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In the days of yore (or freshman semester last year), I remember having to write about plagiarism in lengthy detail for my college composition class; all our papers were somehow based around education really. But I specifically remember having read an article before Rebecca Moore Howard’s “Understanding ‘Internet Plagiarism’” that had mentioned the website TurnItIn and the significant decline in academic standards.
TurnItIn is a website through which teachers are able to submit the works of their students in order to check and prevent acts of plagiarism. The success rate of this website, however, is questionable due to increased concern that has been placed on plagiarism; the Internet has done a decent job of making teachers worry.
And irony at its best was shown through the pay sites (which I’m also well aware of) that happen to offer papers about the nature of plagiarism for a certain fee – how much more ridiculous can one get? It appears that most students are looking for an easy way out of hard work – anything to do the least and still get that “hard-earned A.” Has the Internet, then, made us a lazy generation that simply wants to “get by.”
Unfortunately, with the ability to copy and paste, as well as the infinite space of the Internet, plagiarism is and will continue to be a concern of teachers everywhere. Will there ever be a full proof of deterring plagiarism? I’m not fully sure, but I can say that hopefully someday, there will be a better academic standard than there is now.
In the past day, there have been three seperate items in my Facebook newsfeed related to applications — specifically, demanding that people stop sending out mass invites Or Else — and since this is a technology module I thought I’d ask: Can there be too much customization? Relating specifically to Facebook, I can’t write on half my friends’ walls anymore because I don’t have the patience to scroll through their many applications. I’ve seen several people denounce applications as the beginning of the end for Facebook, and though the same was said about news feeds and we’ve all gotten over that, I have to wonder if the ability to add so many features to your profile is going to be a help or a hindrance once the novelty wears off. Any thoughts? And will someone please explain to me the point of these werewolf/vampire/zombie requests I keep getting?
Okay, down to some serious stuff. The plagiarism article was really interesting. I would imagine that there are some problems out there now because there may be teacher’s out there who are not technologically savvy. For them following up on sources can be a challenge. I think the only way to prevent plagiarism or at least to try to contain it to a minimum is through strict tolerance and continual education. If students are taught how to correctly annotate and site, how to properly word information, and the correct methods for researching and obtaining information then they will develop the proper skills and write with confidence. I think this is why writing has been moved to the forefront. Additionally, it is why our major is of such concern and importance. Our future depends on people like us who can write, who know the proper way to write, and who can teach others. One of the most common areas that students struggle in is writing. So I think if we can reach more students and teach them the proper way to write with confidence and accuracy, it will help reduce the issues regarding plagiarism.
So, I think I am getting addicted to technology when I have time to play around and check stuff out. A couple of things I saw tonight was a video pushing Diet Cherry chocolate dr. pepper. Mmmm sounds great! But the video is pretty hot. I like the beat, kind of a tech, rap, hip-hop mix. I cannot believe that this guy Tay Zonday is 25, he looks like he’s 13. But it really was worth checking out! It’s called
Okay, so I have been checking out the netvibes website. I made a username and I think I might become addicted. Actually, I’m already addicted to the Internet. This website will either feed my addiction because I can’t stop adding widgets and looking at my home page, or it will end my addiction, allowing me to view everything in under a minute. Hopefully, it will end it. However, it doesn’t seem good at this point. So far, I have a countdown until my birthday, a facebook update, the weather, a to do list, youtube and wikipedia. I’m still trying to figure out how to get my school e-mail to work through this site. Also, I’m probably going to add a fish tank (as if having a real live one that I have to clean isn’t enough), and a photoalbum. Also, the top of my page has Christmas lights and ornaments and evergreen branches, to get me into the Christmas spirit, which isn’t hard to do anyways. It kind of clashes with the hot pink orange, yellow, green, blue and purple widgets all over my screen. Oh, a quote of the day widget!! Gotta go! -applejackie
I know it’s a little late but i figure now is better than never. This post is a in response to articles we read 2 weeks ago for class.
On page 3 of this article I found a statement that really caught my eye.
“One study found that only 40 percent of the Web is commercial. The rest runs on duty or passion.” This means that less than half of the whole entire internet is paid for by huge companies. The rest is run by people like us who have to have blogs for a class, or for some of us who want to have blogs for our own interest, or kids like us who want to go on youtube and “brodcast ourselves” for free! I like to think it’s really cool that a bigger percentage of the internet is run by passion than commercial conglomerates or duty.
On page 4, I discovered,
“A simple extrapolation suggests that in the near future, everyone alive will (on average) write a song, author a book, make a video, craft a weblog, and code a program.” This quote sums up how I currently feel about eventually graduating college. I am terrified to have a writing degree. Anyone can be a writer. Why should I focus on doing it for the rest of my life, as a career? I don’t just mean writing. What’s the point in majoring in anything? Anyone can be an author, a graphic designer, a music producer, the possibilited are endless. I find it quite scary that anyone in the world can be something through the internet for free that you (or I) are paying tons of money to become.
