[Air-L] Citation praxis

Gordon Carlson gordycarlson at gmail.com
Sun Oct 26 14:59:53 PDT 2008


I have never agreed with obfuscating first names in the hopes of gender
equality.  In cases where anonymity is required, then no part of the name
should be given for obvious reasons.  When citing a person by name the point
is to give credit, in whatever form, to a specific person.  This might be to
credit an original idea or to garner credibility for one's own, but in any
event you are crediting an individual.
In citing another person you are, by definition, drawing attention to them.
 If some individuals will engage in sexist decisions based on that knowledge
then the problem is deeper than the citation system and will not be solved
by hiding first names.  Further, two obfuscate the first name is
contradictory to the notion of citing another's work.  They are people, not
anonymous, genderless boxes of information.

While I agree there is sometimes a sexist aspect to people's viewing of
other works, the citations system should not be predicated on it.  Rather,
it should seek only to clearly identify the path that knowledge and ideas
have taken from their genesis to current use.  This represents a cornerstone
of progressive research.

That is my two cents, please feel free to tell me why I am wrong.

-Gordon Carlson
-University of Illinois at Chicago






On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 4:47 PM, <richard.ling at telenor.com> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I need advice on the style of citations. I generally use only initials for
> first names in the name of gender equality. The idea being that the reader
> will judge the citation not by the gender of the author but by the quality
> of the work.
>
> I have recently been asked to change this format to include full given
> names. In addition to being a pain to look up all the names it seems to
> violate the gender equality idea.
>
> Is there a clear praxis here?
>
>
> Rich Ling
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-- 
Gordon Carlson
C: 541-990-1155



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