Week 4: The varying stages of the new age prosumer
“Web 2.0 is the network as platform… delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it” (Fuchs, 2011). This platform that is created thrives on this level of user participation that allows content to be consumed on a more horizontal level, in contrast to the more traditional ‘top-down’, vertical approach of Web 1.0. (Chandler and Munday, 2011). This emergence of the hybrid beast known colloquially to those in the media orientated world as the ‘prosumer’ are the propositioned patrons of the future, and the down fall of conventional media as we know it. “[Prosumers] engage in a form of ‘consumption as ensemble activity’. That is to say that they participate in the production of what is consumed” (Beer and Burrows, 2010). Essentially, audiences are no longer waiting to be addressed. They are in control of what they create, consume, discuss and distribute.
And yet, does this emergence of the prosumer and their newly established level of authority mean the unmitigated inhalation of traditional media and the conventional way it is received and distributed? Certainly “the days of the passive consumer are behind us forever” (Salzman, 2000) but that does not inevitably mean that we have all suddenly altered into competent producers of media either. Whilst it is certainly easier for people now to create, distribute, and share their opinions with an audience that literally encompasses millions that each and every one of them necessarily are. “We believe that there are still people who are "listening" and "watching" the media produced by others, but… we argue that they listen and watch differently in a world where they know they have the potential to contribute than in a world where they are locked out of active meaningful participation.” (Green and Jenkins, 2011).
Take popular social media website YouTube for example. Theoretically, as I have access to a video camera, basic media editing software, stable internet access and a YouTube account there is nothing barring me from creating a video and uploading it to this website, exposing it to an audience of “more than 1 billion unique users… each month” (YouTube, 2014). By the same token, were I to have viewed this newly ‘prosumed’ media and decided that perhaps I prefer all of the actresses scenes to be replaced with voice overs from the popular movie Shrek, I, as a prosumer, am able to make these alterations and then upload this new hybrid video, back to YouTube. I am now an audience member, consuming prosumed content, remixing and then re-prosuming media content for other audience members to consume.
However do I choose to use all of my newfound prosumer power to become the next PewDiePie, Jenna Marbles, Tyler Oakley (links below) YouTube sensation? No. I use it to watch and send other people’s videos of pug dogs during the immorally, inappropriate hours of the wee morning. My prosumption activity exists at the most basic, fundamental level where I, as the audience, am exposed to the prosumed content of others and who may then potentially pass this content through my connective links to other audiences members. Whilst it is true that all audience members are now partial prosumers in their own rights, this does not mean that they are now all proficient creators, commentators, critics and capitalists ready to storm and overthrow the media industry. There are different levels that subsist in the prosumer sphere and audience members travel and exchange through them habitually and without constraint.
So whilst the age of the prosumer is certainly upon us we must maintain perspective on the notion as whole. My name is Jade and I am a prosumer. Today I am a prosumer of ‘Babies trying lemons for the first time’. How about you?
http://img.uthinkido.com.s3-external-3.amazonaws.com/what-i-do-when-i-am-on-the-internet-69cfee95c50be71662beb4be9cd22b.jpg
References:
· Beer, David and Burrows, Roger. 2010. “Consumption, Prosumption and Participatory Web Cultures” Journal of Consumer Culture 10 (3): 3-12. Accessed March 21, 2014. doi: 10.1177/1469540509354009
· Chandler, Daniel and Munday, Rod. 2011. “Downward Communication (top-down communication)” A Dictionary of Media and Communication. Accessed March 21, 2014 http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/view/10.1093/acref/9780199568758.001.0001/acref-9780199568758-e-0773?rskey=euJ459&result=1
· Fuchs, Christine. 2011. “Web 2.0, Prosumption, and Surveillance.” Surveillance and Society 8 (3): 288-389. Accessed March 21, 2014. http://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/856445651?accountid=13380
· Green, Joshua and Jenkins, Henry. 2011. “Chapter 5: Spreadable Media How Audiences Create Value and Meaning in a Networked Economy” The Handbook of Media Audiences. 109-127.
· Salzman, Marian. 2000. “Rise of the Prosumer” Print 54 (6): 141-153. Accessed March 21 2014. http://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/231027805?accountid=13380
· Youtube, 2014 “Statistics” Youtube Press. Accessed March 21, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html
Links to Popular Youtube Channels Referenced:
· Jenna Marbles - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9gFih9rw0zNCK3ZtoKQQyA
· PewDiePie - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-lHJZR3Gqxm24_Vd_AJ5Yw
· Tyler Oakley - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvVuqRzGVqRlmZYlTf99M_w
Links to Other Youtube Videos Reference throughout:
· Babies eat lemons for the first time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YBheuHma8I
· Pug runs into wall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djW0hLUx7lk