Extra Credit

Starting the class I was more then a little hesitant, for many reasons. The main one is I hate taking night classes. Taking classes at Ryerson only emphasizes to me how much time I wasted as an undergrad at UWO. I had copious amounts of free time and all I did was bitch about was how busy I was. I have learned my lesson. It's been a lesson taught by dragging my ass down to Ryerson after usually a 10 hour day at work to sit and listen to a lecture for 3 hours.

Thankfully I have made an effort to find good teachers and Philip seems to be one of them. So back to the point: I am already tired, stressed and hungry before I even sit down in the classroom. Not always conducive to good learning.

Then I missed the first class. All through 4 years of Uni I skipped 5 classes. (this is not including a math class. that is exempt from all counts of anything there, as it has been dutifully repressed in my memory) These were usually to expand my weekend. Missing classes makes me feel like I have missed out on something important. I spend the rest of the semester feeling left behind. But Bossman said that I better finish off the certificate with only 2 courses left or I can re-think vacation time. Also, missing the first class was my fault as I procrastinate on EVERYTHING.

This is all just a meandering way of showing my mindset when I started this class. It changed with:

a) a great and enthusiastic teacher

b) a great and enthusiastic teacher who gives out treats

c) a great and enthusiastic teacher who contemplated giving extra credit for starting a blog about the class.

I have been pondering choice c) for a while. I graduated with an English Literature degree that has been put on a shelf to collect dust for a career that while asks that I write, has mostly just required nothing longer then an email. Writing is a skill and a tool that gets rusty with use and I need to pick it up and play with it again.

I could wait and ask Philip what he requires from me regarding the blog for HIS course that HE is marking but if E-Marketing has taught me anything so far, the power of the internet sits in the power of the consumer. I'm just going to use this as I wish for the time being.* Mostly it will be a critique about the topics we cover and anything else I find interesting. I expect this to morph into a personal blog but we'll just see how dedicated I am once class is over.

*Unless Philip wants it another way. He is the one giving grades!

Textbook and intellectual property

$160 F**KING DOLLARS?!?

It's not even a hardcover! and it has a stupid cover!

We talked in class today about piracy and intellectual property. I have to admit I am not the most responsible member of society regarding this subject. Let's just say that I have 'seen out of the corner of my eye' my share of downloaded movies and tv show and 'may have been tricked' into downloading illegal music on my Ipod. But I have my own moral code regarding this. Anything Canadian I will buy and anything that is a quality tv show (Friday Night Lights) will be bought on DVD. Quality needs to be rewarded.

I could expand on this further and I might but for now I want to focus on the textbook. How can a publisher justifiable charge $160 for a tradepaperback that is a BOOK about the INTERNET! By the time they choose cheesier art to cover the book and call it the 6th edition, the material is out of date!

The publishing industry is struggling and textbooks can be considered somewhat stable they have to realize that there are methods to get around these prices and students will find them. Oh god will students find them! They are notoriously cheap and sneaky! And if the guy selling the book on Kijiji is any example, motivated.

Apple took over the music industry by dictating the prices to the sellers. Can there be an alternative to this for books? Amazon has done it with books for the Kindle. Is there a textbook alternative on it's way? Because that would be amazing. Come on marketing students! Stop showing me presentations about the shoe that has 3 styles of heels. Give me something I can use.

Admittedly the pricing would move back to the creator's hands. It's happened with Apple and Amazon but the prices are far more reasonable then before. How has no one thought of this before?

Wait. Everyone forget this post. Don't steal my idea, or go ahead, but credit me. I would like to be toasted in bars when students squander the money saved on something far more rewarding.