Originality is dead?

So says, apparently, a German teenage author, or "author," in this New York Times piece. The article details how plagiarism is increasing on college campuses, not necessarily by students trying to cheat, but out of ignorance over who owns certain information and whether citations are even necessary.

The idea that information on the Internet is available for public use and consumption without need for attribution is a frightening one. It ties in directly with ability of citizens to distill which sources are valid, solid and reputable, and which are potentially unreliable, unstable and questionable. The irony in the Internet Age is that while we now virtually drowning in information, and are presumably better and more easily informed, there is a heightened need to determine from where every piece of information is derived.

As some of my friends will attest, I'm still an unabashed backer of the Mainstream Media, primarily for this reason: there is a tried and true, though not at all flawless, system of vetting and confirming information that is blatantly lacking in many newer media outlets online. On one hand, it seems second nature to many of us who went to college at the dawn of the Internet Age that you should recognize and use primary sources to support your text; that you should reference such sources, or any other resources you've used; and that your sources be able to stand up to scrutiny from a professor or reader.

However, as the New York Times piece explains, there is a decreasing sense of such responsibility among students who grew up with the ability to access information quickly, but who give less thought to who or what provided such information.

Wikipedia is probably the best and most popular example of readily available information that may be coming from unreliable sources. I've spent a lot of time on that site and find it extremely useful and a pretty brilliant idea, in general. But, by its very nature -- an evolving resource that can be edited and written by anyone -- it is an unreliable source for any serious academic writing. That does not mean, however, that it doesn't have value. Its intended use, I believe, is to inform quickly, but also encourage you to further investigate the concepts using more solid sources and media. To that end, many -- but, not all -- Wikipedia entries include references to primary sources, which would more than likely serve as reliable reference, or, at the very least, offer support to the text. Merely copying and pasting content from a site like Wikipedia should feel inherently wrong to a student. I haven't been out of school so long that the entire concept of having to properly cite has reached extinction.

In any age, with any medium used, that's just plain laziness -- as a college senior says in the Times article. The author of the article seems to imply that because college-age people have grown up stealing music digitally, being bombarded by "mash-ups" and sampling in popular music and seeing pop icons whose actual identity is  secondary, they simply might not know better. I don't see the correlation. In each instance, there is an originator, an author and a definable source of the information they are obtaining. I'm willing to bet if someone has illegally downloaded the entire Lady Gaga catalog, they can still identify the songs as being her performances. The younger generation might think it's irrelevant, but I doubt they are ignorant to the concept of authorship. If there is ignorance, it lies in thinking authorship and idea origination are not important.

It is the onus of teachers of writing in middle school and high school and professors at colleges to continue to teach and emphasize the concept of reliable sources (shout-out to Howard Kurtz there) and of intellectual property. An idea is not for the world's consumption without deference to its thinker. Its importance at the academic level is surely important, but more broadly, it is an essential concept that our next generation of national thinkers and voters need to understand. In the age of the blogosphere and cable news outlets dominating the national conversation with seemingly little regard for accuracy and vetting in their reporting, it is of dire consequence that, at the very least, the people absorbing such information be ever vigilant. They must be able to differentiate between the reliable and the suspect, the solid and the questionable.

The Internet Age does not spell the end of originality. Nor should it be the death knell for innovation or the concept of intellectual property. These concepts are still essential components to having a nation of experimenters, tinkerers and thinkers -- the people who ultimately take societies and civilizations to a future unimagined, the people willing to risk total failure to see an idea through. Their successes should never go unnamed and unremarked. The ability to distill and process information properly continuing respect and reverence to the concept of authorship are absolutely intermingled. If it is believed that the source doesn't matter, then the information is inherently suspect. If one's ideas can be copied and pasted in perpetuity without regard for their origin, there will be a dearth of innovators.

Originality is important. Respect for the creators is important. Teaching teens and 20-somethings that these concepts are only more important now is imperative for the continued success of this country.

Work and Non Work, Guitar "playing" and the All-Star Break

Hello, hello!

First, a disclaimer to my out-of-work friends: the following is not intended to brag nor rub anything in or complain. Well, maybe the latter a little.

