Pirated Books as per our last discussion... - 42 views
started by Matt Bastin-Millar on 29 Jan 14
started by Matt Bastin-Millar on 29 Jan 14
started by Matt Bastin-Millar on 29 Jan 14
started by Matt Bastin-Millar on 29 Jan 14
Though not exactly what we were discussing, I stumbled across this on Reddit today and thought it was worth a look...I've only had a perfunctory glance at the links so far...
http://www.reddit.com/r/trackers/comments/hrgmv/tracker_with_pdfsebooks_of_college_textbooks/c1xrq44
I think to start the blog on Jordan's insightful discussion from this week about Pirate Bay as a place to upload pirated journal articles is a great way to start discussion on some of the wider issues of Fitzpatrick's book. One of the recurring themes as her title Planned Obsolescence suggests is that there has to be considerable institutional change from the "academy" before humanities research can progress and take advantage of the digital age. As I can speak from the perspective of a history graduate student change at an institutional level is difficult to achieve. I think that graduate students play a large role in the potential for instituting change. This can be accomplished by choosing to publish in open access journals and using new digital tools to conduct "traditional" humanities research..
However, one of the examples Fitzpatrick mentions is that students also have tendencies to stick to old habits when researching or preparing notes for class. Fitzpatrick uses the example of when she assigns digitized versions of books and PDFs to her students, who in turn print their notes, photocopy the original version of the book and highlight these physical copies before discussion. I thought it would be interesting to get a sense of how students in our class come prepared for readings for class and why?
I am guilty of always bringing a printed copy of my notes and highlighting them. The reason is mostly out of habit but after reading this section of her book I thought I should think about trying a new approach.
Interesting that you mention this, Christina. This past week, I tried reading all of the chapters from Fitzpatrick's book using the format she had provided. One feature I liked was the ability to scroll by paragraphs. By clicking (or was it double-clicking?) on the paragraph, it highlighted the graph in yellow and shifted the entire text so that the current graph moved to the top of the page. I quite liked the flow it gave to the reading. Something else I tried was reading the text while at the same time copying and pasting paragraphs and sentences into a word document. First, I would paste all text in black, but then I would highlight certain sentences or phrases in red. Additionally, I added some of my own comments in blue. I found that it made for effective reviewing of the chapters as I could easily focus on the bits that grabbed my attention. Also, I avoided all issues that sometimes arise when the margins don't allow for ample space for reflection. I could continually return to the notes and add new reflections. I also found that it made my notes easier to review seeing as, at times, my handwriting can get a bit sloppy.
Using a word document also allows the possibility of posting hyperlinks, pictures, and copying and pasting dictionary definitions to new words. For example, when I was taking a film course at Ottawa U last winter, I started taking notes on a computer and would fill my notes with images of directors, actors, and film-box covers. It made the notes a bit more dynamic and provided a visual aid which proved handy for remembering all of the information.
The first reason I gave, habit, is also a clear factor. Like Christina, until recently I also used primarily analog methods for course readings and note taking. Even though many of the readings I have had to use in Film Studies were available digitally, I would most often print them off and highlight and annotate on the physical copy, rather than doing so digitally. Part of my reason for doing this was that I found having the physical copy in front of me made it easier to reference in seminar discussions, rather than scrolling through documents trying to find the right section. I also found it helped me to remember the content of the reading better, as if the physical act of marking up the hard copy somehow made it stick in my brain better.
As for note taking, I'm sure many of you have noticed that I take my notes by hand. This is despite the fact that my handwriting is almost illegible. While Alessandro (Jan 30) outlines some of the benefits of using a digital method of note taking, I recently came across an article discussing a psychological study done comparing the two methods in terms of efficacy. In Wray Herbert's blog Ink on Paper, he discusses the study undertaken by Pam Mueller of Princeton and Daniel Oppenheimer of UCLA, comparing, in two separate scenarios, how students performed when tested on lecture material, and how their methods of note taking may impact their results. In both cases, the students who took notes by hand performed significantly better than those who had typed on a laptop. They found that typically the students who were typing their notes would merely copy verbatim the content of the lecture (although it sounds like Alessandro is an exception), whereas the student using notebooks were engaging with the material itself through paraphrasing and restructuring. I highly recommend reading the article (will be linked at the end) because I think the results are very interesting, and its something that I've noticed (as anecdotal evidence) among my own students. I'm curious what you guys think about this.
