Blog Post #3

In reading Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s journal they bring up the recent phenomenon of a remix culture and what that could mean in relation to the strict plagiarism and copyright policies of our society. The journal discusses assemblage as being apart of the remix culture and how, through a change of notion on plagiarism, could actually be applied to an improved academic curriculum and setting. Instead of academic institutions holding students originality so highly in writing, the journal suggest a shift to application and how students can remix other texts to solve problems or enact social action. How it is conceived today, the journal acknowledges a hierarchy in academics that holds students original writing above all, especially borrowed work. This hierarchy is exemplified by not only the strict plagiarism policies seen around the country, but also the citation practices that act as an indicator for teachers to what is borrowed and what is original. However, the journal brings up how these citation practices, that value borrowed text less than students original work, are problematic and often are what lead students hide their borrowings. If academic institutions took on the reconception of downplaying the value of originality and instead focused more on problem solving, assemblage could be a very beneficial part of students’ composition skills. By teaching and encouraging students to build on existing texts in order to bring about resolutions, as opposed to hiding the unavoidable interactions with the work of others behind concepts of citations, an entirely new skill can be put into use.