The concept 'Produsage' incorporates the consumer individual and the producer individual, and it blurs the boundaries between the two. The distinction between them, was once apparent but has now faded. In an interview with Henery Jenkins in 2012 Axel Bruns provided a definition of produsage, "the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement". http://p2pfoundation.net/Axel_Bruns_on_Produsage
According to Australian media scholar Axle Bruns,'produsage' has four defining features:
Open to participation and communal evaluation
Fluid heterarchy through the ad hoc meritocracies - there is no clear hierarchy or centralized leadership in place. -
Palimpsestic unfinished artifacts in a continuing process
Common property and individual reward
Some examples include:
Blogs
YouTube
Wikipedia
Second Life
Wikipedia is an example of an open source software, where collaboration of knowledge can take place. It is a location where people can create new knowledge and ideas from already existing sources. These examples of open source software allows individuals to be active producers of new knowledge and passive consumers of existing sources - 'produsage'.
While Wikipedia is an example of collaborative knowledge, blogs on the other hand are run by bloggers who are more likely to wish to maintain control over the content and production of information. Comments can contribute though can be blocked as well.
Sharing ideas and expanding on existing knowledge can often result in some very successful outcomes.
Social media has created an environment for interaction between anyone anywhere, regardless of ethnic and social background, age, gender or location! Not only can people communicate with anyone, but they can also alter, recreate and transform their identity(s).
Sometimes the real world can be so full on and overpowering an escape is often desired! But where to? Today, the world is full of endless opportunities and living that carefree life where you are in control is one of them. A destination where you are free to express yourself in any way you wish is right at your computer, smart phone or notepad. An escape from the real world to a virtual world is easily accessible.
Identity exploration today, is occurring in the real world however, is also shifting to virtual worlds. Virtual worlds allow an individual to explore many many aspect of their personality which couldn't possibly be explored in the real world. For example, being able to remain anonymous may lead an individual to expose more of themselves than they otherwise would in the real world. Those who are socially shy may communicate and interact rapidly and quite frequently in a virtual world as opposed to the real world.
Lee (2003) shares that creating and playing with an avatar can be projection of idealization of the self, experimenting with identity(s), and merely a pawn - 'a means to an end'.
The personalization of ones world in the virtual life allows them to be in-control. It allows them to use technology which enables dynamic insertion and customization of their identity which others can respond to and interact with.
Within these virtual worlds are social rules which shape small societies just like the current real world we are living in today. There are roles which need to be fulfilled and jobs to be performed such as a shopkeeper, a bartender, a shoe salesman, bouncers and slaves. According to Meadows (2008) high performance of these roles gives you benefits of societal living.
Meadows (2008) highlights that for some who interact in virtual worlds, an avatar is a more convincing reality than a real person. This just shows the extremes to which the internet has gained power over human nature. rather than living in a natural world, people are living in mechanical worlds where the remote control to our lives has become and will continue to be our mobile phones and internet devices.
Meadows (2008) explains the power and the strength of real life emotions in virtual worlds.
Nick Yee a PhD graduate conducted a study on 300,000 gamers and found that:
approximately 40% of the men and 53% of the women who spent time in virtual worlds said that their virtual friends were equal to, or better than their real friends.
most of the gamers spent 20 hours a week in virtual worlds
a quarter of those claimed the highlight of their week happened during their interaction in their virtual world.
The second life seems to be compatible with the self-determination theory, addressing all of its components.
Competence - progressing in skill and power
Autonomy - being able to choose from multiple meaningful options
Relatedness - feeling important to others
The second life is a replication of our consumer society in a screen version, however allows individuals to create and to be whoever the wish. one is in complete control of their life and their identity and even have multiple identities for some.
With the extreme growth of the cyber-world it appears everyone and everything is shifting there, from politics to extremists groups. it appears the internet is providing a space for communication of all sorts. Terrorism is something that has always been prominent and always will exist, it is amazing and unfortunate the way it has invaded our consciousness, giving society a fearful awareness (Seib & Janbek). there is no terrorism without communication and social media has allowed terrorist leaders to access a wider audience. YouTube has been shown to be one useful tool for terrorist, allowing them to advertise themselves in a location that has innate attraction to a young audience (Seib & Janbek). without the internet aiding terrorists in recruiting individuals they would probably be unable to reach a substantial supportive audience. the internet allows terrorists to dodge obstacles that they once had to face through the shadows of the physical world.
The internet more than any other source of information, attracts younger individuals, so will hate groups, who are shifting to the internet and promoting their hate via the net, recruit younger and vulnerable members? Is this shift in means of outsourcing information creating haters? People will sympathize and be tricked into becoming involved in hate groups. Former chief of operations at the FBI, Buck Revell didn't seem to see terrorists and hate groups using the internet as such a bad thing. He told U.S news that "As long as they don't specifically engage in criminal acts, they can do anything they want to aid and abet their activities. This is a safe haven for them". But is this a valid statement to make, when the internet has become a forum used to plan attacks and to promote unjust opinions and behaviors One of the many example is, in February 1996, three junior 'high school' students in NY, were charged with plotting to set off a homemade bomb in their school. Their chargers were made based on the plans which had been found on the internet.
In recent years social Medias have become a popular environment for reporting of politics and election campaigns. YouTube and Facebook have begun to influence to political arena, particularly across the west as they are using new technologies to reach more extensive audiences and as well, in particular younger audiences. John Edwards was the first ever person to announce his candidacy via an online video posting US president. Edwards’ altered approach seems to have starting a trend where politics are shifting from traditional environments to modern environments including the cyber-world. Every candidate then attempted to outdo others by using every piece of technology available from blogs to tweets to mobile phone SMS and many more. YouTube rapidly became the most powerful.
If social media is the way of the future for politics, then particular candidates, who can use internet communication tools well, may benefit more from this shift to the cyber-world and be able to feel more confident and self-assured. They may be more advantaged than others in the way they are familiar with the tools and know how to best use them.It is almost a case of the traditional political environments have had their time and the new arena or atmosphere for them is in on internet.
social medias provide an easily accessible platform for communication, through this we can see the face of electoral campaigns changing as they utilize this form of interaction.
Dr. S.Y Quraishi who is the Cheif Election Commissioner of India said "Social media enjoys a tremendous reach globally, especially amongst the youth of today. We would like to harness this platform to motivate and educate the voters and stay engaged with them for enhancing their participation in the democratic electoral process and strengthening of our democracy". Dr. S. Y Quraishi's comment captured the main advantages of utilizing social medias within the political arena. In particular the shift from the traditional media to social media has provided a way for youth to be reached.
Many nations are utilizing internet communication tools in attempt to increase government transperency and decreasing corruption and in some cases it appears to be successful.
Transparency is an element of primary approaches in which governments have begun to employ to promote openness and reduce corruption. By implementing government transparency, citizens and employees can trust the government and be informed of their ideas and communications with little to be hidden. This creates trustworthy relationships to be maintained between governments and citezins. Transparency ultimately serves to keep a government honest and citezins informed. There are generally four channels in which governments transparency Occurs through: Proactive dissemination by the government, release of requested materials by the government, public meetings and Leaks from whistle blowers
Internet communication tools can reduce corruption in many
ways, particularly by promoting good governance, enhancing relationships
between government employees and citezins, and by monitoring and controlling
behaviours of government employees.
Wikipedia is an example of an open source software, where collaboration of knowledge can take place. It is a location where people can create new knowledge and ideas from already existing sources. These examples of open source software allows individuals to be active producers of new knowledge and passive consumers of existing sources - 'produsage'.
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