Monday, August 16, 2010

Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age

Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age

At Rhode Island College, a freshman copied and pasted from a Web site’s frequently asked questions page about homelessness — and did not think he needed to credit a source in his assignment because the page did not include author informatio

At DePaul University, the tip-off to one student’s copying was the purple shade of several paragraphs he had lifted from the Web; when confronted by a writing tutor his professor had sent him to, he was not defensive — he just wanted to know how to change purple text to black.

And at the University of Maryland, a student reprimanded for copying fromWikipedia in a paper on the Great Depression said he thought its entries — unsigned and collectively written — did not need to be credited since they counted, essentially, as common knowledge.

Professors used to deal with plagiarism by admonishing students to give credit to others and to follow the style guide for citations, and pretty much left it at that.

But these cases — typical ones, according to writing tutors and officials responsible for discipline at the three schools who described the plagiarism — suggest that many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious misdeed.

It is a disconnect that is growing in the Internet age as concepts of intellectual property, copyright and originality are under assault in the unbridled exchange of online information, say educators who study plagiarism.

Digital technology makes copying and pasting easy, of course. But that is the least of it. The Internet may also be redefining how students — who came of age with music file-sharing, Wikipedia and Web-linking — understand the concept of authorship and the singularity of any text or image.

“Now we have a whole generation of students who’ve grown up with information that just seems to be hanging out there in cyberspace and doesn’t seem to have an author,” said Teresa Fishman, director of the Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University. “It’s possible to believe this information is just out there for anyone to take.”

Professors who have studied plagiarism do not try to excuse it — many are champions of academic honesty on their campuses — but rather try to understand why it is so widespread.

In surveys from 2006 to 2010 by Donald L. McCabe, a co-founder of the Center for Academic Integrity and a business professor at Rutgers University, about 40 percent of 14,000 undergraduates admitted to copying a few sentences in written assignments.

Perhaps more significant, the number who believed that copying from the Web constitutes “serious cheating” is declining — to 29 percent on average in recent surveys from 34 percent earlier in the decade.

Sarah Brookover, a senior at the Rutgers campus in Camden, N.J., said many of her classmates blithely cut and paste without attribution.

“This generation has always existed in a world where media and intellectual property don’t have the same gravity,” said Ms. Brookover, who at 31 is older than most undergraduates. “When you’re sitting at your computer, it’s the same machine you’ve downloaded music with, possibly illegally, the same machine you streamed videos for free that showed onHBO last night.”

Ms. Brookover, who works at the campus library, has pondered the differences between researching in the stacks and online. “Because you’re not walking into a library, you’re not physically holding the article, which takes you closer to ‘this doesn’t belong to me,’ ” she said. Online, “everything can belong to you really easily.”

A University of Notre Dame anthropologist, Susan D. Blum, disturbed by the high rates of reported plagiarism, set out to understand how students view authorship and the written word, or “texts” in Ms. Blum’s academic language.

She conducted her ethnographic research among 234 Notre Dame undergraduates. “Today’s students stand at the crossroads of a new way of conceiving texts and the people who create them and who quote them,” she wrote last year in the book “My Word!: Plagiarism and College Culture,” published by Cornell University Press.

Ms. Blum argued that student writing exhibits some of the same qualities of pastiche that drive other creative endeavors today — TV shows that constantly reference other shows or rap music that samples from earlier songs.

In an interview, she said the idea of an author whose singular effort creates an original work is rooted in Enlightenment ideas of the individual. It is buttressed by the Western concept of intellectual property rights as secured by copyright law. But both traditions are being challenged.

“Our notion of authorship and originality was born, it flourished, and it may be waning,” Ms. Blum said.

She contends that undergraduates are less interested in cultivating a unique and authentic identity — as their 1960s counterparts were — than in trying on many different personas, which the Web enables with social networking.

“If you are not so worried about presenting yourself as absolutely unique, then it’s O.K. if you say other people’s words, it’s O.K. if you say things you don’t believe, it’s O.K. if you write papers you couldn’t care less about because they accomplish the task, which is turning something in and getting a grade,” Ms. Blum said, voicing student attitudes. “And it’s O.K. if you put words out there without getting any credit.”

