The Author Value
The author value names the author of the page:
<meta name="author" content="Jane Doe">
Why Should You Teach It?
If nothing else, using the author value means that the pages students write will always have a name attached to them somewhere (as someone who has received more than her share of unattributed printouts, I find this no small advantage).
Beyond that benefit, however, author provides several opportunities for discussion. At the simplest level, the author value leads to considering the need for attribution on the web. Used correctly, the author value allows the writer of the page to take responsibility for its content, to prevent the page from becoming yet another of the countless unattributed sites on the web. Coupled with examples of the problems created by unattributed pages (such as those found at the Wolfgram Memorial Library site at Widener University), the author value can contribute to a discussion of questions of reliability and responsibility of sources on the web. Along with the View Source command, it can also give students a means to find the names of authors of pages that do not contain clear attribution (assuming that those authors have used the name/author combination themselves).
However, for more advanced classes (or classes with more time available), the author attribute can lead to a wider questioning of the status of web "authors." Although students using the author value may be taking responsibility for the content of their pages, are they also the sole producers of that content?
Citation Format:
Batschelet, Margaret. "Learning To Love the Code: HTML As a Tool in the Writing Classroom." The Writing Instructor. 2004. http://www.writinginstructor.org/files/batschelet/
(Date Accessed).
Review Process: Margaret Batschelet's
hypertext was accepted for publication following blind, peer review.