If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?  If software does not benefit users, does it even matter?  Presently, users are facing a dilemma choosing between open source and proprietary software.  Although open source software (OSS) offers many benefits, it has been struggling with abandonment.  One study shows that, on average, 33% of all commercial software projects are abandoned, while nearly 67% of all OSS projects are abandoned (Bieman 290).  If OSS is to remain useful, if OSS is to have any significance, this high r

When combating stigma and negative attitudes towards mental illness, a commonly accepted solution is to educate the general population about mental illness and foster greater connections between the public and people who suffer from mental illness. According to the studies discussed in this paper, a “negative attitude” may include stigmatization, doubting another’s capabilities, social distancing, dehumanization, and supporting restrictions of people with mental illnesses.

In the past decade, with the rise of social media sites, blogs and file-sharing sites like YouTube, citizen journalists on the Internet have begun exploring the ever-expanding broadcasting powers at their disposal.  According to the definition set by Dr. Joyce Nip of the Hong Kong Baptist University, citizen journalism is media content created out of a professional context (218).  Lauded by its creators as a voice to the voiceless, citizen journalism has goals that are certainly admirable: Dr.

My sister and her boyfriend have the same names as the characters from the movie The Notebook. When a girl from our high school realized this, she tweeted, “I JUST REALIZED ALLIE AND NOAH GO OUT AND THAT MEANS #THENOTEBOOK #IMFANGIRLING okbye” (Sievers). They were horrified. Although they have tried to avoid becoming one of those “annoying couples” – graciously withholding posts about the intimate details of their blossoming relationship - sometimes friends, colleagues, and acquaintances have posted sappy details for them.

Throughout my orientation program and first few weeks at the University of Maryland as a freshman, I remember being showered with information about various health and safety issues I might encounter in college. This included a mandatory alcohol education course, details of the security measures in place on campus, and a very basic summary of the university’s drug policy.

And truly it little matters what I say, this or that or any other thing. Saying is inventing. Wrong, very rightly wrong. (Molloy 27)

‘I believe we must have the sort of power over you that we’re said to have over horses. They see us three times as big as we are or they’d never obey us. For that very reason, I’m inclined to doubt that you’ll ever do anything even when you have the vote.’ (Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out)

Pericles has been viewed until recent critical history as a solid member of Shakespeare’s ‘romances’, plays which combined both tragic and comic elements. However, more informed recent discussion of the late plays has acknowledged the danger in attempting at all to apply a set genre to this group of plays.

What is in a name? In the realm of literature, its absence has the power to silence the voice, suppress the identity, and impose passivity upon the character. The anonymous character occupies a negative space, functioning as an “abstract ‘Other’ whose concrete and tangible distinction is unintelligible, unknowable, inarticulable, and inarticulate” (Frye 996). Historically, anonymity has been employed as a tool of oppression in the gender politics of the unnamed character.

I remember the moment exactly. I was sitting on my bed, listening to my iPod when the song “Unfaithful” by Rihanna began to play. Like hundreds of times before, I found myself singing along to the lyrics. However, for some indescribable reason, this time I realized what I was singing about. The lyrics describe a woman having an affair and, not only does she cheat on her boyfriend, she blatantly lies to his face about it. This song promotes infidelity and lying yet, to my surprise, I had never noticed its message before.