Response to "Identity, Authority, and Learning..."

            In her article “Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces”, Elizabeth Wardle discusses the importance of individual’s identities and the concept of authority in the matter of learning to write in new workplaces. She argues that individuals have three modes of belonging that they need to follow in order to be able to learn to write in new places which are: Engagement, Imagination, and Alignment. She discusses a man named Alan, and his choices in a new workplace. She explained how he rebelled and used email in ‘inappropriate’ ways. Thus he created conflict by not adapting and was not accepted by co-workers. He should have adapted and should have been willing to consider other ways, but he did not.

            Her article is very similar to the article by Swales and Devitt et al. in that they both discuss discourse communities. Wardle adds a new element to her discussion though. She takes the conversation to a place that discusses how an individual should act within the community rather than discuss the community as a whole. This really helps one understand the inner workings of the communities and made me really think about Reddit (my project 3 topic) in a way that I had not previously.