Panel #10 Session 3

 

 

A writer, a reader and a bot walk into a bar: writing and ethics in (non)human collaborations

   - Beck Wise, Benjamin Miller & Catriona Arthy

       University of Queensland & University of Sydney

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In Australian writing programs, discussions of writing’s dialogic and collaborative function are often dominated by questions of co-authorship (see, for example, Ellison & Batty) and audience, as in Anne Surma’s argument that “all writing circulating in the public domain … involves a reciprocal relation or (imagined) conference between writer(s) and potential reader(s)” (34). More recent scholarship suggests that collaboration can be rethought through a wider frame that captures the rich complexity of individual, interpersonal, material and cultural forces that combine to make writing possible and facilitate its creative and ethical work. This approach positions writing as a fundamentally collaborative act: a “codependent interaction with a whole host of others—materials, power grids, people, animals, rituals, feelings, stuff, and much else” (Micciche 498). Building on existing scholarship on collaboration, ethics and social justice (see, among others, TEXT’s 2020 special issue “Creating Communities: Collaboration in creative writing and research”, edited by McGowan, Philp & Jeffery), this panel examines emerging collaboration practices in new writing environments and investigates the social justice implications of writing with human and non-human others. Through case studies of AI, collaboration with readers, and writing guidance, this panel argues that, to write effectively and equitably in the 21st century, writers must move beyond imagined conversations with readers, and attend to the real and material conditions of writing as a “partnership that include[s] and exceed[s] intentional ones established between people” (Micciche 498).

 

Speaker 1 examines a paradox in discussions about generative AI in writing pedagogy: these tools have the potential to democratise writing at a time when universities aim to ‘widen participation’, yet hefty subscription fees risk creating a digital divide among students. What are the capabilities of AI such as scite.ai, research rabbit and ChatGPT, how can these tools be used in the writing process, and who can afford to write, participate and collaborate in AI-connected higher education institutions?

 

Speaker 2 argues that human-centred design strategies can create more inclusive and effective texts by centring readers in the writing process and locating them as experts in their own lives. Drawing on data gathered through writing co-designed with readers, they offer composing strategies that increase writing impact and reach broader audiences. How can writers promote social justice by bringing readers into a conversation that’s historically excluded them?

 

Speaker 3 investigates the legal and institutional regulation of writing with AI partners, analysing publisher and institutional policies relating to generative AI use as a co-author, interlocutor or source. What do these responses tell us about the relationship between reading and writing, and the ethics of writing with and for others?

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References:

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Ellison, E., & Batty, C. (2020). Collaborating upwards: Writing across hierarchical boundaries. TEXT, 24(Special 59), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.52086/001c.23459

 

McGowan, L., Philp, A., & Jeffery, E. (2020). Introduction: Collaboration and authority in electronic literature. TEXT: Journal of Writing & Writing Programs, Special Issue 59 Creating Communities: Collaboration in Creative Writing and Research, 24(2).

 

Micciche, L. R. (2014). Writing Material. College English, 76(6), 488–505.

 

Surma, A. (2021). Professional writing as ethical rhetoric: The Australian government’s response to Bringing Them Home. Australian Journal of Communication, 28(2), 33–47.