Content Confusion - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: netwinder
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 04:33:10 am
content: Removed

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 04:46:11 am
content: Just let it go.I presume you still have a year left at school? In which case there is no upside for you in this fight. Don't delete the teachers folder, that may not end well.Once you get out you'll realise how pointless fighting this was.Sometimes you should just give up:Take your tutorials and start your own blog and post them there. Turn your anger into enthusiasm to produce more content for a wider audience.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 05:11:17 am
content: Just a bit more, and I'll be brutality honest:Quote from: netwinder on January 15, 2016, 04:33:10 amRight there is the big problem with your letter and publishing it.You are a content creator. And as a content creator, there is absolutely no obligation on people to care for nor like, nor use, nor value the content you created.There is no upside to complaining about it, it will never make you look good. Ignore it and move on.QuoteSorry, but people don't need to know about your personal problems with the teacher and how he views your content.Again, this will not make you look good.QuoteThose two statement are a bit contradictory.You should be happy that your content may be used.And like I said, go post your stuff on a blog or something and share it with the world. Thinking about how one teacher may or may not use it in one class in one school, in one state, in one country, is insignificant compared to the rest of the world seeing it.QuoteWhy? You should feel proud your content is being used to teach kids! Heck, put it in your resume.QuoteBingo. So don't post the letter, just delete it and move on.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 05:25:42 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on January 15, 2016, 04:46:11 amThis is the way to win.It would seem there are several people who know the depth of your involvement. Be comforted that the teacher will not be able to claim the material was his creation. Continue with producing your tutorials and helping people learn. If you feel you want to give a brief explanation as to how you started,make sure you do not say anything derogatoryabout the teacher as this will cause you problems. Keep your attitude positive and focus on achieving what you originally set out to do.By developing further material and establishing yourself as an educator (qualified or not) your body of work will speak for itself - and if any later students come across this teacher offering up your material, I will bet a few of them will check the internet and find the teacher just downloaded your stuff. In terms of credibility, you will win and the teacher will not - without you having done anything other than publishing your own original material.Your situation is not new. Hamlet had a similar quandary.... "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles" All too often, that sea of troubles can become an ocean of storms.Venting is good - and now that you've done that ...Edit: Typo

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 05:31:24 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on January 15, 2016, 05:11:17 amAbsolutely what Dave has said!You speak of this as if everything is coming to an end - but it can be just the beginning!!

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 05:32:24 am
content: Great, Now I wanna go watch Wargames...

author: kolbep
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 05:55:30 am
content: To the OP,You have worked hard on your tutorials,so share them with the world. Stick them on a webserver or wordpress site (Get your own domain name, and use it, they are cheap enough).Then if the teacher in future decides to use it, the students will probably stumble on your site, and know where it was ripped off from (so you get the credit). Maybe on the entrance to your site, put a banner saying "I designed this tutorial on request from a lecturer at XYZ, but they never used it, so I decided to share it with the world".But by putting it up, you will be helping many more people than your small class ever would have, and you get to be proud of that.Later on you can keep those tutorials public, and then give people the option to pay for future tutorials you make (if you want to make money off of it).Or you could also do Video Blog to accompany your tutorials. (I think there is some Aussie Bloke that makes some money by doing an electronics blog online)If you do put it up, then please share the link on this Forum, so that we can all admire your handy work..

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 06:08:37 am
content: QuoteDo it week ago, do it yesterday, do it now.Keep whatever paper notes/bookmarks links/original drafts you have.Then look into publishing them in book form. You know, them paper things with covers and your name in front.After you graduate, you can still publish everyting else you have come up with, in the heat of the moment but at least you'll be doing it with a "cool head".At least by now if nothing else you have learned to recognize "the type".Good luck

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 06:15:12 am
content: Quote from: kolbep on January 15, 2016, 05:55:30 amI've heard that rumour too. Apparently his wife is even happy with the income he gets

author: netwinder
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 11:36:11 am
content: Thank you everybody for the support and insight. I'm not sure if my things are internet tutorial material, but i do see all of your points. Thank you EEVblog for being brutally honest and for pointing out the larger issues with the letter.Brumby is right also, i do make it sound like this is an awful thing however if i do put it into a blog or re use it in a constructive way it could be the beginning to something much bigger..Kolbep i think i heard of this aussie bloke you speak one time.. I hear he opens his mail on camera and people watch it by the masses..Thanks everybody for the support and insight!

