I’ve done a bit more thinking and reading about the issue of current and future academics who blog. My conclusion is that, especially given the concern that what I write today may have an impact on my future job prospects, it’s necessary to periodically reevaluate and assert what this exercise is all about. Discourse of …
Efforts to revise our telecommunications policy are really taking off in moves beyond the net neutrality debate. Here are a few new additions: Banning MP3 Streaming: Efforts to require DRM on streaming media may make streaming in non-protected formats a violation of the law (thus locking in the grossly incompatible proprietary formats). Congress may consider …
I attended a session last night about the comparative ethics of blogging and mainstream journalism. The session centered around a recent article about a L.A. Times columnist who was caught pseudonymously making politically charged comments on a blog. The talk centered around the question of whether or not this action was ok. Many of the …
The story about the young novelist caught accidentally plagiarizing from one of her favorite authors calls to mind a thought I’ve had recently about the role of copying in learning. It seems to me that imitation is a crucial part of the learning process. Examples: Babies learn to talk by mimicking their parents’ vocal sounds. …
John is a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He studies the social impact of media technology law and policy, with a special emphasis on copyright. He also is an instructional technology consultant for DoIT-Academic Technology.
John doesn't update his blog often, and many of the thoughts are probably half-baked. While the web has sort of an eternal memory, the current and future reader is urged not to take all of this too seriously.
Think of this blog as "John thinking out loud."
(For more on this idea and why I blog, please see this category.)