9 Sep
2014
9 Sep
'14
4:14 a.m.
I'm guessing most here will be unhappy to see what Google currently thinks on this matter: http://oi60.tinypic.com/20rjvnp.jpg Marie ______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mhicks1@iit.edu | mariehicks.net <http://www.mariehicks.net> | @histoftech <http://twitter.com/histoftech> On Tue, Sep 9, 2014 at 3:37 AM, Hahn, Barbara <barbara.hahn@ttu.edu> wrote: > Hi all: I was just myself thinking what a fantastic article this would > make. Since Tom's earlier response to me explaining what makes this case > unique, I think such an article would be a splendid introduction to a few > other (more classic) examples of technological myth-making. Comparing the > usual story (various court battles over patents for, say, Eli Whitney's > cotton gin; or market competition, as in the cases of lightbulbs or safety > bicycles) would provide a really wonderful hook, and a great introduction > to what historians of technology do. > > Though it doesn't seem particularly difficult to do, I don't have the time > to write such a thing, but frankly someone should. Alternatively, it could > be an class assignment for an upper-division undergraduate or postgraduate > student, or a research exercise, or something. > > What fun. > + + + + + > Dr. Barbara Hahn > Associate Editor, Technology and Culture > Associate Professor, History Department, Texas Tech University (on leave > 2014-2016) > Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow > School of History, University of Leeds > @behahn > http://ttu.academia.edu/BarbaraHahn > > ________________________________________ > From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [members-bounces@sigcis.org] on behalf > of Jean-François Blanchette [blanchette@ucla.edu] > Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2014 2:53 AM > To: sigcis > Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Apparent plagiarism in Nightingale's > deleted Huffingon Post article > > Dear Thomas and all, > > This is such a fabulous story on so many levels, it truly boggles the mind > —— the inclusion of a Hollywood celebrity into the cake batter had been so > far the only ommission and that has now been thankfully corrected. > > I’d really love to introduce more people to it, especially students ——— is > there an up-to-date guide to the story available somewhere, or lacking > that, what’s the best place to start? > > Thank you! > Jean-François > > On Sep 9, 2014, at 5:44, Thomas Haigh <thaigh@computer.org> wrote: > > > Thanks Andy, > > > > Yes, I noticed the similarities myself in a comment posted on the now > deleted Nightingale article. The same chunks of text also appear in > Ayyadurai's 2013 book, again without mention of her name. So leaving aside > the issue of factual accuracy this would appear to be a clear cut case of > plagiarism: chunks of previous published text pasted and/or paraphrased > without attribution to the original authors. > > > > In fact all the articles in the now deleted Huffington Post series had > significant overlap with each other, Ayyadurai’s website, and his book in > terms of the quotations used, the talking points repeated, the evidence > presented, the pictures used, and as we see in this case the actual words > used. The 5 “myths” she claimed to rebut were all found on a longer list of > 12 “myths” on Ayyadurai’s own website. Ayyadurai has rather distinctive > prose style and it is echoed in phrases all over the HP articles, which > some commentators noted read as if they have a common author. For example, > he always puts “historians” in quotes when talking about us. > > > > Nightingale’s is a literally incredible article, and if you haven’t yet > taken the time to marvel I urge you to go tohttps:// > web.archive.org/web/20140905024145/http:/www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-j-nightingale/the-history-of-email-five-myths-about-email_b_5756340.html > before reading on. Did you know, for example, that “Popular sites such as > Wikipedia, unfortunately, continue to promulgate the myths of email's > history. Industry insiders dominate and monopolize such forums, and > immediately remove even documented citations and facts, which expose and > counter their false claims on email's origin.” > > > > That article states that “As an MIT professor who led MIT's > Sociotechnical Systems Research Center for nearly half a decade and served > on the faculty in MIT's Engineering Systems Division for over 17 years…..” > You might ask, why would an MIT faculty member allow plagiarized (or, in > the kindest interpretation, ghostwritten) and blatantly inaccurate material > to appear under her name? Surely she would have too much to lose? > > > > Well, she is actually referred to on her own bio page and in other > sources as a “Professor of the Practice” which at MIT is another name for > “Adjunct Professor.” http://web.mit.edu/policies/2/2.3.html states that > “Appointments to the rank of "Adjunct Professor of _____" and "Professor of > the Practice of _____" are equivalent…” Also that “An appointment as an > adjunct professor or professor of the practice carries no implication of > academic tenure or of membership on the Faculty.” So a Professor of the > Practice is not actually a faculty member. > > > > Nightingale still has a bio up on an MIT personal page (which also calls > her a faculty member), but is not listed, for example, on the “People” > directory of the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center which she used to > direct (!) and her Linked In page says that she left her MIT jobs in June > 2014. So she appears to be a former adjunct rather than a current faculty > member. > > > > Having said that, she is a member of the National Academy of > Engineering, so you might expect some kind of baseline professional > responsibility from her. http://www.nae.edu/29986.aspx Also, according to > Linked In, “Past-President and Fellow of the Institute of Industrial > Engineers.” Not someone you would expect to sign her name to a factually > deficient, plagiarized and/or ghosted piece of badly written propaganda. > But, apparently, she did. > > > > An odd aspect of all this is that, like Ayyadurai himself, she gains a > great deal of apparent credibility from her former association with MIT. > Both have frequently been called “MIT professors” in reports, and I am sure > the association helped to convince reporters to repeat Ayyadurai’s claims. > Yet they are going to great