Thursday, February 07, 2008
Blogging: It's Catching On!
Two recent Harvard grads have started a new website/blog called TheFinalClub.
Its mission:
We would like to establish TheFinalClub.org as the most trustworthy portal for high-quality academic exploration based on innovative approaches to online education and a community of dedicated thinkers.
I have to admit, I'm not totally sure what that means....and the site does seem like it's intended to be a feeder for the founders' for-profit company, Veritas Tutors. (Not quite stealing the Harvard name...but kind of!)
Interestingly, there's a semi-public blog on which members of the Harvard community write about the Harvard courses they're taking....
Again, I point out to Harvard humanists: Blog or die. If you don't participate in this online discussion, it will march ahead without you. And for a constituency with justifiable worries about its relevancy in the broader culture—if you don't believe me, just Google "Paris Hilton and Harvard"—why unilaterally disarm?
(Tip o' the hat to Tim McCarthy, who wrote about TheFinalClub on his own blog, TheTimZone.) ¶ 6:37 AM
Its mission:
We would like to establish TheFinalClub.org as the most trustworthy portal for high-quality academic exploration based on innovative approaches to online education and a community of dedicated thinkers.
I have to admit, I'm not totally sure what that means....and the site does seem like it's intended to be a feeder for the founders' for-profit company, Veritas Tutors. (Not quite stealing the Harvard name...but kind of!)
Interestingly, there's a semi-public blog on which members of the Harvard community write about the Harvard courses they're taking....
Again, I point out to Harvard humanists: Blog or die. If you don't participate in this online discussion, it will march ahead without you. And for a constituency with justifiable worries about its relevancy in the broader culture—if you don't believe me, just Google "Paris Hilton and Harvard"—why unilaterally disarm?
(Tip o' the hat to Tim McCarthy, who wrote about TheFinalClub on his own blog, TheTimZone.) ¶ 6:37 AM
Comments:
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How is Veritas Tutors kind of stealing the Harvard name? I don't get it. Is there some association among non-Harvardites between veritas and Harvard?
# posted by 
: February 7, 2008 11:17 AM
: February 7, 2008 11:17 AM
Certainly borderline since they combine "veritas" with a Harvard history, however factual.
# posted by : February 7, 2008 11:52 AM
: February 7, 2008 11:52 AM
I've just looked at the site, and it contains rather full lecture notes from several popular Harvard courses. I wonder if the faculty members teaching these courses are aware that their lectures are posted there for all to see?
I myself post lecture notes from my courses on my course website, but these notes are not verbatim accounts of what I said.
I myself post lecture notes from my courses on my course website, but these notes are not verbatim accounts of what I said.
# posted by : February 7, 2008 1:06 PM
: February 7, 2008 1:06 PM
Are students barred from posting notes (full or otherwise) taken during a class? Do professors have a copyright in what they say in a public classroom? They're being paid to speak, after all.
# posted by : February 7, 2008 2:41 PM
: February 7, 2008 2:41 PM
2:41—Your arguments aren't very strong. First of all, it's not a public classroom. Second of all, they may very well have intellectual property rights over what they say in that space. Third, the fact that they're being paid to speak seems irrelevant, except to the extent that it actually contradicts your argument and suggests that their words are intellectual property for which they receive compensation for the specific use of delivering them in a classroom.
I'm not a lawyer—is there one in the house?—but I imagine this is a gray area.
I'm not a lawyer—is there one in the house?—but I imagine this is a gray area.
A number of the course notes blogs have been removed with a note saying that they have been removed at the request of the professor. So it seems that professors are indeed becoming aware that their lectures are being posted and don't like it.
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# posted by : February 10, 2008 2:38 PM
: February 10, 2008 2:38 PM<< Home
