1. Can Your Camera Phone Turn You Into A Pirate?: A great piece pertaining to copyright issues and new technology. What are your thoughts on the topic? Have you been a pirate? Is there a solution? A change coming to the copyright law? Maybe a change to Fair Use?
2. Too Much Information: In this piece, a professor comments on putting grades on-line. And she's not talking about an on-line gradebook for current student access, rather grade distributions for future students. What are your thoughts on this practice? On the idea that it promotes grade inflation? Is Course Rank abusing the Freedom of Information Act just to make a buck or millions?
7 comments:
Can Your Camera Phone Turn You Into A Pirate?
I think that the issue of copyright law and what constitutes “Fair Use” is difficult to define and even more difficult to limit and restrict. Illegally downloading music is pretty straightforward—snapping photos of book pages is not. Shutting down Limewire/Acquisition is a straightforward approach, but how could you possibly stop someone from taking pictures with their phones? If someone, like the author did, walks into a bookstore and reads or photographs a book without buying it, will that be considered petty theft? Just thinking about it, the idea sounds ridiculous. How can you stop people from sharing music with their friends through ichat or websites like MediaFire? Should we be allowed to freely share what we want? As far as piracy goes, I cannot say that I am innocent. For example, once I needed the song “Dancing Queen” for a slide on my journalism powerpoint. I didn’t own it, but I didn’t feel like paying for a song that I would never listen to again. I had my brother download it somewhere for me. My actions may be immoral, but I still don’t feel as if I “stole” anything. Just as teachers are allowed to photocopy books for educational purposes, I was copying a song to enhance my presentation. I think that one’s intent defines whether or not the action is right or wrong.
Too Much Information:
I somewhat consider Course Rank to be an abuse of the Freedom of Information Act for a few reasons. The released information, in my opinion, will do more harm than good. Students will potentially go about the course selection process with an aim to avoid certain courses where the teachers were shown to have given lower grades. The information could deter students from taking classes that they might benefit from, even if the classes have proven to be more difficult. Having to struggle is not always a bad thing. (Learning experience?) Additionally, as mentioned in the article, teachers might begin to feel the need to satisfy potential students by lowering their standards. Because of this possibility, I agree with the idea that Course Rank promotes grade inflation.
Can Your Camera Phone Turn You Into A Pirate?
I found this article very interesting, and a discussed a dilemma that I face quite frequently. The idea of using your camera phone to take photos of information inside a book may not sound like its as off limits or as against the law as stealing a book from a bookstore. Having a mini copy-machine in your back pocket is a dangerous tool, and can (and most likely already has) led to illegal and dangerous acts. I remember reading a warning some time ago about people taking photo pictures of others' credit cards, stealing the information and buying things illegally. The whole issue of copyright laws is so confusing and unclear, but also so easy to do , that people don't necessarily feel guilty about it. I think the ambiguity of guilt around this dilemma is the main cause for so many infractions of the law, but also the unwillingness to do much about it.
Too Much Information:
I think grade inflation is a serious problem and organizations like these can propel grade inflation drastically. The sharing of the average grade received in specific classes can alter the courses university students choose to take and alter the way the teacher grades/teaches it. I also think the idea of rating teachers online, anonymously, and giving the teachers full access to this is pretty dangerous. I do believe in teacher evaluations, but assigning chili peppers for good looks? that is just weird. Overall, the access to this information, if it should spread to every educational institution, could alter modern academics.
Phone Pirates!
This is tough one...I hadn't thought about this before. I never even considered that taking pictures of things with your phone could be piracy. Personally, I think it's not a huge deal. This may be because you can photocopy pages from library books for free, and this is similar. However, it would seem rather sketchy to see some people chillin' in the bookstore taking pictures of the books. If I owned the store I would probably ask them to stop. I think it becomes a bigger deal if you use these pictures for profit or simply take pictures of the whole book and then read that. But really, that's what libraries are for. Lesson learned: use library photocopier for free book pics, not a camera phone in barnes & noble. i mean really, how well can those pictures possibly turn out?
I really enjoyed how this writer presented both sides of the argument, and started it out on a personal level. It really tied the story in to everyday life, raising it as an issue that real people are presented with.
