As discussed in previous entries, emerging new media concepts such as produsage play an important role of diversification in the new economy. Produsage however, also threatens mass media as individuals now have access to endless amounts of data for free. This raises certain questions whether the sales driven mass media can survive in this free information economy. Bruns (2008, 338) argues “it is certainly possible for conventional industry players to participate in and drive produsage projects as well-the open source cottage industry provides ample demonstration of this fact –, but only if they understand, accept, and embrace the principles of produsage itself.”
Therefore, within the new media environment, traditional hierarchical business models must now adjust to embrace the key concepts of produsage in order to compete with the new emerging models. These four concepts include:
- Open Participation, Communal Evaluation
- Fluid Heterarchy, Ad Hoc Meritocracy
- Unfinished Artefacts, Continuing Process
- Common Property, Individual Rewards
Many different areas of business from sporting to fashion are already starting to embrace these produsage concepts. Bruns (2008, 390) highlights an example of through the case of online kitesurfing communities. He notes these kitesurfers share and collaborate to improve the designs for the “aerodynamic kites they use to propel themselves through the surf,” (Bruns 2008, 390).
Another obvious example can be seen through traditional news companies who are starting to adopt produsage concepts in order to compete with the new emerging model of citizen journalism. Many newspapers now have online websites and blogs that are constantly edited and updated. Users can send in stories, photographs of events and also offer opinions through commenting. In this way, traditional news companies are slowly responding to the notion of the news as an unfinished artefact and continuing process. Bruns (2008, 389) highlights the importance of this trend as he argues that
“commercial operators will need to move beyond the product/consumer distinction, and learn to share their own innovations with the wider community; they will need to reconceptualize products as always incomplete, constantly evolving artefacts of the continuing produsage process, and come to focus not on a business model formulated around the sale of products, but around the provision of services both to the produsage community itself, helping it produse more efficiently, and to the wider community of the users of produsage artefacts, helping them to understand how to approach those artefacts and encouraging them to engage in produsage if and when they have ideas of their own to contribute to the community.”
Produsage is now no longer a new concept as commercial businesses are increasingly incorporating it into their companies. There are still many arguments made about the sustainability of produsage as a business model however traditional media companies from news, television and music now all embrace its different concepts. Ultimately, only time will tell whether amateur and produsage businesses will survive in the future. Yet, as new media technologies and concepts continue to emerge, traditional media companies will consequently have to adapt to changes in order to survive. Afterall, in the new media landscape the world is just a click away…
Reference:
Bruns, A. (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage. New York: Peter Lang.
