if you call, I will answer. If you fall, I'll pick you up. And if you court this disaster, I'll point you home. I'll point you home.

1. 224: Questions and
Answers
And stuff

2. Today
1. Call and response
2. Presentations by:
-Max
-Annie
-Karlie
-Sammie
-Andrew
-Johnny

3. Q1
On page 378, read the second paragraph (starting
“Over the last two decades or so…”). Tease out the
ideas expressed here. What is the construction of
student writing that Selber and Johnson-Eilola are
speaking of from the past, and what are they
arguing we have realized?

4. The traditional construction of student work is that research is
done to support ideas and is then cited. This would mean that a
“good” research paper includes direct quotes, but those quotes
are attributed carefully to sources. In this construction, accidental
plagiarism only happens when a student isn’t aware of how to cite
properly or is lazy about citation format.
The assumption was that rampant, evil, pervasive plagiarism was
when students copied other student’s papers and/or tried to pass
off copyrighted works as their own, e.g. the person who copies
the encyclopedia entry word-for-word as their essay. This
construction draws a clear line in black and white between “good”
uses of sources and “cheating” by plagiarizing.

5. Q2
What will become of plagiarism as we move
deeper and deeper into the digital age? Think
here about the awareness of the writer in
particular. Will we see less plagiarism, more
plagiarism, or will we see plagiarism happening
in a different way/being redefined? Will we see
all of that? None of that?

6. As we continue to evolve in the digital age, we believe plagiarism
will continue to worsen as well. As more information is put on the
web, it is inevitable that things will be remixed exponentially
because more and more people will be able to access that
information quickly. Virality will be on steroids. Due to this
reading, we believe people will have to learn to change their
outlook on plagiarism rules as plagiarism will evolve into what the
author calls assemblages, or “text built primarily and explicitly
from existing texts in order to solve a writing or communication
problem in a new context.” (p381) *more*

7. “Through assemblage, plagiarism becomes less of an issue
because students are encouraged to make explicit their
barrowings and appropriations…What counts in this new context
is the ability of students to remix text in ways that address specific
issues, readers, and situations.” (p380) The author goes onto
express a need for teachers to recognize that remixing and
creating an assemblage is a new form of “valid and valued”
academic performance. As more things are available on the web,
the less likely students will be able to create something truly
original. Ideas and collaboration are more powerful than the
individual mind and ownership—a mentality that has been fluent
in American culture since the country’s creation. Improving upon
former ideas with current technology symbolizes progression of
societal thought.

8. Q3
What is the difference between performance
and action or effect in context as explained by
the authors? (check page 380 if you’re unsure
where to begin)

9. According the authors, we should change the goal of writing from
PERFORMANCE to the action/effect in the context. The goal of
writing should not be to create "original work" based on citations
and correct grammar. The goal of writing should be to remix or
"assemble" existing texts in a new way in order to solve a
concrete problem or prove an argument. When we remove the
objective performance goals, our writing can be constructed
"from the conceptual, linguistic, and sociopolitical forces active in
several different location." Stop being concerned about
formatting, but rather focus on if the intervention of our text has
further our discussion/argument.
•

10. Q4
What is the traditional purpose of citation
in writing? How might that be changing?
And should it be?

11. The traditional purpose of citation in writing is for a teacher to understand
what someone else produced and what the student produced in order to
set up a hierarchy. Original text has primacy.
Students are no longer pushed so hard to hide citations from their sourced.
Reinventing the wheel becomes inefficiency, a misplaced waste of effort.
Teachers want to put a grade value on the ability to use already existing
“chunks” of information. Creativity is being lost and citation is no longer
backing up a student’s work but rather downplaying their value and
rewarding students of their research, rather then situating the text into new
contexts.
This should not be the case because students are not finishing the last step
of adding their research to context. They are focusing too much on the
research and the citation, rather then incorporating what they have read
into a new situation. Teachers should encourage students to focus less on
the citation, and more on creativity.

12. Q5
What is “intertextuality?” This might take a
little additional research if you’re totally
unfamiliar with the term, though the article
should point you toward the answer.

13. Intertextuality refers to the way in which the relations of
texts to one another often produce meaning. There are
two types of intertextuality: iterability and presupposition.

14. Q6
Another term to define: what is an
articulation? Stuart Hall might help you
figure it out. Why is it important that we
know?

15. An articulation is defined as " the form of the connection
that can make a unity of two different elements, under
certain conditions." In other words, it is two concepts that
can be combined, but depending on the person
manipulating them can produce drastically different
results. If you combine two concepts and know more
about the first one, and your friend combines the same
two concepts but knows more about the second one, then
you and your friend are going to come up with two very
different results. *more*

16. It is important that we know what this is because it allows
us to realize that two people can work on the same project
and have two different end results. It also explains why
there are so many "original" ideas that come from
considering what would happen when putting two
concepts together (Such as if an English professor taught
an African American Literature course, versus a Black
World Studies professor teaching an African American
Literature course. You are combining the same two
concepts (African American culture and Literature), but
both classes would be different.

