Posted by: alycem on: May 24, 2009
“DIY culture has always been about control, from production through to distribution, performance and promotion of cultural products. It enabled people to have control over the end-to-end process of communicating through cultural products” (Chen 2005).
Do it Yourself or DIY, seems like a pretty simple concept, but its implication in the new media world are far more complex. With the emergence of Produsage cultures of consumption and use comes the increase in the level of consumer and amateur roles in the global media environment. Hartley (2005, 75) defines DIY culture as a youth centred and directed cluster of interests and practices and central to DIY culture is the circulation of ideas: this is not just a precursor to activism, it is activism-writing is action, open publishing is a direct cultural intervention. In contrast to this Flew (2008, 108) suggests that second to this is the related conception of the rise of participatory media through Internet and networked ICT’s is their capacity to promote do-it-yourself (DIY) media production. The new platforms of media use that come with Web 2.0 technologies and the gradual shift from production to Produsage is the foundation of what have spawned this idea of a DIY culture and is the driving force in its continued role in changing the very core of our culture, economy, society and democracy.
A DIY culture of activities occur on a number of levels, such as Citizen Journalism, contributing to Wiki’s or be it uploading a video to YouTube and it is, “the collective intelligence on which Produsage is based and for whose operations it serves as a key example is better able through its broad-based, probabilistic, and heterarchial processes to allow innovative ideas to emerge from its community of participation” (Bruns 2008, 404).
So if it’s a DIY culture use, what does that make those that participate within it? Well they are known as DIY citizens and according to Hartley (2005, 111) in commercial democracies, long-term trends encourage citizenship itself to become a creative act.
“DIY citizenship is related to the decline of defence and a growing reluctance to accept the authority of established institutions of the media as well as government, and a demand for speaking rights, meaningful interaction with authority figures and what is being termed as semiotic self-determination, or the right to determine one’s own identity“ (Flew 2008, 108).
DIY citizenship harvests the same fields as DIY culture, but it is not confined to spectacular subcultures of youth activism. This has profound consequences for the continued role of collective intelligence in the new media sphere.
What is made apparent through DIY culture and citizenship is that through, “the arrival and gradual embrace of Produsage clearly has the potential to significantly reshape our existing cultural, commercial, social and political institution” (Bruns 2008, 400).
References:
Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Chen, S. 2005. DIY Culture. http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog/index.php/2005/12/26/diy-culture/ (accessed May 22, 2009).
Flew, T. 2008. New Media an Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hartley, J. ed. 2005. Creative Industries. Victoria: Blackwell Publishing
Posted by: alycem on: May 17, 2009
“Pro Ams provides societies with innovation, deeper social capital and healthier democracy as they are creating new, distributed organisational models that are innovative, adaptive and low-cost…for Pro-Ams, leisure is not passive consumerism but active and participatory, it involves the deployment of publicly accredited knowledge and skills” (Leadbeater and Miller 2004, 12).
‘Pro-Ams’: just a simple hybrid abbreviation for professionals and amateurs, but in reality its impact is far more profound. The Pro-Am revolution has spawned from Produsage cultures and it can be seen that its growing popularity is impacting significantly on the role in which everyday people, and in turn professional are operating in a collaborative world. Pro-Ams are defined by Flew (2008, 113) as innovated, committed and networked amateurs working to professional standards. These Pro-Am activities come in many shapes and forms, some of which include contributing to Wikipedia and participating in citizen journalism activities just to name a few.
As Pro-Am roles continue to evolve in a Produsage environment the debate surrounding its consequences becomes ever increasing, or as Flew (2008, 113) puts it, when Pro-Ams are networked together, they can have a huge impact on politics and culture, economics and development. The argument surrounding the bridging of the professional and amateur divide has extended as a result of the current social-economic system that is based on mass creativity. What arises from the Pro-Am debate is the level of credibility that can be derived from the contributions made by amateurs in the professional sphere.
We can see that through, “the rise of Pro-Am production models, and the scope for mass distribution with contentious feedback through networked new media technologies, generates a huge challenge to the established organisational order and the professions who design, control and lead them“ (Flew 2008, 114).
