Digital Professionalism

Wikipedia.com is a free encyclopedia that covers a wide range of topics. Source: Librarything.com

“The history of the world is but the biography of great men,” as quoted from Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle.  While this might have been the case for thousands of years of history, it no longer applies to current society.  Writing and rhetoric in past history was about who had the most power and influence among the people of the time.  And now take a look at the people who publish their writing today.  Not only do people of all genders, races, and ages publish their works for audiences, but you do not need any power or influence to have an opinion either.  All you need is access to the Internet.

Due to new technology and the prevalence of the Internet, ways to communicate with people have developed differently than ever before.  In her article “What Matter Who’s Speaking: Access, Wikis, and YOU,” English professor at UCLA Susan Lewak discusses how current electronic literature like Wikipedia lets anyone be a writer on any topics. There is no need for “authors” or “readers,” just people who sign up for an account and edit the information.  The information is interactive and always changing.  As Lewak says,

“… the ability of the Wiki to create a document edited by potentially millions of anonymous user/editor/administrators in a dynamic, online environment marked by debate marks it as significant.  In other words, Wikis matter not because they are created by “authors” or “readers.”  They are significant because they are created by YOU.”

Who is this “you?” The “you” is everyone on the Internet. Anyone who wants to add information on these websites or contribute to these topics can usually have access to it. This can be a good thing.  People can express their opinions and are not restricted by societal norms or publishers to get their work read by people. Also, people can add information for the readers that might not have been known or acknowledged before, resulting in a new resource for intelligence.

However, there is also a problem with this.  If everyone has access to editing these sites, how do we know this information is legitimate? Anyone could sign up for this and claim that they are professionals or know the information. Another problem with websites like Wiki is that it does not give the authors, or “contributors,” credit.  Some may say that this is a good thing, but isn’t it taking away the professionalism and respect for authors?  Lewak explains,

“As The Wikipedia is a virtual community (masked as a dynamic document), these users are encouraged to join by registering (a procedure which does not require the use of real-world identities) and adopting a username or text-based avatar.”

Do writers who publish their content on the Internet get enough credit for their work? Source: Portlandbookreview.com

These writers do not even need to have real names, therefore none of the credit is given to them. I feel that these sites are undermining the credit given to people who have knowledgeable information and opinions.

New innovations on the Internet allow anyone to be a writer, whether that be through blogging, social media sites, digital publication, etc., and this is a positive change for communication and distribution of writing.  However, I believe people need to get credit for their writing, and sites like Wiki don’t give enough acknowledgment to their “authors.” I’m not saying that I do not use Wikipedia and other websites like it for information, but I know that I should not always trust what information is put on there.  So while the Internet has created a domain for all kinds of writers, we need to ask ourselves if this kind of freedom is undermining the professionalism and respect of writing.