Reading Response 10

For my final reading response and my second free-response, I will discuss how this class and the reading have effected my view on the internet and writing in electronic environments.  Prior to this semester, I never fully appreciated the read/write relationship that makes the internet so special.

Of all the things we have learned this semester, the transcendent relationship between the reader and the writer stands out as the most important.  No other writing environment allows the reader to be as much a part of the writing as the writer.  The duality of this relationship makes the content unique, customizable, and important.  Without this relationship, the internet is no different than a book or even a Microsoft Office document.  This duality is not limited to the blog genre.  Commenting is enabled on almost every website.  Comment sections on major websites allow for anyone's voice to be heard.  Comments also allow the writer a source of direct feedback, allowing them to adjust the work according to the reader's thoughts.

The Wiki genre is a great example of how the Internets readership helps create content.  Although most teachers will claim Wikipedia is an illegitimate source of information, I believe it is as reliable as any other source.  Here is an interesting story that accentuates this point:  A Dublin University student edited a Wikipedia page and added a fake quotation to an author's page.  The fake quotation was almost immediately removed, but before there were any repercussions.  When the author died, many journalists quoted this fake quotation and attributed it to him in his obituary.  Although the quote did not make it past Wikipedia editors, it made it into many of our newspapers.  This shows that Wikipedia does more fact-checking than many other sources of information out there.  This reiterates the point that the reader is totally capable of being a writer, as well as a legitimate source.

Despite this truth, I will not be using Wikipedia in any of my Work Cited pages.  I think Barstool Sports' slogan depicts this relationship best.  "By the common man, For the common man."  No other environment allows the common man's voice to be heard or supplies a place for the common man to read about what actually interests him.