When asked to consider both sides of an issue and dealing with the one that I have chosen around plagiarism, I’ve come to realize that I sit on one side. It is very hard for me to see the other side of the story.  In other words, is it okay to copy someone else’s work from, say the Internet, and then call it your own?  As I indicated in my first entry, I tend to cut and paste myself, then adapt and place in my own words. If I use someone else’s document in my “Mr. Miller’s Survival Guide to Grade 7,” then I give credit to where credit is due. So, in a logical manner, as I am so apt to do I am going to consider the following ideas in order to guide myself through the process:

1.  Could retelling a story (like prehistoric humans did and aboriginals do today) be considered plagiarism?
2. What were the origins of printing?
3. Did the printing press cause issues of copying other people’s work?
4. When was the term plagiarism coined and is there a connection to what was going on at that time?
5. When were texts and other first writings plagiarized and noticed?
6. When did Internet plagiarism become an issue?
7. What is public domain and can others use my data if I don’t copy write it?

 All one has to do is search the internet or look in an encyclopaedia about the history of storytelling.  There are records of stories being handed down from generation to generation in many languages ranging from Sanskrit, Old German, Latin, Chinese, Greek, Latin, Icelandic and Old Slavonic and there are of course paper records from Ancient Egypt to Gilgamesh in Sumerian history to the first story of Beowulf in the English language.  All of these stories had the purpose of telling what had come before (Ramsey).

Ramsey also indicated several reasons for storytelling, but I’ve only included the ones that seem to be most important to my article:

 “…That it evolved from the human need to communicate experience to other humans… That it fulfilled an aesthetic need for beauty, regularity, and form through expressive language and music. That it stemmed from the desire to record the actions or qualities of one’s ancestors, in the hope that this would give them a kind of immortality. (op cit)”

 It would seem that the original intent of storytelling was, therefore, honourable and worthy of partaking.  Did people see it as plagiarizing? It was probably not considered as such as the person(s) were long dead and maybe before their deaths came to realize a sort of immortality in the knowledge that their story would be passed on. William Scurrah tends to agree, when he wrote, “Likewise, prior to the introduction of the moveable-type printing press, knowledge was not conceived as either owned or originated by individuals but as given to all humankind-as a kind of intellectual commons that all shared in and drew from (Scurrah 4)”

            Cuneiforms in Mesopotamia and paper became methods of transforming words into something a little more permanent.  Scribes would laboriously copy work so that others could read what was once spoken word.  (Wikipedia)

            Did people consider this plagiarism? People seemed to want to get their words and opinions out to the world so that others would agree with them.  Scribes didn’t take ownership of the writing and Churches and monasteries were the only places to find books and speech was still the preferred way of communication. A writer’s market was small, so his profit was limited to those close to him (Scurrah 4, 7).

              With Guttenberg’s invention of the printing press ca. 1431, it was not long after that the word copyright came into existence. In Britain in the 18^th century, copyright was pushed forth to deal with the concerned with the unregulated copying of books (Wikipedia). Interestingly enough, Merriam Webster’s dictionary indicates the word plagiarism came from about the time of 1621 and came from the Latin word for “Kidnapper” and was adapted for those who kidnapped the use of someone else’s work. References also indicate that the Industrial Revolution brought new headaches to copyright issues (Scurrah 7).

              With the advent of the Internet becoming a fast growing technology tool in the 1980’s and onwards, plagiarism took on a whole new role as I indicated in my first blog entry about cutting and pasting.

               So what is the final word on free online use and the right to copy other people’s work? It seems that there are people out there who are willing to copy work based on the freedom of censorship of the Internet. An example can be seen at http://rooferauthor.blogspot.com/2008/06/because-i-think-i-need-to-do-this.html where a gentleman helps someone else write a paper and justifies why it wasn’t plagiarism, but helping someone edit their work.  A major discussion thread ensues and the argument goes on.

               In closing, I believe that this issue is far from over. Alan November mentioned at a recent speech at Magee that the Internet is opening students up to a whole new world of information and dealing with plagiarism will be at the forefront.

              What do you think?  Should one be able to cut and paste at will because we have gotten to the point of “there is nothing new out there, we need to rehash the old ideas?”  To coin a section out of the short story, “The Machine Stops,” E.M. Forester writes through the eyes of a future human who thinks, that,

 “Those who still wanted to know what the earth was like had after all only to listen to some gramophone, or to look into some cinematophote. And even the lecturers acquiesced when they found that a lecture on the sea was none the less stimulating when compiled out of other lectures that had already been delivered on the same subject. “Beware of first- hand ideas!” exclaimed one of the most advanced of them. “First-hand ideas do not really exist. They are but the physical impressions produced by live and fear, and on this gross foundation who could erect a philosophy? Let your ideas be second-hand, and if possible tenth-hand, for then they will be far removed from that disturbing element - direct observation.”

When will we become a world with no ideas? Will our machine stop too?  For the whole story, go to the link:

 http://brighton.ncsa.uiuc.edu/prajlich/forster.html (Copied from an unknown source, as it wasn’t in Project Gutenberg….)

Works cited

 Copyright [online] Available http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright, July 1, 2008 download.

Copyright [online] Available http://rooferauthor.blogspot.com/2008/06/because-i-think-i-need-to-do-this.html , July 1, 2008 download. 

Forster, E.M. “The Machine Stops” Copyright [online] Available http://brighton.ncsa.uiuc.edu/prajlich/forster.html , July 1, 2008 download.

 Plagiarism [online] Available http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism , July 1, 2008 download.

 Printing Press [online] Available http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press , July 1, 2008 download.

Ramsey, Inez. Handbook for Storytellers [online] Available http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/storyhandbook.htm, July 1, 2008 download.

 Scribes [online] Available http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribe , July 1, 2008 download.

 Scurrah, William L. (Ed.). (2001) Plagiarism, Enclosure and the Commons of the Mind (Report No. Cs 510 540) [Electronic Version]. Annual Meeting of the College Composition and Communication. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 451 570)