Social media and the plagiarism problem
Social media and the plagiarism problem
Introduction
Social Media and Plagiarism
Generally, Social media allows people the chance to share videos, pictures and articles by just one mouse click. In most cases, social sites ensure an easy possibility of its users to share information they like without limits or proper recognizing the original author. The aspect of plagiarism in social media is on a high rate currently. However, the issue of social media plagiarism is on the rise. Generally plagiarism is the aspect of closely imitating or using another author’s entire language and thoughts without authorization (Scanlon, 2002). Additionally, the aspect of plagiarism entails representation of another author’s work by failing to credit the original author. Stolen content is an increasing problem as many people quote text that is not originally theirs without attributing it to the original writer of the content. A good example that shows how social media has increased plagiarism is on twitter where users steal other people’s tweets and post them as their own original tweets. This is also done by bloggers who take other peoples blog posts and use them as their own without attributing the original writer (Scanlon, 2002). The statement thesis of the paper is that social media has greatly increased plagiarism. Plagiarism is making its way into social media at a very alarming rate. There are a number of reasons that are attributed to the fast increasing plagiarism level on social media.
Firstly, lack of credibility is a reason that is leading to increased plagiarism on social media. Previously, the only people that could get their words on media were writers and public figures. This is because their names and what they spoke about carried a high sense of credibility. With the social media, it is quite different as anyone has a potential to be heard by many across the social networks and internet. All one needs to be able to post their words is an account or more with one of the many social media sites that are available. If a poster of an article is not considered an expert, there can be loss of credibility. An expert can then steal the word of the non-expert and post them as their own. Most people do not consider stealing words from a non-expert as plagiarism.
Second factor that has led to increased plagiarism on social media is the nature of communicating on the social media sites. Although not often, picture, videos and text go viral on social media. A viral text, video or picture at some point would be attributed to the poster but once it reaches a certain point, it loses it (Scanlon, 2002). The casualness in social media communicating is an attributing factor to increased plagiarism as most people think that citing or attributing a writer is something that is done on research papers and not for the social media. Lack of accountability is another attributing factor to increased plagiarism on social media. When one steals content on social media, there is little or no accountability. This is because there is no heavy duty feature that checks for plagiarism in any way. Researchers recommend the invention of a feature to check for plagiarism on the social media sites as a way of reducing plagiarism and have penalties for plagiarized contents.
Literature Review
According to a study by Rodriguez, (2011), technological advancements have led to increased plagiarism and cheating among students. In an academic setting, students are able to post questions on the social media and get answers from other social media users. For instance, the Whatsapp application allows the users to send texts freely to any place in the world and a student can use this to cheat in an exam.
Rodriguez, (2011), states that lack of accountability and penalties on social media sites is somehow encouraging posters to plagiarize contents. The author states that tweeter has tried to deal with stolen content by offering a re-tweet option to their users so as to avoid tweeting stolen content. The study shows that at some point the users will stop re-tweeting and post the content as their own content.
Blogs is a means by which plagiarized content can be posted on social media. Bloggers can either be armature or experts in particular areas. When non-expert posts content on social media, there is likelihood that an expert will repost the exact same content in their own blogs as their original content without attributing the non-expert. According to this study, the reason to this is that the expert thinks that people or their followers would not take them seriously if they posted articles or content from a non-expert (Rodriguez, 2011).
There are minimal penalties for plagiarism in social media hence people do not feel responsible or accountability for stealing content. Lack of penalties and features to detect plagiarized contents on social media encourage the users to plagiarize content. Some individuals steal content innocently on social media as they do not think it is wrong in any way just because it is social media.
Internet program
Unlike other forms of technologies, Web 2.0 has developed over the past years, hence allowing learners to freely interact online and share their views and opinions by the use of which have been put up on the web page (Rodriguez, 2011). However, use of Web 2.0 technology basically implies that any form of learning that takes place in class is no longer just between the students and the educators, but anyone can access the information online. This poses a lot of risks, both legal and social to the students and the educators in the institutions (Scanlon & Neumann, 2002). Generally, it is unlikely for students to come across this aspect therefore; many students find it hard to easily give their views and opinions about this aspect in class. Using online learning will likely benefit students academically because they will have different options to search information or progress academically. Additionally, web 2.0 technology has been significant to many institutions when it comes to setting up online courses and learning. However, this particular aspect limits the amount of interaction that takes place among the students (Scanlon & Neumann, 2002). As compared to the ordinary way of learning in class where the students would freely interact in class and share information, the use of web 2.0 limits this.
