I hope I won't offend netiquette sensibilities by responding to two threads in the same post. As someone who grew up with threats of the cold war turning into a nuclear holocaust, my most memorable moment of internet history was the day that those brave comrades stood up to the tanks in Red
Square, and their manifesto, demanding freedom, appeared in my e-mail, having been posted to an academic listserve I was subscribed to. I printed it out and displayed it on my office door, recognizing that government-controlled television and newsmedia would not have permitted the document to
circulate within, let alone beyond, the borders of the USSR. But the Internet had made it possible for their voices to be heard worldwide instantaneously, and whether the effects were large or small, all of our lives were changed that day. This story combines several of the themes that weave
through I-history: transformation and dissemination, revolution and autonomy, communion and solidarity. Probably because they extend so well to language, I enjoy the biological/ecological metaphors: meme, virus, rhizome, cyborg, but like any metaphor, they highlight some properties while
hiding others (just as my story ignores the ways that the Internet is abused and subverted). I look forward to other people's responses to Jeremy's provocative post.
And a quick second of Lori Kendall's methods for avoiding plagarism. A research project that involves data collection or any other assignment that requires at least one draft turned in prior to the final version is not only pedagogically sound, but also impossible to complete by downloading a
finished product from the Web.
Cheers,
Sherri
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Sherri L. Condon, Ph.D.
The MITRE Corporation
11493 Sunset Hills Road
Reston, Virginia 20190-5214
Phone: 703-883-5522
E-mail: scondon(a)mitre.org
