Plagiarism

A somewhat different take on plagiarism (at least from the kind of plagiarism that we talk most about in our classrooms) is this little graphic in USAToday (12/29/09): In a survey of 444 workers, 29% said that a co-worker at some time took credit for his or her ideas. And perhaps more surprising, 51% did nothing about it.

Buzzwords of 2009

Here is the New York Times buzzwords of 2009; it includes a variety of "communication" terms, for example, sexting (texting sexual messages), vook (a digitized book with video), social distancing (standing away from others to avoid catching or spreading the flu), orphan books (books that are out of print, still in copyright, and whose copyright holders can't be found), and netbook (a small portable, personal computer).

Loneliness is Contagious

Here's an interesting report of a recent research study finding that loneliness is contagious. We often talk about emotions being contagious but somehow loneliness rarely seems to be mentioned. This would, I think, make for a great interpersonal communication discussion. Conveniently, there's a link in the NYTimes article to the original research article.