Conference Board should have used Turnitin!

Looks like the Conference Board of Canada should be using Turnitin to check their work, and to avoid this embarassing situation.  Kind of a bummer to withdraw three reports that were proposing tougher copyright legislation due to "failing to meet research standards"--or "plagiarism" as Dr. Michael Geist bluntly puts it.

Michael Geist, who blew the lid off this story, is a University of Ottawa prof and a Canada Research Chair. He is a regular commentator on intellectual property issues in the digital age. Geist has been a critic of the direction copyright legislation in Canada is moving, and of the Conference Board report recommendations. But he went one further than his criticism of bias, and stated  the Conference Board had plagiarized text from a lobby group in the US for their report! The lobby group  promotes business interests in copyright legislation, making even cited use of the work questionable. Whoops! Or I suppose I should say, Gotcha!

Hmmm. How does UVIC define plagiarism? Yup, inadequate or missing citation of others' work meets UVic calendar's definition of plagiarism. Now, a student in this situation wouldn't get to withdraw three reports, but stubbornly stand by their "results". And students' work isn't likely to shape federal policy on copyright. 

You may be wondering, what exactly is this Conference Board? Until now, I always thought they were some branch of Stats Canada and never really gave it a thought--I've heard them quoted as a source of information about Canada many times on CBC radio.

The Conference Board is actually non profit society, and is self described as independent (though linked to the Conference Board of New York), non-biased, and undertaking applied research. 

But a look at who is in charge at the Conference Board gives a different sense. While their Board of Directors does include the President of one co-operative (the cooperators), that board member sits amongst the CEOs of Microsoft Canada, CGI, Merk, Debeers, and the Business Development Bank. Not a bad lineup for a business lobby--but questionable in an impartial research group. Give me the Chamber of Commerce any day. 

Well, I say chalk one up for truly independent university researchers like Dr.Geist. As noted a few days ago, academia is under lots of pressure from business too, not to mention that shift in SSHRC grants toward funding business-focussed research. There is a reason universities need to be independent and publicly funded! 

No doubt this is all fodder for gossip at Congress (of the Humanities). With Geist as a member of a keynote panel Friday night on copyright, this should make for a flivelu discussion! I propose Geist perform a rendition of Tom Lehrer's take on plagiarism, Lobachevsky, in honour of this schadenfreude-filled moment!! 

Dental referendum vote today!

Don't forget to vote in the GSS dental referendum this week!

Lots of information is posted here:

http://gss.uvic.ca/dentalreferendum.htm

but essentially the choice is to keep the current plan and pay $15 more per year (raising the plan fee to $200 per year) or to keep the current rate ($185) and reduce the maximum claim to $500. Right now the maximum claim per calendar year is $750.

The cost to add your family will likely be $205 per year if the increase goes through.

Begbie statue stolen

Someone stole the statue in the UVIC Law building. One evening last week, someone nabbed the bronze of BC's first judge, Matthew Begbie. The statue stood prominently in the entry of the Law building for many years. Known as the "hanging judge"--some say unjustly--Begbie has been the subject of much controversy over the years. The statue, which shows Begbie riding on a horse, was sawed off at the hooves and removed.

Honoring Begbie at UVIC has been the subject of much debate over the years--and the statue has been the subject of mild pranks. Until recently the UVIC Law building was also named for Begbie--now it is named for Fraser, UVIC's first law dean.

Given the controversy the Begbie statue has caused it would be easy to assume the theft is a student protest or prank, but Universities have been targets of art theives before. Notably the recent theft of Bill Reid's gorgeous gold carving work from UBC (now found, with some damage), and theives stealing bronze monuments for the melted-down value. The recently solved theft of a famous (and heavy!) Henry Moore bronze shows the thieves stole a multi-million dollar work of art to melt it down to earn a few thousand from the scrap. Apparently law enforcement can attend conferences on metal theft, and some areas even have metal theft specialists on their police force.

Corporate interference in academic journals

A worrisome case from Australia--where a pharmaceutical company sponsored publication of an "academic" journal through a medical/scientific publisher, Elsevier for a fee.

http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/print/55671/

hat tip to:
Therapeutics Initiative at UBC for the link: http://www.ti.ubc.ca/

The Terapeutics Initiative itself came under fire recently for refusing pharmaceutical influence:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2464479

punctuation plays part in first April Fool's newpaper prank

This was sent to us due to the apostrophe catastrophe:

1977: The British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic said to consist of several semicolon-shaped islands located in the Indian Ocean. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica.

