6 atr

As Nial and Kevin previously articulated, I feel that my time here has oscillated between a frenzy and a drone.

My place as a student has been constantly redefined and repurposed from the time that I started school. I feel most comfortable in this mindset but also the most limited. It is easy to assume a way of thinking wherein you are basically a worker bee.

I have not felt out my role as a teacher. At this point I feel that I am going through the expected motions. I have only taught one lecture here, it went well but I did not feel any different after than I had before. I think the teacher mindset is really just a 180 from the student one, populating the power instead of being subservient to it.

Independent scholar is probably my favorite mindset. I have always placed high value on striving to be self reliant and there is no pursuit more independent than digging through the library stacks in search of knowledge.

Research collaborator is a mindset I can say I have hardly inhabited and don't know much about. I suppose this only goes as an example of the liberal arts people to work independently. I have never liked to ask someone for help, I don't like being beholden to someone, even if it is just in perception or act.

Life is complicated but trying to split everything into equal points of value will lead nowhere. So I believe that we all will believe what we want, and that the framework of it all can hardly be affected by one individual.

5

Discussing collaboration and it's different mediums of presentation led my interest to peak when the blogpost discussed the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank. I agree with Nial in that crowdsourcing is the best way to establish a uniform trust, but have to say that traditional collaboration represents a more important position in the University.

I believe the discussion on co authorship in the liberal arts is spot on. The traditional understanding of writing is that it is a solitary thing. Lonely and alone you are meant to face your thoughts and be able to produce. Unlike the ordered Sciences, where different technicians can work out different aspects of a problem, in liberal arts the author controls all means of access. The privacy involved and the loss of potential collaboration is sad, but hope remains in things like instant visual translation technology and other methods of instantaneous, non mutual language discourse.

Blog Post 4-Jennifer Schrauth

Like Mike, I have also been doing research for my "New Woman" literature class, and the research tools I have discovered through this course have been invaluable. Every university has different resources available to them, different navigation tools, and different tips and tricks, so this class has helped me transition from researching at my undergraduate institution to researching at Virginia Tech in a smooth, hastle-free way. Simply learning how to navigate the library's webpage, to search using Summon and Addison, and see what databases are available to us and our students has been useful in determining the scope of research available.


Module 3 was also really useful. Naturally as English students we are responsible for knowing MLA formatting inside and out, but it was nice to look at other citation styles and see how they differ from MLA; having some familiarity with these other styles, and the resources to explore them further, not only helps to prepare us for jobs that might become available to us, but to work with our students using different citation formats.

Blog Post 6-Jennifer Schrauth

Like Dana, I'm very comfortable with my role as a student. I've been a student consecutively for the greater part of my life after all. I like to read, I like to discuss, I like to attend classes and hear teachers talking about what they know best; I like to learn. I like to learn a lot. And I like to learn knowing that the person teaching me or guiding me or instructing me is passionate about the subject. However, like Kevin, I'm also very excited about assuming the role of instructor. Teaching has always been something I've been interested in--both because my mother was a teacher and because I've had so many wonderful teachers throughout the years--and when I was in college, several of my courses incorporated pedagogy readings and ideas. While at times I feel anxious about my ability to perform this role well--perhaps more anxious than I ever am about my ability to be a student, though my final thesis is a source of stress--it is compatible with my love of learning, education, and my background with rhetoric and composition. I don't really think of myself as a researcher in terms of a label hat I would give myself, though I obviously read a lot to keep up with the fields of rhetoric and composition and creative writing. I consider this less "research" and more informally as "keeping up" with everything that's going on in the world.

I definitely feel that my identity as a student and instructor are very much interlinked. If I did not enjoy being a student, I can't imagine that I would enjoy teaching. The joy of teaching, for me, is the idea of helping others to enjoy learning and being a student, and encouraging students to learn and think in new and different ways. That being said, in some ways you are forced to present yourself differently when you're in front of a classroom than when you're a student in the classroom, and in that way you are assuming a slightly different personality, and certainly a different role.

Blog Post 7-Jennifer Schrauth

Like Soraya and others mentioned, being at a University, especially as a student but also as a teacher or faculty member, afford you lots of opportunities to hear about good things to read, new research being published, publishing and marketing opportunities, as well as some funding help for attending conferences like AWP. In college I used social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to advertise events I was reading at or had helped organize, as well as journals I was working on and my recent publications. Now I use those social networking sites to keep up with literary journals that post publishing opportunities, links to creative and academic works, and to exchange information with colleagues. I'm also friends with many of the professors I had when I was in college, and they have been a great resource to me for teaching advice as well as new information in the fields of creative writing, composition, and rhetoric. They are constantly posting updates about things going on in their classes, posting links to pertinent articles and book reviews, and talking about cool resources for people in the field.

For creative writers, being involved in the professional community naturally entails writing and publishing as regularly as possible. While I'm here at Virginia Tech I will be working toward a greater portfolio, as well as sending out short stories for publication. I have and will continue to contribute to literary journals like the Minnesota Review and its associated blog.

