Technology, Institutions, and Authorship

To what extent does technology determine authorship?

Who has developed the technology needed for publication? If the author has done so, then the authorship might be clearer. He or she creates it, and has control of the entire process of the operation. Becker sees this as unlikely (768). Gutenberg, if he writes his own book, may have an uncontested authorship. But if one rushes to the same printer, it may not be as clear. True, the writer composes his work, but the printers will review and edit, as well as engage in the actual printing process. How much of authorship is accredited to them? Is the printing staff to have an authorial role, or are they merely support staff (768)? I tilt slightly toward the notion that the other agents assisting the writer have more important parts besides support, but it depends on the complexity of the tasks they are involved in.

WHAT of this blog? I wrote it, but I am using technology from Microsoft ®, Blogger®, and Yahoo! ®
Of course, since I use dialup, I gain access through AOL ®. My blog content may be called my own, but I could not blog without working through the aforementioned entities. Can these claim authorship?

Becker discusses artists who stand out because of a special skill they have. The implication is that they would by their skill alone be considered authors. Yet, if others copy and master the skill, how will he claim authorship then (769)?

What are the rules of institutions in shaping constructing authors?

Authors face a web of logistics in getting in print or on the big screen, or on stage. Becker also discusses the rules involved (768). These control what the artist can use, and how he can use it (771). While he does not say the author can never vary from the standards, he does mention that it would take much effort to do so.
To Becker, standards create expectations and a type of efficiency, saving time and money, and help in the coordination of all who work on the project in question (773). Indeed, the standards seem to establish a kind of morality (773), and any artist to violate the rules would commit sacrilege.

Benjamin does not say in his article, but his discussion on the Soviet press and its institutional approach should have covered that not only does adherence to the rules of the Russian entity save time and perhaps money, but lives as well. The Soviet writers flourish because they obey the rules. It would be a very different story if they did not.

Yet how are these authors constructed? I see that the Russian writers are merely cogs in Benjamin’s Soviet machine. In Becker’s world, the authors can flourish well if they stay within the parameters of the rules (Becker 774). I would say that the institutions can produce authors who are content to make minor advances, and live within the system, yet the rules are considered challenges by the risk-hungry types who will do what it takes to make a mark in the world.