(no subject)
Aug. 12th, 2006 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labellementeuseHere are some of the things I have been reading instead of studying for my Linguistics test next week:
Don't Delete (try the random user function.) If you haven't heard that this week AOL released the search logs of 500,000 users over a period of two months, the rundown (from Public Address, a NZ blogging group) is pretty clear on why this is a Bad Thing. (Interestingly I believe Google recently refused to give the same kind of information to something in the US gvt, and their legal right not to dop so was upheld in court. I believe, anyway, but can no longer find where I read this. Still and all...) Don't Delete makes the data userfriendly, which is kind of like compounding the problem (the idea is apparently to find search records that make the user identifiable, and then contact AOL to get them to remove said user.) On the other hand, the random user function is really kind of fun, and occasionally very interesting.
via![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
blythely, Plagiarism scandals at Ohio University, featuring a kind of horrifying amount of plagiarism in the Engineering dept at said university. Entertaining in its similarities to that other plagiarism scandal; on the other hand, I didn't find one of the people involved (a professor & supervisor who supervised a large number of plagiarised theses) being quoted as saying "at any university, at any department, I think you would find the same[,]" very amusing at all. What I really want to say is maybe at any other Engineering department, since those dudes can't write to save their lives, and that this is the responsibility of an education system that fails to adequately value communication skills... but even that I don't think is really true. Plagiarism is everywhere, sure. On this scale, at that level? No, that's unusual.
(It's worth noting two things: one, most of the plagiarism found was in introduction sections, which, as someone pointed out, are not very highly valued. I mean, in an arts essay the introduction is kind of like the keystone, but maybe for eng students it's different... And also, I'm aware most education systems force students to do some kind of english credits. However, there is no attempt to show students why this is important, leading to my quite bright brother saying "English is so pointless! I mean, essays are such a waste of time" and my mother and I having noisy heart attacks at the dinner table. Avoid horrifying your family members! Understand the beauty of the essay!)
viadduane, an outsider's perspective on Lumos 2006, mostly good for being rage-inducing. I seethed about it for half an hour and have now run out of steam, but if anyone wishes to discuss it... *points to comment link* Yeah, I wanna.
Also extremely excellent for wasting time: Quite Interesting clips on YouTube. Stephen Fry hosts a game show where points are awarded not for correct answers but for interesting ones. Extremely, extremely funny, featuring British stand-up comedians. Occasionally obscene so, you know, watch out for that, but hilarious.
Don't Delete (try the random user function.) If you haven't heard that this week AOL released the search logs of 500,000 users over a period of two months, the rundown (from Public Address, a NZ blogging group) is pretty clear on why this is a Bad Thing. (Interestingly I believe Google recently refused to give the same kind of information to something in the US gvt, and their legal right not to dop so was upheld in court. I believe, anyway, but can no longer find where I read this. Still and all...) Don't Delete makes the data userfriendly, which is kind of like compounding the problem (the idea is apparently to find search records that make the user identifiable, and then contact AOL to get them to remove said user.) On the other hand, the random user function is really kind of fun, and occasionally very interesting.
via
blythely, Plagiarism scandals at Ohio University, featuring a kind of horrifying amount of plagiarism in the Engineering dept at said university. Entertaining in its similarities to that other plagiarism scandal; on the other hand, I didn't find one of the people involved (a professor & supervisor who supervised a large number of plagiarised theses) being quoted as saying "at any university, at any department, I think you would find the same[,]" very amusing at all. What I really want to say is maybe at any other Engineering department, since those dudes can't write to save their lives, and that this is the responsibility of an education system that fails to adequately value communication skills... but even that I don't think is really true. Plagiarism is everywhere, sure. On this scale, at that level? No, that's unusual.(It's worth noting two things: one, most of the plagiarism found was in introduction sections, which, as someone pointed out, are not very highly valued. I mean, in an arts essay the introduction is kind of like the keystone, but maybe for eng students it's different... And also, I'm aware most education systems force students to do some kind of english credits. However, there is no attempt to show students why this is important, leading to my quite bright brother saying "English is so pointless! I mean, essays are such a waste of time" and my mother and I having noisy heart attacks at the dinner table. Avoid horrifying your family members! Understand the beauty of the essay!)
via
dduane, an outsider's perspective on Lumos 2006, mostly good for being rage-inducing. I seethed about it for half an hour and have now run out of steam, but if anyone wishes to discuss it... *points to comment link* Yeah, I wanna.Also extremely excellent for wasting time: Quite Interesting clips on YouTube. Stephen Fry hosts a game show where points are awarded not for correct answers but for interesting ones. Extremely, extremely funny, featuring British stand-up comedians. Occasionally obscene so, you know, watch out for that, but hilarious.
