Assignment: Institutional Authority and Communication

As part of my students developing final projects in which they examine how history and communication relate to their chosen career fields, I am now asking them to develop a new component: researching their chosen field in light of the institutions that regulate that field, and in terms of the communication and control mechanisms that field employs.

The historical parallel here is to the political power of the Roman empire, and to the ecclesiastical and social power of the Catholic church in medieval Europe. Both of these entities put into place administrative hierarchies, and both used educational systems, authoritative texts, and cultural practices that would conserve their values, practices, and influence.

I do not want my students to examine political or religious authority, but to use these as historical analogs to the ways institutional authority functions within their career fields. Every field -- to be understood as a field -- has organizations that set, communicate, and enforce standards. In parallel to Catholicism, even the most secular fields keep the ideas of orthodoxy and of heresy. People have legitimacy conferred upon them by organizations provided they maintain "the faith," as it were. And such organizations have methods for disciplining or "excommunicating" its "unfaithful" or heretical members. They typically also have ways through which standards can be challenged and changed. Along the way, there must be in place methods for establishing and communicating standards and for vetting and approving / disapproving members of a given community of practice.

So, in 300-400 words, I would like my students to research one organization that institutionalizes the values and practices of their field. (It is very likely there will be multiple organizations with authority within a given field, but only one should be chosen). In their prewriting, they should answer these questions:

1. Authoritative Organization
   What is the name and nature of one authoritative organization for this field?
2. Regulating Standard
   How has this organization institutionalized the values and practices of their field? (Do they have key documents, or regulating processes or meetings?)
3. Influential Event
   What is an event this organization holds to create consensus, communicate values, or exercise control and influence in the field? 
4. Authoritative Publication
   What is an organ of communication used by this organization to communicate values or standards, and to connect people with peers in the field?
5. Challenging Authority / Changing Standards
   How does the organization deal with challenges to its core standards or practices?

In the actual post, however, I do not want the students to organize their writing as this list. Instead, they should use the list and then create a fictional scenario, a mini case study, that walks people through how these things are experienced. In this brief fictional story about someone in their career field, they should use the components in the list above as elements they identify (bolded and in brackets) as they tell the story. See the example, below.

Title your post "Institutional Authority and Communication in [your field]"

use the label: institutional authority and communication

Go past the break for an example

EXAMPLE: "Institutional Authority and Communication in Literary Studies"

Or... why Sam dared to submit a proposal to a big academic conference

Sam knew he was on the right path when he got into a PhD program in English at UCLA. He loved reading and writing about literature, especially his favorite author, Henry David Thoreau. His first semester he wrote a paper about "Civil Disobedience and Big Data" that combined his interest in computers with his love of the 19th century American thinker, Thoreau. It pleased him to see the note his professor scrawled on the last page: "You really should submit this to MLA this year."

Of course, Sam had heard of MLA because all his papers had to be written in "MLA style." Professors were picky about citing and documenting sources using this exact format [2. Regulating Standard]. But he hadn't given much thought to who it was that published the style guide.

"What's MLA?" he asked his professor during office hours. 

"Ha! What's MLA!" laughed Dr. Boswell. "Come in, have a seat. It's time you knew. Sam, it's only the biggest conference in our field [3. Influential Event], held between Christmas and New Year's each year. But this isn't just highly attended. It's put on by the MLA, the Modern Language Association [1. Authoritative Organization]. Pretty much all professors of literature are members of MLA. We look to their national policies when making our local ones, and we consider its board members the leaders of our profession."

Dr. Boswell pointed to a set of academic journals on his shelf. "You see that? Those are all the back issues of the Publication of the Modern Language Association -- or PMLA, as we call it. Get something published there and you are instantly legit. [4. Authoritative Publication]"

"Have you ever published in PMLA, Dr. Boswell?"

"No, Sam, I haven't. And there's a good reason. My work is in the digital humanities, and PMLA is very conservative. Only traditional literary criticism and formats. I'm afraid they wouldn't know what to do with my corpus linguistics. To them, creating a database is something a functionary does, not a scholar. They wouldn't accept my work."

"Then why are you suggesting that I present my work at their conference? I'm talking about big data."

"Yeah, I'm so excited about it! There's every reason for you to go to MLA. The conference is less formal than the publication, and it's exactly at a conference where new ideas can start to get traction. If enough people start talking about a new approach or format at the conference, then sooner or later these topics will show up in the formal publications -- and later in promotion and tenure standards." [5. Challenging Authority / Changing Standards]

Sam was a little scared when his proposal was accepted to go present at the MLA conference. But in a strange way, even though he would be challenging the status quo by bringing computers into the discussion of literature, he still felt like he was legitimized by getting the chance to speak. Maybe he was on his way.