Curtain Call

I’ve been writing this blog for many years. Increasingly I have think I’ve got some idea of what I’m actually about. What is disappointing is the increasing use of so called ‘curation’ tools like Pinterst which appear to ignore all ethical or moral values, let alone copyright in Australia. Yes copyright is a mess, however it’s still a law and no one appointed the scavengers and l33chers to invent a new one. Blogging is about comments. It’s about discussion, it’s about a big, fat, exploratory essay – it doesn’t work if no one returns fire. Blogging is being killed by derpware.

I’m astounded at the rise of this – and how many teachers have jumped in with both feet, unwilling to take a few minutes to ask or at least inform the owner.  I’m even more annoyed by people who have such little respect for for others – they are happy to l33ch ideas and information, then turn it into dollars almost immediately.

If people want to spend all day stamp-collecting great. But please don’t defend it as some kind of moral social service for people who are yet to learn how to search or feed themselves. That’s crap. If teachers don’t respect the work of their colleagues, we can hardly bemoan kids thinking it’s fine to copy and paste or plagiarize. We should not have to make excuses for colleagues who claim not to be literate or interested. This is the job today, it changed, get over it. Look around you? do you see OHP and chalkboards being returned? Do you not see the people who are waving at you offering help?

There’s one way to stay professional – that’s to be professional about your practice. And before you say it – who ain’t busy these days. I can’t imagine that life between here and when I retire/expire will be about pinning other peoples ideas to a fiction wall in the hope that some derp will get off their backside.

Seed, don’t l33ch.

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