Citation as a community building practice

Have we fallen out of love with the currency of citation?

I’ve been trying to place my finger on how I generally don’t feel great about the state of the web and how so much seems to be focused on audience and growth tactics. We seem to care more about looking polished and smart over giving credit and pulling a diverse set of people into the conversations.

I'm almost 25 years into working in tech. Some of my feelings play into what the web used to be like. It's a place I miss. And whilst I am nostalgic and we may not be able to go back to what it was, we can be reminded of good practices that existed and how we can build upon our humanity.

What is citation?

When I first started thinking about citation in community I defaulted to the idea of referencing someone's work.

One definition of citation from the Oxford Language dictionary is:

a quotation from or reference to a book, paper, or author, especially in a scholary work.

And another definition is:

a mention of a praiseworthy act in an official report, especially that of a member of the armed forces in wartime.

As I go exploring in this article, I will approach community citation as a way to acknowledge the work and acts of people.

Let's dive into nine community perspectives on citation and what it means for the communities we build...