Wray Herbert's post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wray-herbert/ink-on-paper-some-notes-o_b_4681440.html
Paul Nation has listed a number of free downloadable materials and the website states: "Almost all of Paul Nation's articles are available for free downloading from the list of publications above (chronological order or topic order)….. The following graded readers are now out of copyright and are available free for anyone who wants to use them. They must not be offered for sale, but can be distributed free."
My guesstimate is that intellectual property and copy right rules may be subject to review and adaptation to match the new reality of digital era. In the same way as CD are a thing from the past and soon USB sticks are doomed to the same destiny as their ancestors floppy discs. Again, back to my favourite saying "the past is analog and the future is digital." It is a matter of time until all the conventional concepts will be replaced by innovative ones in response to the changing requirements of a new digital age. Paul Nation seems to have understood the message embedded in DH, thus, embarked on the new venture of open access.
The tendency of students to stick to old habits when researching or preparing notes -see Christina post above- is an inevitable transitional process and again it is a matter of time till the students and humanists would find or stumble across digitally supported features to help them attain their goals in the best possible way. One example I draw from is the number of Apps relevant to ease all aspects of life for consumers. These apps revolutionised old search and order habits. Academic sector, on the other hand, is not as lucrative as business sector and until Academic sector is fully privatized, then you will see more investment and innovations are being introduced to revolutionize ways of studying and researching among stakeholders.
I also tend to agree with Alessandro, I myself come to class with cut and paste notes of the weekly articles supported by external and additional sources usually with hyperlinks and highlights. I tend to take notes in electronic format because of the advantages of flexibility and convenience.
Now back to Devin, I find your topic of a particular interest; this is somewhat relevant to learning strategies and styles (ESL/EFL). I used to recall more information when I print my notes on physical paper, but as I started taking notes using more and more digital tools. I have adopted an adapted a new learning strategy that has served my input processing and long memory retention. I guess by dint of practice the brain develops a new way of cognitive processing of input, hence typing becomes the default way of processing information. I consider myself kinesthetic; I have to come into contact with the information using physical dexterities. However Gardner posits that "Human potential can be tied to one's preferences to learning… people have a unique blend of capabilities and skills (intelligences).
Though the study findings are interesting, they have triggered few concerns in the methodology part: In the first experiment, were the students informed about the post lecture test prior to the lecture, in the same fashion as in the second experiment? Why I am asking? Testing and assessment scores are linked with motivation and drilling or frequent practice for long memory retention. If you inform your students that a particular lecture is the backbone of a summative assessment, then their brains will be more alert to the flow of information and will store the knowledge permanently at least until the day of the test, as opposed to non-instrumental learning. This being said, I tend to partially agree that learning using ink and paper may trigger cognitive process abilities to associate the brain with the actions for long memory retention, as opposed to disassociation of the brain with the aid of laptops ( abstract action with a third part: laptop). Another similar study (longitudinal) in spelling found that students using ink and paper committed less spelling errors than their class mates who are used to typing. The findings state that those who used their laptops often relied on the spell checks to take care of the correct spelling. One way may be to enhance error free writing while still using laptops, since we are DH students and the future is digital, is to deactivate / turn off/disable spell check option.
I'd rather stop at this level otherwise my post may turn into a conference paper.
References
Howard Gardner. (2010). Multiple intelligences. http://www.howardgardner.com/MI/mi.html
It is inspiring to see an influx in free e-books and other publicly available publishing formats. However, on the note of the private sector-much of the academic work is inherently private when it comes to academic publications and journal articles. As our readings have consistently pointed out, publishing houses are often gatekeepers to 'public' generated knowledge and academic knowledge production. (For the sake of argument) fortunately and unfortunately, there is a decent amount of private sector and private funding in most North American universities. As such, notions around what it means to be a 'public institution' arises.
A quick note on copyright and intellectual property: when an author publishes an article with a journal or publishing house, the author generally delegates the rightful ownership of that work to the publisher. As such, this becomes protected under intellectual property law agreements. Therefore, if there was such an attempt to create a 'Pirate Bay' for academia, there would most likely be a significant push back from this interest group. The implications of such copyright infringement and the interest to protect intellectual property has recently been reflected in policy proposals in the United States, such as the acts PIPA (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). In addition, attempts to download academic articles and the ramifications that can ensue are reflected in the recent tragedy and treatment of Aaron Swartz by the US federal government.