Choice of the internet program in the learning environment
Implementing a web 2.0 into the institution does not necessarily mean that it will work. In order for the implementation to achieve any form of success in an organization the teachers and administration need to fully understand how the technology works. Additionally, the administration can take the initiative of ensuring that all the lecturers employed in the organization are competent enough to use the technology. The students also need to embrace the technology otherwise it would seem as a lost course since they are the prime purpose for setting up the technology (Rodriguez, 2011). Most institutions are embracing e learning; therefore if an organization sticks to the old forms of learning, there is likelihood that the students in the institution may not be able to achieve the same level of academic performance as the students in the institutions that have embraced the idea of e-learning. Additionally, introducing this new internet into the institution will act as a way of transforming the students and helping them embrace this new form of learning such that when they go out there looking for employment they are fully equipped and competent to perform.
Data
Web 2.0
The use of the Web 2.0 has been on the rise in recent years. Additionally, Web 2.0 is a fashionable word when it comes to evolutions regarding internet use. Web 2.0 has been identified by various analysts as an important technological aspect in the next decade with various educators not really knowing what Web 2.0 really means. In most cases, Web 2.0 terms are still debatable in various quarters. Generally, Web 2.0 entails the social use of internet Web (Grosseck, 2009).This aspect enables people to effectively collaborate or actively create content for the purposes of generating knowledge and sharing information online. Web 2.0 is a platform for the emerging role of transforming learning and teaching. Some of the specific services and technologies that contribute in higher learning include micro blogs, content syndication through RSS, wikis, social bookmarking, tag-based folksonomies and media sharing. Additionally, social networking sites are also part of the technologies and services which play an essential role in higher learning (Grosseck, 2009).
Advantages of Web 2.0
Generally, Web 2.0 is effective especially in costs reduction. There is also the aspect of flexibility with the use of Web 2.0. Using Web 2.0 is easy and faster especially in assessing information. Additionally, the use of Web 2.0 has low levels of complexity thus; a person does not have to acquire skills before using it (Grosseck, 2009). Using Web 2.0 gives the user the chance to integrate especially while teaching or learning. There is also the aspect of extensive opportunities with the use of Web 2.0.
Disadvantages of Web 2.0
Before using Web 2.0, the users must be able to access internet connections. This aspect can prove to be expensive to the user. Web 2.0 determines interpretation variations between browser types. The use of Websites promotes amateurishness by invaluable information. Additionally, Web 2.0 has limited security (Grosseck, 2009).
Methods
The best type of methods to use in collecting information would be by the use of secondary methods data collection. This aspect would effectively use questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires would be given to students for them to fill regarding the use of Web 2.0 as an internet program. Interviews would also be conducted among the students (Grosseck, 2009). The students would be required to describe their findings and note them down in the questionnaires.
Conclusion
Conclusively, social media has greatly increased plagiarism. Lack of credibility is a reason that is leading to increased plagiarism on social media. Lack of accountability and penalties on social media sites is somehow encouraging posters to plagiarize contents. When non-expert posts content on social media, there is likelihood that an expert will repost the exact same content in their own blogs as their original content without attributing the non-expert. Web 2.0 has developed over the past years, hence allowing learners to freely interact online and share their views and opinions by the use of which have been put up on the web page. In order for the implementation to achieve any form of success in an organization the teachers and administration need to fully understand how the technology works.
References:
Bloch, J. (2012). Plagiarism, intellectual property and the teaching of L2 writing. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Grosseck, G. (2009). To Use Or Not To Use Web 2.0 In Higher Education? Procedia-Social
And Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 478-482.
Rodriguez, J. E. (2011). Social Media Use In Higher Education: Key Areas To Consider For
Educators. Journal Of Online Learning And Teaching, 7(4), 539-550.
Scanlon, P. M., & Neumann, D. R. (2002). Internet Plagiarism among College Students. Journal
Of College Student Development, 43(3), 374-385.
Digital Sources
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http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland02/proceedings/papers/189.pdf
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~ladare/eac595/readings/scanlon-neumann.pdf
