Reflection of lecture 2017/04/25

We heard in class of all the advantages of E-books. You can virtually have the entire library in your pocket. But before we OOH! and AAH! about the E-Book, my experiences with technology is that it can fail you when you least expect it to. This is not going to happen with a good old paper book (heavy book with pages). I can imagine many ladies curling up in bed with a Mills & Boon, what if the battery dies. Especially when you are coming to an interesting part of the book, or like my laptop that seems to have a mind of its own (it just switches off).

With all these technology, we seem to have abandoned the good old book. I’m a very sentimental person, having the feel of the book in one’s hand, fingers caressing the pages. You not are going to get that from holding a kindle. To conclude, E-Books, we agree, have many advantages and disadvantages. Also everyone is entitled to choose their mode of pleasure, but we should not give up to easily on the old fashion book. The artistic appeal of the physical book is at times just as important as its content. The good old fashion book is something that the younger generation MUST experience, but this is more and more unlikely to happen as technology wins the battle.

 #books must fall…I think just not yet. Call me a pessimist, just saying!

 

 

 Reflection of lecture 2017/04/11

For those not in the know, Open Access (OA) are years in the making. In science, for example, Open Access were common practises. The arXiv project (pronounced as ‘archive’) was created a bit more than two decades ago as an OA repository by Paul Ginsparg of Cornell University. But yet it has taken long (20 years) for OA to take off, in some cases (OA) it still remains at the margins of mainstream publication. In the modern era then, Open Access has spread like wildfire. It is where research papers are made available online, at no charge. This is unlike subscription journals that has hefty price tags. This had benefits for me and many other struggling students. For my research purposes I do download a lot of journals from the UWC databases without paying a cent for it. UWC are a signatory to the Berlin agreement, the Berlin Declaration was an event that established the OA movement. But I do have some burning questions regarding open access, and maybe my colleagues reading this post would like to comment. There has been concerns whether OA, despite its good intentions, would harm the peer review structure and compromise the quality of research on OA.

I know that many researchers benefit from Open Access, I also know that researchers rely on scholarships and their academic careers are judged on what they have published and the impact of the research that they (researcher) have published. With that said, Open Access publications are less established than subscription publications and are not necessarily followed on the kinds of impact it has in academia and society. I suppose as Open Access and the publications published on it develops more, so will its credibility. Younger researchers will be then able to embrace open access more. But for now, is OA articles considered less credible than subscription articles?

Open Access Explained!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5rVH1KGBCY

Reflection 2017/04/05

Sometimes we as students are very blasé or even uninformed about a very important matter, that is copyright? Let me briefly explain, Copyright is a protection which is afforded under law for various types of works of people and organisations. In a South African context, the copyright law of South Africa governs copyright and is embodied in the Copyright Act, 1978 and its various amendment acts.

Literature, music, movies and architecture are examples of copyrightable works.  The right to copy, display, perform, distribute and create an imitative version of such work is reserved for the owner of the work. What it means is that individuals, other than the owner may not copy, display, perform, distribute and create an imitative version of such work, unless the individual has the permission to do so from the copyright holder.

Herein lies the problem for many students, especially here at UWC, and I’m also speaking from personal experiences. Most students sometimes copy large portions (more that the allowed 10%) or even the entire book. I think students are largely unaware of the copyright infringements they are guilty of. In their defence, most students are from impoverished backgrounds (on NSFAS) and cannot afford text books as it (books) simply too expensive. But then again one cannot disregard practices that is criminal, maybe the library should put up posters explaining the copyright act and how much an individual is allowed to copy. Also, if the individuals (students) could get permission from the intellectual property owner as to copy the books and explaining the imposition of poverty of many students on campus.

Also, this week we were introduced an exciting app called “TodaysMeet”. The lecturer were posing the class questions via the app and we (class) were responding via the app. While all this was happening, through my mind went “it will be a useful tool to use in my tutorials”. It will empower the socially withdrawn and student lacking confidence to speak in class to give his/her opinion and contribute to discussions. It will also be useful, say if there are any kind of disruptive protest we had over the last two years, we then can have a class online. The class do not have to be confined by the physical boundaries of the walls. The SRC can even use this app for elections, it will remove so much logistical issues. This app (TodaysMeet) gives us so much more options. Please click link to login to  the app so that you may also benefit from it https://todaysmeet.com