PRODUSAGE & Second Life

Source:  Screenshot Wikipedia.org

"Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit" (www.wikipedia.org)

So, here you see what looks like an advertisement on my blog.  But, by the action of snapping a screenshot of Wikipedia's home page and providing a link to the site, I have both used and repackaged elements of the whole - I have behaved as a produser.

Dr. Axel Bruns (2008) suggested the term ‘produsage’ to describe the collaborative use and editing of what he calls artefacts.  Not products, as they would have been known as in the past – but artefacts – things made, but not necessarily ever finished.  Wikipedia is seen as the archetypical model of produsage, ever-open to editing from a vast, collaborative group.  Bruns (2008) frames the process of editing Wikipedia as:

"a massively distributed process of consensus-building (and sometimes dissent, which may be even more instructive if users invest the time to examine different points of view) in motion, rather than a dead snapshot of the consensual body of knowledge agreed upon by a small group of producers” (Bruns 2008, interviewed by Henry Jenkins).

The "dead snapshot" description Bruns (2008) mentions to was in reference the old style of encyclopedia, such as Encyclopedia Britannica and other traditionally produced books of that kind.

According to Bruns (2008) 'produsage' requires the following (core) principals:

1. Open participation and communal evaluation - the community should be sufficiently large and hold varying qualifications.
2. Fluid heterarchy (that is, each produser theoretically plays an equal role) and Ad Hoc Meritocracy; where produsers participate according to their personal skills, interest and knowledge.  Their level of involvment changes as the project proceeds.
3. Unfinished Artefacts, Continuing Process.
4. Common Property, Individual Rewards: contributors permit (non-commercial) community use and adaptation of their intellectual property, and are rewarded by the status capital gained through this process.

This is all much 'food for thought'.  Bruns (2008) is effectively saying that the traditional producer/consumer relationship is making way for collaborative processes where a participant can make a contribution, just by being social for example.  Clicking a link on Google, assists with their page-ranking system of importance or relevance Bruns (2008) explains.

So far, I have only given Wikipedia as an example of a produsage model, but there are video games, such as The Sims - or strategic life simulation video game - that use isometric graphics to make two-dimensional representations of three dimensional objects.  I won't pretend to know exactly how that works - but the end result is that users of the game can construct virtual people  - "Sims", place them in a house and tend to their moods and desires - like a pet?!  After The Sims 1.1, successive series were released, each allowing more options for the player to apply to their Sim.  I shouldn't scoff - apparently - according to Wikipedia - The Sims is the best-selling PC franchise in history.  Regardless of that, I'm quite pleased to add this clip to the blog, which shows Sims being 'killed'.....aaahh human nature...play with the toy...get sick of the toy....destroy the toy:

The crab is far more interested in what musicians such as Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails are doing.  In trailblazing fashion they have uploaded their recordings to the Creative Commons group which allows others to build on their work, adding additional vocals or instrumental tracks, remixing or sampling from the work (Stone 2009, as cited in Sonvilla-Weiss 2010).  This article talks about Radiohead opening up a recent video to the public to "play with".


Reflecting on my own experience with produsage, I feel I am just getting the hang of it.  As a late comer to computers (just 7 years experience) and one who worked in the ancient times of paper, typewriter and landline slavery, I am still in a state of wonder at the ease of Internet banking, cut and paste and many, many of the time and tree saving elements of the digital age.

Making comments, sharing, liking and linking are becoming part of my new vocabulary – mainly commenting on news sites and movie review sites I have to say.  I have never edited Wikipedia, but would not hesitate if necessary.  And lastly, blogging – these blogs are my first and are a labour of maybe not love, but great enjoyment.  But – to misquote Peter Parker’s father (that’s Spiderman’s dad) – I have found that with great enjoyment, comes great responsibility.  I worry about my produsage regarding my blog.  I feel that whatever I post should be accurate.

However, I think we are moving toward a much more flow-oriented and trend-trending (!) world, where many old concepts are being reimagined.  On with the revolution.......................................

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SECOND LIFE is another open-ended, collaborative produser environment.

Real life

Second Life

This 2007 article is about tests conducted at the Keio University in Japan, on patients suffering severe paralysis and the opportunities that could be afforded them in the Second Life environment.  Electrodes attached to the scalp pick up electrical changes that are associated with brain activity.  This data was able to be picked up by a computer and used by the patient to manipulate an avatar around the virtual world.

"Second Life could motivate patients with severe paralysis, who are often too depressed to undergo rehabilitation," said Junichi Ushiba, the universities biosciences and informatics professor.

This is, in my very crusty, crabby opinion, one of the only worthwhile uses for Second Life.
What a spoil sport!

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Refs:  Sonvilla-Weiss, S 2010, Mashup Cultures, EBL, Springer Publishing