word munger - Slashdot User

Submission + - Copyright advocacy group violates copyright (scienceblogs.com)

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word munger

on Monday August 27, 2007 @02:46PM

word munger writes: "Commercial scholarly publishers are beginning to get afraid of the open access movement. They've hired a high-priced consultant to help them sway public opinion in favor of copyright restrictions on taxpayer-funded research. Funny thing is, their own website contains several copyright violations. It seems they pulled their images directly from the Getty Images website — watermark and all — without paying for their use! Clearly their agenda is simply to make using copyrighted materials inconvenient and expensive for everyone but THEMSELVES."

Submission + - Bloggers or High Schoolers: Who Can Write Better?

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word munger

on Monday October 02, 2006 @10:07AM

word munger writes: "A few weeks ago, Chad Orzel read a New York Times article which analyzed the best high school writing on the new SAT test. The Times' writer appeared surprised that the best high school writing was so ... bad. So did I.

Chad, on the other hand, wondered if the best bloggers could do any better under the same conditions, so we decided to put it to the test. Over 500 people tried our timed online test, but just 109 scoreable responses resulted. We had professionals grade all the responses, and now we've created a web site where readers can rate the essays themselves, as well as find out the professional score.

So who's a better writer, a blogger or a high schooler? You can read my or Chad's analysis — or better yet, you can decide for yourself...."

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