Teaching students from diverse backgrounds
Topic: Engaging with youth culture
What to do you think...
Can young people take plagiarism seriously?
Read this short report:
“The debate over what bootlegs are and what they mean is taking place within the wider context of a culture where turntables now routinely outsell guitars, teenagers aspire to be Timbaland and the Automator, No. 1 singles rework or sample other records, and DJs have become pop stars in their own right, even surpassing in fame the very artists whose records they spin. Pop culture in general seems more and more remixed -- samples and references are permeating more and more of mainstream music, film, and television, and remix culture appears to resonate strongly with consumers. We're at the point where it almost seems unnatural not to quote, reference, or sample the world around us. To the teens buying the latest all-remixes J.Lo album, dancing at a club to an unauthorized two-step white-label remix of the new Nelly single, or even hacking together their own bootleg, recombination -- whether legal or not -- doesn't feel wrong in the slightest. The difference now is that they have the tools to sample, reference, and remix, allowing them to finally 'talk back' to pop culture in the way that seems most appropriate to them. ” Rojas, P. (2002, August). Bootleg culture. Retrieved June 1, 2006 from http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2002/08/01/bootlegs/* |
Focus questions
- How do you explain the idea of academic integrity and plagiarism to a person who has grown up with bootleg technology and culture?
- Are there ways in which scholarly practices of academic acknowledgement might learn from or be advanced by bootleg technology and culture?
- Where would you turn if you wanted to find out more about how to address bootleg technology and culture in your teaching?
* Used with permission from the publisher.