This document defines a user as a person who uses or operates something. It discusses the concept of user agency and whether a user's actions are independent or manipulated by others. It notes that models of users as purely active creators or passive recipients do not account for diversity among users. In reality, users can serve as both content generators and consumers. The idea that user-generated content is driven solely by amateurs is a myth.

1. User
Noun
Def: a person
who uses or
operates
something
Source: http://www.paganspace.net

2. Source: flickr/Josh Liba (CC-BY-NC-
Agency
Do I act
independently…
?
…or are my
actions forced
or manipulated
by others?

3. ‘USERS LIKE YOU?’ (VAN DIJCK)
• A more comprehensive look at user
agency is needed
• Models of active creator/passive recipient
binary don’t account for user diversity
• UGC participants serve as both content
generators and consumers
• The idea of UGC being ‘driven by
amateurs’ is a myth

4. USER AGENCY
user
producer consumer
user
professional
content
production
consuming
behaviour
data
generation

5. The first of many…

6. You get a bunch of users
interacting and it’s hard to predict
what they’re going to do.
RT
RT

9. Inactive or passive spectator?

10. Sourced: http://tbtew.wordpress.com/
Sourced: http://guardian.co.uk/

11. Problems in text:
• Veneration of ‘active participant in digital
culture’ now not so true
• Twitter doesn’t fully fit into her criticisms
of UGC platforms (real-life gatherings
don’t often happen, UGC sites move
from commons-like to commercially
driven)

12. Questions from text:
• What kind of agency can be attributed to new
media users?
• Can terms like ‘community’ and ‘citizenship’ be
unequivocally transferred to internet
communities?
• What role do platform providers play in steering
agency of users and communities?
• The text describes the WWW as a ‘new frontier
space’. To what extent is this analogy still
appropriate, in face of commoditisation of
Internet?

13. References
Van Dijck, J (2008) Users Like You? Theorizing Agency in User-Generated Content. Media Culture
Society. Sage