By challenging the authority of the single authorial voice, wikis also call into question traditional notions of intellectual property as a market commodity. These notions propagate the argument that ideas are a unique product of individual labor and can thus “belong” to a single person. It may be precisely because wikis challenge these established notions that some student users resist their use in the classroom. In keeping with this general theme, the questions that guide our research are as follows: What is the currency of intellectual property in the university setting? Do wikis, in fact, disrupt established, dominant notions of intellectual property? Can wikis be 110 WIKI WRITING used as pedagogical tools that challenge capitalist power structures while still providing students the necessary skills to succeed in diverse writing environments?
In exploring these questions, we discuss the ways in which traditional authorship is upset by wikis. We situate wikis within the larger historical context of intellectual property. Having established a theoretical foundation, we then turn our attention to the practical application of wikis in the composition classroom. Our goal here is to explore how wikis can be used to foster and/or challenge collaboration. As well, we outline how wikis can be used in the classroom to promote critical discussions about authorship and intellectual property. Although we do not want to claim that wikis are an unproblematic means of fostering collaboration, we do explore the ways in which wikis can encourage students to move beyond traditional notions of ownership and academic writing and into more collaborative, public discursive practices.