iThenticate Blog

Citizen Journalism is a phenomenon of the digital age.

There recently was an online plagiarism fiasco that involved a YouTube movie reviewer ripping off a number of film reviews straight from the website JoBlo.com.  

Last week we discussed Maine Gubernatorial candidate Les Otten’s problem with plagiarism, which certainly did his campaign no good. This week another case of political plagiarism has moved to the forefront. Vaughn Ward, a republican candidate for Idaho’s first congressional district, was found to have also plagiarized another politician’s speech. The plagiarized material was not just from any other politician and it wasn’t any run-of-the-mill speech. It was President Obama’s 2004 Democratic Convention Speech that is widely considered to have catapulted him towards the presidency.

In politics, every detail matters.  For politicians, personal lives, family history and medical records can make the difference between winning or losing an election. 

Kent Anderson of the Scholarly Kitchen recently wrote a post that discusses the changing notion of online content quality.  

After reaching ‘1 million sold‘ twice as fast as the iPhone, the iPad is shaping up to be a successful product.  

Although most journalists and publications are committed to presenting an unbiased opinion of the news, some make their name by dragging companies and individuals through the dirt.  

Many of the current solutions aimed towards scientific misconduct (plagiarism in particular) revolve around what to do post-publication. Dr. Malhar N. Kumar, a researcher out of Bangalore, suggests that this current model is ineffective.

Full length book publishing is a field in transition.  As e-readers like the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad sky-rocket in popularity, traditional novel publishers are rapidly searching for ways to conform their editorial processes to a digital age.

Some of the new questions and concerns associated with digital publishing:  

Scientific American recently published an article that discusses the effect that scientific retractions have on public opinion.