Creating Editorial Authority through Technological Innovation

Abstract

This article considers a case in which editors created for themselves an amount of power and authority within an organization through technological innovation. Using retrospective analysis and e-mail interviews, the author discusses his own previous experience as a technical editor at a U.S. Government-run research facility when electronic editing was introduced and used. The introduction of electronic editing, the author argues, was an example of technological innovation, which, as other researchers have demonstrated, can create authority within an organization.