Too Much Info:
I wasn't actually that interested by this article. I don't think she presented the information in an inviting way. Personally, after reading this article I still don't care about course ranking. I don't think kids are going to flip out all that much over their class rank. I think it could be a helpful way of knowing how you're doing in the class. And I think it's definitely something teachers can use to evaluate themselves. Because obviously, if a majority of students got a D in your class, you need to change something (unless by some freak coincidence, you teach a course on failing. but if the kids failed, then wouldn't they pass? ahh. nevermind.) Overall, I was not a fan of her writing style, and I didn't agree with her viewpoint. Bummer.
Can Your Camera Phone Turn You Into A Pirate?
I, like Ilana, Maddy, and Annie, found this article to be rather thought-provoking and one that really sparked my own little debate. Initially I thought that of course it would be considered stealing, because you can take the information presented in the book without paying. However, Bilton brought up the idea that it might not be stealing, but that all depends on what you do with the image. I found this particularly interesting, not only in the sense that taking a photo of copyrighted material for free and having perpetual access to it can be completely legal, but it also made me think about the global shift towards technology. I think this is just a case and point example that the world is transitioning away from paper and towards screens. Instead of buying a paper book, you can download the file onto your iPad or Kindle. If you see something cool you can just whip out a cell phone, snap the pic, then send it to a friend. I think it's an interesting topic for discussion because, while the technological trend seems to be benefitting the everyday person, there are also all of the companies and people that rely on selling paper books, magazines, and even music for that matter. What about them? What does this shift towards more and more technology mean for them?
Too Much Information
I thought that this article presented a relatively interesting issue, but I felt it was a little scattered and therefore it was not as strong as it could be. That aside, I think that, from what I got out of it, CourseRank is a bad idea that was only created to increase the hits on Chegg.com. I agree with Ilana that it will most likely "do more harm than good" because that information is irrelevant in the long run. The grade a student earns in the class is subject to many factors, and I think that if students start to try and take only classes in which they think they will have a strong chance of getting an A, I think it will alter the educational experience of many. On the professors' side, I thought that Phillips put it really well, however blunt, that "though I want to be a professor with high standards, I also want to please. And I want to keep my job."
Can a Camera Phone Turn You into a Pirate?
This article struck me because, photographing pages, is what a lot of people do instead of buying the book. It is a frugal way to study or read, but also the illegal way.
My opinion on this form of piracy is that if one were to copy an entire book only for the purpose to not pay for it, then it should be illegal. As stated in the article, it depends what was the original intention of the copier. In today's society there are a myriad different ways to CopyRite, but yet only a handful of laws trying to stop them. It might be due to pure neglagence of the "copyrite officials" to consider other methods of stopping this crime.
On the contrary, I also believe that stealing to a certain extent is justifyable. When one takes a picture of a page of a book, so that they can study it, It should not be considered illegal. To steal an entire book, it takes away business for the owners, and that is not fair. But a single page does not ruin business, if anything, it makes the person who copied the page, want to come back and buy the book.
Too Much Information:
When grade inflation becomes a problem at a college level, it becomes difficult to distinguish real well deserved grades, from not deserved grades. If a teacher wants to keep their job, they would have to raise their grade average somehow, so that they can get students. Though when one does this it becomes unfair to those who work hard for their grades, to have the same as one who doesn't. When a teacher inflates the grade average so that he won't lose his job, the entire system collapses, and the "hard work value" disappears .
Too Much Information:
I do not like the idea of posting past grades online for the world to see. People already know which courses are considered easy/hard at their school and there does not need to be a website publishing it. I think that some teachers (in order to get a better ranking) would potentially change the way they grade. I do not think that it should matter that much what the exact grade distribution is. I think this website is taking this too far.
Can Your Camera Phone Turn You Into A Pirate?
Issues surrounding piracy are not new to the American public. High profile cases involving the RIAA are often top news stories. However, millions of Americans pirate movies, songs, and books every day. I thought that this article provided a unique insight into the issue of piracy while at the same time not sounding too preachy. Yes downloading pirated material off the internet is illegal but it still does not feel like walking into a record store and stealing an album (similar to people not feeling guilty in Maddy's post). I really enjoyed how the author discussed this moral dilemma. The idea that he "stole" images from books did not occur until he returned home. I wish the author had concluded the piece with how he resolved the issue with himself or his thoughts on the topic. The fact that he did not talk about his own stance on his actions felt like a cop out. I believe that internet piracy will always be an issue and the only thing the music, publishing, and film industries can do is market their products so they can be accessed quickly and cheaply.
Post a Comment