A SOMALI PLAGIARIST WRITER EXPOSED:

[Man Of Freedom]

Writing is a Noble Profession and Demanding Task, But No Shortcuts Whatsoever

 

Ahmed M. Dirie, PhD

 

It wasn’t painless to come forward and expose a fellow writer’s wrongdoings and I do not intend to slap on the wrist a Somali writer or to mess up the integrity of a Somali professional but it is more on tipping off the unsuspecting web managers and readers. I tried to put it right in private through a web administrator or an editor but it was unsuccessful. Therefore, I felt that it is an obligation to inform the readers, would-be writers, and at least to correct misuse of copyrighted information on the internet. The misuse of information and communication technologies (ICT) could be intentional or unintentional acts.

 

But in this case, I strongly feel that the writer (who authored three articles at Allpuntland and one at Wardheernews) has deliberately misused copyrighted information from the internet and it seems that it is a failure on the part of the writer to understand that the same information could be accessed by others. The writer’s work lacks originality and professional integrity and he totally undermined the intellect, knowledge and skills of his audience and that of Somali Web managers and publishers. To me, there is no excuse whatsoever because the author of the said articles is an educated and a graduate degree holder and he must had been trained in acknowledging published and copyrighted materials. A writer could not lift a whole article(s) including titles and even subtitles and then present it as his/her piece of work. If a writer happens to lift a whole paragraph or sentence then he/she must put quotation marks on the borrowed sentence or paragraph and acknowledge the original source in the reference. In this case, the writer failed to do so and I think that he assumed that he could run away with it. The process of copying or lifting of a printed material and then presenting it to the public as your own work is a breach of copyright and it is called plagiarism and it is illegal. Unfortunately, this is not a material lifted from an out of print book or from a remote and obscure library. The articles are copied from the internet and you could Google it and locate them in seconds.

 

For that reason, I opted to provide to you both the writer’s articles as well as the originals and you will be the judge in figuring out an act of plagiarism. Please take a close look at the following sample paragraphs and article links and you will notice the exact similarities or being copy cuts. You will also spot that few words such as Africa, continent, Congo or Sri Lanka is simply replaced with Somalia and country. A writer would say thanks to MS Word replace function which allows in replacing specified words in a whole document in seconds.

 

Evidence I . Reversing Africa's ‘Brain Drain’ Original at Africa Recovery http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol17no2/172brain.htm For thousands of Africans living overseas and seeking ways to contribute to the development of the continent, initiatives aimed at staunching the outflow of professional expertise are offering new possibilities. Now, more than ever before, there exists "a major opportunity to transform the historical brain drain ... into a new African 'brain trust'," Reversing Somalia's ‘Brain Drain’ at Allpuntlandhttp://allpuntland.com/eng/news_item.asp?NewsID=1904

For thousands of Somali’s living overseas and seeking ways to contribute to the development of their country, observers aimed at staunching the outflow of professional expertise are offering new possibilities. Now, more than ever before, there exists "a major opportunity to transform the historical brain drain ... into a new Somali’s 'brain trust',"

 

Evidence II Federalism and Self-Determination: Some Reflections

 

http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=10927

 

Every state is a conglomeration of groups with distinguishing characteristics such as race, ethnicity, language, and religion living within a defined territory.

The inability of some groups within states to partake of the "good life" has been offered as the reason for most of the current conflicts in the world. Consequently, most dispossessed groups hope to redress their grievances as a right and an entitlement that is owed to them by virtue of universally accepted rights such as the "right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as stated in 1776 in the American Declaration of Independence, and the right of "self-determination of peoples",

 

http://wardheernews.com/articles/November/24_Somalis_federalism.htmlat Wardheernews http://www.allpuntland.com/eng/news_item.asp?NewsID=1911at Allpuntland

S omali’s state is a conglomeration of different tribes (one ethnic) with no distinguishing characteristics such as race, ethnicity, language, and religion living within a defined territory.

 

The inability of some Secessionists groups within states to partake of the “good life†has been offered as the reason for most of the current conflicts in the Somali’s Northern territory. Consequently, most of these groups hope to redress their grievances as a right and an entitlement that is owed to them by virtue of universally accepted rights such as the “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness†as stated in 1776 in the American Declaration of Independence, and the right of “self-determination of peoplesâ€,

 

Evidence III Prospects for Sustained Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=4072

 

Since the creation of the Congo, at the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) as a result of the resolution of the conflict opposing imperial Africa conquering powers, the struggle for or against the Congo has always been international, roughly opposing two camps:

 

http://www.allpuntland.com/eng/news_item.asp?NewsID=1897at Allpuntland

 

S ince the division of the Somalia, at the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) as a result of the resolution of the conflict opposing imperial Africa conquering powers, the struggle for or against the Somalia has always been international, roughly opposing unidentified camps

 

After presenting to you the evidences of acts of plagiarism, I would like to reiterate that this article is solely intended to raise the awareness of readers, aspiring Somali writers, and web administrators and also to protect a useful resource for public communications…the Somali web sites. In addition, the title of the article may sound harsh but it is just intended to catch your attention, though you may agree or disagree whether the title is the right one for this sort of expose. On top of that I would like to put across this simple and straight forward advice for those aspiring writers like me or some of you, there is no short cuts and no ready cheat sheets for writers especially in writing analytical and journalistic articles or writing in general, Period.

 

I absolutely understand the burning desire for recognition and appreciation and writers are always striving to publish excellent pieces in order to be recognized by their peers and readers and bring out marketable material. However, shortcuts and shoddy activities could ruin writer’s professional standing and eventually would damage one’s integrity in the long run…I hope and pray not in this case.

