Week One: Produsage
It is evident that today the lines that separate producers of content to users of content are fading. It is now necessary to develop a new theory to determine the producers of generated information and the users. The concept ‘Produsage’, created by Axel Bruns, details that participants of online content are not simply passive consumers anymore, but active users contributing to the expansion of social networks and communal content. Users now occupy a hybrid position of being both users and producers; they are production users, or produsers, engaged in the act of ‘Produsage’ (bruns, 2008). ‘Produsage’ is now a term to describe the driving force behind Web 2.0 and user-led contributions.
It is evident that ‘Produsage’ is considerably different to later traditional models of media production. Traditional media worked on a ‘top-down’ structure, where those who were wealthy and educated were given the power to control media content and its distribution. This made it next to impossible to encounter a diversity of contributions to online media and therefore no common user was able to participate in the construction of the media that they were consuming. The hierarchical distribution method of this time has changed dramatically, through the introduction of Web 2.0.
Through the introduction of Web 2.0, the only requirements for the participation of online content, is access to a computer and an Internet connection. The production value chain is no longer recognisable as a hierarchical method, but instead this power has been given to a series of unknown users, all contributing to the continuous cycle of online content. This convergence has enabled everyone to access a greater range of content produced by a worldwide contribution from users. Therefore not only are more people producing information, but these same people are receiving access to knowledge and content published by peers and other members of the general public worldwide.
At this stage of new media development the future of ‘Produsage’ is unknown. Where will ‘Produsage’ go from here? When the guidelines of ‘Produsage’ are discussed it is evident that anybody with the right knowledge and resources can become a creator of content. With more and more data and content being produced and distributed everyday, how is anybody looking for substantial, academic resources for research information, supposed to filter through and find what they are looking for. How are we to distinguish right from wrong when there are so many sources telling us otherwise?
Reference:
Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage. New York: Peter Lang
I thought you explained the concept of produsage very clearly and it was easy for me to follow your thought process; I enjoyed your second and third paragraph particularly. I found it very interesting to see the contrast between the early production of online media and the production that is taking place now through web 2.0. When you say “It is evident that ‘Produsage’ is considerably different to later traditional models of media production” do you mean “is considerably different in EARLIER traditional models of media production,” in reference to the period before web 2.0, or have I misinterpret what you were trying to say?
I think some of the questions you are asking in your final paragraph are very valid. In particular the question of how will we sift through all the content to find reliable resources? I found this especially relevant being a university student. The number of resources for any one topic is growing exponentially, and I know I am finding the process of sifting through every google result to find a relevant and reliable resource an arduous task at the best of times. Which leads me to question, is produsage perhaps doing as much harm as it is good?