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The Digital Age and Plagiarism
From: www.writerswrite.com

" Google's book search project has had an unintended, interesting side effect: it has made it much easier to catch plagiarists.

As it turns out, even authors not living in this online age are in trouble. My fellow literary sleuth Alex MacBride recently revealed to me that he'd uncovered an old crime in a new way. MacBride, a linguist employed by Google, idly ran a phrase from England Howlett's 1899 essay Sacrificial Foundations through Google Book Search, his employer's massive digitization of millions of volumes from university libraries. The search had nothing to do with his job?like the rest of us, sometimes Alex just kills time by plugging stuff into Google?and rather than go to the trouble of digging out Howlett's book by name, he'd decided to call it up with a phrase. To his surprise, he got more back than just Howlett: The search also revealed a suspiciously similar passage in Sabine Baring-Gould's 1892 book Strange Survivals. A lot of suspiciously similar passages.

Perhaps it's not too shocking that a small-time amateur like Howlett swiped from Baring-Gould, a frenetically prolific folklore scholar who published hundreds of books and articles. But, the search results revealed, this was not quite the end of the story. "Charmingly," MacBride e-mails, "Baring-Gould seems to have had sticky fingers himself." The wronged author, you see, had in turn used the unattributed quotation from a still earlier work: Benjamin Thorpe's 1851 study Northern Mythology.

Hiaasen at 53 looks the same as he did at 28. His rage against scoundrels must be the elixir of youth coursing through him. Someone asked him in what genre his books belong. He said, "I write satiric novels that are suspenseful."

*****

Hiassen last night said some authors write the final sentence of a novel first, and then labor toreach that sentence. That's not his style. He doesn't use an outline. He's not big on structure. He endorses the Elmore Leonard philosophy: If you already know how the story is going to end, why would you write it in the first place? He said his method, in which his characters can surprise him and the plot can turn 90 degrees on a dime, reflects the way life actually works. And it must be a fun way to write.

The only catch, he said, is that his books don't have a structure that is easily converted to a three-act screenplay. And the narrative tone that makes his books comedic is hard to capture in a visual medium. He'll read the first 10 pages of an adaptation and know that it'll never get filmed. Which is better than having a book turn into a bad movie and spending the rest of your life answering the question, "So what is Demi Moore really like?"

The rush of job recruiting ads on MonsterIndia.com tells the story of the latest class of workers to watch their trade start migrating to another continent. "Urgent requirement for business writers," reads one ad looking for journalists to locate in Mumbai. "Should be willing to work in night shifts (UK shift)." Another casts for English-speaking journalists in Bangalore with "experience in editing and writing for US/International Media."

Remote-control journalism is the scornful term that unions use for the shift of newspaper jobs to low-cost countries like India or Singapore with fiber-optic connections transmitting information all around the world. But the momentum for "offshoring" to other countries or outsourcing locally is accelerating as newspapers small and large seek ways to reduce costs in the face of severe stresses, from sagging circulation and advertising revenue to shareholder pressure. "Outsourcing plays a major part in the newspaper industry of today," the World Association of Newspapers concluded in a study released in July.

WAN, a Paris-based organization representing 72 national newspaper associations, conducted a global survey of about 350 newspapers in Europe, Asia and the United States, and company executives reported that they expected the outsourcing to increase, although few were willing to farm out all of their editorial functions. Since then, the memos have been churning: The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio announced its intentions to shed 90 graphic design jobs and ship out the work to Affinity Express in Pune, India. The Contra Costa Times, a California newspaper newly acquired by Media News Group in the breakup of Knight Ridder, revealed plans to shift ad production positions to Express KCS in India, which bills itself as the "world's media back office."

In Britain, the tabloid Daily Express sparked an uproar in the newsroom when it chose to outsource its entire city business section to a local press association. According to the newspaper's union, the executives chose this alternative only after touring potential companies in India that offered writing and copy editing services. "It's a very depressing time to be working for newspapers," said one of the union representatives at The Daily Express, who declined to be identified because of concerns about job security. "The underlying theme is about the quality of what we're putting on the pages. The kind of a product that The Daily Express is going to have is a total disservice. If I was a reader, I would vote with my feet and stop buying it."