 

For those web sites run by Somalis, it is most likely that the writer is not the first and the only one engaged in such miscalculated risks but he happens to write about interesting issues. And the interesting nature of his articles led me to do more research on the topics and I accidentally stumbled over the original articles. Therefore, I would like to express “my sincere apology†to my fellow Somali and anyone affected by this piece of expose. And most importantly, I would also hope that this will serve as a word of caution to web editors, managers, and publishers to at least double check the authenticity of information prior to its publication.

 

Ahmed M. Dirie, PhD

 

Dr. Dirie is a freelance writer and scientist interested in science and current social issues. He is located at San Jose, California, USA and could be contacted at adirie2001@yahoo.com

[Man Of Freedom]

The work of the exposed author reveals a disturbing trend in the professional realm of our intellectual elites. It is colossal mistake and serious misjudgment of readers intellect. Mr. Dirie has done a plausible job for exposing this embarassing mistake. It is naive and prelious to assume Somali's as passive nomads who only know how to read without using their analytical capabilities to decipher the orinigality and the creativity that is involved with the pieces of articles they came accross.

[- Femme -]

I absolutely understand the burning desire for recognition and appreciation and writers are always striving to publish excellent pieces in order to be recognized by their peers and readers and bring out marketable material.

I guess the same 'burning desire' in his belly prompted him to expose a fellow writer. Such a shame.

[Castro]

^ What, then, should he have done instead? I'm not even a writer and I'd expose him. Theft is theft, whether of goods or of literature.

[- Femme -]

I don't know. I'm a little protective of everything somali. I meant shame the poor guy has to go through---ceebta raaceysa. Tongues will be wagging for some time to come. And shame for the exposer. I wonder if it was done out of jealousy or because he 'truly admired the writer and wanted to research his topics more'. Either way, my heart hurts for the miskiin who wanted a name, got it, but not necessarily the way he wanted.

[Castro]

^ I feel you. But the difference between right and wrong is clear. If it is true that this writer committed plaigiarism (and it seems this is the case), then he did so with full knowledge of the risk of exposure and an expectation of fame and/or fortune. Legally, there is motive, opportunity and a bloody glove. You can't be emotional about this, Femme. What if it's your work that was stolen?

 

It's good to be protective of Somalis but we've got some pretty rotten apples (the least of whom is this writer) and we need to clean the house.

[- Femme -]

How many of us can honestly claim that they have never plaigerized in their life? I think people deserve second chances. Muxuu ka tarilahaa if he directly contacted the writer himself, showed him evidence of his plaigerized work, told him to change his ways, and warned him that next time he would make it public if he did it again? I think the writer would have recieved the message loud and clear, and it would've done much good & saved his reputation.

[Jabhad]

What if it's your work that was stolen?

I would be mad thats for sure. Lets help expose the ugly face of plagiarism.

[Taleexi]

I don't have any other word in my dictionary to call plagiarism than what it is (plagiarism) period. But the way it was exposed remains to debatable!

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Originally posted by Femme Fatale:

Muxuu ka tarilahaa if he directly contacted the writer himself, showed him evidence of his plaigerized work, told him to change his ways, and warned him that next time he would make it public if he did it again?

I think you skipped this partial quote:

 

I do not intend to slap on the wrist a Somali writer or to mess up the integrity of a Somali professional but it is more on tipping off the unsuspecting web managers and readers. I

tried to put it right in private through a web administrator or an editor

but it was unsuccessful. Therefore, I felt that it is an obligation to inform the readers...

I guess, he contacted the adminstrators of those respective sites, and, apparently, they didn't respond back, so he was more pissed off, methinks.

 

Waxaan la iska koobiyeena without citation is a prevailing problem and is in a dire addressing on some Soomaali news sites. Only two or one news sites can I say that routinely cites its sources; sites like somalitalk.com or hiiraan.com, being the foremost.

[Xudeedi]

MMA, even though the exposure of such academic dishonesty came as a shock to many of us, you should still know that opinion articles don't reflect the website their publication first appeared. They should be distinguished from sources of News.

 

 

Wardheernews deserves recognition for their objective News making and sources. Failing to verify that article , which Dirie exposed, its source should have been verified prior to its publication, but due to the reliability of the author Jama Elmi who submitted the article and whose works have been published in several other sites before based on an assumed integrity and personal contribution, there is no doubt that webmasters would make the error for failing to verify every single one of article.

 

Hence , they can reverify or remove it from their site, let alone issuing advance warning that those with the urge of academic dishonesty shall be denied of using a website like WardheerNews as a platform to express their views.

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Soomaali baan aqaanoo hadaad aragtaan labo is caydhsanaysa, inta badan waxbaa jira.

 

Plagiarism is a serious issue. I guess we have to set higher standards for SOL's new article section which we hope to launch very soon.

[Suldaanka]

Check this other "work" ( ) by the good academic ( ) posted on a number of websites and on SOL by Sophist sometimes ago...

 

Africa’s population crisis is fictitious

 

The Original source

 

maba naxaayo... :eek:

[Xoogsade]

Originally posted by Libaax-Sankataabte:

Soomaali baan aqaanoo hadaad aragtaan labo is caydhsanaysa, inta badan waxbaa jira.

LOL, You have proven your somalinimo yourself thinking that way lol.

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

^^ I know heh? Xoogsadoow sownigan maalin walba kala celintooda ku dhex jira. Ilma adeeri waa in istaqaan. Hadaad aragto labo budh isu haysata, xaqxaqasho hore iyo bal wax fiiri.