So, after a month back at the grind, they've run out of things for me (and I assume the other Quality Assurers) to do. So, I sit there...daily...with nothing to do. While it sounds nice, and was at first, it's actually pretty fucking annoying. Especially considering I work not in a cubicle, but what amounts to a converted janitor's closet with a dry erase board. My closetmates seem equally unoccupied. The ad guy left at 4 today. Got in at 10. Wish I had the balls. Instead, I show up at 9 and promptly get my read on for 8 hours. I guarantee by now I'm the most well-informed person "working" there. But, as I and some of you know, there are worse things. Anyway, since I'm just looking for anything and everything to pass the time (except blogging more regularly, obviously), I've gone back -- half-assedly -- to the job hunt. I figure if work is this light now, no way they're going to keep me after December. So...time to start gearing up for being out of work in the new year! Hooray!

This week, in lieu of baseball, which is on break this week and which typically dominates my after-work life hours, I decided to dust off the acoustic guitar I've had for years and try to actually play the thing. I decided, too, not to tune it and not to learn anything, you know, proper. I think I came up with a couple cool things just fiddling and experimenting -- at least, my guitarist tells me so. I'm finding that fretting hurts my delicate fingers as does picking without a pick...those are my excuses for sounding terrible. Also, I've decided my axe-slinging stage name is Rudy Mentary. You'll be hearing from me -- er-- him.

I need to mention that I hate the All-Star Break. I used to really care about the All-Star game as a kid because I hated the American League so much and the National League were dominant then. Not so much anymore. They really need to get rid of fan voting in this thing, too. A popularity contest for what amounted to a game for bragging rights is one thing, but if they're going to base home-field advantage on it, then the fan should be left out. Mostly, because fans are idiots. (Trust me, I am one.) Also, I'm definitely done caring about the Home Run Derby. It's fun for like 15 minutes, then it's just mind-numbingly boring. Not to mention it somehow manages to make Chris Berman even more insufferable. I just can't take him anymore.  Sorry, no Mets baseball makes me cranky...but, then again, so does watching Mets baseball most of the time.

Well, let's not end on a whiny, sports note. Let's end on a fun and interesting music note. This week, one of the true mad scientist guitar players in the rock realm today, Nels Cline, is doing a string of solo gigs at the Village Vanguard. I believe it's mostly instrumental, freeform noise, free jazz kind of stuff, which makes me smile unendingly. Here's a sample of the man at work:


Nels Cline Singers

Here's the man shredding with his dayjob band, Wilco, from the show I was at last year. Highlight of their set by far.


Wilco: Impossible Germany (solo excerpt)

I'm going to try and hit one of those shows this week. Come join me for some face-melting good times!

I heard you missed us, we're back...

...I brought my pencillll...(Van Halen, Anyone? anyone?)

or keyboard.

So, hello once again. You've all been champing at the bit since May 26, I know, so here're some updates.

I once again work! Blog name FAIL. But, so far so good. I'm still adjusting to life post-vacation, but fortunately, the gig so far is pretty chill and easy. We'll see how long before I hate it. I'm mostly excited to be among the mass transit commuters once more after too-long a stint as an angry Turnpike driver every day. Yeah, that not one of my better ideas. My daily ride into the city isn't too terrible. I walk alongside the skyline to the light rail to take me to Hoboken, where I tunnel underground and magically appear on 14th Street. Though, most everyone would consider me "laid back," I must say I do function slightly better within this frenetic, chaotic energy, so this is working for me thus far.

But, what of the ultimate goal of Permanent Saturdays! you exclaim incredulously. It's definitely not on hold, but I felt incredibly guilty for almost turning down this job just to continue to try to "find myself" or whatever I was/am doing. I'm just not good at living on the dole, whether I've been contributing taxes toward it for years or not. I got a little frightened that I was rapidly getting used to my life of leisure, so I took this job mostly to shake myself out of slackerdom, which comes way too naturally to me.

I've been thinking semi-half-seriously about the idea of teaching English abroad. (Thank you, M. McG, if you do indeed read this.) It seems to be a near perfect setup for me: different place, long-term but not permanent, subject I can handle and potential for adventures. The lure of Europe is ever-present with me, but not in a "Oh, it's so much better over there!" annoying kind of way...more like in a "I like girls with accents" kind of way.

But, seriously, I want to do more traveling and idea of being some nomad teaching people English around the world is pretty tempting. I'm increasingly starting to realize I should embrace my antsy, restless tendencies and find something that would allow me to give into them and not be totally reckless -- just a LITTLE reckless.

So, perhaps the modified goal is Permanent Transient Saturdays?