Plagiarism 2.0 : the new economy of academic dishonesty

As a writer, teacher and scholar of ‘the knowledge economy’ in the broadest sense, plagiarism fascinates me. I first encountered plagiarism in my Year 12 English class. We had been working for weeks writing poems and had submitted them to our teacher Mr How for assessment. Mr How was generally a pleasant individual who I remember as one of my favourite school teachers; however, he did not suffer fools easily. The time arrived for each of us to read our work to the class. Year 12 poetry being what it usually is, most of our efforts tended to blur into an angsty, slightly pretentious, self-important mess (similar to staff meetings in many university departments). However, one student’s poem stood out. It was emotive, insightful and economical in its use of language … and best of all, it did not suck! The poem’s author was one of the class’ biggest jocks, and not usually one to display such sensitivity, so we were all a little taken aback by what we were hearing. Stunned silence! At the poem’s conclusion, Mr How congratulated the student on such an excellent effort and produced a copy of the collected works of Emily Dickenson (if I remember correctly) from under his desk. He asked the student to turn to a page he had marked and recite the poem printed there. It was, of course, the same one the student had passed off as his. This time, there was no stunned silence: just the sound of remorseful sobs from our jock-poet-plagiarist who had been exposed in front of his classmates.

Genetic bottlenecks in time and space: reconstructing invasions from contemporary and historical collections

Herbarium accession data offer a useful historical botanical perspective and have been used to track the spread of plant invasions through time and space. Nevertheless, few studies have utilised this resource for genetic analysis to reconstruct a more complete picture of historical invasion dynamics, including the occurrence of separate introduction events. In this study, we combined nuclear and chloroplast microsatellite analyses of contemporary and historical collections of Senecio madagascariensis, a globally invasive weed first introduced to Australia c. 1918 from its native South Africa. Analysis of nuclear microsatellites, together with temporal spread data and simulations of herbarium voucher sampling, revealed distinct introductions to south-eastern Australia and mid-eastern Australia. Genetic diversity of the south-eastern invasive population was lower than in the native range, but higher than in the mid-eastern invasion. In the invasive range, despite its low resolution, our chloroplast microsatellite data revealed the occurrence of new haplotypes over time, probably as the result of subsequent introduction(s) to Australia from the native range during the latter half of the 20th century. Our work demonstrates how molecular studies of contemporary and historical field collections can be combined to reconstruct a more complete picture of the invasion history of introduced taxa. Further, our study indicates that a survey of contemporary samples only (as undertaken for the majority of invasive species studies) would be insufficient to identify potential source populations and occurrence of multiple introductions.

Evaluation of assessment in the context of work-based learning: Qualitative perspectives of new graduates

Aim Evaluation or assessment of competence is an important step to ensure the safety and efficacy of health professionals, including dietitians. Most competency-based assessment studies are focussed on valid and reliable methods of assessment for the preparation of entry-level dietitians, few papers have explored student dietitians’ perceptions of these evaluations. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of recent graduates from accredited nutrition and dietetics training programs in Australia. It also aimed to establish the relevance of competency-based assessment to adequately prepare them for entry-level work roles. Methods A purposive sample of newly-graduated dietitians with a range of assessment experiences and varied employment areas was recruited. A qualitative approach, using in-depth interviews with 13 graduates, with differing assessment experiences was undertaken. Graduates were asked to reflect upon their competency-based assessment experiences whilst a student. Data was thematically analysed by multiple authors. Results Four themes emerged from the data analysis: (i) Transparency and consistency are critical elements of work-based competency assessment. (ii) Students are willing to take greater responsibility in their assessment process. (iii) Work-based competency assessment prepares students for employment. (iv) The relationship between students and their assessors can impact on the student experience and their assessment performance. Conclusions Understanding this unique perspective of students can improve evaluation of future health professionals and assist in designing valid competency-based assessment approaches.

Who really suffers in Michelle Phan’s YouTube copyright case?

The latest case of a popular YouTube blogger being sued for using music by other artists in her videos without permission raises the question of who really benefits from the re-use of music. In a claim filed this month, the electronic dance music label Ultra Records allege that beauty blogger Michelle Phan’s videos infringe their copyrights in nearly 50 cases. Phan is a self-made internet star who began posting makeup and self-help tutorials on YouTube in 2007. She has more than 6.7 million subscribers on her YouTube channel and has made a career from the associated advertising and endorsement revenue, book deal and even her own line of makeup.