The notion that there might be a new model young person, who freely borrows from the vortex of information to mash up a new creative work, fueled a brief brouhaha earlier this year with Helene Hegemann, a German teenager whose best-selling novel about Berlin club life turned out to include passages lifted from others.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A new IEEE Pseudo-Conference ***** An IEEE fake conference *********** URGENT! Protest the Turkish Microwave Event in Illegal so-called “Eastern Med

A new IEEE Pseudo-Conference ***** An IEEE fake conference *********** URGENT! Protest the Turkish Microwave Event in Illegal so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University”


http://cyprusactionnetwork.org/microwave_protest_ieee



Contact: Nikolaos Taneris, New York, Tel. (917) 699-9935


CURRENT STATUS

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE a worldwide professional organization
incorporated in New York State, with offices in Washington DC and around the world,
is organizing a new IEEE Pseudo-Conference
cooperating with the so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University”
a pseudo-entity built on the land stolen from Greek-Cypriots by the brutal Turkish-military invasion in 1974.

*WHAT YOU CAN DO

Please help us send a loud and clear message to Mr. Pedro Ray,
IEEE President and CEO. By continuing its relationship with the so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University,”
IEEE abets and perpetuates a blatant violation of international law as well as a transgression of basic human rights.
Therefore urge IEEE to cancel this cooperation and stand for justice by publicly signing our petition calling for the
arrest of Kenan Akin, who is wanted for the murder of peaceful Greek-Cypriot demonstrator Solomos Solomou.

SAMPLE LETTER AND RESPONSE FROM ADOULOTI KERINIA FOLLOWS BELOW:

(Sample Letter)

To: Mr. Pedro Ray, IEEE President and CEO
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Email: president@ieee.org
IEEE-USA
2001 L Street, NW. Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036-4910 USA
Phone: +1 202 785 0017
Fax: +1 202 785 0835
It has come to our attention that IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
is cooperating in sponsoring an upcoming bogus conference on “Microwaves” in the so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University”:

PLEASE SEE: http://www.mms.ncc.metu.edu.tr/


The puppet state which Turkey has set up in occupied Cyprus referred to as the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” or “TRNC” has been declared "legally invalid" by the United Nations Security Council in resolutions 541(1983) and 550(1984) which also call upon all states not to assist this illegal entity in any way, therefore your “symposium” and any cooperation with the so-called "Eastern Mediterranean University" which operates in violation of Cyprus and European Union law and contrary to these resolutions is illegal.
The so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University” operates illegally from buildings and lands which were stolen from Greek Cypriot owners who were forcibly displaced by Turkish forces in 1974 and have not been allowed to return in violation of numerous judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and over 100 resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly passed since the illegal Turkish invasion, including resolution 550(1984) which demand this property is returned to its original Greek Cypriot owners. This land and property was formerly the Center for Higher Studies of Ammochostos (known as Saveriades K.L.S.L. College) and its legal owners have applied to the European Court of Human Rights for it to be returned (Saveriades v. Turkey, Case16160/90).
Under Cyprus and EU law the use or exploitation of land or property belonging to Greek Cypriots, without their permission is a criminal offence and carries a two-year prison sentence and a heavy fine. The judgments of the Cyprus courts are enforceable in all EU member states and international arrest warrants can be issued for the arrest of anyone illegally uses or exploiting Greek Cypriot property including members and officials of IEEE.
Here are some more points IEEE should be aware of, and you should make your members aware of:

(1) The so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University” has ties to international terrorism, a group calling itself “We are Young Turkish Muslims” is active on the grounds, and the site is not far from the illegally occupied port of Famagusta. It from these grounds that the flotilla to Gaza sailed which has made international headlines recently. According to the Washington Post (Turkey's Erdogan bears responsibility in flotilla fiasco

Saturday, June 5, 2010; A12) “All of the violence occurred aboard the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara, and all of those who were killed were members or volunteers for the Islamic "charity" that owned the ship, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). The relationship between Mr. Erdogan's government and the IHH ought to be one focus of any international investigation. The foundation is a member of the "Union of Good," a coalition that was formed to provide material support to Hamas and that was named as a terrorist entity by the United States in 2008.”

(2) The so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University” is responsible for producing an industry of denial in order to falsify the historical record of atrocities perpetrated by the Turkish terrorist organizations Volgan and TMT on the Greek-Cypriot people , See “Greek Cypriot atrocities” http://gundem.emu.edu.tr/subat2006/english/tony2.htm

(3) Universities operating in the occupied part of Cyprus are not under effective control of the government of Cyprus. They have not been registered or accredited by the Ministry of Education and Culture and their academic accreditations and certificates are not recognized internationally. These so-called “universities” use properties which are owned by persons holding title under the law of the Republic of Cyprus and who have been unlawfully excluded from their property.

