A tangled Web of traps!

Hello all!

I wanna tell you something before you start reading: I'm going to be long-winded but the subject is worth it!
I want to talk about the risks of the Internet and the related observations that we came up with last Wednesday during class.

Let's go through a brief list of the most common web-traps we might encounter while surfing the net:

• to plagiarize others' works; the infringement of IPR (see here, here and here);
• huge amount of information (difficulty to find and judge the info - see here);
• technical problems about saving/losing/editing your materials online;
• to give and/or get false information;
• to run into unwanted sexual, violent, illegal contents;
• privacy violation;
• cloning (e.g. credit card);
• viruses, spams (e.g. e-mail), crackers, Trojan horses, pop-ups;
• identity problems;
• addiction;
• unconscious clicking, scams.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, I'm a Web enthusiast and I know that my enthusiasm comes from a responsible and fruitful use of the Internet. The technical and intellectual information that we've learned during classes should have given us the proper tools to be - reasonably - safe and curious when using the Internet and its services.
What I want to say is that if you don't have the basic, background information on how the net should be handled, you could run into the above mentioned traps and get frightened by the Web.

What we've learned so far through Sarah's classes is that the Web is huge and we are far from knowing it properly, in all its aspects. However, if we manage to keep our eyes firmly open the net can become a 'good friend' of us.

Let's see some actions that can be useful to turn a 'bad egg' into a 'good fellow':

• when you subscribe to any website, blog or create your account into any free, online services (e.g. Bloglines, Del.icio.us) always remember to read carefully the terms of the service/(web) contract you are subscribing to. We (too) often think that if something is not printed (i.e. vitual) is less valid and legal: WRONG! It's always a matter of rights...and duties too;
• be aware of what plagiarism, IPR and Creative Commons are; they are crucial concepts that turn to be useful in printed works too;
• be careful when giving your personal information (e.g. credit card number, personal e-mail). I've personally decided to have a second e-mail address to use when subscribing any online services;
• moms, dads, brothers & sisters, anyone who are informed about web-traps: never let children alone in front of a computer, and when they are sufficently grown up give them the needed tools to deal with the Internet properly.

However, despite reading, learning, searching any information about these risks, the traps are always around the corner. So, the only thing I can say and suggest about these issues is: keep your eyes open!!!

Well, let me know what's your point of view and your possible solutions to these problems.

Bye
Giorgia
(photo source)

A tough nut to crack!

Hi guys!

I wanna tell you a creepy story about 'references'...

I was a little girl - 2yrs ago :) - when I first heard about 'references, bibliography and quotations'. I was preparing my BA thesis and my supervisor (the professor who helped me out) told me how to quote others' works, make in-text citations and write a good bibliography.
I was unaware of how this experience would have dramatically changed my life. From that moment onward, I started to get extremely anxious and sometimes fussy when putting down ANY piece of writing...even a shopping list!
Recently I was having a quite peaceful period but - guess what? - Sarah has given us (my classmates and I) a tough work to do: adjust a HUGE amount of references and in-text citations. My nightmare...again! :(

Well, joking aside, I think we all have learned that the referencing issue is tough but crucial. Making proper citations and writing down a respectful bibliography protect us from plagiarism and the infringement of IPR. What's more, we now have a fresh new tool for taking advantage of collaboration and shared feedback, for referencing too: GoogleDocs (see here).

Talk to you soon
Giorgia
(photo source)

P.S. In the light of what I've learned so far during Sarah's classes (see here), I think that in my BA thesis I used the APA style...more or less. I was unaware...and perhaps it was better to be unaware!!! :)

It's a Carbon Copy!

Today in class we talked about plagiarism and IPR (Intellectual Property Rights).
Every time somebody invents a new tool, makes a discovery or produces an artistic work, such as a book or a picture, he can protect his production through laws. These laws are called IPR; they are legal property rights and the common types are:

• trademarks,
• copyrights,
• patents,
• trade secrets.

Obviously, if you don’t respect the IPR, you act illegally; therefore, you can be sued by the rights’ owner. One of the most common illegal act is that of copying someone else’s production (e.g. words, music or invention) and pretending that you thought it or created it; this act is called plagiarism.

Plagiarism and any other illegal act linked to the improper use of something covered by IPR are particularly increased with the wide-spreading of Internet. Since Internet allows almost all computer worldwide to connect, publish and exchange information, it’s easy to meet with the above mentioned problems.

We all know how huge is the net and how difficult is to find all the needed information on the reliability and the right to use that information (see my post on images and reliability)…So, let’s all be careful about these issues!

Bye
Giorgia