Blog Post 8-Jennifer Schrauth

I was actually mildly surprised by a lot of these cases. Like Robert , I thought it was strange that the news program was deemed not in fair use for airing a segment of the Chaplin film; it seemed like such a small percentage and it was for the purpose of supplementing a news story, and since the news is generally thought to be a component of educating the public, it seems like it wouldn't be overly harmful. Also, I don't think the news profited financially from airing that film segment. I was also a little surprised by the case in which Salinger successfully sued another author for creating a character modeled after Holden Caulfield. Obviously Holden is a very famous character, and Catcher in the Rye is a classic book; I don't know how smart or original it is to model a character after one so well known, but that being said, I think there are so many characters that have been created and so many volumes of fiction that have been published that it is difficult to claim full intellectual property for a single character or character type. Though Holden is an iconic character, he wasn't an entirely new character; Salinger didn't create a new "type" of character, he just put an interesting spin on one. I think the author he sued should be called unoriginal and unimaginative, but not a copyright infringer.

As an author, I certainly want to think that I'm coming up with something new and interesting when I write, and to think that someone else would rip off that darling creation of mine and call it their own is certainly infuriating, especially knowing that people do it and get away with it all the time. However, at some point stuff does enter into the common sphere, and sometimes copyright laws go too far, in my opinion, from preventing people from using those things. Especially when thinking of writing for publication, authors are so limited in the way they can use brand names, song lyrics, refer to other people's work, quote other people's work, draw from other people's work, etc., even if it overtly being attributed to that original author. This I think less protects the original author or creator and more prevents others from authoring what those original works inspire.

Blog Post 8 - Hockman

Based on the Fair Use copyright cases, I will be careful how and what I use. The factor that really surprises me is that in most cases, the case involved materials that were unpublished. To me, the use of someone's unpublished work is a no-brainer. Don't do it! Also, I know that it can be very difficult to obtain permission from the original author(s) to use materials. But, in many cases, taking the time and trouble to obtain this permission is worth it. Sometimes, as I have heard with the case with T.S. Eliot's most recent wife, Valerie, it is very difficult to obtain certain rights or even obtain access to his unpublished work. I am not in a position to claim support for or against this, but am merely pointing out this issue. In addition, I am surprised that authors are naive enough to use materials that are not published, or use materials for governmental or campaign use. Nothing good can come from slander whether the issue is fair use or not.

I would assume the concept will be something of which I will need to be careful. Although, I would hope that the uses I will have for miscellaneous material will not be in such a way that it affects is illegal or "wrong." I intend to make fair use of any materials. But, I will be careful!

Blog#7

Like Robert, Jamie, and Michelle mentioned, being in an MFA program keeps me up to date with conferences and publishing opportunities, as well as teaching opportunities. I also plan to attend the AWP conference in February. Like Michelle, I use Poet’s & Writers to research literary journals and also used it while looking for MFA programs. Like Dana, I use LinkedIN though I plan to use it more when I have more of a reason to promote myself and my work. I have used social networking sites like Facebook for certain promotional work (such as to help publicize an independent press that specializes in publishing emerging women writers—my short story was also published in this journal). Facebook is great when planning events that need large turnouts (such as benefits).

I tend to create my own opportunities depending on how I feel at the time. I used to be a huge supporter of Idealist.org when I was more interested in non-profit work. I used NYFA (New York Foundation of the Arts) when I was interested in teaching artist jobs and writing grants. I used SIT (School for International Training) when looking for international work. My career interest is quite vast so I am not too concerned about the competitiveness of certain fields (i.e: Academia). I am more concerned with doing what I love in that moment.

Blog#8

I cannot say that the results surprised me as I feel that the law is completely arbitrary and pointless most of the time. I agree with Robert that it ideas are created collectively and it is highly unlikely that any person is the only person to ever have come up with anything. Deciding whether something is truly a parody, ‘transformative,’ or ‘commercial’ are dangerously subjective notions. I also agree with Jamie when he says that many of these cases have to do with money and whether the court feels you should or should not be able to make money off said use of someone else’s material.

Having said this, as a writer, there is nothing worse than the idea of having your words stolen from you. I read recently that the premises for The Matrix and Terminator were written originally by a black woman, Sophia Stewart. I don’t really know how credible this is, but knowing the politics surrounding publishing, this would not surprise me. I do not, however, see any problem with taking something that is already published and creating your own artistic interpretation to that piece such as in the cases we read about. I also don’t fully comprehend the purposes of stringent copyright issues related to education. These laws make it very difficult to disseminate less popular opinions and allow outdated and corporate media to do much of the teaching. For example, I was very interested in assisting independent filmmakers publicize their work to wider audiences but was soon discouraged by how difficult it is to find copies of such materials, particularly because of their high costs. These high costs are also related to copyright laws that do not allow individuals to purchase certain independent films for ‘commercial use’ only for educational use making the costs very expensive (as it is expected that these films will be purchased by libraries and universities not individual educators/people simply wanting to help promote). Similarly, I would argue that downloading songs illegally actually helps many less known musical artists get their music spread to a wider audience.