Today, a much more simple and open approach to product development and sales is emerging known as DIY design and production.  In DIY design and production all that is needed to create, promote and sell a product are some do-it-yourself skills, an internet connection and membership in a collaborative networked produsage community.   DIY communities are creative hubs where produsage thrives and supports the transformation of digital produsage artefacts into physical produsage products.  This transformation occurs as members of online user innovation communities develop and share a rich amount of information, knowledge, evaluation and skills about certain types of products which allows for the production of physical goods (Bruns 2008, 377).   This production can be executed either by members of the DIY community themselves or established businesses.

An example of a produsage community which supports DIY design and production is Etsy.  This website is an online marketplace for buying and selling anything handmade and offers a range of DIY design and production possibilities (Etsy 2009b).  An example is its Alchemy program which pursues the transformation of creative ideas and designs into the production of tangible items.   Alchemy allows buyers to post requests for custom handmade items where sellers then bid on the opportunity to make the goods (Etsy 2009a).   Etsy also fosters DIY promotion of its products where it selects users to nominate a collection of their favourite items available on Esty to feature on the homepage mood board.  Offline training courses for members are now being operated by Etsy highlighting the potential for DIY communities and their produsage artefacts to truly transcend the digital realm into physical and commercially viable products (Bruns 2009).

The new models of design, production and promo

tion of tangible products brought by DIY communities have far reaching implications on the practice of public relations.   They mark the beginning of a new era of public relations where produser communities will challenge and

cause a shift to traditional approaches.  As discussed by Mimi Adachi in her blog Produsage future: what it means for us, DIY produser communities will have a significantly greater responsibility for the promotion of their own products, communication with stakeholders, advertising and marketing.  Although essential public relations skills such as

media relations, strategic speech and relationship management will still be required by DIY produsers, the impact of DIY communities will move its role towards working closely alongside DIY communities and directly consulting them on issues and campaigns as a collaborative communal process in the same way their products are created.

REFERENCE LIST

Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production To Produsage. New York: Peter Lang.

Bruns, A. 2009. From Prosumption to DIY Culture. http://snurb.info/node/973

Etsy. 2009a. Alchemy. http://www.etsy.com/alchemy/ (accessed May 20, 2009).

Etsy. 2009b. What is Etsy? http://www.etsy.com/about.php (accessed May 15, 2009).

In my blog Mr and Mrs J. Citizen I have already examined the growing Pro-Am behaviour of citizen journalism, where unqualified internet users are publishing news worthy content online.  Another breed of Pro-Am users can be found at the photo sharing website called Flickr.  The site is host to a collaborative produsage community allowing users to create a profile, upload, share, tag and comment photographs across the network (Flickr 2009).  At Flickr amateur photographers are achieving commercial success through companies paying royalties for images they find on the site.  Pro-Am Flickr photographer Chris Teso blogs about the financial rewards he has received by becoming a part of the Flickr movement.

“As novice, I’m able to sell my services and prints to the entire world, and have. I’ve sold prints to publishers, been commissioned for projects, been invited by Getty Images to sell stock, and made various other business connections via Flickr” (Teso 2009).

Chris’s experience encapsulates the power of produsage technologies in bridging the divide between professional and amateur.  With the advent of Pro-Ams like Chris we are seeing an environment where businesses are increasingly utilising their easily accessible work for commercial gains.  Unlike Getty Images in Chris’ situation who are properly reimbursing photographers, there are organisations that are unfairly exploiting the work of Pro-Ams.  Youtube has been the subject of criticism for such actions in its end-user licence agreement, which grant “Youtube the rights to commercially exploit the content uploaded by its users, without a need for remuneration” (Bruns 2008, 8).

Such unscrupulous behaviour is even more prominent in the development of online multi-user gaming.  Through their open sourced software online gaming companies allow communities of Pro-Am developers to create their own narratives which they then adopt into the game (Bruns 2008, 8).  These Pro-Ams generally receive no reward and continue to pay a monthly subscription fee for their unpaid labour (Bruns 2008, 8). Although their actions may be within legal boundaries, taking advantage of the skills offered by willing Pro-Ams is morally wrong and may deter the future expansion of this new media phenomenon.

The creativity afforded to everyday internet users through the flexible publishing tools of the web is expanding the diversity of online cultural artefacts and allowing individuals to enjoy commercial advantages.  However, the work of these eager Pro-Ams is at risk of being exploited by large corporations.  This movement suggests the need for the online community to examine new methods of copyright and protection for creators.  While Flickr has already taken this step forward by incorporating the Creative Commons in its photo sharing network, a larger digital property protection consensus must be reached by the wider produsage community to ensure the content generated by produsers is utilised fairly.

REFERENCE LIST

Bruns, A. 2008. The Future Is User-Led: The Path towards Widespread Produsage. QUT ePrints. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/12902/1/12902.pdf (accessed May 14, 2009).

Flew. 2008. New Media: An Introduction. 3rd ed. South Melbourne: Oxford UP.

Flickr. 2009. About Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/about/ (accessed May 13, 2009).

Teso, C. 2009. Flickr – The Democratization of Photography and Other Creative Mediums. http://www.christeso.com/index.php/life/flickr-and-the-democratization-of-photography-and-other-creative-mediums/ (accessed May 12, 2009).

