h) If new media allows more people to be involved in cultural production (compared to mass media) what are these new voices saying in public? In a DIY and click-to-send setting, what kind of things are people sharing with others that comes from their private/domestic world and might otherwise not be distributed?
Lister sums up the increasing produser culture in mentioning that new technology facilitates members of the public in not only producing but also distributing work, too. Writing via blogging sites, videos on youtube, music on Myspace: teh examples are endless. However, with the potential to produce and distribute film in this way, quality is often compromised. This is, however, perhaps something which NM consumers are becoming used to and a compromise which must be made.
A lack of censorship and regulations online is certainly an issue her; things which censors would almost certainly ban on tv/radio are freely published online and issues of slander and libel are often avoided by posting like this. Wether this is a positive or negatvie outcome of produserism is certainly debatable.
Positives can be seen in the music business, new media is providing a way to combat merging labels and corperate conglomeration within the industry which has previously prevented small or independant labels and artists succeeding. Without the NM technologies, these artists would have little or no chance of competing with large labels.
From reading: Lister, M et al (2003) NEW MEDIA: A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION, London: Routledge. p33
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Good looking, intelligent post, well done.
ReplyDeleteYeh, the whole quality thing is an issue isn't it? I long ago coined the term 'produmer' to identify the same issue as Brun's 'produser' -but in the field of pre-networked production software (to distinguish it from 'prosumer' which tends to be a marketing term for 'expensive consumer' products. Anyway, with the rise of the 'produser' term, I realised that my term could include the notion of 'dumbing-down'.
Much of the 'conversational' interaction's creativity seems to be prettymuch lowest-common-denominator stuff doesn't it?
Interestingly, the reverse remediation that goes on has made media production values very confusing. Camerawork & editing that used to signify cluelessness has been artfully included into corporate product, so as to claim modernity and 'street-wise' hipness. This relates closely to issues of being persuasive and claiming to be 'at one' with the audience's assumptions?
Spookily it all connects!