(4) The so-called “TRNC” regime is a bandit pseudo-state and a base for Turkey’s deep state. As an unofficial “off-shore” hub for the Turkish military, the illegal regime is heavily involved in narcotics trafficking and other illicit activities. I.e. , the former “Minister of Agriculture” Kenan Akin is wanted for the public murder of Greek-Cypriot Solomos Solomou, and has been captured in Turkey for heroin smuggling but subsequently was released, despite the Interpol warrant issued for his arrest.
By continuing its relationship with the so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University,”
IEEE abets and perpetuates a blatant violation of international law as well as a transgression of basic human rights.
I therefore urge you to cancel this cooperation and stand for justice by publicly signing our petition calling for the arrest of Kenan Akin,
who is wanted for the murder of peaceful Greek-Cypriot demonstrator Solomos Solomou.

Sincerely,

(Your Name, City, State, Country)

ATTACH:

Print out and sign the petition The Murderer—KENAN AKIN A CALL FOR JUSTICE

http://cyprusactionnetwork.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/KENAN_AKIN-A_CALL_FOR_JUSTICE.14214935.pdf

A new IEEE Pseudo-Conference ***** An IEEE fake conference ***********
~

OFFICIAL LETTER FROM, Ioannis Shekersavvas

PRESIDENT OF ADOULOTI KERINIA


C.c. Members of US Congress,

The White House.

A new IEEE Pseudo-Conference ***** An IEEE fake conference ***********

========================
Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA)
2578 Broadway #132
New York, NY 10025
New York: Tel. 917-699-9935
Email: cana@cyprusactionnetwork.org
www.cyprusactionnetwork.org
========================

The Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) is a grass-roots, not-for-profit movement created to
support genuine self-determination and human rights for the people of Cyprus.

To be added to CANA's Action Alert e-mail distribution list, or to introduce CANA to a friend or colleague,
please forward the pertinent name and e-mail address, with the subject heading "Add e-mail to CANA distribution list",
to cana@cyprusactionnetwork.org

You are encouraged to forward this action alert to five or more individuals who may have an interest in our e-distributions
or in CANA’s mission.

You may post any CANA article, press release or action alert on the internet as long as you credit CANA and the author(s).

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Another Crappy Conference spams us

Submission of Industry Papers and Short Papers to
Industrial Conference on Data Mining ICDM 2010 is now open.

Dear Colleagues,

We encourage industrial people to show their applications and projects for data mining at ICDM 2010 in Berlin. This work can be presented as poster during the poster session in the special industry track. Please submit a one page abstract including title, name and affilation.

Industry Papers may be submitted to info@data-mining-forum.de

Please visit www.data-mining-forum.de for more information.

Kind regards,

Prof. Petra Perner
Chair of ICDM

This is a Crappy Conference: They advertize "Co-Sponsored by ACM SIGSIM (pending)"

This is a Crappy Conference: They advertize "Co-Sponsored by ACM SIGSIM (pending)"
Our question: If it is pending why do you include it in your spam emails?
===================================================================================


2010 Summer Computer Simulation Conference (SCSC'10)

11-14 July 2010 - Ottawa, ON, Canada

CALL FOR PAPERS


http://www.dacya.ucm.es/jlrisco/SCSC10/
http://simulation.ning.com/

Organized by the Society for Modeling and Simulation International
Co-Sponsored by ACM SIGSIM (pending)


Come to Ottawa, Canada for SCSC 2010 to the 42nd edition of this leading
conference in the field of Modeling and Simulation. SCSC'10 is focused on
basic and applied research in Modeling and Simulation, a critical area for
supporting Research and Development as well as competitiveness worldwide.
SCSC provides an International Forum for presenting the State of the Art to
the International Simulation Community as well as the Effectiveness of
Simulation Experiences in World Businesses. The purpose of the conference
is to provide a forum for academic researchers, governmental and industrial
investigators and practitioners to exchange ideas and discuss developments
in this growing field.

SCSC 2010 features varied tutorials, tracks and workshops. The conference
focuses on modeling and simulation, tools, theory, methodologies and
applications, providing a forum the latest R&D results in academia and
industry.

In parallel with technical presentations, companies and research groups will
be exhibiting their most advanced products.

All submissions will be reviewed based on the draft full paper and/or
extended abstract. The best contributed paper will be given a Best Paper
Award. A selected group of full papers will be invited for a Special Issue
Proposal of the Simulation Journal (SCS). All papers will be published
in the ACM Digital Library.


Organizing Committee:
Gabriel Wainer, Carleton University, Canada (General Chair)
Mhamed Itmi, INSA Rouen, France
Peter Kropf, Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Andreas Tolk, VMASC, USA

Further information:

http://www.dacya.ucm.es/jlrisco/SCSC10/


Or on the new Network on Modeling and Simulation Studies:

http://simulation.ning.com/


[Apologies for multiple postings]

Saturday, January 16, 2010

From the site: http://www.mombu.com/culture/austria/t-ieee-ieee-spam-and-ieee-fake-spamferences-2750985.html

OPEN LETTER for IEEE:


I am a freelance journalist who specialises in
scholarly communication and in Bogus IEEE. IEEE SPAM and IEEE Fake
Spamferences

AN OPEN LETTER for IEEE: was sent to us by email (!!!)

