Facebook Owns You(r Original Content Produced On or Shared Through Their Tubes)

February 17, 2009 By 10 Comments
Image for Art courtesy of Facebook.com.

Image for art courtesy of Facebook.com

Rest easy, Cacophoners; I just removed the “Share on Facebook” option from the “Share This” widget that appears beneath every post.

For those who don’t know, Facebook changed its Terms of Service last week, asserting a perpetual claim to use however it wishes certain content that you post on FB or that is shared on their network via a hosted “Share on Facebook” button.   A similar policy was in place prior to the change in terms on February 4, but Facebook’s claims to your  content used to expired when you deleted items or deleted your account.  That option ultimately gave users control over their content.

No longer. Here’s the key passage from the new ToS:

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

Here’s the clause that was removed:

You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

This has produced no shortage of outrage, as well as a totally inadequate response from FB honcho Mark Zuckerberg that essentially asserts the ToS does not reflect Facebook’s true feelings about user generated content (to which friend of the Institute Matt Gold responds: “What matters is what they *do* with user info, not how they “think” about it!”).

Amanda French of NYU posted a really helpful run down of various ToS’s on other user generated content web sites, which highlights just how off-base and egregious Facebook’s claims are.  Boone B. Gorges of Queens College wonders about the pedagogical ramifications of this change, and also about what Zuckerberg’s response teaches us about the concept of  “sharing” in the digital age.

Ultimately, I hope Facebook sees the error of its ways, because it provides a unique, valuable, and often elegant service.  I have a network on FB which is almost entirely separate and serves a different purpose for me than my networks on Twitter, Ning,  LinkedIn, or BuddyPress; I’d hate to see that diminished.  At the same, anyone who blogs on Facebook’s blog utility should think long and hard before continuing.  Photographers who share their photos through Facebook should reconsider, or at least start watermarking the hell out the images they share.  Musicians shouldn’t upload MP3s of their compositions.  Faculty should reconsider any educational uses of Facebook.  Our students should be informed (though that’s nothing new).  Web masters should zap those “Share on Facebook” buttons from their sites (for clarification, if you post a link directly into Facebook, the claim doesn’t apply).  And those of us who have posted pictures of our kids on Facebook so that cousins abroad and childhood friends can follow their growth should be prepared to see those images used without our notification or permission.

Filed Under: To Ponder, Web 2.0 Tagged With: , ,

Sociology light?

February 15, 2009 By 7 Comments

I am currently in the middle of reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and think it could make a great addition to some sociology courses (actually, a sociology professor recommended it to me and does use it her course).

It explores a variety of social factors that contribute to individual success, and provides a very strong (and elegant) counter-argument to generally shared assumptions about how individuals work their way to the top. It is particularly interesting in light of my teaching in deviance, where I try to get students to see social factors that contribute to individual and group marginalization.

Gladwell holds a doctorate in sociology, and Outliers refers to a number of classic texts and experiments. His writing is so jargon-free, and his story-telling abilities are so exceptional, that the content is accessible to anyone. For this reason I can see how it would be useful in an introductory course.

However, I suspect that many would have objections to using a popular, non-academic text in the classroom. Because it is outside the academic discourse community, it might not be appropriate. Additionally, he can be accused of dumbing down or glossing over material. I would like to hear more of these objections, if any readers here have any, as well as objections to using popular and/or journalistic books in other disciplines.

Filed Under: Pedagogy, Scholarship

Reading and creating ‘the air’: a fun clip

February 13, 2009 By 3 Comments

A couple of you who shared the table discussion session with me at last year’s symposium might remember me talking about how Japanese people appreciate the skills to actually ‘read’ what’s not spoken, referring to this as ‘read the air’ (we do also have that well-known expression ‘read between the lines’ for written communication, so reading ‘the air’ is more about oral communication).

Even though some of my table-mates seemed really fascinated with this notion, it is obviously not something that you only experience in Japan. Good air-reading skills can definitely help us be good audience (the theme for the upcoming symposium).

Without making today’s post too serious, I would like to introduce this funny clip from Clint Eastwood’s latest installment ‘Gran Torino’, definitely one of my recent favorites. Clint Eastwood’s character is trying to ‘man up’ this Asian boy so that he can get a job in construction. Check out and enjoy how the boy learns to ‘read’ and ‘create’ the air that he never breathed in before.

Filed Under: Audience, Interpersonal Communication, Oral Communication, Symposium

Social Networking: Isn’t it all just way too much?

February 11, 2009 By 2 Comments

In his recent Wired commentary on the Burden of Twitter, Steven Levy highlights a few of the many reasons why I have avoided getting involved in Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking forums. Guilt and remorse emerge as key motivational players in his account of his recent participation in online communities. His story sounds very similar to those I hear from my friends over dinner when it becomes known that I don’t have a Facebook account. Strangely, however, these same friends always insist that I’m “crazy” not to sign up.

The bottom line for me is that I know I can’t simply sign up and be a casual participant in these types of communities. I would feel much like Steven Levy; wanting to be a responsible and contributing member. At the same time, I don’t want my communication with friends, family, and other potential online acquaintances to be consistently motivated by guilt and producing remorse (like Levy’s). These kinds of interactions seem neither meaningful nor effective. As an outsider (cautiously contemplating moving in) I’m curious: isn’t it all way too much to handle after a while? I can barely keep up with my email as it is. I think in order to be a responsible online citizen I should remain offline when it comes to social networking.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

How do we deal with writer’s block again?

February 10, 2009 By 2 Comments

Students often approach me to get advice on how to overcome this writing disaster. I got bored with my old explanations and ‘googled’ it only to find an extensive and impressive list of solutions on Wikipedia. “Challenging negative thoughts about one’s skill or ability to write” – isn’t this a good one? This ‘challenging’ can be immeasurably difficult if one’s experience with writing hasn’t been very positive in the past. Let’s rethink again the amount of red ink we spend on each paper and the tone of our comments!

