Blog Post 3

Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s concept of assemblage is related to things we have been discussing in calls when it comes to remixes. The mainly about t taking pieces of work that has already been made/ created and changing them to add to your own work. The article is addressing the thin line between originality and plagiarism. Especially in this generation of teens, because a lot of the young people’s inspirations comes from work that has already been made. So ultimately you are limiting the abilities of these people who could do so much better if there were allowed to use others ideas to help guide them.  Assemblages and remixes both involve taking pieces of other peoples work.  There article explains that most of the time, people don’t really mean to plagiarize. It’s not like they intend to copy word for word, or whichever form they decide to copy but they do it accidently because this information is already in their heads. The article also stated that students today pay more attention to making sure they aren’t plagiarizing versus writing the actual paper. Once again limiting the creativeness and excitement to their work.  The article tries to explain the strict differences between plagiarizing and remixes.  But ultimately the line between them is quite confusing cause to some they might be remixing a body of work, and to others they may be straight copying which is plagiarizing. The article its self is that confusing, it’s just the amount of information given throughout the article, it’s a lot. So I had to re-read a bunch of times, just to stay focused on the information.

Journal #2 Genealogy Project

Exploring options for my Genealogy Project I Googled movies that I enjoyed to try and see if they may be based off another movie, book, etc. The movie Inception, which is well known and one of my all time favorite movies, returned a single but very interesting result. Some people suggested that a 2004 Donald Duck comic was the source of inspiration for the major motion picture. In the comic, thieving Beagle Boys use a special machine to enter Scrooge McDuck’s dream and steal the combination for his safe. Another similarity is that those who fall in the dream immediately wakeup, just like in the film. Although this relationship between a comic and film is definitely interesting, I do not think I would have enough content to complete the assignment. Another movie I considered is an old favorite of mine titled: Flightplan. The movie, if you’re not familiar with it, begins with a mother and her daughter boarding an international flight before falling asleep to pass the time. Upon waking up the mother discovers her daughter is missing. The movie is ‘loosely’ based on a 1938 film titled: The Lady Vanishes. Similarly to Flightplan, the main character is travelling by train through Europe and awakens to discover her elderly travelling companion missing from the train. In both movies other passengers deny ever seeing the missing companion, forcing the main characters to seek clues and question their sanity. The film, The Lady Vanishes was remade in 1979 and again for TV in 2013. It was also based off of a 1936 novel By: Ethel Lina White titled: The Wheel Spins. Just like in the movie, in this novel the main character befriends a fellow Englishwoman on a train through Europe and wakes to discover the woman missing. I found many more connections for the movie Flightplan, and think it would be enjoyable to decipher the similarities and differences over time for my Genealogy Project.  

Blog Post 3

In the Johnson-Eilola and Selber reading it tells us that assemblages are basically texts built from other writings that already exist in order to satisfy writing criteria in an entirely new context. Assemblage can thus be used as a “literacy activity to model controlled language use and argumentative structure”.  The authors use website design to demonstrate the nature of assemblage. Open source modules depend on the willingness of people to share their work and collaborate intellectually in order to increase the usability of a website. Some of the features of web design that demonstrate assemblage are the remix of templates and visual media with text. Assemblage can only be assessed in context and requires teachers to understand that the remixed product was redesigned for a new context and how it is used in that context. 

            A remix is modernly defined as piece of media which has been switched up from its original state by adding, removing, and/or changing pieces of the original  item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, or photograph can all be considered as modern day remixes. The only characteristic of a remix is that it appropriates and changes other materials to create something new. Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s concept of assemblage can be related to a remix because they are basically telling us that assemblages are just writings, texts or whatever you may have it be built from other writings which already exist so it can satisfy the assembler’s needs/criteria.

            Johnson-Eilola and Selber claim that the usual distinction between original and plagiarized work is that original work is superior in terms of creative effort.  “Plagiarism is related to legal issues over intellectual property and ethical concern’s over students’ originality.” Once students properly use citations to acknowledge other persons for their work it is okay and still be considered original. It is when a student tries to “hide sources in an attempt to demonstrate original thought.” Is where the line must be drawn between originality and plagiarism.