lengths in a quixotic attempt to undermine > MIT’s actual historical accomplishments in email, including CTSS mail and > the work of the many MIT graduates and faculty who founded and worked at > BBN. Ayyadurai has also been deploying a lot of populist rhetoric against > the idea that elite institutions like MIT are essential to innovation. > > > > Best wishes, > > > > Tom > > > > > > From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On > Behalf Of Andrew Russell > > Sent: Monday, September 08, 2014 2:05 PM > > To: sigcis > > Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Fwd: Re HuffPo article on Ayyadurai > > > > Hi everyone - > > > > I’m reposting below an email from Dave Farber's list - it's another > interesting turn in this bizarre tale. > > > > Andy > > > > > > Begin forwarded message: > > > > > > From: "Dave Farber via ip" <ip@listbox.com> > > Subject: [IP] Re HuffPo article on Ayyadurai > > Date: September 8, 2014 at 11:25:26 AM EDT > > To: "ip" <ip@listbox.com> > > Reply-To: dave@farber.net > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > From: "Declan McCullagh" <declan@well.com> > > Date: Sep 8, 2014 1:49 AM > > Subject: Re: [IP] HuffPo article on Ayyadurai > > To: <jpgs@ittc.ku.edu>, <jpgs@comp.lancs.ac.uk> > > Cc: <dave@farber.net>, <dnight@mit.edu>, <news@the-tech.mit.edu> > > > > [Dave, for IP if you like] > > > > Prof. James P.G. Sterbenz wrote to MIT prof Deborah Nightingale: > > Do you plan to make a statement on your > > Web page to protect your reputation, or do we assume that you are > > (figuratively) in bed with Ayyadurai? If you do make such a statement > > I would like a pointer and will include in with the other materials I > > maintain on this case along with your original blog entry. > > > > I just noticed something unusual about the now-deleted Huffington Post > article published under the name of MIT professor Deborah Nightingale. > > > > What's unusual is that paragraphs of that now-deleted article defending > "email inventor" Shiva Ayyadurai are word-for-word identical to a web page > called InventorOfEmail.com. It looks like Mr. Ayyadurai created that page > himself, though I haven't checked. > > > > You can see this unexpected bit of synchronicity for yourself. Prof > Nightingale's article is archived here: > > > https://web.archive.org/web/20140905024145/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-j-nightingale/the-history-of-email-five-myths-about-email_b_5756340.html > > "Those who promoted MAIL as "email," when the term "email" did not even > exist in 1965, were attempting to redefine "email" as a command-driven > program that transferred BCD-encoded text files, written in an external > editor, among timesharing system users, to be reviewed serially in a > flat-file." > > "One would be hard-pressed to draw a historical straight line from MAIL > to today’s email systems. MAIL was not "email", but a text messaging > command line system, at best." > > > > The InventorOfEmail.com page, which Archive.org says predates Prof. > Nightingale's HuffPo blog, is here: > > http://www.inventorofemail.com/claims_about_email.asp > > "Those who promoted MAIL was "email" when the term "email" did not even > exist in 1965 are attempting to redefine "email" to be a command-driven > program that transferred BCD-encoded text files, written in an external > editor, among timesharing system users, to be reviewed serially in a > flat-file." > > "One would be hard-pressed to draw a historical straight line from MAIL > to today’s email systems. MAIL was not "email", but a text messaging > command line system, at best." > > > > Also it looks like about 10 paragraphs in Prof. Nightingale's > now-deleted HuffPo blog, published September 2, appear in a Google+ comment > posted under the name "Jason Rebule" a week earlier. That comment appeared > in a KQED thread attacking critics of Ayyadurai. You can see the thread > here: > > https://plus.google.com/+KQEDSCIENCE/posts/emYcPo9ZjVw > > > > Similarly, another now-deleted HuffPo blog post in the series was > published under the name of Rutgers technologist Robert Field. It uses this > sentence: > > > https://web.archive.org/web/20140904233350/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-field/history-of-email-first-email-system_b_5722000.html > > "Standard histories of the Internet are full of claims that certain > individuals (and teams) in the ARPAnet environment in the 1970s and 1980s > "invented email." " > > > > That sentence also, according to Archive.org, had previously appeared on > the InventorOfEmail.com site: > > http://www.inventorofemail.com/claims_about_email.asp > > > > I don't see either Prof. Nightingale or Robert Field credited on the > InventorOfEmail.com site. > > > > I presume there's a good reason why a Huffington Post guest blog > published under the name of a well-known MIT engineering professor would be > assembled in such a manner, but I confess I haven't yet been able to think > of one. > > > > -Declan > > > > PS: I recall a CNET article written by some enterprising journalist who > revealed the provenance of an anti-Net-neutrality op-ed published under the > name of an MIT adjunct professor. The op-ed was actually written in part or > in whole by a "secretive lobbying organization in Washington, D.C. called > the LawMedia Group" that counted Comcast as a client. I would not dare to > suggest, of course, that such a thing could be happening here. > http://www.cnet.com/news/wanted-writers-for-d-c-tech-lobby-group-secrecy-mandatory/ > > Archives | > > > > _______________________________________________ > > This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion > list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are athttp:// > sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription > options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members > > -- > Jean-François Blanchette, Associate Professeur > Dept. of Information Studies, UCLA > http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/blanchette > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list > of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at > http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription > options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list > of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at > http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription > options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members >