CZ Talk:The Author Role

Here is an introduction to the Citizendium author role, written for people who are relatively unfamiliar with wikis and how they work. But it may be useful for wiki masters, because it also covers the Citizendium's special take on authorship.

What, exactly, do Citizendium authors do?

Authors write articles, and other content, of course. So they are the lifeblood of the project. But this is not the usual sort of authorship. They neither ask for assignments from editors, nor do editors give out assignments. They just work on whatever they want to, whenever they want to--no deadlines, just expository bliss. This can be an existing article or a brand new one.

Also, our active authors--usually--act as more than just writers. They act as members of a dynamic, living community, discussing articles, debating policy, and joking around. (Don't worry; in case you are all business, joking around is not actually mandatory.) They really are citizens of a real online community.

Still, mostly authors just write.

How does collaboration work?

A robust wiki is not just collaborative, it's strongly collaborative. Articles are unsigned, so new people don't feel they're stepping can feel as free as possible to improve them. (You can still see who has worked on an article, however, in the page history: click the "history" tab.) Authors can and do take pride in their own work, but individual articles are unowned--or, perhaps, they are owned and managed by the whole community. Neither an author who has contributed the bulk of an article's content, nor an editor who has responsibility for content decisions, can claim that an article is exclusively his or hers.

This is astonishing, if you think about it. Recently, for the first time in history, global groups of people, working in "real time," have been creating content without any single person being solely responsible for it. Moreover, this content is free forever--so, if it's good enough, people will be inspired to improve it indefinitely.

Why write for the Citizendium?

• Why unsigned articles
• Why do people contribute at all? How is it rewarding?
• Our prospects
• How do you become an active author?
• How to find more