-D'Mitry Charlton

Blog #3

Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s concept of assemblage is related to what we’ve been talking about in class about remixes. It’s all about the idea of taking other pieces of work and changing them to incorporate into your own piece of work. The article states that students are forced to keep their work 100% original however they would most likely strive if they used the ideas of others to guide them. The entire article is an assemblage or remix of examples explaining plagiarism and the line that separates plagiarism and remixes.
The ideas of plagiarism are very strict. Many things are thought to be plagiarism but could also be considered a remix. The line between the two can often be blurred. Although, Plagiarism is taking another’s work and not changing or transforming it to be more original, just plainly copying it and conveying it as your own.

This article is a lot. It’s difficult to take it all in given the extensive amount of information in this article. It’s not a confusing article but it is hard to read and stay focused on.

Johnson-Eilola and Selber's Article: Journal #3

How does Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s concept of assemblage relate to Remix? Where do we draw the line between plagiarism and originality? Are there any parts of this article that confuse you?

Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s concept of assemblage directly relates to remix’s that we have been discussing in class for the last couple weeks. They both involve taking pieces of something that was already created, and making it your own. Also, I think the article is telling the audience that sometimes, if not most of the time, when students plagiarize, they do not mean to do so and it was by complete accident. In fact, the article hinted that students today pay more attention to whether or not they are plagiarizing than to their actual writing assignment, therefore their score affected tremendously. This concept of originality that is talked about in the article also applies here.

Personally, I do not think it is very hard to tell when someone is purposely plagiarizing or not. Ideally, a person will find a piece of writing that might be similar to whatever they are writing about and they will read it, transform it, and make it their own and no plagiarizing exists. Similar ideas and yes some of it is from the original text but not the entire paper. If you find a students essay that is almost the same as the original text or the exact same thing, then plagiarizing is in play. I think again that this concept of originality is key for both of these cases and to give the student the benefit of the doubt.

Ryan McCormick

Assemblage relates to the combining process of creating a remix. Original copies and ideas that are combined to have social effects. The article as a whole is an assemblage of texts and specific views of others dealing with the relationship among plagiarism, Various examples of literature that have been changed or remixed from its original copy by using these big time steps combination and transformation. The article influences you to go out and  remix texts in ways that notify specific readers, issues ad problems. 

Whenever  literature is copied, without being transformed or combined of some nature , that is considered as plagiarism being it was not changed and was everything was the exact same. If you only  copy an idea for the purpose of profit or fail to get permission for it you are also guilty of plagiarism. The difference between the two is that, plagiarism is copying everything from the work and having no changes to it, while remixed things are when you add your own juice and spice to it to make it better. You also use three steps copy, transform and combine. 

 I understood the passage as a whole. I agree and liked seeing the difference between the two being pointed out it really showed you some different things such as the theme of plagiarism and originality all facing assemblage, it is obvious that assemblage would win in this case for sure. But there should be no long drawn between the both because there are many ways they can be used to help improve something or to remix it. No you don't have to steal someone elses work but you can copy and add to it.

Blog Post 3

Johnson-Eilola and Selber's ideas of assemblage fall directly into what we have been talking about in class discussions of remixes. To me, they are trying to prove the point that students are not in face plagiarizing but drawing ideas of their own from other creative pieces. Once they think about them, consider them in depth, transform them, and recreate the idea in a new way, they have assembled a new piece of writing; Not plagiarized it. Johnson-Eilola and Selber make the point that far too much of a student's performance level is based upon the concept of originality when more often than not teachers fail at being original. Lesson plans, syllabi, and consent forms are directly taken from other professors who have created the exact papers before them and have made them accessible. The authors fight for the emphasis on performance to be the ability to read an an amazingly creative piece and recreate and equally or even better, a more amazing piece. 

