Assignment 5.2

I chose to write read about cluster 1 of chapter 8: "who owns words and ideas?" This is a very interesting topic. The question is, "Is it really possible for anyone to 'own' words or ideas?" If so, how much does that person own? Do they own the actual result of the word or idea, do they own the written words, as in the case of the poem Footprints in the Sand, do they own the very idea of the result. Again, three women claimed to have written Footprints in the Sand, who really owns the poem? Was it the person who, let's say, wrote it on a napkin at a luncheon one day, or is it the person who actually went to the proper authorities and had it copy written? I think for all legal purposes it should be claimed by whomever actually went through the copy write process. This will give the court system something to stand on when the lawsuits start to come in. Instead of having to make an emotional decision, or one person trying to prove they had the idea first, the courts can simply look at the copy write and see who the owner is.

What is the difference between collaboration and cheating. As the book indicates Georgia Tech had a very strict policy on collaboration. It stated that there was to be absolutely no collaboration, discussion...etc with other students. The policy was clearly stating that the students may not discuss the class with each other at all. That seems like such a hard thing to do. By nature humans collaborate on a daily basis. It can be something as simple as asking the spouse what they want for dinner. Or it can be as controversial as the Georgia Tech issue. In school work, I believe that students should be able to collaborate to help figure out the processes'. Collaboration has been proven to improve school grades, come up with more creative results. collaboration has been part of most every new invention we have in the world. If someone hadn't said, "hmmmm..I'd like to see the TV in color. I wonder how we can do that?" And then went to the TV companies and said, "this is my idea, how can we make it happen?" We'd all still be watching black and white television. To there credit Georgia Tech reviewed and revised the policy very quickly to allow collaboration in the assignments, but just not in the tests, where the students are truly scored for their learning abilities.

It is the responsibility of all people to give credit where credit is due. It is the responsibility of the person who thought up the idea to protect it if they feel it could be of use in the future.