‘Anyone Can Edit’: Understanding the Produser Dr Axel Bruns (Visiting Scholar, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds) Creative Industries Faculty / Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation Queensland University of Technology a.bruns@qut.edu.au – http://snurb.info/

The Produser No, it’s not a typo… Produsers are involved in: user-led content production – produsage In a variety of environments (Image: http://flickr.com/photos/stabilo-boss/93136022/)

(from Bruns, Gatewatching: Collaborative Online News Production, 2005) Producing the News Traditional news process: (from Bruns, Gatewatching: Collaborative Online News Production, 2005)

Produsing the News Gatewatcher news process: (adapted from Bruns, Gatewatching: Collaborative Online News Production, 2005) Variations on the process are possible

Gatewatching Effects Suggestion of a new role for open news: bottom-up rather than top-down news coverage multiperspectival news coverage (Herbert Gans) democratic, dialogic, deliberative journalism (Dan Gillmor: move from lecture to conversation) Effects on mainstream journalism: bypassing journalists and editors offering corrective to, watchdog for mainstream news (Herbert Gans: a second tier of news organisations) breaking down producer/consumer dichotomies

Open News and Open Source Open source approach to news: The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the Software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing. We in the open source community have learned that this rapid evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits. (Opensource.org)

Beyond Production producer  distributor  consumer decline of the traditional value chain: producer  distributor  consumer (producer advised by consumer  distributor  consumer) (customer-made ideas  producer  distributor  consumer)

Beyond Products traditional value chains rely on key assumptions: products exist in discrete versions, and producers decide when these are to be released the distribution of products is controlled (and controllable) by producers and distributors, not by consumers consumers are relatively isolated – only producers have access to the whole community the core business lies in the sale of copyrighted products but in a user-led, digital environment, this is no longer true: the latest update is always immediately available – e.g. open source, Wikipedia content is available for direct access online – users become producers, and the Net replaces the distributor consumers join together in enthusiast groups, interest groups, developer groups the core business lies in providing value-added services around freely available content

A New Value Chain? (as producer) produser (as user) content content

Common Characteristics shared across these environments: Community-Based – the community as a whole, if sufficiently large and varied, can contribute more than a closed team of producers, however qualified Fluid Roles – produsers participate as is appropriate to their personal skills, interests, and knowledges; this changes as the produsage project proceeds Unfinished Artefacts – content artefacts in produsage projects are continually under development, and therefore always unfinished; their development follows evolutionary, iterative, palimpsestic paths Common Property, Individual Merit – contributors permit (non-commercial) community use and adaptation of their intellectual property, and are rewarded by the status capital gained through this process

Produsage emerging in various domains: open source software development online publishing blogs open news – e.g. Slashdot, Indymedia, OhmyNews knowledge management wikis – e.g. Wikipedia social bookmarking – e.g. del.icio.us, digg geotagging – e.g. Google Earth, Frappr multi-user gaming e.g. The Sims, Everquest, Second Life, Spore media sharing and creative practice e.g. Flickr, ccMixter, YouTube, Jumpcut, Current.tv reviews and viral marketing e.g. Epinions, IgoUgo automatic aggregation Google, Amazon, Technorati

Produsage beyond production: this is produsage ‘anyone can edit’ – users become producers of content content is no longer a distinct product – it is a temporary artefact of an ongoing process usage and production are increasingly, inextricably intertwined strict distinctions between producers, distributors, and consumers no longer apply a new “Generation C” of content produsers? this is produsage

Breaking the Chains Produsage Environment (populated by produsers) commercial / non-profit harvesting of user-generated content (e.g. The Sims, Wikipedia on CD-ROM) content development space set up by community or company to harbour produsage (e.g. Wikimedia Foundation; Google; SourceForge) commercial / non-profit services to support produsage (e.g. Red Hat, SourceForge) valuable, often commercial-grade content is created initial IP contributions from individuals, the public domain, or commercial sources commercial activities by users themselves, harnessing the hive (e.g. support services, consultancies, content sales) collaborative, iterative, evolutionary, palimpsestic user-led content development

Harnessing the Hive Implications of produsage: emergent community structures? creative potential – grassroots, vernacular creativity? (e-)democratic potential? sustainability of voluntary labour? commercial approaches (JC Herz: ‘harnessing the hive’) and exploitation (i.e. hijacking the hive)? intellectual property issues? trust, authority, responsibility, liability?

Produser Economics Economic potential: cheap workforce for commercial producers but also post-Fordist production/produsage models possible opposition to traditional business, and opportunity for new businesses increasing focus on creativity and innovation in international business development – e.g. move from ‘made in China’ to ‘created in China’

Intellectual Property Ambiguous relation of produsage to IP: innovative use of new IP licences (e.g. Creative Commons) complex IP relationships in massively multi-produser environments (e.g. Wikipedia) conflicted response from established industries (“Rip. Mix. Burn.” vs. p2p persecution) potential stifling of produser innovation by heavy-handed IP legislation, with potential economic impact – China’s growth helped by lax IP enforcement

Political Implications Towards post-Fordist politics? growing effect of produser news on political process towards more dialogue and deliberation, or more argument and conflict? rear-guard battles by governments and news organisations against citizen journalists – but not only in authoritarian regimes conflict between alternative and mainstream media coverage (e.g. Howard Dean campaign) digital divide opening between traditional audiences and new produser-citizens? Is it possible to harness produsage to support a move of citizens from being a passive audience for to being active produsers of democracy?

Shameless Plug snurb.info