Produsage and Bruns

Produsage is a term that has become increasingly popular with the formation of social media platforms. Described by Axel Bruns as being a “Collaborative user-led content creation by online communities” (Bruns, 2008), Produsage entails the concept of citizens becoming not only users but also producers of content. This is an interesting idea to consider as it means that we are not only able to view information, but we are also becoming involved with extending and improving ideas without having to be a traditional distributor.(Bruns, 2008). We are no longer just passive consumers, and have the capability to continue to extend information and create what's referred to by Bruns as “the value chain” (Bruns, 2008).

According to Bruns the four main principles of produsage are;

·         Open Participation, Communal Evaluation

·         Fluid Heterarchy, Ad Hoc Meritocracy

·         Unfinished Artefacts, Continuing Process

·         Common Property, Individual Rewards

 

One of the best examples of this being Wikipedia. Launched in 2001, the website has grown in popularity daily, with 10 billion global page views every month. Along with Youtube and Blogs, Wikipedia depicts how anyone can become a producer, adding and editing information that has been added by someone before them. Wikipedia differs from a traditional encyclopaedia, firstly, because it is entirely online and secondly because it depicts participatory culture. Produsage in this sense sees how, rather than just having a website creator who provides information, Wikipedia has the ability to allow for citizens to continue to update material and add their own value to the page. Wikipedia was formed with the idea of being peer-reviewed in 2001, and this has continued to flourish and expand in popularity over its 12 year existence.

However, there are many issues surrounding Wikipedia’s ability to be updated by any user. Wikipedia prides it's self on being egalitarian and not having professional editors assigned, but on the other hand this leads to much of the information being added by a typical citizen, who are not required to have a certain amount of education or knowledge. This leads to inaccurate and difficult to reference information. Produsage can see these problems arising, and according to Henry Jenkins “within convergence culture, everyone’s a participant – although participants may have different degrees of status and influence” (Jenkins cited in Bruns, 2008 p 30). A problem with Produsage in itself is that it provides “Unfinished artefacts” (bruns, 2008).
 Jenkins discusses Participatory culture as being a type of produsage, with its benefits being the fact that it enables peer-peer learning aswell as a more empowered feeling of citizenship. (Jenkins, 2009). However he also refers to its downsides, “the problems of unequal access, lack of media transparency, and the breakdown of traditional forms of socialization” (Jenkins, 2009)

 

Bruns, A 2007 Produsage.org: From production to produsage: research into user-led content creation, viewed 8^th of April 2013, <http://produsage.org/>

Cazabon, C 2009, ‘Why Wikipedia Can’t Work’ viewed 8^th of April 2013,
http://pyropus.ca/personal/writings/wikipedia.html

http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMy1mM2ZhMjJmZWZmODU1MmM3

Jenkins, H 2008, ‘From production to produsage: interview with Axel Bruns, Confessions of an aca-fan: the official weblog of Henry Jenkins’, viewed 8^th of April 2013< <http://henryjenkins.org/2008/05/interview_with_axel_bruns.html>

Jenkins H, 2009, ‘Confronting The Challenges Of Participatory Culture’ The MIT press, viewed 8^th of april 2013 <http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/confronting-challenges-participatory-culture>