Research Question

How has modern communication affected society?

I think that this question can be interpreted in many different ways, and I may have to narrow it down a bit. I am very interested in how technology and the internet has affected communication around the world, and I also think there is a lot of information about it. I think the most interesting topic is the internet and sites like facebook, twitter, and myspace and how these sites have changed modern communication or society in general. Many studies have said that because of the internet, we are actually less social because were all talking online rather than face to face. People are sometimes more comfortable speaking online opposed to actually speaking in person. Communication also has changed to be almost instantaneous. Text, IMing, facebook, and twitter have made sending a message an instantaneous task.

I will probably end up changing this question to something more specific, however I am interested in doing something technology and communication related. I also think there would be enough information to support my point.     

Something Borrowed

I found Malcolm Gladwell's main point in something borrowed was somewhat difficult to pick out, however the main message I got out of it was plagerism has many different kinds and levels. There is the idea of intellectual property, there is also directly copying sentences or ideas from something written, both of which are considered plagerism. He talks about plagerism in the music business and how difficult it is to say that this particular song directly copied another song. This is also were the dispute over lawsuits occur. How can one say with complete confidence that one song copied another, or one text copied another text? The degree of plagerism depends on what was copied, and how much was copied.

I found this description of plagerism very interesting to read about. I personally believe that plagerism always depends on the individual case and there cannot be one blanket rule for all cases. The article said the degree of plagerism depends on what was copied and how much was copied. I completely agree with this. If someone were to directly copy an essay and claim it as there own, it is a serious case of plagerism. However plagerism of an idea or "intellectual property" is a bit more complicated. I immediately thought of the movie "The social network". In the movie, Zuckerberg is being sued for stealing the idea of a social network, by a pair of twins who asked him to create a social network site for them. But did the twins own the idea of a social network? Thats what Zuckerberg's defense was, and what most intellectual property cases usually amount to.