Essjay's Ethos : Rethinking Textual Origins and Intellectual Property [Excerpt]

Author(s): James J. Brown Jr.

Source: College Composition and Communication, Vol. 61, No. 1 (SEPTEMBER 2009), p. 181
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40593532 .
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JamesJ.BrownJr.

Ethos:
Essjay's Textual
Rethinking and
Origins
Intellectual
Property1

Discussionsof intellectualpropertyare oftenthe focusofrhetoricand composition

research,and the questionoftextualoriginsgroundsthesediscussions.Throughan
examination ofWikipedia,theonlineencyclopedia anyonecan edit,thisessayaddresses
concerns
disciplinary about textual
origins and intellectual
property through a discus-
sionofsituatedand constructedethos.

TJL heJuly31,2006,issueofTheNewYorkerfeaturedan articleaboutWiki-

pedia,the freeonlineencyclopediathatanyonecan edit.The authorof the
piece,StacySchiff,intervieweda WikipediabureaucratnamedEssjay.2 Essjay
was thisWikipedian'susername- like manyothershe chose a pseudonym
in an attemptto maintainanonymity. In Essjay'scase,he claimedhe did this
because "he routinelyreceiveddeaththreats."Schiffs storydetailsEssjay's
onlineand offlinecredentials:

Oneregular
onthesiteis a userknown whoholdsa Ph.D.intheology
as Essjay,
and a degreein canon law and has writtenor contributed to sixteenthousand
entries.A tenuredprofessorofreligionat a privateuniversity, Essjaymade his
firsteditin February,2005.Initially,
he contributed to articlesin his field- on
thepenitentialrite,transubstantiation, thepapal tiara.Soon he was spending
fourteen hoursa dayon thesite,thoughhe was carefulto keep his onlinelifea
secretfromhis colleaguesand friends. (Schiff)
ReadtheentireessaybyJamesJ.BrownJr.at www.ncte.org/cccc/ccc,
"The
ExtendedCCC

CCC 61:1 / SEPTEMBER 2009

181

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