The last thing I want to do in this post is pretend that I never question my writing abilities. What can and in my case does effectively dissolve this negative thinking is reading. Somehow, as I move from sentence to sentence, even in the most familiar of pages, I’m made aware of my skill to think, to feel, and to formulate my thoughts and feelings in language. Once I’ve consciously gone through this process, I feel inspired to write.

The Wikipedia page includes a list of “dramatic depictions of writer’s block,” among them Shakespeare in Love and Stranger than Fiction. I’d add another list – literary depictions of writer’s block. And, perhaps, one more – professional writers’ strategies for overcoming writer’s block. Here is how it goes for Hemingway: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” How is this for a first-day low-stakes writing activity?

Filed Under: Feedback, Language, literature, Low-Stakes Writing, Writing Instruction

Cool phones and guide mini ponies.

February 9, 2009 By 1 Comment

super phone

I want a cool phone. I am going to hold out ( with my old chunky Nokia) for a super duper model that can do all the things Japanese cell phones can do: read barcodes, serve as a credit card, have fingerprinting system to protect my data. Wow.
This might happen soon thanks to some amazing technology being developed to serve the needs of the disabled. New software developed for cell phones will allow low vision users to read supermarket products info or street signs. Or how about a program which allows the physically disabled to guide a computer mouse by neural impulses, or imagine a solar system visualization program where a blind person would use a forced feedback device to feel three-dimensional reconstructions of terrain on other planets (whaaaat???). Soon there will be worldwide open-source Web site on which disabled persons and software developers can collaborate on new ideas and add to existing programs. Most of these projects are run by universities and supported by some business like Goggle, but they are to be non- commercial, open-source projects. Very cool.

And on a related note, check out this New York Times Magazine article about the guide animals for the disabled. It is not just dogs anymore. Now it’s monkeys for quadriplegia and agoraphobia, guide miniature horses, a goat for muscular dystrophy, a parrot for psychosis and any number of animals for anxiety, including cats, ferrets, pigs, iguanas and ducks.

Filed Under: Cross-Cultural Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Media, Technology, Tools, Uncategorized

Guest Post: Support for Oral Communication within the ESL Curriculum at Baruch College

February 2, 2009 By 2 Comments

The following is a guest post from Professor Elisabeth Garies, of Baruch College’s Department of Communication Studies. She can be reached at Elisabeth.Gareis@baruch.cuny.edu.

Oral communication instruction is traditionally somewhat neglected in the ESL curricula and services of colleges. Many programs focus on reading/writing proficiency and give only nominal, if any attention to listening/speaking skills. The imbalance is due to a great extent to college entrance requirements and grading practices in college classes: Students are often only tested for reading and writing proficiency but not for speaking skills. With the correlation between spoken and written proficiency in nonnative speakers being only moderate, it is no surprise then that some students graduate with low proficiency in spoken English.

This status quo is in stark contrast to the skills needed for integration into the college community and success in the workplace. In fact, oral communication skills are consistently ranked most important by employers of business as well as liberal arts graduates. Yet, every semester, nonnative students report that they are being asked by teammates not to speak during group presentations so that team grades are jeopardized. They also report being dismissed from job interviews due to comprehension-inhibiting accents.

It is paramount, therefore, that we address oral-communication competence. Two services are available for students at Baruch College: (1) Students can go to the Student Academic Consulting Center (SACC, VC 2-116) and make an appointment for free one-on-one tutorials with a professional speech tutor. (2) Students can visit the new ESL Lab (VC6-121, enter through VC6-120) and practice with the excellent software, audio, and video materials there. See http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/esllab for hours, instructions, and materials.

To give an example: It’s the beginning of a semester. An (ideal) instructor collects writing samples and engages his/her students in speaking activities to determine whether a student may need assistance. The student is then encouraged (required?) to make an appointment with one of the speech tutors at SACC (the tutors, by the way, are all professionally trained speech pathologists and ESL specialists). During the first meeting, a diagnostic conversation/reading takes place, and the tutor determines which speech patterns are the cause of he students comprehensibility problems.

While the student may already have an idea about some patterns (e.g., differentiating between /r/ and /l/), some problems are more difficult to determine. For example, many languages have a syllable-timed rhythm (i.e., syllables have the same length); English, however, is a stressed-timed language (i.e., the rhythm of a sentence is determined by the regular beat of the stressed syllables only). Try to say the following sentences out loud as you clap your hands on the stressed syllables. You will notice that the sentences take the same amount of time, although the first one is much shorter than the last one. This is because of the stress-timed nature of English.

The lion came.
The lioness came.
The lionesses came.
The lionesses arrived.
The lionesses have arrived.

Comprehensibility problems often arise from stress problems; e.g., when a speaker from a syllable-timed language used his/her native rhythm to speak English. A staccato delivery ensues that makes it difficult for English listeners–who are used to listening for word and sentence stress–to follow the speaker.

In any case, once the student is diagnosed, the tutor will help the student produce the speech pattern correctly in one-on-one tutorials. When the student can produce the speech pattern, he/she needs to practice to commit the new pattern to muscle memory. It is said that our body has to practice a new movement (including speech organ movement) 1,000 times before the movement becomes muscle memory. Please see the Accent Reduction FAQs at http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/esllab for more information.

Ideally, a student should see a speech tutor once a week and practice individually in the lab several times a week. With regular practice, significant progress can be made, even in the course of one semester. Please alert your students to these services. and remind them that, to change speech patterns, regular practice is necessary

Filed Under: Baruch College, ESL, Oral Communication, Resources
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