What is a Multimedia Author?

A multimedia author becomes an intangible, abstract figure the moment his or her work is released to the masses or the instant that person employs another medium for enhancing his submission. In my opinion, the term “author” is no longer appropriate: the individual who submitted the original piece has become a collaborator whose input was merely a piece of the overall picture that constitutes the submission. As the author used other forms of media in submitting the work, it is arguable that the entire submission is truly the result of one person’s creativity, anyway. As every part of the process is so dynamic—Foucault, in his argument, calls into question the consistency in which an author even exists in creative endeavors—where one person’s input ends and another individual ‘s incorporations begin is nearly impossible to pick apart.
I call for a change in terminology. As an author is considered to exist before every part of the work, according to Barthes, this word is inaccurate in its labeling. The proper term should depict an individual who created something, to be sure, but also characterizes an individual who used other methods, was influenced by other people and other mediums (duh, multimedia), and created a dynamic collaboration that may or may not still be embellished by other people. Although the “multimedia” aspect of “multimedia author” seems pretty much on target, the “author” part of the term should change to “transposer” or “embellisher” or “collaborator.” The work could then be called “a _____ (literary, scientific, artistic, et cetera) collage, implying reference to the medium in which it was submitted as well as other fellow collaborators whose contributions should be recognized, as well.