Vanessa Raney

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Issues of Report

Concerning issues introduced by rosepetal1275 of the Comic Book Movies Yahoo!® Group.

Note: As of 7 May 2007, "There is no group called comicbookmovies. Please make sure you typed the web address correctly. If you have done so, the group may no longer exist" (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/comicbookmovies/). I don't know if it's dead or if the owner changed the name of the Yahoo! Group or if a representative from Yahoo! Groups deleted it; it's just not there.

This is what I posted to the Comics Discussion Board (http://www.comicartscholar.com). I take the issues of plagiarism and copyright seriously, and, in this particular situation, the person doing the violating is choosing to do so - not out of ignorance, but with deliberate choice. The only way I know to voice an issue is to speak it. All comments welcome.
 
Original e-mail on "Wed, 02 May 2007 22:39:27 -0000," with the Subject, "[comicbookmovies] Exclusive: Iron Man (2008)."
 
Clare sent me a message through the email link expressing concerns about this post. Therefore, I wished to clarify before you continue reading. The listserv talked about below belongs to a Yahoo! Group, identified as Comic Book Movies. The threads focus on new movie releases, who's playing who, etc. One particular member, discussed below, has continued to cut and paste from comics-related sources. The person's also ignored my comments about the issues raised below. I've post the original e-mail I tried to send to the listserv with no success (a variation and unformatted version of it finally went through, but this meant creating a new Yahoo! identity), which quotes from the original sources while providing links and then shows you what rosepetal1275 wrote. Read below:
 
 
Yes, I want to take this opportunity to begin a discussion about ethics. I realize that we in academia take ourselves more seriously when it comes to citing sources, etc. We often believe, though sometimes we forget once we're outside of academia (and one can find examples on this forum), that the same rules apply.

If you're going to copy and paste from another source, the least you do is attribute the source. That means, for example, that you set off the quote and link/cite, refer to/paraphrase a source and link/cite, or simply provide the link/cite. By doing so, we acknowledge that someone else came up with the info., not us. However, in informal environments like chat rooms, listservs, forums, etc., one doesn't need to cite according to style guides; one needs only to identify the source or provide a link.

It would be nice, obviously, if we followed all of the rules. There's a difference, however, when one writes a paper and when one shares info. When we share info., it's not so important that we know all of the details; but, if we're going to bring somebody else's thoughts, etc. into a conversation in print - and this is the thing really - we need to at least cite the source.

By not doing so, we risk plagiarism and violations of copyright. We should remember that everything in print is copyrighted - and that includes media like videos, which are in a literal sense a print of images, sound, etc. - and that some Internet sources aren't just blogs but news sites, etc. Many online publications are also explicit about copyright. The issue is, once we know our obligations, our actions decide who we are afterwards. This isn't dismissing ignorance, but it's saying that ignorance only takes you so far - until you find/are given info.

In this particular case of rosepetal1275, she was e-mailing snatches of news from different sources. I came on to the Comic Book Movies listserv only recently; so when I first saw what this member was doing, I e-mailed suggesting that the member cite sources. This was ignored, and the next time it happened I raised an issue about copyright, which inspired a heated debate between me and CarrieLynn Reinhard - who later said she was a teacher - because CarrieLynn didn't see any issue at all with someone copying and pasting from Internet sources without citing the sources, especially since she looks at the listserv as "a conversation." As I expressed in one of my replies, "It's scary."

How do I know that rosepetal1275 read what I (and others) wrote? Because this time, when rosepetal1275 sent another e-mail, rosepetal1275 broke up a lot of the info. or added info. so it was harder to google for the sources. See below for the 911. (Also, note that for two URLs, phpBB couldn't recognize the text in () as part of the URLs; therefore, these are identified by the [url] and [/url] and not linked as they should be; this is a technical error.)


Vanessa Raney <vanessasmiles_2000[at]yahoo[dot]com> wrote:
As mentioned, rosepetal1275 finched from several sources and then broke them up or added info. so that it was harder to find them by doing searches on complete sentences. For your review, therefore, I give you the major ones I could find (9 total, with 3 quotes from the [same] source on Wikipedia.org, and with [2] sources from the same source on Marvel). Note: I've quoted and provided the source of the original, then underlined the portions of rosepetal1275's sentences that match; as mentioned, these aren't always word for word. Plagiarism doesn't require word for word; even parts of a sentence, etc. can be grounds for plagiarism. In this particular instance, rosepetal[1275] assumed the status of author (rather than someone sharing info.) because she changed them without identifying any of her sources, and then passed her e-mail off as legitimate info. [suggesting that she copied from only one source.] I've also colored the original sources so you can identify them easier; each set is set off by -----s.

