Reviewing the Author-Function in the Age of Wikipedia

“I Don’t Feel Like It Is ‘Mine’ at All”: Assessing Wikipedia Editors’ Sense of Individual and Community Ownership

“…While scholars in writing studies and technical and professional communication have drawn boundaries between authorship, as pertaining to creative and intellectual originality, and ownership, as pertaining to copyright and intellectual property, they have also recognized how changing conceptions of the former impact writers' understanding of the latter (Kennedy, 2016;Ray & Graeff, 2008;Reyman, 2011). Kennedy (2016) explores the transformation of authorial identity in the realm of print texts and emerging digital media.…”

“…Emphasizing that technical communication is not typically regarded as an individualized activity, Reyman proposes a new conception of the author that goes beyond legal ownership and that underscores the rhetorical impact of technical communicators’ work on their workplaces, their company’s culture, and the broader discourses of science and technology (p. 361). Similarly, and in the context of wiki writing more specifically, Ray and Graeff (2008) focus attention to the changing dynamics of authorship. They draw from Barthes’s “The Death of the Author” to emphasize the transformation of the author-genius into a collaborative entity, as readers become authors empowered to edit content.…”

“…Research in communication, human computer interaction (HCI), and writing studies has examined Wikipedia editing in regard to revision (Jones, 2008;Purdy, 2009), collaboration (Kimmons, 2011;Laniado & Tasso, 2011;Reagle, 2010), authorship (Kennedy, 2010;Ray & Graeff, 2008), ownership (Halfaker et al, 2009;Simone, 2014;Thom-Santelli et al, 2009), and among other areas of inquiry, including Wikipedia-based education in writing studies and communication (Cummings, 2009;Di Lauro & Johinke, 2017;Evenstein Sigalov & Nachmias, 2017;Hood, 2007;Vetter, 2014;Vetter et al, 2019). While some of the participants for this study were drawn from Wiki Education's classroom program, 2 the focus of this literature review is on written communication practices that might help us better understand collaborative writing in both nonacademic and academic contexts.…”

The Construction of Karen Karnak: The Multi-Author Function

“…WikiMedia is part of an emerging trend amongst Web 2.0 applications to facilitate collaboratively produced audio-visual media and enhance the participatory aspect of media production. Whilst Web 2.0 technology, such as Blogger (2010), YouTube (2010), and Flickr (2010), have provided an accessible distribution network for the individual authors of text and audio/visual material, the development of the online Wiki has permitted collaborative multi-author work to be circulated (Ray & Graeff, 2008). These developments are part of a growing trend, which is reflected in the increase of user generated content as a major use of the internet 1 and the expansion of collaboratively produced Open-Source production models.…”