Exploring the Pro-Am Interface between Production and Produsage

Exploring the Pro-Am Interfacebetween Production and Produsage
Dr Axel BrunsAssociate ProfessorARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and InnovationQueensland University of Technologya.bruns@qut.edu.auhttp://snurb.info/@snurb_dot_info

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The Participatory Turn
From the industrial value chain…
producer  distributor  consumer
…to the participative Web:
(as user)
produser
(as producer)
content
content

Produsage
Key principles of produsage environments:
Open Participation, Communal Evaluation:the community as a whole, if sufficiently large and varied, can contribute more than a closed team of producers, however qualified
Fluid Heterarchy, Ad Hoc Meritocracy:produsers participate as is appropriate to their personal skills, interests, and knowledges; this changes as the produsage project proceeds

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Key Principles
Key principles of produsage environments:
Open Participation, Communal Evaluation:the community as a whole, if sufficiently large and varied, can contribute more than a closed team of producers, however qualified
Fluid Heterarchy, Ad Hoc Meritocracy:produsers participate as is appropriate to their personal skills, interests, and knowledges; this changes as the produsage project proceeds
Unfinished Artefacts, Continuing Process: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 of their intellectual property, and are rewarded by the status capital

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Produsage and Business
Professional? Amateur? Both?
Pro-Ams work at their leisure, regard consumption as a productive activity and set professional standards to judge their amateur efforts. (Leadbeater & Miller, 2004)
Connectors between produsage communities and business interests
Alternatively:
Lead users (von Hippel, 2005)
Community leaders
Prosumers? (Toffler, 1970)

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Beware the Prosumer
Dreams of a “customer-activated manufacturing system”:
In the end, the consumer, not merely providing the specs but punching the button that sets this entire process in action, will become as much a part of the production process as the denim-clad assembly-line worker was in the world now dying. (The Third Wave, 1980: 274)
Producer and consumer, divorced by the industrial revolution, are reunited in the cycle of wealth creation, with the customer contributing not just the money but market and design information vital for the production process. Buyer and supplier share data, information, and knowledge. Someday, customers may also push buttons that activate remote production processes. Consumer and producer fuse into a “prosumer.” (Powershift, 1990: 239)

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Towards Pro/Am Collaboration
Establishing the ‘netarchistfirm’:
They are ‘acceptable’ intermediaries for the actors of … participatory culture. (Bauwens, 2005)
Breaking down corporate boundaries
Working with the community, but for profit
Establishing heterarchical governance structures
Transcending copyright as the central business model

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Joining Production and Produsage
Requirements for Pro/Am Projects:
Shared Responsibility and Control:neither side controls the project outright, and each must respect the other’s interests; governance mechanisms must support a sharing of responsibility
Mobility between Community and Corporation:participants – especially Pro-Ams – must be able to move between the two sides with ease; this also creates incentives for staff and community to participate

Joining Production and Produsage
Requirements for Pro/Am Projects:
Shared Responsibility and Control:neither side controls the project outright, and each must respect the other’s interests; governance mechanisms must support a sharing of responsibility
Mobility between Community and Corporation:participants – especially Pro-Ams – must be able to move between the two sides with ease; this also creates incentives for staff and community to participate
Redesign of Products as Evolving Artefacts:disruptions of the ongoing, incremental produsage process in order to package outcomes as complete ‘products’ are disruptive and unacceptable
Acceptance of Non-Exclusive Corporate Use of Content:corporations cannot expect to gain exclusive rights to user-created content, but neither can communities fully rule out commercial use

Canaries in the Coalmine
Journalism in transition:
Current models failing – badly
Silver bullet solutions doubtful (paywalls, iPad delivery)
Credible participatory models emerging
Global crises amplify interest in the news
Will we see new Pro-Am frameworks develop here?

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Viral Marketing
Axel Bruns
Associate Professor
ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation
Creative Industries Faculty
Queensland University of Technology
Email: a.bruns@qut.edu.au
Blog: http://snurb.info/
Twitter: @snurb_dot_info
Produsage: http://produsage.org/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/snurb
Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond:From Production to Produsage(Peter Lang, 2008)

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Exploring the Pro-Am Interface between Production and Produsage

by Axel Bruns on Jun 02, 2010

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Exploring the Pro-Am Interface between Production and Produsage — Presentation Transcript