when everybody is an author...

Jenkins, in convergence culture, relies a great deal on the theory of collective intelligence posed by Pierre Levy to explain the activities and communities of fans and by extension audiences. Levy (1997) speculates that the effect of digital technologies and the Internet will be the evolution of collective intelligence, which is

a form of universally distributed intelligence, constantly enhanced, coordinated in
real time, and resulting in the effective moblization of skills….The basis and goal of
collective intelligence is the mutual recognition and enrichment of individuals
rather than the cult of fetishized or hypoststized communities. (p. 13)

Along with Barthes and others that posit the death of the author, Levy too seems to hint at authorlessness, not because of the soullessness of text or the effect of discourse communities, but because when everyone can be considered an author then the exclusivity of the term seems to lose its value.

Thus, just when minorities and other suppressed groups seem to be finally gaining the status of author, the very prestige of the term seems to be stripped away. When anyone can publish their work, when the gates truly come down, it is no longer possible to "win" according to the old rules of the game. The game has changed. Levy's society of collective intelligence is a Utopian one (although he maintains that it is an achievable utopia). Nevertheless, I believe that the Internet holds the promise of better dialogue and equal opportunity than the old school publishing industry ever will. And, it is through dialogue not one-way mass communication that we will learn to fear the other less and see instead our commonalities.