Response to Megan

Megan asks: "Shipka seems to suggest that the final product may not be the most important component in a project but that authorial intent must be taken into account? However, many people might only see the final product and not know the authorial intent. Do you agree with Shipka? Or do you feel that without knowing about the author the audience does not get the entire experience?"
In all honesty, I feel two-minded about this. The final product is in many ways and in many situations the most important thing sometimes. I had a teacher once say to me when I told her "I really worked hard on this and spent a lot of time on it..can you please give me a better grade", to which she said to me "it is not the number of hours you worked on it but the final outcome of your work. If I gave you a better grade on the number of hours you worked, I'd have to change everyone else's grade too"
Thus, the process of getting to the final product is relevant to only the author/maker/producer but not the audience....at least not until the knowledge of the process adds meaning to the final product. For example, the Van Gogh painting that he made before he killed himself. That knowledge makes us view the painting in a different light. However, say I write an academic paper that is published in an Advertising Journal, nothing personal about me would add to the research because in some areas it really is important to be detached, objective about what you are researching about. Otherwise it is not scientific!
Therefore to answer your question "that without knowing about the author the audience does not get the entire experience?"...to that I'd say it is relevant in some areas (like art)..and not in some (like, say, engineering)