Audiences

The blog that I chose to analyse the audience for is called “The Bloggess”.  The first thing that I noticed when I went on the page was that everything is pink.  The background is pink, the links are pink, the titles of the entries are pink, and the numbers of comments are pink.  My first thought was that this blog was aimed directly at women.  I felt as though my thoughts were confirmed when I looked at the advertisements along the right hand side of the page.  Among the advertisements were “This is Mommyhood”, “Mommy Shorts”, and “Pregnancy Calendar at Alpha Mom”.  Clearly, these advertisements are aimed at women.  The advertisements led me to believe that perhaps this blog is aimed at women who are in their 20’s or 30’s – getting ready to start a family, have a career, and just get life going.

I then decided to check out the comments on one of her recent posts.  Although the vast majority of people commenting on the blog were women (judging by their usernames), I was shocked to see how many men were reading and commenting on her posts!  The only reason I can see for this is that a lot of her posts are humourous, and talk about the things that happen in daily life – perhaps men are just looking for a good laugh!

 

She also has a link to the summary of her book called “Lets Pretend this Never Happened”, which is basically a memoir of her funny yet embarrassing childhood.  I think that a lot of people who read her blog have probably read her book (because her fan base seems to be fairly committed to her), and therefore relate to her based on events that have happened in her life.  It is a possibility that the events she has experienced are common to many of her readers, and therefore they feel as though they can understand where she is coming from.

The Bloggess' Book "Let's Pretend this Never Happened"

The readers of her blog definitely seem to feel as though they are forming a community with her – they comment on events in her life, wish her luck on future endeavors, and even offer her support in her times of struggle.  They comment as if they know her in the real world – which seems to be the type of environment that she has fostered through her funny, “let-it-all-hang-out” type of posts.  She also has a link to her store where readers can buy clothing, office supplies, and other products that would make her followers feel more related to her – which likely also fosters a sense of community.  The interesting thing is that when I clicked her store and went to “clothing”, the majority of clothing is for men!

On her “about me” page, she has a very limited amount of information.  I feel as though this is on purpose, so that her readers do not feel separated from her because she is “more famous than they are”.  She welcomes people to email her, to follow her on twitter, and to use other forms of social media to contact her. 

Image from The Bloggess' "About Me" Page

Even though males still comment on her posts, I believe that the blog is aimed mainly at women.  She seems to connect best with them through the stories that she tells (often about womanhood) and through her advertisements.  There are some entries that she posts that seem to be gender neutral (i.e. about her cat) but never anything directly aimed at males.   Overall, she seems to be able to connect better with females, without ignoring the fact that males are interested in her blog as well.

Plagiarism and Intellectual Property

The concept of what needs to be cited in academic work and what does not is becoming more and more cloudy due to the simple and effortless nature of the internet.  However, I believe that some people who plagiarize are using this idea as a justification for stealing other peoples' work.  In the past, I believe that plagiarism in writing could be seen as a more intentional act because you would have to put a substantial amount of energy into physically copying what somebody else had already written.  Now, plagiarism requires barely the flick of a wrist to accomplish; and people are taking advantage of its simplicity.

This article discusses a type of "new plagiarism" in higher educational levels that is as simple as pointing and clicking.  The site explains that in the past 14 years, there has been a great increase in the amount of "paper-mill" websites; that is, websites that produce and sell academic papers.  In 1999 there were 35 of these sites, and now there are more than 250.  The article says that each of these sites receive more than 2.6 million visits per month. Also listed are four more paper-mill sites that each have thousands of members.

In my opinion, these paper-mill sites can be compared to online shopping.  Just because you go onto the website, it does not necessarily mean you are going to purchase a paper.  However, the fact that the hit rates on these websites are so outrageously high shows that people are likely contemplating buying a paper, and therefore committing the act of plagiarism.  Whether they follow through on buying a paper from a particular site could be a product of many factors, including what other paper-mill sites have to offer and how much guilt they feel about the act of plagiarizing.  Either way, most people likely do not go to these sites because they are passionate about the idea of being honest in what they write.

This article identifies three types of cheaters; the "all-or-nothing" cheaters who will purchase entire papers online, the "sneaky" cheater, who cuts and pastes from various places on the web in an attempt to avoid being caught, and the "unintentional" cheater, who claims that they didn't know that they were plagiarizing. The article presents an attitude that is seemingly overwhelming the integrity of academic writing; if a pre-written answer cannot be found online, then perhaps it is just not worth writing about.

I think that all types of plagiarizers probably use the "unintentional" plagiarizing excuse as a justification for their actions.  The "all-or-nothing" plagiarizer could say that they didn't know it was wrong to buy a paper, and the "sneaky" plagiarizer could say that whatever is on Google should be common knowledge.  I do believe that there are some people who do not know exactly how to cite their sources.  After spending thirteen years in the public school system I am aware that education on plagiarism is insufficient for the university level of writing.  However, I feel as though the majority of people know that they have to give credit to their sources. There is a difference between blatant stealing of other people's work, and accidentally citing a source incorrectly in your paper.  In one case, there is absolutely no attempt to give credit where credit is due, and in the other case, stealing was probably not the intention of the writer.

In conclusion, I believe that the effortlessness of the internet is making plagiarism easier, however I do not believe that it is making plagiarism more acceptable.  I think that with the increase of plagiarism that is occurring due to the internet, there should be an increase in the amount of time educators dedicate to the importance of knowing how to cite online sources.  Without more education related to this matter, there will likely not be an end to the issue of "point and click" plagiarism.