Comments on: Adventures In Plagiarism At #GSDMC12

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:19:06 +0000

Yep. There you go.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:10:13 +0000

Check out this course description over here in England.

http://www.dragonfly-training.co.uk/course.php?mode=details&t_id=419

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:36:23 +0000

I think Dan did the right thing here by putting this discussion out in the open.

By: Glenda

Glenda — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:02:23 +0000

Thanks for sharing. You got to the heart of the problem for me when you highlighted how without proper citation we loose the thread of information; the breadcrumbs that lead us back to valuable sources. That was what was stolen, our opportunity to make connections. (Loved the ‘well’ analogy.)

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:13:04 +0000

I’m seeing many commenters who think that frowning upon plagiarism is all about credit, but that’s a very shallow view. In this case, the plagiarist completely disconnected the audience from Dan Meyer’s extensive work in this area. That means they can’t read the extended discussions, they can’t draw on other related resources, they can’t contact the real author and ask their own questions. They can’t connect to the author to follow future developments.

The plagiarist is standing at the top of a well, with the audience at the bottom. He throws down a loaf of bread and a few pages from a book, and leads the audience to believe that basically that’s all that exists outside the hole, and he’s the only one who can provide it to them.

I really want to give the plagiarist the benefit of the doubt, that it was a stupid mistake that hasn’t happened before or since. But I can’t get past the idea that some of us spend 40 hours or more putting together the best 1 hour presentation we can. The plagiarist took the easy way out. It’s disrespectful to the original author, to the subject, and to the audience. I tend to think that disrespect like that doesn’t just randomly rear its head once.

By: CarolH

CarolH — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:03:05 +0000

About 10 years ago, I attended a conference where the keynote speaker had attended several regional and national conferences I’d presented at over a 2-3 year time period. When she recognized me in the audience, before she started her keynote, she had me stand and introduced me to the audience as her “muse” in getting started in the math education professional development business.

Considering at least 1/3 of her slides came from originals I’d created for my presentation, I thought she did the best she could to get out of trouble by acknowledging me. But, she had never asked for my permission to use them in her presentation, nor had she credited them to me in her handouts.

Very unprofessional of her and awkward all around.

By: John Scammell

John Scammell — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:48:44 +0000

At least if he would have explained his rationale for leaving perseverance out (which still befuddles me), he would have advanced the conversation.

By: Alex Eckert

Alex Eckert — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:43:43 +0000

Reading through this post a second time I find it ironically funny that this guy lacked the perseverance to comprehensively plagiarize you.

By: Mr. Vaudrey

Mr. Vaudrey — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:49:51 +0000

Yup, Plagiarist is off-base.
Yup, s/he should have cited.
Yup, it’s wrong because s/he didn’t make any edits or changes to improve it.

All these comments (including yours, Dan) hover around the point: the Plagiarist got paid to present Dan’s findings at the conference. Even if s/he was aware of your licensing, this individual chose to peddle your wares for a buck. This kind of laziness and aversion to work is exactly what makes our students take shortcuts, as you all mentioned above.

Also, I cringed when reading your response after your session, and I didn’t even do anything wrong. You’re well in your rights to give your plagiarist reason to squirm.

By: Lenny VerMaas

Lenny VerMaas — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:55:09 +0000

As a long time teacher who frequently gives presentations at state conferences I ran into a similar situation. I considered it a compliment that someone would think my work worth of sharing. My guess is that this is not a presentation for which he was going to make money. I have shared many many of Dan’s ideas, thoughts, links, and videos. I do give credit to Dan. The the important consideration is that students somewhere will enjoy learning mathematics.