Produsage | user and producer
In collaborative online communities a significant conceptual shift is taking place. The rise of Web2.0 environments is continuing to have a considerable impact on social practices, the media, and society itself. The boundary between producers and consumers is being blurred as the creation of shared content is taking place in a networked participatory environment. This stirring movement enables all participants to be users as well as producers of information and knowledge. Producers of content engage not in a traditional form of content production, but are instead involved in produsage – the term coined by Dr Axel Bruns describing the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement. As a picture paints a thousand words, I will kindly exceed my word limit in bringing you this:
Image adapted from Bruns 2007: (http://produsage.org/)
Web 2.0 is based on technological innovation, but provides largely a different approach to online collaboration; users invest a substantial amount of labour into their participation processes, but without expecting major monetary rewards from doing so. The produsage process is fundamentally built on the regular framework of a networked environment and connects user communities through their networking through many-to-many communications media. This ‘access from anywhere’ principle enables each participant to contribute to produsage at exceedingly regular intervals.
Past years have seen the rapid growth of a many different user-led social networking applications and tools. These include sites such as Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, and many other cultural and societal groups. Despite their global popularity, there is an ever-increasing challenge for these social networking websites to maintain their users and not become yesterday’s fashion trend. Brian Turner discusses social network decline in an internet business forum and when he says: “Facebook has reached a Tipping Point and is now dying – and like Myspace was a fad for most users who moved to Facebook, they are now flocking to Twitter… until the ‘next cool thing’ arrives”. Social networking environments are also further augmented in the form of more specific tools including social bookmarking systems such as del.icio.us, online satellite mapping tools such as Google Maps, and the wide array of personal blog sites.
With more and more data being produced online and an endless supply of blogs, how is anybody supposed to sort and distinguish the relevant from the unrelated? The social, collaborative basis of the content creation communities engaged in produsage relates to the Data Information Knowledge and Wisdom, or DIKW Hierarchy. The process of DIKW refers to the way in which we (society) are able to transform basic data into knowledge and wisdom. This has been key to the growth and success of online communities and will continue to be.
Image sourced from Cleveland, H. 1982. “Information as Resource”
So when all is said and done what is our response to this? If you are reading this blog than odds are you are familiar with online environments. Therefore, even though you may not have thought of it before, you are, most likely, contributing to the model of produsage. The real question is: how far will produsage go in bringing about a shift in everyday social practices, media, and society itself?
Hey Jona, great post this week!
In particular, I found your discussion of the popularity of social networking sites really interesting. Personally, I believe that the initial buzz, to peak and then downturn of the popularity of social networking sites is the natural progression of this medium. Although site managers may introduce new tools or functions in an attempt to regenerate interest, I believe that these sites have an undefined “lifespan”. Like Turner, it is commonly believed that this downturn is caused by movement to a new improved site that users prefer and therefore adopt instead. However in the case of Myspace for example, I think users would have stopped using this site even if Facebook hadn’t become the next go-to point. Similarly, I don’t think people are leaving Facebook for Twitter, rather that they may already be becoming bored of Facebook. The relatively recent buzz and popularity of Twitter is exciting, so they may be currently participating there.
The hive mind is an interesting concept that I touched upon in my blog this week that discusses the concept of individuals clustering around topics and forums of interest. I think there is an initial buzz of the hive mind around new social networking platforms surrounding the setting up of your site, applications and social network and personal content creation. However eventually this honeymoon stage of the relationship with the new site fizzles down, users contribute less, and then inevitably look to something new.
Additionally, I don’t think that this process necessarily reflects negatively on “abandoned” sites, or that the moves are indicative of progression. I simply believe that much like celebrity scandals or fashion trends, social networking sites generate short-lived mass interest that is here one day, forgotten the next. Website managers must learn to accept this nature of social networking sites and not try too desperately to hold onto their users forever.
Hey Jona!
Really enjoyed your post this week, it was very informative and kept me interested all the way through the post. You brought up an interesting point early on where you talk about how the boundary between producers and consumers is being blurred, because of the creation of shared content that has taken place. I agree with this, as participants are now able to be both users and producers.
You also talk about the rapid growth of social networking sites such as facebook and myspace, and you state that these types of sites will eventually fade away like myspace has done. I also agree with this point because there is so many of these sites being introduced all the time and so much data to get through, and even though sites such as myspace were globally popular users seemed to find a new and more interesting networking site to use such as facebook. This is indeed true as useres are likely to simply move on to something new when it comes along.
Thoroughly enjoyed this blog and look forward to next weeks!