Borrowing a Stairway to Heaven : did Led Zeppelin rip off a riff?

More than 40 years after the release of Stairway to Heaven, English rock band Led Zeppelin are facing allegations that its iconic guitar riff was stolen from Taurus, a song released in 1968 by the American rock band Spirit. The two riffs are clearly similar: they share a four-bar instrumental guitar passage with similar harmony, tempo and stylistic features. Businessweek has created a short game where you can test your skill at telling the two apart...

Submission to the Australian Government’s Online Copyright Infringement Discussion Paper

Now is not the time to increase the strength of copyright law. Copyright law is facing a crisis of legitimacy: consumers increasingly appear to doubt its moral weight. To a large extent, this can be traced to the fact that Australian consumers do not believe they are being treated fairly by (predominantly US-based) copyright producers and distributors. Compared to their overseas peers, Australian consumers pay much more for access to books, films, television, and computer games, and are often subjected to long delays before material is available in Australia. Our research shows that this perceived unfairness increases the willingness of Australian consumers to seek out alternative distribution channels. Put simply, the failure of content distributors to meet consumer demand in Australia is a leading factor in copyright infringement. This submission argues that the best strategy to reduce copyright infringement in Australia, at the present time, is for distributors to focus on providing timely, affordable, convenient and fair access to copyright goods. Until this is done, the prevalence of copyright infringement in Australia should be seen as essentially a market problem, rather than a legal one. The Australian Government, meanwhile, should address the recommendations of the IT Pricing Report as a matter a priority. As a first step, the Government should urgently consider repealing the IP exception to competition law in s 51(3), as recommended by the Ergas committee, the IT Pricing report, and the ALRC. This change alone may go a long way to enhancing the efficiency of the copyright market in Australia.

Examining how projections about the future of society are related to present-day climate change action

Global climate change will affect all domains of person-environment relations. Tackling climate change will require social change that can be motivated by people’s imaginings of the future of their society where such social change has occurred. We use the “collective futures” framework to examine whether beliefs about the future of society are related to present-day intentions to take climate change action. Participants from two Brazilian samples imagined their society in 2050 where climate change was mitigated and then rated how this future society would differ from Brazilian society today in terms of societal-level dysfunction and development and personal-level traits and values. To the extent that participants believed preventing climate change would result in societal development and more competence traits, they were more willing to engage in environmental citizenship activities. Individual differences in future time perspective also impacted environmental citizenship intention. Societal development and consideration of future consequences seem to be distinct routes by which future thinking influence climate change action.

Art and science as creative catalysts

Science, Art and Science Art collaborations are generally presented and understood in terms of their products. We argue that the process of Science art can be a significant, even principal benefit of these collaborations, even though it may be largely invisible to anyone other than the collaborators. Hosting the Centenary of Canberra Science Art Commission at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has shown us that while Science and Art pursue orthogonal dimensions of creativity and innovation, collaborators can combine these directions to access new areas of imagination and ideas.

Are dietetics educators' attitudes to assessment a barrier to expanding placement opportunities? Results of a Delphi study

Aim Assessment of entry-level health professionals is complex, especially in the work-based setting, placing additional pressures on these learning environments. The present study aims to gain understanding and ideally consensus regarding the setting for assessment of all elements of competence for entry-level dietitians across Australia. Methods Seventy-five experienced academic and practitioner assessors were invited to participate in an online Delphi survey. The 166 entry-level performance criteria of the competency standards for dietitians formed the basis of the questions in the survey, with rating on which ones could be assessed in the practice setting, those which could be assessed in a classroom/university setting and which could be assessed in either setting. Forty-three of 75 invited assessors responded to the first round of the Delphi. A second modified survey was sent to the 43 participants with 34 responding. Results Consensus was achieved for the assessment setting for 86 (52%) of the performance criteria after two rounds of surveying. The majority of these performance criteria achieved consensus at round one (n = 44) and were deemed to be best assessed in the practice setting (n = 55). This study highlighted the perspectives of assessors and their preference for the work-based setting for assessment. Conclusions To reduce the focus on work-based settings as the only place for competence-based assessment of health professionals, there is a need to support individual and organisational change through challenging existing norms around assessment.