What we see here is how the more active roles consumers are playing in a Produsage environment is blurring the lines between professionals and amateurs and in turn challenging the boundaries of what is considered to be a valuable artefact. This debate has spawned from issues of information control and moderation in areas such as Citizen Journalism and Wikipedia. The ease of access nature to these activities does in turn create issues of information control, and the debate seems to be surrounded around whether this is a certain or uncertain thing. However this debate cannot be argued in such a ‘black and white’ manner that is to say that there is a lot of grey area. This grey area is perhaps best argued by Bruns (2008, 16) that in the context of collective intellect as spanning a continuum of expertise from ‘Pros’ to ‘Ams’, then, while community-based collaborative content creation and folksonomic modes of structuring the content thus created are highly productive, effective, and useful, they remain only one part of the wider picture.
References:
Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Flew, T. 2008. New Media an Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Leadbeater, C. and P. Miller. The Pro-Am Revolution. 2004. http://www.demos.co.uk/files.proamrevolutionfinal/pdf?124093425/ (accessed May 15, 2009).
Posted by: alycem on: May 10, 2009
A wiki is a web published database, where entries and links can be created or edited by a user.
“The concept of Web 2.0 and the products that arise from of its development, like that of Wikipedia, have caught on for two particular reasons. First, it has embedded within it, a range of the features that have long been as central to the Web as a communication infrastructure, such as the scope of participation, intercreativity, collaborative learning, and social networking, as well as positive networking effects from harnessing collective intelligence; in other words, the quality of participation increases as the numbers participating increase, and this in turn attracts more new users to the sites” (Flew 2008, 17).
Wikipedia, the modern day encyclopaedia. Where else do you go when you need information for that assignment or you need diagnoses for mystery health ailment. Whatever the case Wikipedia has become a widespread means of for getting information sources, fast. But Wikipedia is more than just an information resource it has become a cultural hub for participatory online cultures in the drive in the rise of collaborative content creation in a new media environment.
“Wikipedia is a prime example of the idea of a shift from production to Produsage and how this necessitates a different approach to engage with content and with those who participate in creating, developing, extending, evaluating and policing that content” (Bruns 2008, 137). Open publishing models such as wikis demonstrate the possibilities and complexities of an ever-changing, collaborative creation
According to Bruns (2008, 102) Wikis themselves are, alongside blogs, perceived to be one of the key drivers of the wider Web 2.0, social software phenomenon. This further demonstrates Flew’s (2008 64)ideas of collective Intelligence, which refers to the power of networked communities in developing knowledge systems that are not only greater than the sum of their individual parts, but that grow, evolve, and collectively learn through ongoing interaction. However one draw back Wikipedia’s ease of access is the credibility of the information that is contributed. The debate that concerning this is surrounded around the fact that the activity of information contribution blurs the boundaries between professionals and amateurs. Issues of reliability I think are dependant upon the subject of information. For instance if you needed information on nuclear fission, you probably would need to go to the library rather than Wikipedia. However Wikipedia could be more useful for information on more topical issues. So perhaps Wikipedia instead acts as a prompt to for topics of research, rather than the final destination.
What Wikipedia does demonstrates however, is how the Internet and digital media technologies have established themselves as dominant media and communications forms as there have been major transitions with those technologies and how they are used. In particular, the rise of social media and Web 2.0 technologies has accelerated trends towards the users of digital media also being its primary content producers.
References:
Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Flew, T. 2008. New Media an Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Posted by: alycem on: May 10, 2009
“The internet is a vast virtual territory that has facilitated a revolutionized the form of media that is journalism and it can be seen as that citizen journalism is capable of turning the traditional world of journalism upside down “ (Vibe Wire 2009).
These days almost anyone can be a reporter. The ever popular use of the internet and developments in mobile technologies has paved the way for everyday citizens to have a voice. This online environment has spawned new forms of journalism and news production. These shifts in production infrastructures and audience roles are associated with the birth of Web 2.0, as well as new patterns of distribution and use, leading to the rise of what has been termed citizen journalism. Citizen or participatory journalism is the theory that users can effectively use the web to report on news and current affairs. Citizen’s can play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and distributing news and information.