I do not hate on either argument of where the line  plagiarism and originality split, but in my eyes it is a very easy line to read. Plagiarism without looking up the real definition can be defined as copying one's work without giving credit where credit is due. Reading a book and copying the pages word for word and attempting to sell it to others without permission or giving the author's name the spotlight is plagiarism. Reading an awesome novel, becoming inspired to write your own perhaps because a character touched your heart and writing a novel with the same type of savvy character is not plagiarism. That is inspiration. 

There was a lot of information to take in and I am not sure if i retained it all, although I tried. So I would not say I was confused by a lot of the article but I would say I was overwhelmed with information on the same topic. 

Blog 3

“How does Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s concept of assemblage relate to remix? Where do we draw the line between plagiarism and originality? Are there any parts of this article that confuse you?”

Johnson-Eilola and Selber's concept of assemblage is very similar to the concept of a remix. Essentially, both are when you take parts of something that was already created and you change it to make it your own, while still including some of the original piece. Many people like to say that originality is when a person comes up with an idea completely on their own and doesn't borrow from other preexisting ideas. However, others argue that originality is being able to take a preexisting piece and change parts of it to make it your own. I think depending on a person's views on plagiarism, the gap between plagiarism and originality is different. For some there is a relatively distinct line between plagiarism and originality, while for others they may not be so strict or there could be a lot of grey area. The part of the article that confused me the most is where people draw the line when it comes to plagiarism. How much of an original work needs to be altered in order to be considered original and not just a copy of the work? I also had a hard time following when they talked about the different templates on the internet. I understand the basic concept that people create these different templates to allow people to use and have a basis to start somewhere, but I had a hard time following the rest of it. Overall I think the concept of the article is straightforward. We cannot define originality by just creating original works, but we need to respect and celebrate all forms of creativity that people have so they don't feel like using other people's work is looked down upon.

Blog 3

“How does Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s concept of assemblage relate to remix? Where do we draw the line between plagiarism and originality? Are there any parts of this article that confuse you?”

Johnson-Eilola and Selber's concept of assemblage is related to remixing because they are both essentially creating a new piece of art/literature through the combination, imitation, or transformation of older pieces of art/literature. According to the article, assemblage is being "constructed from the conceptual, linguistic, and sociopolitical forces active in several different locations". It would be logical to implement this concept into our education system today because the main intention of art/literature isn't always to be original, it could be to solve problems or create something new out of assemblage. The article encourages the use of assemblage because it takes away the limitations that are currently set in place when it comes to writing. 

The line between plagiarism and originality is drawn with the intent of a student's work. There is a difference between copying someone's entire article and using bits of outside information to make a point of an essay more credible or to lead the reader to a different conclusion. A piece of art/literature should be considered plagiarized when it is mostly a copy of an original piece and the creator of this new piece is using it for profit. 

blog3

How does Johnson-Eilola and Selber's concept of assemblage relate to remix? After reading this I came to the conclusion that assemblage is just another form of remixing. Mix tapes are their examples of assemblages which definitely is a remix , because everything is a remix. Where do we draw the line between plagiarism and originality? I feel like it is really hard to draw that line because I could take someone else's sentence and change 2 words in it and call it original but would it really be original ? also I could write something that is completely original to me and find out that their is another one just like it but I never saw it so would that be original?

“How does Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s concept of assemblage relate to remix? Where do we draw the line between plagiarism and originality? Are there any parts of this article that confuse you?”

The concept of assemblage relates to the combining process of creating a remix. Original copies and ideas are combined to have social effects. The article as a whole is an assemblage of texts and views of others regarding the relationship among plagiarism, originality and assemblage. Various examples of literature that have been adjusted or improved from its original form by the process of combination and transformation can be found. The article encourages students to remix texts in ways that address specific readers, issues ad situations. Assemblages are promoted as a valid form of writing to create a remix culture.

When a piece of literature (whether it is a song, movie, technology etc.) is copied, without the process of combination and/or transformation to follow, the piece is defined as plagiarized. When a person only copies someone’s idea for the purpose of profit or failing to acknowledge the bibliographic work of others, he/she is guilty of plagiarism. The difference is clear. Plagiarism links to only copying the work, while remixed pieces are created by copying, combining and transforming the idea.