17. Q7
One more definition. What is an
“assemblage?” Why does this idea matter?

18. •Assemblages, as defined by the article, are “texts built
primarily and explicitly from existing texts in order to
solve a writing or communication problem in a new
context.” According to the article’s definition,
“assemblage is itself constructed from the conceptual,
linguistic, and sociopolitical forces active in several
different locations.” Assemblage is especially important
because, according to the article, it has the power to
serve as the saving grace for plagiarism. *more*

19. Although plagiarism alone is wrong, modern teachers are
approaching the battle against plagiarism from the wrong
angle, proclaiming to their students that anything in their
writing taken from preexisting composition is condemned
as plagiarized, and thus incorrect. Teachers are
overstressing originality in wake of changing times—times
in which it is impossible to start composition or rhetoric
from a completely original foundation.
*more*

20. Condemning students’ remixing and augmentation of
preexisting pieces in their compositions is actually leading
to more plagiarism, because original material is being
overvalued. Such overvaluing of originality incentivizes
students to claim other works as their own, in order to
receive credit for a larger amount of “original material.” If
assemblage were embraced, students would feel much
more comfortable with using relevant preexisting
materials in their compositions in an original way, and they
would more willingly cite the borrowed sources they used
to assemble their remix or modulation of existing ideas.
*more*

21. The practice of assemblage would assist teachers in their
departure from the constricting model of composition
evaluation of the past. Students would be free to expand
on previously existing ideas, consequently exploring
solutions to problems considered by rhetors before them.
Plagiarism has proven to be a serious problem only when
teachers, as mentioned previously, overvalue originality in
written and digital composition of rhetoric. Assemblage
would both eliminate concerns with plagiarism and allow
students to spread their wings and formulate creative
solutions to preexisting problems.

22. Q8
“In key ways, the availability and
widespread use of templates in activities
such as web design signals a hierarchically
subordinate value placed on visual
elements of a text (the template)
compared to primary textual elements (the
textual content of the web site).” p. 386
Explain.

23. When Selber and Johnson-Eilola talk about the template
subordinating the values of certain things, what they mean is that
when you can download a visually set template, the design
elements are considered “less” valuable, because you can just go
“get” that. This puts a premium on the content that you create, as
that becomes your actual work, what is “yours” and is “original.”
The problem this raises is that it ignores the value of visual and or
stylistic remix (or assemblage, as they come to call it). In a work of
remix, the visual, the elements of template design, etc. could be
JUST as if not MORE important than the content itself. In some
cases, it IS the content.

24. Q9
“Remixing as a form of composition inhabits a
contested terrain of creativity, intellectual
property, authorship, corporate ownership,
and power” (p. 392). How and why? Why does
this matter?

25. CEO of the RIAA Cary Sherman stated in February of 2013 that,
“Piracy is not only a problem for our economy, it is a problem for
our culture.” Really? Piracy is a problem for our culture? That’s
interesting, Sherman, because as I recall, a certain Act that was
pushed by Hollywood last spring caused an uproar from our
society. I’m referring to SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) of course.
When this Act was paraded through Washington by people like
Sherman, the internet turned on its head. A few small sites
like Reddit, Wordpress, Wikipedia oh and that tiny search engine
Google (please note the blatant sarcasm, okay moving on)
vehemently protested this proposed Act. You know why,
Sherman? Because piracy is a part of our culture.
*more*

26. But the problem with calling out things as "piracy" is the
criminalization of otherwise innocent entities. We've been shown
by documentary filmmakers that everything can be considered a
remix. Nothing is an original idea. And that is okay. That's more
than okay. What isn't okay is that some people feel as though they
are allowed to claim others work as their own, and feel no legal
wrath for doing so.
*more*

27. But the problem with calling out things as "piracy" is the
criminalization of otherwise innocent entities. We've been shown
by documentary filmmakers that everything can be considered a
remix. Nothing is an original idea. And that is okay. That's more
than okay. What isn't okay is that some people feel as though they
are allowed to claim others work as their own, and feel no legal
wrath for doing so.
*more*

28. Let's get specific. Was The Gray Album an original work? Depends
who you ask. If we go with a strict interpretation of original music
(ie. it was composed completely by new pieces of music, designed
solely for one project) then no, this was in no ways original. But,
to some people, original can simply be anything that hasn't been
done before. Prior to Danger Mouse's mashups, these groupings
of songs had not come together in a single package. That is the
originality of his work. The fact that he took two artists' music,
from decades apart, and brought them together in the 21st
century is original.
*more*

29. Remixes are merely an extension of the aforementioned culture.
Some people are given a free pass on plagiarism, ie. educators.
We say they're covered under the Fair Use exception to U.S.
copyright law, but at which point are they exploiting this
exception? We may not be able to easy say, but what is certain is
that, for as long as people are able to make both derivative
and transformative works, they will do so. And they're not slowing
down.

30. AGAIN.

31. PRINT WILL NOT DIE.

32. WRITING WILL NOT
STAY THE SAME.

33. LAWS WILL CHANGE.

34. NEW TECH WILL
EMERGE.

35. BUT

36. WE WILL ALWAYS
WRITE.

37. RHETORIC WILL NOT
FADE AWAY.

38. PERIOD.(lol)