in which we find ourselves define who we are, or should we seek to be the same at all times no matter who we are with or what we are doing…with no trace of duplicity or hypocrisy? I’m not totally sure if this is purely possible; but I have grappled with this issue throughout my life and have come to the personal conclusion that I want to seek to be the same at all times and in whatever context I find myself… I get tired of wearing all those masks; they’re hot, and cumbersome!
In 2002, The Bush administration instituted the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in hopes of bringing greater accountability to teachers and school districts across the nation. Not only was the intent of the NCLB Act a way to increase accountability, but also a venue to allow parents and students a choice as to which school district they would prefer to attend in hope of bringing greater equality to education. The Act’s purpose was also to help bolster the country’s reading literacy program. Much controversy surrounds or looms over whether or not the Act has stifled creativity and innovation in the classroom because of the increased drive and emphasis for students to pass nation-wide standardized tests. Through my personal observations and by talking with several practicing educators, the consensus seems to be unanimous, that the pressure “to perform” has compelled teachers to teach to the test and steals their time and energy from teaching life skills, critical thinking, and hinders them from instituting a more collaborative, “hands-on” approach to instruction. There seems to be a dichotomy brewing in these United States when it comes to our country’s education. There has been a wind of change breezing through since NCLB was enacted. On one hand…a good hand, the Act has drawn attention to the growing needs and problems facing students and school systems in America, which alternatively has turned our thinking about traditional schooling to a more progressive, collaborative one; ergo the new “buzz” term for classroom being : learning community. Since the Act, many universities have changed and revamped their program to meet the needs of a more diverse student body; not only diverse in ethnicity; but in learning style, which I personally believe is absolutely on the right track! I just do not quite understand what took place in the American educational system since the dawn of the NCLB Act. Almost simultaneously, the Act forces teachers to teach to the test, while a new movement, ideology or philosophy emerges to bring about a more collaborative, less individualistic, less competitive, more team- friendly, hands-on, practical, innovative method of learning. I find it to be quite the conundrum. It may seem as though one institution is fighting against another, but I believe that maybe, out of this struggle, a new paradigm is forming. If the two ideas would merge; the traditional view with the progressive, constructivism with direct- instruction, and “teaching to the test’ with a creative, collaborative approach, then possibly a strong, well -balanced system would grow and take shape into something formidable that will best meet the growing, changing needs of our country’s student body.
Owl Alert Latest Status:
The situation regarding a distressed student at Edgewood Park Apartments has
been resolved. The incident was unrelated to the killing of Donald Farrell and involved a student barricading himself in his apartment. He left the apartment and is being taken to an area hospital. Residents may return to Edgewood.
PRIOR UPDATES BELOW
I want to a pose a question to those who are attending a university. What is happening in the world that people are dying from assaults, rapes, and murders on campus? Why is that we can no longer walk safely anymore.
I am so angry, upset, and scared. I drove to a meeting last night just so that I wouldn’t be attacked. I don’t even feel safe in my dorm room anymore.
Where is it that I can feel safe? Once I’m done with school, maybe? Since most crimes that I hear about since I’m a college student is those on a campus.
Taken from www.Philly.com
Rowan student dies after beating
By Jan Hefler
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A Rowan University sophomore died of head and stomach injuries at Cooper University Hospital this afternoon after being beaten and robbed by two men on a campus road last night.
I do not consider myself to be a “health- food-nut” by any means. I am not an expert on nutirition nor do I spend my days reading labels on the food items I buy or consume. I excercise at least three times a week, take a multi-vitamin twice daily and do my best to eat my green leafy vegetables, but that is about the extent of it. However, just prior to going on a trip out West this summer, my mom, who is keen on nutrition, read to me an article from the Philadelphia Enquirer regarding the detriments of a prevalent preservative found mostly in soft drinks, known as sodium benzoate. I am ashamed to admit that when my mom doles out nutritional information, I usually listen half-heartedly and smile weakly to appease her joy of health and wellness in order to lead her to believe that what she has said has made some kind of difference in my life. I then eat and drink pretty much whatever I want. However, for some strange reason, the information about this particular preservative/additive found in most carbonated beverages, stuck with me to the point that I really felt to give up drinking soda. I immediately began choosing other beverages such as Minute Maid “lite” lemonade, iced-tea, fruit juices and of course, water. I can honestly say I have been “soda-free” since June of 2007; and I don’t miss it one bit! I also believe I am healthier for it! I highly recommend you check out the following links for more information regarding this harmful preservative that has been known to cause cell degeneration, disable DNA, cause Parkinson’s disease, and hyperactivity in children. Maybe you, too, will choose to not have soda as part of your diet. The following link, coke vs. water may also encourage you to think twice about consuming carbonated beverages.
Kate and the Fab Four 