News Corp., the parent company of book publisher HarperCollins and the FOX network, has canceled publication of the O.J. Simpson book and television special "If I Did It." "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. "We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

In the book, the one-time football superstar tells how he would have killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman if, in fact, he had done it. A dozen FOX affiliates had already said they would not air the two-part sweeps month special, planned for next week before the book's publication. ne station manager who had said he wasn't airing the special said he was concerned that whether or not Simpson was guilty, he'd still be profiting from murders.

I have my own moral compass and this was easy," said Bill Lamb, general manager of WDRB in Louisville. Relatives of the victims have lashed out at the now scuttled publication and broadcast plans. "He destroyed my son and took from my family Ron's future and life. And for that I'll hate him always and find him despicable," Fred Goldman told ABC last week.

The industry trade publication Broadcasting & Cable editorialized against the show Monday, saying "FOX should cancel this evil sweeps stunt." One of the nation's largest superstore chains, Borders Group Inc., said last week it would donate any profits on the book to charity.

After his investigation into the fast-food industry and its negative impact on global culture became a huge best-seller in 2001, Schlosser was approached by a succession of filmmakers wanting to turn it into a documentary. "This was how I also saw it being filmed. But I was leery because so many of the filmmakers had corporate sponsorship ? particularly those associated with PBS, which gets a lot of money from McDonald's every year ? and I feared the message would get watered down."

The idea of a fiction-film version came from veteran producer Jeremy Thomas, who optioned the book. "And I had written plays and worked for a film company before I became a journalist, so it was not a completely outrageous suggestion to me," Schlosser said. With this concept, Schlosser sought out Linklater (Slacker, Before Sunset). "I loved his work and admired his independence from Hollywood. So when I was in Austin (Texas, his hometown) on a promotional tour, I went to him and said, 'Can you give me some advice on this?'" They became partners.

Schlosser said he was as involved as any author has ever been in the translation of his book ? on the set, overseeing the editing and promoting it on the road. But while he enjoyed the process, it didn?t leave him with filmmaking ambitions. "I don?t want to be a director. The endless delays, the waiting around for money, the not knowing if the deal is going to fall through, it's just too tough. And I learned early on in my career that I don't want to be a screenwriter. Words are just too important to me."

He said, "When the movie opens Friday, I intend to leave all this behind. I've been dealing with the dangers of fast food in one way or another for more than 10 years, and I still feel very passionate about the subject, but it's time for me to move on."

"Suddenly space travel -- led by remarkable private industry efforts -- is becoming a hot topic again," says Mark Mayfield, editor-in-chief of Launch and president of MM Publishing Inc., the company producing the new magazine. "The response to our first issue was overwhelming and it's clear that we are filling a void for readers and advertisers."

A lifelong space enthusiast who covered five Space Shuttle flights as a reporter in the 1980s, Mayfield also served as editor-in-chief of three home design-related magazines: House Beautiful, Traditional Home and Southern Accents magazines.

"I remember the Space Age as a kid, when our heroes were astronauts who risked their lives for exploration," says Mayfield. "It's different today, but there are actually so many more opportunities for private citizens to participate in space programs. Back in the 1960s, it was just NASA. Today, there are hundreds of private companies getting involved in space exploration. And there are thousands of people, many of them kids, who are flying model rockets as their way of learning and participating."

According to Mayfield, "With NASA's budgets slashed, billionaires like Paul G. Allen, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are getting into the space business. They are using their personal fortunes to expand space exploration and the public is once again focusing on space travel. We haven't seen this level of excitement since the late 1960s."

From celebrities and charities to real estate and extravagant getaways, Speedway Club Luxury Living highlights the luxury lifestyles of people, places and things within the world of NASCAR. The premiere issue, with young gun driver Kasey Kahne on the cover, explores everything from chic party planning and holiday decorating to the advances women are making in the world of motorsports and new college degrees offered in the business of motorsports.

"This magazine represents the six degrees of NASCAR," said Editor-in- Chief, Colleen Brannan. "While there is a driver on the cover, it's less about cars and tracks and more of an up close and personal look at how NASCAR- related people live, eat, entertain, decorate and recreate."

"The overwhelmingly positive reaction to the magazine validates our thinking that there is a healthy appetite and need for a niche publication like Speedway Club Luxury Living," said Mike Dockery, president of SLC Publications. "It is a natural showcase for the fun loving, yet sophisticated lives of those associated with motorsports."