The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Only a few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades

Pacific Leadership Scholarship being cut?

I heard the BC Advanced Education critic for (Rob Fleming, MLA) saying the Pacific Leaders graduate scholarship has been cut in the recent BC budget.

Please sign this petition to keep graduate student funding in BC!

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/pacific-leaders-graduate-student-fellowships.html

Grad students respond to recent business only grad funding

The letter, to Prime Minister Harper, was quoted in its entirety on rabble.ca:

The Federal Budget presented on January 27, 2009 contains a paragraph (page 106-7) laying out temporary increases in Graduate Scholarship Funding. The increases are welcome. However, the last sentence says that SSHRC scholarships "will be focused on business-related degrees."

This provision must be eliminated. It makes no sense to earmark scholarships for one discipline, rather than another. We need to allow students in all disciplines to further their learning opportunities, and excluding the majority from consideration for scholarships, limits our choices as a society that relies on new knowledge to prepare a better future.

Granting councils rely on peer review, and accord scholarships on the basis of merit, not on the basis of field of study. The main estimates are examined on a departmental basis by the appropriate standing committee, as set out in Article 81.(4) of the Standing Orders of the House of Commons.

When SSHRC spending comes forward to be discussed, we urge parliamentarians to remove the condition that scholarships be focused on business-related degrees. Should this earmark provision not be withdrawn, the 22 Council members of the SSHRC should ignore the earmark, or resign in protest. The SSHRC president should undertake a public campaign to explain why earmarking is not an acceptable practice in graduate student funding.

We urge all professional associations to write the leaders of the opposition parties urging them to maintain the independence of funding for graduate students in all disciplines by having the House of Commons pronounce itself against earmarking scholarship money by discipline.

Setting aside for a time the controversial -- did business-related programs, such as financial economics and business administration produce the people who put us in the economic mess we are now in -- all University faculty, graduate students and administrators should make it clear to members of parliament that the directing of funds entrusted to granting councils is not the role of the government of the day.

Yours truly,

Frances Abele, Carleton University,
Greg Albo, York University,
Jessica Alina-Pisano, University of Ottawa,
Caroline Andrew, University of Ottawa,
Feyzi Baban, Trent University,
Manfred Bienefeld, Carleton University,
Neil Bradford, Huron University College,
Andrew Biro, Acadia University,
Paul Leduc Browne, Universite du Quebec en Outaouais,
Doris Buss, Carleton University,
Duncan Cameron, Simon Fraser University,
Bill Carroll, University of Victoria,
John Paul C. Catungal, University of Toronto,
Ken Collier, Athabasca University,
Amrita Daniere, University of Toronto,
Serge Denis, University of Ottawa,
Matthew Farish, University of Toronto,
Christina Gabriel, Carleton University,
Emily Gilbert, University of Toronto,
Kanishka Goonewardena, University of Toronto,
Sneja Gunew, University of British Columbia,
Matt James, University of Victoria,
Dimitrios Karmis, University of Ottawa,
Roger Keil, York University,
Fuyuki Kurasawa, York University,
Charmain Levy, Universite du Quebec en Outaouais,
Fiona Mackenzie, Carleton University,
Stephen McBride, Simon Fraser University,
Rianne Mahon, Carleton University,
Dominique Masson, University of Ottawa,
Margie Mendell, Concordia University,
Lisa Mills, Carleton University,
Amina Mire, Carleton University,
Douglas Moggach, University of Ottawa,
Joshua Mostow, University of British Columbia,
Carlos Novas, Carleton University,
Leo Panitch, York University,
Martin Papillon, University of Ottawa,
Kate Parizeau, University of Toronto,
William Ramp, University of Lethbridge,
Katharine N. Rankin, University of Toronto,
Francois Rocher, University of Ottawa,
Cristina Rojas, Carleton University,
Stephanie Ross, York University,
Blair Rutherford, Carleton University,
John S. Saul, York University,
Mario Seccareccia, University of Ottawa,
Byron Sheldrick, University of Guelph,
John Shields, Ryerson University,
Amy Siciliano, University of Toronto,
Janet Siltanen, Carleton University,
Louis Simard, University of Ottawa,
Martin Skowronski, University of Toronto,
Malinda S. Smith, University of Alberta,
Donald Swartz, Carleton University,
Sunera Thobani, University of British Columbia,
Sarah Todd, Carleton University,
Wiliam Walters, Carleton University,
Rosemary Warskett, Carleton University,
Mel Watkins, Simon Fraser University.