I have long been interested in issues of authority. In my college years, I was known for frequently wearing a ‘Question Authority’ T-shirt. During my corporate years, I read books like, Reworking Authority by Larry Hirschorn as I tried to learn how to navigate group dynamics of the corporate structures I found myself in. At the Media in Transition conference, there were discussions about the role of the author in a world of digital media including the relationship between ‘author’ and ‘authority’.

Where does authority reside? How do we think about authors in a world of oral tradition or digital mashups? Is there some anti-authoritarian streaks in digital mashups, and if so, how does this carry over into the political world, where people are trying to establishing senses of authority and to elect people to offices expanding their authority?

How does this relate to credentials and identity? People would look at my name tag. It didn’t list an educational institution that I was affiliated with. Various people asked me who I was with, what organization, and what do I do? They were searching for clues to my identity, ideally for credentialed clues. They were trying to determine what sort of authority I had.

I probably confounded many of them when I responded to questions about what I do, with answers like “I’m not sure any more” or “I don’t really know”.

I blog. That stands on its own. Anyone can come here and read what they want. They can make up their own minds about whatever sort of authority they want to imbue me with. I was credentialed to blog the 2004 Democratic National Convention and then this year to blog the Libby Trial. How bloggers get credentialed remains an issue that people are struggling with. Credentials, authority and identity are all being reworked in this digital age. They are being mashed up, perhaps in ways similar to how trailers or music videos are being mashed up.

People need to rethink what authority is, how they establish their identity and what credentials really matter. People on campaigns need to think about how the public identity of their candidates is established, how that is changing in the digital world.

I write all of this as while I am rereading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I’m sure quality fits into this idea of a new way of thinking about authority, identity and credentials, but I’m not sure exactly how, yet.

I will continue to explore this, to try and establish my own identity and authority online as I search for answers and search for quality.
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