ACADEMIC HONESTY AND INTELLECTUAL GENEROSITY
Citing our sources and giving credit where it’s due are more than bureaucratic obligations; they’re ethical, political practices — especially in this age of artificial intelligence. As Sarah Ahmed and Kishonna Gray acknowledge, citations are a means cof determining “who appears,” who counts, whose work gets validated. Our citational choices have the power to build communities, as well as to dismantle and reform canons and disciplines. They’re creative opportunities, too! The endnote and footnote can become a poetic or epistolary form!
Please familiarize yourself with the University’s Code of Academic Integrity and the Libraries’ plagiarism resources. If you have any questions regarding proper citation of sources or other academic integrity matters, please ask me or consult the Weingarten Center for academic support and disability services, the Marks Family Center for Excellence in Writing, or any of these other services supporting academic skills. Plagiarism and cheating of any form do carry consequences, and egregious cases will be referred to the Center for Community Standards and Accountability.
Regarding Generative AI: Artificial intelligence is a timely and important subject of study within Cinema and Media Studies; it’s already transforming the media we engage with, and it has the potential to transform how we do our research on and with those media. You are permitted to use generative AI — including large language models, image generators, and similar tools — in your work, but you must be transparent and reflexive about its use. This is what Media Studies is all about! If you do use AI, please supplement your work with a 300-word note — written by you, not an artificial agent! 😉— explaining how and why you deployed these tools, how they supplemented your own human brain, what that collaboration taught you about your own ways of thinking and working, how you acknowledged and accounted for these tools’ known biases and risks, and what your experience might have taught you about how you can more effectively, responsibly, critically, and/or creatively use these tools in your future work. Please note that this AI declaration should not be included in your assignment word count.
INCLUSION AND RESPECT
Before coming to Penn, I taught at The New School in New York for 18 years. The following is modified from TNS’s Safe Zone declaration: We in this class are dedicated to creating a welcoming environment for all members of the university community inclusive of race, ethnicity, national origin, culture, language, gender and gender expression, sexuality, religious and political beliefs, age, educational privilege, and ability. We’ll aim to celebrate our diversity and to respectfully negotiate differences in experience, understanding, and expression. We will stand against all forms of discrimination and oppression, whether directed against individuals or groups. We will also make an effort to respect one another’s individuality in our forms of address, which includes learning one another’s names and pronouns.
If you experience anything in the classroom that undermines these values — or if there is anything I can do to better cultivate inclusivity and respect — please let me know.
