As a Writing Center tutor and instructor of first-year composition and research writing classes, I often deal with cases of unintended plagiarism. Most students who commit this “crime” do not do so because they are intent on stealing someone’s work, but because they don’t grasp the concept behind citation.
Two recent readings may help me explain the concept [...]
Archive for April, 2008
The Napster Revolution
Posted in Uncategorized on April 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The Messy Nature of Symbolic-Analytic Work
Posted in Uncategorized on April 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In his book Datacloud, Johndan Johnson-Eilola points out that today’s workplace involves jobs requiring symbolic-analytic work. This type of activity consists of gathering information, circulating it, reorganizing it, seeing patterns in it, and gleaning concepts from it. He argues for computer interfaces that support such activity and computer education that fosters it. Both areas currently fall short, he writes.
His [...]
On-line Litigating
Posted in technology on April 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This morning’s Today Show featured a segment about a New York actress who vents about her impending divorce on a YouTube video. She shot the video in her kitchen. Standing against her countertop, she dishes about the shortcomings of the couple’s sex life, offers up juicy details about the pre-nup, and angrily vents about what [...]
A Technological Twist on Stereotyping
Posted in Uncategorized on April 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This past weekend, I had the chance to see the box-office hit 21. The film is the story of a group of college students from MIT whose professor recruits them for an elaborate card counting operation. The group frequents Las Vegas on weekends and racks up big winnings. All is well until their goings-on arouse the suspicion of the security [...]
Teaching Students in a Multimodal World
Posted in Uncategorized on April 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Back when I was schooled in journalism, the reporters typed copy on sheets of yellow copypaper. The copyeditor used a pencil to designate corrections and indicate font, italics, boldface, etc. At that point, the copy was sent to the production department where another person would set the type, another would make the plate, and another would operate [...]
How to Fix Problems with Adobe Licensing Agreement
Posted in Uncategorized on April 8, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Recent forum posts have discussed the frustrations computer users have had with the latest download of Adobe Reader. Consumers complain that once they download 8.0, their computer freezes when the licensing agreement comes up for the first time. When the box prompts them to click Accept, the computer simply will not allow them to do this.
Having experienced [...]
Keeping Humanities Alive
Posted in professional, technology on April 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
What is the future of humanities in a technologically driven world? According to Paul Hammond, Director of Digital Initiatives at Rutgers University, “The future of humanities is in technologies.”
Hammond gave the keynote address, What’s New About New Media: Multimedia Composition in Today’s Classroom, at the ninth Annual Conference of the New Jersey Writing Alliance at [...]
Perturbations
Posted in wec class on April 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A dripping faucet.
A run in a stocking.
A crack in a windshield.
A cancer cell.
A faculty o-ring on a space shuttle.
An itch that becomes maddening.
A hairline crack.
“Perturbations that appear quite minor to an observer may trigger changes that propagate on an enormous scale and result in global changes to the system.”
So true, Margaret, so true.
And That’s a Fact…or Is It?
Posted in wec class on April 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Anyone who has attempted to comprehend the book Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact (students of Rowan University’s wec class take note) will appreciate the astonishment I experienced when I found myself actually using it in real life.
The other day I held a conference with a student in my research writing class. The student, a [...]