According to Flew (2008, 145-6) there are three elements are critical to the rise of citizen journalism and media. The first is open publishing, the second collaborative editing and the third is promoting citizen journalism is distributed content through RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) feeds.
Citizen journalism can be classified into the following forms:
· Audience participation
· Independent news websites
· Full-fledged participatory news sites
· Collaborative and contributory media sites
· ‘thin media; such as e-mail newsletters
· Pod casts and other personal broadcast sites (Internetrix 2006).
“Citizen journalism has become an avenue to explore a mode of investigation without the institutional restrictions of traditional journalism and commercial media…and as a result, not only is citizen journalism mobilized and ‘liberated’ by the internet, but its inherent technologies also allow for the production of highly interactive news that its audience can engage with as opposed to consume” (Vibe Wire 2009).
However what arises from the popularisation of citizen journalist activities is the credibility of the overwhelming amount of information that is produces. This blurring of the boundaries of the roles of professionals and citizens creates heated debate surrounding the value of the citizen journalist. But I say to those is, the ever evolving and developing participatory online culture is the foundation for a drive in the rise of collaborative content creation and collective intelligence in the media environment and in a way it seems that the internet would always be a vehicle for complete freedom of speech and in turn citizen journalism has become an extension of free speech.
What becomes apparent as a result of the rise in popularity of citizen journalist activities is the potential that arises for new forms of media production and consumption associated with the internet and user-generated content to generate new hybrid forms of media consumption and production.
References:
Flew, T. 2008. New Media an Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Internetrix. 2006. Citizen Journalism & the Internet Revolution.
http://www.internetrix.net/page/articles/newsletters/2006/august/citizen-journalism/ (accessed May 6, 2009).
Vibe Wire. 2009. All rise! Citizen Journalism and the Emergence of a New Virtual
Democracy. http://portal.vibewire.org/2009/05/all-rise-citizen-journalism-and-the-emergence-of-a-new-virtual-democrary/ (accessed May 6, 2009).
Posted by: alycem on: April 30, 2009
“What emerges in the online, networked, information economy, participants are not simply passive consumers, but active users, with some of them participating more strongly in ways which are inherently constructive and productive of social networks and communal content” (Bruns 2008, 23).
With the rise in the popularity of the internet and the birth of Web 2.0 has produced new cultures of consumption and use in the media sphere. These new cultures of use and consumption by the consumers do blur the boundaries and relationships among user, producer and distributor creating new cultural intermediaries and spaces. These ranges of new platforms of delivery, modes of consumption and industrial structures, as well as the structure and function of traditional media, reflect the fact that the there is a changed nature of the media environment. This then brings forth the need for a definition to the ever changing and evolving media landscape. Axel Bruns is a key individual who is working towards understandings the implications of a new media society. Bruns has laid claim to this current shift towards user-led forms of collaborative content creation as Produsage. Produsage describes this gradual shift away from production where societies developing participatory culture is the driving force in the rise of collaborative content creation and collective intelligence. The implications of this are that there are not only new forms of content production, but a new process the continued creation and development of knowledge by collaborative communities. This in turn will have profound implications at the very heart of our culture, economy, society and democracy.
Activities that have developed in the Produsage sphere occur on various levels, some of which include contributing to Wikipedia pages or reporting as a Citizen Journalist. The participation in such activities mirrors Bruns’ new model of the role of consumer and producers in an information and knowledge production value chain. Traditional production value chains see a three step process that begins with the producer, then to the distributor and finally to the consumer. In contrast the Produsage value chain consumers are now acting in producer roles, where by which playing a more active role. New media delivers new and better profiled audiences. The audience role takes on a different role in the new media context, that is to say that audiences as are becoming users by shaping technology, content and services. According to Bruns (2008, 2) Produsage exists within a wider context of new and emerging concepts for describing the social, technological, and economic environment of user-led content creation and at one level, all internet content is user-generated, as the medium by its very nature promotes interactive, many-to-many modes of communication.
What is made apparent by this idea of Produsage and the implications of the uses of new media technologies is the constant need for review and understanding of how society is becoming a reflection of developments in technology use and vice versa.
References:
Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