=======================
Dear Stephan

I am a freelance journalist who specialises in scholarly communication
and in Bogus IEEE Conferences

I understand that you are the founder of IEEE Spam System in Germany

I have previously been in communication with Johan and Petr and asked
him if we could organise an interview with you as father of IEEE
bogusity for me. However, I did not heard back from him on this
matter.

In our email exchange Petr was kind enough to address some concerns
that had been raised with me by a number of researchers, who appeared
to be on IEEE Spam System but do not wish to be. Despite their best
efforts they had been unable to have themselves removed from your
list. Meanwhile they were being bombarded with multiple emails.

In an email to me of 11th May Petr assured me that two researchers I
mentioned to him had been contacted by IEEE Spam System and that their
names had been removed. Unfortunately at least one is still being sent
unsolicited email (see below), and is very frustrated by it.

I have also had a number of other researchers raise with me the issue
of peer review in connection with IEEE Spam Industry

I am sure these are all misunderstandings and can be settled in an
interview. I would be most grateful therefore if you could spare the
time to do a telephone interview with me about IEEE Spam Conferences
and IEEE fake meetings and its activities.

I look forward to hearing from you IEEE Spam.

As you know about IEEE SPAM and IEEE Fake Spamferences

where there is money to be made, people will try to do it. that is
basically the lesson to be learned from the numerous IEEE fake
Conferences or IEEE spamferences popping up at an increasing rate.
when does a conference become an IEEE fake event or an IEEE
spamference? that's hard to say.

There are numerous minor IEEE Spam conferences which may not be of
greatest impact or quality, but still serve legitimate needs, such as
providing forums for younger researchers, or providing local
platforms.

The increasing number of Spamferences in the mediterranean countries
seems to be an indication of this. these conferences usually have
mostly local attendants and sometimes they have papers and
presentations in the local language, which makes it easier for local
authors to submit and present. to me, most of these conferences look
legitimate.
but then there's the decidedly non-local approach, the grand über-
conferences with titles that often sound like "34th intergalactic
conference on science, nature, and other really complicated
stuff" (maybe i should trademark that...). my personal favorite is
"The 12th IEEE Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and
Informatics", hosted by the godfather of spamferences, NAGIB CALLAOS
with the approval and sponsorship of IEEE Spam.


This particular venue received quite a bit of attention for accepting
a paper that had been generated by an automated paper generator.
others report submitting papers with obviously stupid text and also
getting accepted.

The reviewing process of these conferences seems to be non-existent
(you don't get review reports, and if you ask, you get weird
explanations why there are none).

The only things that seems to work well at these conferences is
sending invitations (they are sending personalized invitations,
something that no respectable conference bothers to do), and handling
registrations (i.e., collecting money).


The IEEE Conferences are organized by different entities. Some of them
were good and some of them are very bad. For example, the
International Institute of Informatics and Systemics (IIIS), organized
many IEEE sponsored conferences (with the logotype of IEEE)

Nagib Callaos says that IIIS is "a nonprofit organization based in
Venezuela, which examines and contemplates the globalization process."
interestingly, the Florida Division of Corporations lists callaos'
institute (named a little differently) as a for-profit organization.
what a surprise!
the saddest thing about this is that publishing at spamferences will
actually hurt your career, yet many researchers don't really know what
they are getting into. simply google cvs listing this conference and
you'll see how successful the business seems to be (2260 hits)...

This is the problem with IEEE. IEEE means fake conferences.

A central shop that gives the IEEE logo and IEEE title to many local
organizers.

IEEE gives its name and its logo to many bogus conferences like:
http://iaria-highsci.blogspot.com/20...utational.html

Please take careful note of the information belowabout this IEEE
Computational Complexity conferenceIt is another FAKE IEEE conference
this time on Computational Complexity.The organizers are academic
criminals.Do NOT send these criminals any money. Please send this
warning on to your networks.Many young people have been defrauded
lately - and we must work together to defeat such efforts.Use extreme
caution when applying for conferences advertised by organizations
unknown to you.What a Shame for the IEEE Computational Complexity
Conference! two new bogus papers have been accepted in the
http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/jrogers/...htmlExtractors
for varieties ??????????by Zeev Dvir !!!andExtractors for Low-Weight
Affine Sources ??????? byAnup RaoThe papers are absolutely fake
papers.What a Shame for the IEEE Computational Complexity Conference