Page 7, ““When I play a woman I don’t really take it too seriously,” said 20-year-old Andrei. “I do it to improve the ratio of women to men. It’s just a game.” My thoughts on this…well let’s put it this way, in real life, people don’t usually cross-dress to improve gender ratios in the world. There was also a mention about how it’s easier to speak to the opposite sex in MUD’s. What I find humorous about this is that, if you are a woman in real life and in MUD’s and find it easier to converse with MUD’s men, half the men you are talking to in MUD’s are probably women anyway!!
My general viewpoint of MUD’s:
Playing as someone in a game vs. becoming someone real.
I figured I’d use this medium to the best of its ability, so here goes:
Avant is the literary magazine here at Rowan University. The magazine twice a year, once a semester. The club meets every Thursday at 5:00 PM in the Student Center’s Pub Suite which is located on the third floor in the back right corner. I encourage any and all creative writers to submit their work (there is a submissions folder in the Pub Suite hanging from the Avant office door, or you can email your work to avantzine@hotmail.com). Don’t be discouraged if your piece isn’t accepted right away; the staff wants only the best quality of work. If it isn’t accepted, you will receive an email with constructive criticisms for the piece and are encouraged to submit it again. If you don’t feel like submitting and still want to be involved, you can still come to the meetings and voice your opinion on the works of others. I believe that just about sums it up.
P.S If you want any additional information, feel free to contact me via this blog or my email which is iamjustindavis@yahoo.com
I have some knowledge of MUD’s seeing as a couple of friends and I had participated in them during middle school; they were interesting, easily learned time-wasters. And even though we had significantly more advanced video games at the time, we still found the freedom of the text-based world oddly intriguing.
I’m sure we came across a jerk or two along the way – it’s inevitable really, regardless of the medium – but we never read too deeply into their antics; we figured, “If someone gets out of line, he or she will get taken care of eventually.” After reading Julian Dibbell’s “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,” however, I came to realize that certain people take offensive actions over the Internet very seriously (to the point that legitimate legal actions were considered).
While I have no qualms about Mr. Bungle’s actions being rude and uncalled for, I believe that a younger generation might have simply shrugged such an occurrence off; legba, on the other hand, was an older resident of the LambdaMOO community. A younger generation, naturally more adept to the intricacies of the Internet and personal computing, would most likely categorize Mr. Bungle as a “newb” and underestimate the severity of the situation because it occurred over such a broad, nonphysical medium.
The decision to “toad” Mr. Bungle was seemingly appropriate, but it inevitably failed when Dr. Jest was able to log onto a different IP and create a new character; in this respect, there was a no way to completely block him from the online community.
It is interesting to note, though, that problems such as these give rise to hierarchies and democratic systems and provide an odd reflection of real-life into what should be a retreat from it. Rules and guidelines are necessary, yes, but is nothing so scared anymore that even text-based games are disconcerting to the well being of others? One would think that those seeking to participate in such communities would have a general understanding and respect for their procedures; MUD’s are relatively obscure in the mainstream world.
Ultimately, is there a lesson to be learned from Mr. Bungle? I believe there is – most people don’t realize that psychological rape can be just as serious and damaging as physical rape. And I at this point still don’t quite grasp that concept nearly as much as I probably should. So, Mr. Bungle or Dr. Jest or any other persona you go by, wherever you are and with whoever you’re harassing, you should revel in the sad victory that from your dishonest deeds there came about a revolution of online ethics in MUD’s.
Wow!
I just got done reading, “A Rape in Cyberspace” by Dibbell. I know I’m going to sound really stupid, but I had no idea what a MUD was. I mean you read and hear things about activities that are done online, but I had no idea how or where they took place. I can understand how this whole concept about rape online can be taken very seriously. The idea that it is happening in cyberspace does not necessarily make it harmless or acceptable. A person’s mental and emotional state is much more delicate than their physical being. Apparently these people get very involved and take this whole thing very serious. I cannot even imagine how we could even begin to enforce what happens online. This is truly a scary situation to know that these types of spaces are like huge arenas with welcome mats for lunatics. It makes me wonder that if someone is really sick and goes to a MUD room, creates a fictitious name and plays the whole thing out, what does that do to their mind? Is that whole scenario feeding their illness? Making them worse? I mean the article said something similar to, “At least it isn’t happening in real life”, people are acting out online. But it’s still real life. It’s happening whether your name is John or Sue. If that doesn’t demonstrate psychological problems what does? Oh, I was Sue when that happened, it wasn’t me. Wow, does this open a whole can of worms or what? Who was signed on as Scarlet7 on November 25th, in The MUD room on AOL? Does anyone have a clue? lol..
So, Hi Everyone! I hope your holiday was healthy, happy and FUN! I am so ready to be done with this semester. Why does it always seem like you are floating along on this nice calm stream, just taking everything in and then suddenly…WHAM! You hit a major storm and everything is coming your way, ice, sleet, snow, hail, pounding rain, lightening….I swear someone better throw me a life preserver fast!
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