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

By: 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. 

Qish ama tuuganimo lagu soo helay qoraaladii Dr. Jaamac Cilmi

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 Allpuntland: http://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.html: at Wardheernews

  http://www.allpuntland.com/eng/news_item.asp?NewsID=1911: at Allpuntland

Somali’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 peoples”,

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=1897: at 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