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ABSTRACT
This paper locates digital social production (or unpaid participation on the Web) within a broader discussion about demonstrating job readiness in a wired world. It does not assume that the recruitment marketplace is a level playing field for graduates. Nor does it assume that a single additional graduate attribute, in the form of contributing to Wikipedia, will guarantee employment. However, it makes a case that digital social production as a graduate attribute could be positioned within the body of scholarly literature that is emerging about the merits of using Wikipedia in the higher education classroom. If fewer opportunities exist for work placement and institutionally-organised internships for students taking non-vocational more generalist degrees, then students and educators must be more creative about the kinds of authentic assessment tasks and extra-curriculum activities that are on offer to shape a narrative of employability for graduates. A case is made that, following Deuze (2007), a ‘networked reputation’ has value in an ethical economy but potentially it could also have value in the graduate recruitment marketplace. Following Kuehn and Corrigan (Citation2013), this paper makes a case that volunteering one’s time in an unpaid internship or editing Wikipedia entries online could be categorised as ‘hope labour’.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Indeed, as this article was going to print a call for papers was issued by the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice for a special issue about ‘Advancing non-placement WIL across the degree’. See: https://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/latestnews.html