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 01:23:03 pm
content: Been there, done that, in a slightly different way. Eons back when I was in High School, I took a computer science class. In those days, that means Apple II's. This class taught FORTRAN (any of you younger players know that one?). If was, in fact, the first year they used the Apple II's for FORTRAN - the previous year, they still had you type your program in on punch cards and then send the deck to run on the school district's mainframe. As suck, the teacher was familiar with FORTRAN but not really with the Apple implementation. Me being me, on the first day of class, I asked if I could borrow the manuals, which I was allowed to do, and I took a set home and devoured them. About halfway through the year, we got tot he topic of doing disk file I/O. This was the one major thing different from the old system running on the mainframe. The teacher was aware that I had read through all the manuals, so she asked me to come by one morning and show her how to do this stuff, which I did. Later on in the day, I was in class and she was teaching this (the stuff I had just taught her that morning). So instead of taking notes, I was working on my next program project. She had a habit of walking up and down the rows of desks and checking on what you were doing - when she got to me, she bopped me on the head with her pencil and said "Pay attention". Really? When I look back on it, I think how that had I been more assertive, I could have really embarrassed her by pointing out that I had just taught her that material. But then - what would that have accomplished? Would it have been worth it to offset the minor embarrassment of being called out in class, in front of other students, some of whom were my friends and to whom I explained the truth in private anyway? Probably not.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 01:26:11 pm
content: Hello netwinder and hello to the forum. My advice is to use this experience as a free lesson in life, it can be rough in the great wide world and you are now a bit better prepared as a result. As suggested, publish your tutorials and make sure you put it on your resume. When I was at school a few (ahem) years ago, my computer science teacher was also useless and I provided the sample programs used by the class which I found amusing. Your enthusiasm and knowledge will open doors when you leave school so embrace it.

author: StuUK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 01:32:18 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on January 15, 2016, 06:15:12 amWish I had a wife like that

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 01:51:14 pm
content: Keep moving forward. "Illegitimi non carborundum". Don't let the bastards wear you down.Reinforcing what others have already said, the YouTube phenomenon has provided a Golden Opportunity to hone your presentations, get seen by a worldwide audience, and get constructive feedback. To be sure there are always the idiots who take pot shots at people who are out there actually doing things. We can only ignore but pity them.I had a similar experience back in college. Back in the late 1960s, the school had a rather remarkable "computer science" department for a local junior college. We had an IBM 1401 and an IBM 1620. And when they were in the process of upgrading to an IBM 360, they decided to teach PL/1. But nobody on the faculty knew PL/1, so they asked me (a 2nd year student) to prepare half a dozen lectures and example coding. I had learned enough about PL/1 from the language reference manual to translate the Fortran class into PL/1. They used the materials to "jump-start" the PL/1 course.Meanwhile, I moved on in a couple years at University to working there and maintaining their IBM1620 and working with a research team doing some pioneering work with using computers in medicine, critical patient monitoring, clinical lab automation, research instrumentation, etc, etc. And now entering 37 years at the major semiconductor maker on the planet."Living well is the best revenge." - George Herbert

author: AlxDroidDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 02:01:51 pm
content: Hello netwinder.I suppose you're 16-17, right? I suppose that an electronics blog written by a 17yo would be quite an inspiration for other kids in or around your age to also get in electronics as a hobby. "If he can do it at 17, so can I".Have a showcase of cool stuff you've done, and also tutorials, in a language that is accessible to your target audience. In a while you'll get an audience and this might even generate some revenue. This is the best revenge you can have on that lazy teacher of yours!Maybe you can also do videos! Like others have written, there's this guy in Australia...

author: 6581
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 02:53:55 pm
content: If you can create materials and teach so that others can easily learn from it, and you keep yourself positive, creative, active - you've a bright future doing stuff you love. Just don't get too frustrated with people who can't do the same. Focus on what YOU do best, not what other people do or can't do.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2016, 04:44:00 pm
content: Put your tutorials online, retain the credit, might get some ad revenue from YT!

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 16, 2016, 01:56:10 am
content: Quote from: netwinder on January 15, 2016, 03:00:39 pmHold that thought...QuoteIf they had, would you have had the problem you just stated?Even if someone elsehasdone it, I would be encouraging you to have a go. The internet allows contributions from across the globe - and even space - but not all material is equal. Some is half-assed, some is fair, some is good. As well, the style of presentation is a big factor as different people learn more effectively in different ways...So, if your material is good and presented in a way that people can absorb, then you should do it. There's always the chance that you may not 'ring the bell', but you never will find out if you don'thave a go.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 16, 2016, 03:08:51 am
content: Quote from: AlxDroidDev on January 15, 2016, 02:01:51 pmAnd he's not even any good!Imagine what someone with talent can do!

