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The Death of the Author

The Death of the Author is an important text from structuralist and critic Roland Barthes, published for the first time in 1967. But more imporant the Death of the Author is a concept in art theory about the giving of meaning. Barthes argued that the viewer was the one who was important for the making of meaning. The author was the one who wrote the story down (or painted it on a canvas) and afterwards his job was done. He might have put his own meaning in it, but a viewer could still extract a totally different meaning. Barthes believes that a viewer normally makes meaning by examining signs in an image. The viewer creates a interpretation of a text, he is not looking for a final definitive meaning. An interpretation starts with a viewer objectively looking at a text and describing what he literally sees in or reads from the text. This literal description of the text is what Barthes calls denotation, a descriptive and literal level of meaning shared by virtually all members of a culture. What these signs mean for a person calls Barthes the connotation; the personal associations a viewer has with the signs.
Does this mean that an author or artists leaves the work of art behind after the completion? Wouldn’t an author have any influence on the signs the viewers are going to see? Or does an artist consciously leave traces behind, a path he wants the audience to follow? Can he make certain signs more noticeable and with this steer the interpretation in a desired direction?

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the largest web-based encyclopedia available. It was launched in 2001 and currently has around 14 million articles, written in 272 languages. The name is a combination from the Hawaiian word ‘Wiki’, which means quick, and the word ‘encyclopedia’. What makes this web-based encyclopedia special and popular is that every visitor can add and edit articles.

Although it has been stated that Wikipedia contains less errors and mistakes (through to the continuous editing) than printed encyclopedias, this editing model is also the main point of critique on Wikipedia. Every visitor can change an article to whatever he decides. There is a strong controlling apparatus with moderating users, but no guarantee whatsoever. Former editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Britannica Robert McHenry called Wikipedia a ‘faith-based encyclopedia’ and even Wikipedia’s own founder, Jimmy Wales, disencourages academic use of his creation, for there is simply no possible way to prove all the information there. Trying to include false information is becoming more and more popular, an example can be seen on the facebook group If Wikipedia Says It, It Must Be True where people post screenshots of the Wikipedia articles they find (or make) to be incorrect.

Interesting is to see how the unreliability of Wikipedia is included in Popular Culture. The quote ‘Citation Needed’ appears on Wikipedia when a moderator (or visitor) questions the reliability of an article.