State-formation, teaching techniques, and globalization as aporia

Eleanor Smith [pseudonym], teacher : I was talking to the kids about MacDonalds*/I forget exactly what the context was*/I said ‘‘ah, the Americans call them French fries, and, you know, MacDonalds is an American chain and they call them French fries because the Americans call them French fries’’, and this little Australian kid in the front row, very Australian child, said to me, ‘‘I call them French fries!’’ . . . Um, a fourth grade boy whom I taught in 1993 at this school, the world basketball championships were on . . . Americans were playing their dream machine and the Boomers were up against them . . . and, ah, this boy was very interested in basketball . . . but it’s not in my blood, not in the way cricket is for example . . . Um, Um, and I said to this fellow, ‘‘um, well’’, I said, ‘‘Australia’s up against Dream Machine tomorrow’’. He [Jason, pseudonym] said, ‘‘Ah, you know, Boomers probably won’t win’’. . . . I said, ‘‘Well that’s sport, mate’’. I said, ‘‘You never know in sport. Australia might win’’. And he looked at me and he said, ‘‘I’m not going for Australia, I’m going for America’’. This is from an Australian boy! And I thought so strong is the hype, so strong is the, is the, power of the media, etc., that this boy is not [pause], I can’t tell you how outraged I was. Here’s me as an Australian and I don’t even support basketball, it’s not even my sport, um, but that he would respond like that because of the power of the American machine that’s converting kids’ minds, the way they think, where they’re putting their loyalties, etc. I was just appalled, but that’s where he was. And when I asked kids for their favourite place, he said Los Angeles.

Kielellinen merkitys emergenttinä prosessina: esimerkkinä suomen adessiivi

Tutkielmassa tarkastelen sitä, miten monimerkityksinen kielellinen ilmaus voidaan ymmärtää, eli miten vastaanottaja tavoittaa kielellisen viestin merkityksen. Tutkielmassa keskeisessä asemassa on kielellisen merkin tulkinnan riippuvuus siitä kontekstista, jossa merkki esiintyy, ja polysemian käsittäminen kielellisen merkin abstrahoinniksi irti konteksteista. Tarkastelen myös sitä, kuinka paljon kontekstia kielellisen merkin tulkintaan tarvitaan. Esittelen prototyyppien ympärille rakentuvia sumearajaisia kategorioita ennen kaikkea Eleanor Roschin tutkimusten kautta. Tältä pohjalta tarkastelen käsitystä, jonka mukaan ihminen kielellistä ilmausta muodostaessaan valitsee hallitsemiensa kielellisten merkkien joukosta ne, jotka parhaiten täyttävät tarkoituksensa kokonaisilmauksessa eli toimivat tietyssä kokonaisprosessin osafunktiossa. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan tähän liittyen emergenssiä, yleistä tieteenfilosofista käsitettä, jolla viitataan tavallisesti sellaisten ilmiöiden syntyyn, jotka ovat laadullisesti uudenlaisia ja joita ei voi ennustaa alkuehtojen pohjalta. Tutkimusongelmaa lähestyn käyttämällä esimerkkinä suomen adessiivia. Adessiivin merkitystehtävien esittelyssä käytän käsitteellisenä apuvälineenä Ronald W. Langackerin kognitiivista kielioppia. Tutkimusaineistona on sanomalehti Karjalaisen vuosikerran 1999 ne adessiivimuotoiset substantiivit, jotka esiintyvät vähintään kymmenen kertaa, lausekonteksteineen. Aineiston laajuus on noin 18 000 lausetta. Johtopäätöksenä tutkimusaineistosta todetaan, että suurimmalle osalle adessiivitapauksista on löydettävissä merkitystehtävä kantasanan semanttisen luonteen avulla; tämä tarkoittaa, että lausekontekstistaan irrotettu adessiivimuotoinen sana saa suurimmaksi osaksi saman tulkinnan kuin lausekontekstissaan. Toisena johtopäätöksenä todetaan, että merkityksen määräytyminen lausekontekstin kautta ei ole systemaattista tai lineaarista, ts. sama lausekonteksti johtaa eri sananmuodoilla eri merkitystulkintaan. Tämän katson olevan osoitus merkityksen emergenssistä.

Hugo Steiner-Prag giving the opening address at the International Book Arts Exhibition; Leipzig.

Verso: Internationale Buchkunstausstellung Leipzing 1927. Eroeffnungsfeier in der Aula der Universitaet Prof. Hugo Steiner-Prag, Praesident der Austellung und I. Vors. des Vereins "Deutsche Buchkuenstler" haelt die Festrede

Hugo Steiner-Prag section at the International Book Arts Exhibition; Leipzig.

Verso: Internationale Buchkunstausstellung1927. Abteilung Hugo Steiner-Prag