“Born to Howard Anthony Stark and Maria Collins Carbonell Stark, Anthony Edward 'Tony' Stark was born with extremely high intelligence.”
- The above found at http://www.marvel.com/universe/Iron_Man_(Anthony_Stark)

rosepetal1275 wrote:
Anthony [missing Edward] "Tony" Stark was born with
extremely high intelligence
& brilliant.

-----

“In the film, Downey plays Tony Stark, a playboy industrialist who decides to don high-tech armor to fight baddies after suffering a life-threatening heart injury in war-torn Afghanistan.”
- The above from http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20037509,00.html

rosepetal1275 wrote:
“Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark/Iron Man, a troubled millionaire playboy industrialist who decides to don his high-tech armor (Iron Man suit) to fight for justice with his scientific genius, repulsor rays, and the full resources of Stark Enterprises! ; after suffering a life-threatening heart injury in war-torn Afghanistan.”

-----

“Eventually, Stark's heart condition is discovered by the public and cured with an artificial heart transplant.”
- The above from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Man

rosepetal1275 wrote:
Tony Stark has a battle with alcoholism that he has suffer from drinking problem because he has heart condition is discovered by the public and cured with an
artificial heart transplant.


------

“According to comic lore, James Rhodes is an African-American maverick helicopter pilot who meets Tony Stark during the Vietnam War, becomes his close friend, and later heads Stark Industries' aviation wing. As Stark dons his impenetrable Iron Man suit to fight bad guys, so does Jim Rhodes eventually become the hero War Machine thanks to a similar multi-weapon, strength-boosting battle suit.”
- The above written by RT-News for http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=368715

rosepetal1275 wrote:
James "Jim" Rhodes is an African-American maverick helicopter pilot who meets Tony Stark during the Vietnam War, becomes his close friend, and later heads Stark Industries' aviation wing. As Stark dons his
impenetrable Iron Man suit to fight bad guys, so does Jim Rhodes eventually become the hero War Machine thanks to a similar multi-weapon, strength-boosting battle suit.


-----

“Required to wear the armor's chestplate at all times to keep his heart beating, Stark decided to put the rest of the armor to regular use as well.”
- The above from http://www.marveldatabase.com/Iron_Man_(Tony_Stark)

rosepetal1275 wrote:
The device on Tony Stark's chest to keep his heart beating to keep him alive to start working on his designs of red & gold suit armor.

-----

“This allows him to store the inner layers of the Iron Man armor in the hollows of his bones as well as control it through direct brain impulses.”
- The above from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Man

rosepetal1275 wrote:
Tony Stark's armor on his body to allow[s] him to store the inner layers of the Iron Man armor in the hollows of his bones as well as control it through direct brain impulses.

-----

“He is also able to remotely connect to external communications systems such as satellites, cellular phones, and computers throughout the world. Because the armor's operating system is now directly connected to Stark's nervous system, its response time has been significantly improved.”
- The above from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Man

rosepetal1275 wrote:
He is also able to remotely connect to external communications systems such as satellites, cellular
phones, and computers throughout the world. Because the armor's operating system is now directly connected to Stark's nervous system, its response time has been significantly improved.


-----

“The Extremis armor grants him superspeed reactions and a healing factor able to regrow whole organs. He was able to stop Crimson Dynamo's heart and restart it.” The above from http://www.marvel.com/universe/Iron_Man_(Anthony_Stark)

rosepetal1275 wrote:
The Extremis armor grants him super-speed reactions and a healing factor able to regrow whole organs. He was able to stop Crimson Dynamo's heart and restart it.

-----

“The Iron Man armor provides Stark with superhuman strength, and physical protection. It also allows Stark to fly using the jet boots. The armor contains a variety of weapons including repulsor rays, pulse beams, missile launchers, lasers, tasers, and flamethrowers. The unibeam in the center of his chest can emit various types of light energy and his helmet contains communication devices, scanning equipment, and recording devices.”
The above part of new thread written by New Member Iron Man (“Topic: Iron Man”) at http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:X0pyb_sxu94J:marveluni616.proboards106.com/index.cgi%3Faction%3Drecent+%22Iron+Man%22+and+%22fly+using+the+jet-boots%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

[Note: I found the site through a google search on specific words, and then had to cache it since a new topic had been introduced; that’s why there’s highlighting (to indicate how I searched for the info.).]