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2016, 03:51:01 am
content: Gee! what a lot of nice,affirmative answers.It makes me feel all warm & fuzzy--let's all sit around the campfire & sing"Kumbaya"!I looked around,couldn't find any of the usual nasty people,so it looks like I will have to do my best in that direction.Firstly,you come over as a bit "big headed".This is not uncommon among 16 year olds who have just realised that they are smart,but the rest of us need to bear this in mind.We only have your opinion of how good you are at Electronics---you need to publish your tutorials on the 'Net so that we can realistically appraise them.Your comment worries me:-"You don’t need to know the structure and flow of electrons in an electrical circuit to make a light turn on, you don’t need to know how integrated circuits are made and how the atoms of a transistor are manipulated to make a light blink. You don’t need to memorize the entire resistor color code system to learn how a resistor works"Many people with no knowledge whatever of Electronics can make "a light blink",either with an Arduino, by building a 555 circuit,or a bistable multivibrator "monkey see,monkey do" fashion,so that isn't much of a yardstick.If you are in Year 11,many of your classmates would have already learnt about the structure of atoms in Physics class,so electron flow shouldn't be a huge leap.You are correct about the colour code---some people take years to become proficient with its use.Forget about taking the tutorials down,&DO NOTpost that letter.It may make you feel good,& you may be applauded by your cronies,but most of the other members of the Student body will never know about it.A few bemused people doing the same class in 5 or 10 years will wonder what it was about for five minutes,& that will be it!The Teacher you dumped all overwillremember,& tell others,so when you come back looking for a Teaching job,it will count against you.

author: netwinder
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2016, 04:13:49 am
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on January 16, 2016, 03:51:01 amYour answer is also very nice and affirmative! Thank you for your insight.. I do come off that way sometimes, but trust me I have my shortcomings in other areas (don't we all?)I would publish them on the internet so people can see them, but i'd have to change many things that pertain to the class and specific hardware the class had.. We had some very "interesting" parts to work with.Ah yes, i can see how that comment would be worrysome.. Its quoted a little out of context but then again i didn't give too much context in the letter itself... Our teacher was a little too keen with his tutorials, and we never ever did anything physical. Nobody in the class has really had the joy of making a light blink, it wasnt too long ago when i started playing around in my father's electronics lab and i wondered if i can do something that looked constructive.. Ah the joy of seeing a light blink for the first time was inspiring in a way, but its not the sole reason i do electronics.Back to the point: teacher found the need to show us things that aren't too nessiscary for beginners. He spent 3 days with the resistor color code things and even then nobody saw the real "point" of what they were doing. They didnt even know why they'd ever need this "resistor". The teacher always went with very long tutorials that took weeks to cover.. When all of it can be covered in a week if he actually got up and taught.Im not saying that you shouldn't know how things tick at an atomic level, memorize the resistor color code system and learn how silicon IC's work - in my opinion it would be alot easier to build something, have it flash, or go into smoke because a capacitor was placed backwards but then be told why it works or why its broken..Thanks again for your thoughts

author: netwinder
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2016, 04:33:04 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on January 16, 2016, 01:56:10 am

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2016, 06:41:48 am
content: You'll see that in here many times, you do a project and share, some complain some don't say a thing, for example on my last project (Edit: Still on-going)https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/no-bitbanging-necessary-or-how-to-drive-a-vga-monitor-on-a-psoc-5lp-programmabl/I'm getting no feedback until I had to ask if I should keep on going.Others have done this type of thing that they show their progress over time and got scolded.I recall some video series where the author wasn't getting the views expected and was at the time pretty upset that all his effort wasn't getting enough attention.I guess, what I'm trying to say is what is your purpose, praise or sharing?If the later, then it doesn't matter how much good feedback you get as long as even one or two view it, or even if no one does because the end goal is to share your experience.

author: AlxDroidDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2016, 01:44:44 pm
content: All the suggestions about not sending the letter are only valid if your teacher or any of your classmates are NOT a member of EEVBlog. If the teacher is, chances are he's read this topic, and then you're on for a not-so-sweet talk with the principal.Quote from: EEVblog on January 16, 2016, 03:08:51 amImagine what a hit it would be if his videos were presented by Morgan Freeman! Even the amish would be willing to learn electronics!OTOH, he's managed to gather tens of thousands of EE professionals and enthusiasts from all over the globe in his forum, driven by the millions of views on his videos, so I guess there must be some tiny little microscopic merit to him!

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 16, 2016, 02:20:11 pm
content: Quote from: AlxDroidDev on January 16, 2016, 01:44:44 pmNot necessarily - but there is one point that needs clarifying: Aside from the Supporters Lounge, the EEVBlog Forum is open for viewing by anyone. You only need to be a member to post.Having said that, there is no direct identification of the teacher, the school or ofnetwinder, so there is no legal problem at this point. Sending the letter would change all of that.Secondly, even if the teacher did find out about this and assume he was the person described, he may not be keen about making this situation known to the administration. There is always the risk that the teacher might deliver 'less than fair' impositions onnetwinder, such as harsher grading, but that would seem to me to be rather petty and, if contrary to previous achievement, the teacher could end up attracting administrative attention that would be rather undesirable.With anonymity preserved, it would be far more sensible for the teacher to ignore anything posted here and just let it slide.