Although there were specific extracts where the exact meaning was not clear to me (specifically concerning some views on plagiarism and the provided examples of assemblage from website design), I understood the passage as a whole. I would recommend fewer examples of remixes in the article as the theme is still clear to the reader. I agreed with and enjoyed the theme of plagiarism and originality vs. assemblage, with the idea of assemblages as clear victor.

blog#3 D.Phillips

Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s concept of assemblage relate to Remix? Where do we draw the line between plagiarism and originality? Are there any parts of this article that confuse you?  Johnson-Eilola and Selber's concept of assemblage relates to remix because they take the originality of copies and make their own creativity using the same method just putting it in a more entertaining way. I believe there should not be a line drawn between plagiarism and originality, I feel like without plagiarism students won't be able to learn. Teachers use others text from books, websites, and other things so the students can learn much more. There's plenty of things in this world that have been plagiarized, but its not to steal another one's idea its just to make it more interesting most of the time.

Ideas for Genealogy

1st Idea: The first idea that popped into my head in class while talking about this assignment was Greek mythology. Although I feel a little lame saying it, the Percy Jackson movies are among my favorites list. I researched the origin of the Percy Jackson books because that's where the movies came from and the story is even more intriguing. A father used to read his son Greek myths before bed and when he ran out of ones to tell he started to make them up using the same characters and story lines. Specifically Poseidon, Zeus, Athena and a number of demigods that have all been drawn and inspired by popular Greek myths. I think this is a perfect example of remixes since his remake and creation of new myths have evolved directly from Greek mythology.

2nd Idea: We talked about this in class today and I am glad we did because I completely forgot about the Grimm Brothers and how much I enjoyed their stories. I would choose a few examples to have in my body paragraphs to help give length to my essay like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White and show how Disney has recreated and transformed these fairy tales into appropriate fantasies. I would also like to include the promiscuous hints that story writers for Disney leave in children's movies that would have to be looked for through adult eyes.

3rd Idea: My last idea is a little more broad and less based off of movies and story lines. I would explore the fashion trends starting in the 21st century with stores similar to Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, and maybe a few high couture designers that have all made their money off fashion trends from the 70s and 80s. As a retail merchandising major and an aspiring fashion designer I know personally that all fashion and designing clothes consists of is taking trends and making them into your own that will please more people than the original idea. Take flower headbands, hippie tie dye shirts, and ripped saggy jeans. All trends from the 70s that Urban Outfitters has dolled up and included some older trends like skinny jeans, and transformed it into a "new look". So now we pay 65 dollars for ripped skinny jeans.  Along with Forever 21 who sells cheaply made neon color crop tops and sparkly shorts that my mom could have passed down to me from her high school days in the 80s.

Ideas for Genealogy

My first idea is to write about the book to movie adaptation Divergent, or possibly a different story that has been adapted either from book to movie or even movie to movie. I could look at how Divergent is a transformation in its adaptation and how the transformation affects the story and the viewers perception of it. Another way to write about Divergent is how it's a remix of other dystopian movies, such as the Hunger Games. Dystopian films are becoming especially popular with today's youth.

My second idea is to write about the connections between Moses, Hamlet, and the Lion King, Hamlet was based off the story of Moses and the Lion King was based off the story of Hamlet. Several Disney movies are "remixes" of stories from the Bible or older movies, etc. For my idea on the Lion King, I could talk about how different characters are transformed as they represent the same characters in Moses and Hamlet, but in a different way.

My third idea is to write my paper on music. I can write about how the hip-hop/rap genre has developed over the years, and many songs have references to or are simply remixes of a different song. Almost all hip-hop/rap artists have sampled music from other artists and copied, transformed, or combined their music in some way to create a new song or beat. This also applies to lyrics; it's very common to hear a hip-hop artists quote another artist in their song, either by directly quoting them or applying a twist to the lyrics.