Category Archives: Course Stuff

Thursday’s Class

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Our class session on Thursday was a productive and enriching experience. Naturally, holding class outside was a great change of pace that I think we should continue with. The warm weather certainly helped fuel discussion. Aside from that, the talk itself brought up interesting points about copyright in general, specifically with the issues of merchandising. Granted, major franchises such as Start Wars and Harry Potter produce much sales through the books and movies alone. However, when one stops to think about it, the merchandise associated with these two phenomenons is what truly makes them powerful. The money associated with these products must truly be enormous. It is then easy to see why licensing rights are so important. They can make the difference between millions of dollars.

Blog Prompt: Plagiarism Workshop

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After this workshop, most people in our class probably agree that plagiarism, popularly viewed as taking the easy way out, actually involves  great deal of work. The copying and pasting process itself is effortless, but doing this alone will not produce anything of value. The resulting paragraphs will come out as a garbled mess, not making much sense and certainly not giving the copier any chance of getting a decent grade. Below I have included my own piece from that workshop. Let me know if you can decipher any meaning from this:

Probably the most important role journals play is that they help with the creation and continuation of knowledge. Most people would agree that journals form the most thorough, complete, and legitimate archive of information in the various major fields. Obviously, the accuracy and quality of the material contained in this archive is of central importance. Peer review ensures that this information will be accurate. Research leads to “compression” of observed phenomenon into compact ideas, in order to better understand the world, and still retain key information. Academic journals are a major medium through which research findings are published.

$ from tragedy

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“With tragedy comes exploitation” form the NY Daily News

After the Boston bombings last week, one man decided to turn a profit by publishing an ebook entitled “Boston Bombing (first photos). Amazon ebook technology makes it very easy for someone to copy pictures off the internet and assemble them into a makeshift format and charge $8.

This is exactly what a man, ironically named Goldstein, decided to do with 60 images from the Associated Press, Getty, and the New York Times. Amazon was notified and removed the book from its catalogue. Bob Carey, a teacher and former National Press Photographers Association president, downloaded the book so that it could serve as an example of the misuse of copyright material for his class.

Bookclub woes

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The most interesting part of the Oprah bookclub to me at least was Stripha’s description of the author who was peeved to have his book included on the list. He felt that having his books re-printed with an O insignia took away from his ownership of the book and in a way reputed the sale to Oprah’s stardom. Additionally, for his cameo on the show he felt that his very much staged interview was creating a whole fictional story about his writing process which was to be shortened to 3 minutes. Striphas did a great job showing both side to the bookclub. I think that overall both writers and participants were happy with increased sales and sense of community, but there are of course going to be people on both end of the spectrum and Oprah can only hope for the happy medium.

Thursday’s Class

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Many things took place in Thursday’s class, but my favorite part of the entire class period was the discussion of the knockoff Harry Potter books. The example given in class was very poorly done, and made no attempt to hide the fact that it was a copy of other source material. Like many other examples of copyright infringement seen in the class up to this point, this particular example came from China, a country notorious for violating copyright laws. It makes me wonder what other popular works from our country have been copied in one way or another in China. I’d imagine that there would be other hilarious examples.

Third Paper Idea

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For the third portfolio in this class, I decided to revisit an earlier issue that has been discussed on and off throughout the course over various periods (my first portfolio discussed this issue in some detail). Academic journal databases find themselves in a difficult position in today’s society. Although it is widely agreed that they have various uses, some people are arguing that the system surrounding them is corrupt and needs to be destroyed. Their rising costs and increased selectivity has made many people believe that it would be best to do away with them. This however is too simplistic a way of thinking. Although there may be some drawbacks, these databases have and will continue to fuel intellectual discovery and progress in both the arts and sciences. My paper will argue for the continued relevance of these tools.

Fake Harry Potter

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During class I couldn’t help but look up the fake Harry Potter book: “Harry Potter and the Leopard Walk- Up- To Dragon”. This book actually contains the text from “The Hobbit” with all of the characters switched to character names from Harry Potter. To my surprise I found an article titled “11 Amazing Fake ‘Harr Potter’ Books Written In China”. If you thought the one mentioned by Striphas was hilarious- I mean awful- wait until you see the other ten. Do you think that any of them could fall under the heading ‘fan fiction’ or are they all illegal?

Ebooks everywhere

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It is weird how once you start to think about a topic you notice it everywhere. My dad got me a free subscription to wired magazine and there happened to be an article directly relating to the brown bag my group is holding tomorrow. Yay more free pizza!

Anyway, the article was called “The Plot Thickens”… “In a world where authors can make millions selling directly to fans, the publishing industry is desperately trying to write its next chapter”. It was almost ironic to me that I stumbled upon this in print format because most of my reading or “news reading” happens online. One of the most interesting lines in the article was that “the disappearance of the physical bookstore would endanger the entire book business- even Amazon.” This is true because customers don’t usually use online sources to discover books. The article also mentions “if you want to see a bookstore owner angry, mention Amazon’s Price check app, which allows customers to scan an item in a physical store and buy it for less on Amazon then and there”.

Audio Essay Idea

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This past weekend my town was holding its annual village wide tag sale. Of course I received a call asking if I had anything to contribute to my family’s sale. I started to inventory all of the old books that were cluttering my bookshelf and old clothes I wouldn’t wear anymore. There is a whole second use market for these goods, but what about digital files? What if I am done reading an ebook and no longer want to read it anymore, can I resell it for part of its profit? I want to address this problem in my audio essay.

Today’s Class

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In today’s class, an interesting discussion occurred surrounding the role of local bookstores in an evolving economy, where ebooks and online shopping are becoming increasingly present. Many people were inclined to side with these local stores, and felt that the new developments were threatening an enjoyable tradition. This makes perfect sense, because the act of shopping in a bookstore is in of itself an experience. The act of sifting through shelves and flipping through pages before making a final purchase has become one of the major appealing aspects of visiting a bookstore. It is what makes shopping for books a more enjoyable experience than grocery shopping for example, because the shopping experience is an adventure rather than a mundane task. Despite the fact that Barnes and Noble may have killed some local competition, people should be thankful for this company, as it is the institution that is most likely to preserve the experience we have come to know and love.