rosepetal1275 wrote:
Iron Man armor provides Tony Stark with superhuman strength and physical protection. It allows Stark to fly using the jet-boots. The armor contains a variety of weapons including repulsor rays, pulse beams, missile launchers, lasers, tasers, and flamethrowers. The
unibeam in the center of his chest can emit various types of light energy and his helmet contains communication devices, scanning equipment, and recording devices.



rosepetal1275 <rosepetal1275@yahoo.com> wrote:


Exclusive: Iron Man (2008)

May 2, 2007

Iron Man is coming to big screen live-action movie on May 2, 2008 to the movie theater near you. Anthony "Tony" Stark was born with extremely high intelligence & brilliant. Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark/Iron Man, a troubled millionaire playboy industrialist who
decides to don his high-tech armor (Iron Man suit) to fight for justice with his scientific genius, repulsor rays, and the full resources of Stark Enterprises! ; after suffering a life-threatening heart injury in war-torn Afghanistan, Tony Stark has a battle with alcoholism that he has suffer from drinking problem because he has heart condition is discovered by the public and cured with an artificial heart transplant. Tony Stark becomes a heart of steel invincible Iron Man.

Anthony "Tony" Stark wears a black necktie attire to cover his red & gold armor. Terrence Rhodes plays Tony Stark's sidekick friend Jim Rhodes/War Machine.

James "Jim" Rhodes is an African-American maverick helicopter pilot who meets Tony Stark during the Vietnam War, becomes his close friend, and later heads Stark Industries' aviation wing. As Stark dons his
impenetrable Iron Man suit to fight bad guys, so does Jim Rhodes eventually become the hero War Machine thanks to a similar multi-weapon, strength-boosting battle suit.

Gwyneth Paltrow plays as Tony's Executive Secretary, Virginia 'Pepper' Potts @ Stark Enterprises with Terrence Howard's Jim Rhodes & Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark. Tony must become his greatest invention ever
become Iron Man! Tony's secret identity as Iron Man. The device on Tony Stark's chest to keep his heart beating to keep him alive to start working on his designs of red & gold suit armor.

Tony Stark's armor on his body to allow him to store the inner layers of the Iron Man armor in the hollows of his bones as well as control it through direct brain impulses. He is also able to remotely connect to external communications systems such as satellites, cellular
phones, and computers throughout the world. Because the armor's operating system is now directly connected to Stark's nervous system, its response time has been significantly improved. The Extremis armor grants him super-speed reactions and a healing factor able to regrow whole organs. He was able to stop Crimson Dynamo's heart and restart it.

Iron Man armor provides Tony Stark with superhuman strength and physical protection. It allows Stark to fly using the jet-boots. The armor contains a variety of weapons including repulsor rays, pulse beams, missile launchers, lasers, tasers, and flamethrowers. The
unibeam in the center of his chest can emit various types of light energy and his helmet contains communication devices, scanning equipment, and recording devices.

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/070502/ironman_l.jpg
Robert Downey Jr.'s costume Iron Man, designed by Oscar-winning F/X guru Winston
 
The above post (with minor differences in format) can be found at http://www.comicartscholar.com/viewtopic.php?p=1849#1849.

* In case you're wondering, CarrieLynn Reinhard is a Ph.D. student in "Media & Fan Studies" at Ohio State University. She included this info. in an e-mail she sent to the Comic Book Movies listserv on 5/3/07, during which she stated her intentions of resigning from the listserv because, from what I read, she feels personally attacked when my whole point was to raise awareness about plagiarism and copyright as it applies to the Internet. Her position on the issue reflects her  ignorance/deniability, and I called her on it. Here was my response as I e-mailed the listserv:
 
As I wrote to CarrieLynn privately: "I don't think you have any clear understanding of the Internet as it relates to plagiarism and copyright. What I'm trying to do is talk about it, but your first response was to say those issues didn't apply just because this is a listserv. As an educator, I'd think you'd be more engaged with this than you have been. I just don't understand how you can think that what you teach doesn't apply outside of what you teach."

What I call an ethics of responsibility: We have an obligation to say something when we're informed of what is right or wrong in particular instances. In this case, the issue was plagiarism and copyright. Ethics involves speaking out when we know something is wrong. CarrieLynn's response was to ignore the realities of plagiarism and copyright because, for her, the listserv is outside of the relevance of plagiarism and copyright - which is contrary to what it is.

To place onself as an educator and still say it, yes, I deem it
unethical. What we learn, we share. As educators, we have an even greater priority in addressing questions [of] plagiarism and copyright. I'm surprised that she doesn't see that, and it's unfortunate that she's allowing this particular dialogue to remove herself from the listserv. I feel no responsibility toward her decision.

Vanessa Raney

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