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past’.” – George Orwell, Chapter 3 – 1984.

Wikipedia is an online collaborative encyclopedia that allows users to create and contribute to definitions and explanations of any historical event, topic or person imaginable (Bruns 2008, 103).  As opposed to traditional encyclopedia’s which capture the current state of knowledge and facts, Wikipedia presents ‘representations’ of knowledge that are continually updated by any user who wishes (Bruns 2008, 103).  It is this feature of open communal participation that raises concerns towards Wikipedia’s credibility as an online reference tool.

Although Wikipedia has a large workforce of volunteers who verify the accuracy of its content, the site has become a battlefield for the truth.  Governments, PR firms and multi national corporations have been exposed as meddling with Wikipedia entries to present a more favourable image of their organisation.  As mentioned in my comment to Rachel in her blog Wikipedia this wiki-tampering was seen when a Wikipedia produser altered ExxonMobil’s entry to include facts about the organisation acting unfairly (Swiatek 2006). A short time after, this addition to ExxonMobil’s page was deleted, which reveals the distortions of truth that take place on Wikipedia.  This situation is reminiscent of George Orwell’s harrowing depiction of future life in his classic 1984 where the ruling political party manipulated facts and history to the extent where the truth was indistinguishable.

In light of its susceptibility to alterations of the truth, Wikipedia’s immense popularity as a reference tool is somewhat worrying.  A Wikipedia entry is usually the very first item that appears in a Google search.  When searching for John F Kennedy Assassination, George W Bush, September 11 Attacks and Catholicism Google returns a Wikipedia entry as the first link.  Searches for business organisations will usually produce a Wikipedia entry second or third behind the company’s own website.  With Google being one of the most widely used search engines and with Wikipedia results so conveniently located in its search results, it is troubling that many individuals are likely to turn to Wikipedia as their first source of information on such controversial topics.  Users must not forget that while many of the facts contained in Wikipedia entries are accurate, it does after all present ‘representations’ of knowledge not knowledge itself.

A search tool called the WikiScanner has publicly revealed alternations of truth harboured by Wikipedia’s open participation but will also bring a more truthful future for the site.  The WikisScanner tracks anonymous edits and links them to the IP addresses of organisations, meaning that the author of every entry update is identifiable (Shah 2007).  Since its launch a collection PR firms and other organisations such as Pizza Hut, ExxonMobil, Walmart and Fox News have been recognised for making changes to clients’ entries (Shah 2007).  For many PR practitioners the WikiScanner presents a challenge at no longer being able to shape and control the message of their organisation’s page.  However it also brings the opportunity to engage in transparent dialogue in the discussion page featured on each entry.  Here, the reasoning behind previous edits can be given and objections to unfavourable additions can be voiced.  After all PR is about changing attitudes and not about making surface changes to the truth.

REFERENCE LIST

Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production To Produsage. New York: Peter Lang

Shah, A. 2007. Tools draws attention to firms’ Wikipedia edits. PRweek 10 (34). http://proquest.umi.com.ezp02.library.qut.edu.au/pqdweb?index=10&did=1339523261&SrchMode=2&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1242984428&clientId=14394 (accessed May 2, 2009).

Swiatek, J. 2006. Companies face a Wiki world. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. June 2. http://proquest.umi.com.ezp02.library.qut.edu.au/pqdweb?index=17&did=1046918621&SrchMode=2&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1242993678&clientId=14394 (accessed May 16, 2009).

The emergence of new media technologies that support produsage has spurred the growth of citizen journalism, creating new online publishing spaces where diverse voices express alternative views on news and current affairs (Adams 2006, 1). Slashdot, Wikinews, Crikey, OhMyNews and Indymedia are examples of websites which play host to online collaborative environments of citizen journalists.

Citizen journalism has brought a new dimension to the way society is consuming and engaging with news and current affairs which is challenging the practice of journalism and its role of gatekeeping.  Traditional journalists have often had an institutional resistance to audience research, with a unidirectional communication model that ignores the reader’s voice (Wilson, Saunders and Bruns 2008, 2).  As information gatekeepers they only publish what they consider relevant and important for society, whereas citizen journalists adopt the role of gatewatching which attempts to capture all relevant information with differing levels of emphasis, allowing the reader more agency (Wilson, Saunders and Bruns 2008, 2).  As argued by Flew, contrasting to traditional journalism, “citizen journalism is enabling more localised, on-the-spot narratives on current events to reach a wider audience” (Flew 2008, 92).

Citizen journalism developed from a growing dissatisfaction with traditional news media and set out to counter its unidirectional, biased and censored nature by nurturing freedom of speech and democracy (Flew, 2007, 2).  Since its beginnings these principles have seen citizen journalism achieve social justice around the world.  For example the political achievements of the Zapatista’s have been largely supported through the efforts of citizen journalists.  During an uprising led by the Zapatista’s in Mexico, the commercial media refused to publish any news on the event (Russel 2001, 400).  In an attempt have their message heard the Zapatista’s spread details of the uprising over online networks where thousands of everyday citizens around the world blogged and published stories about the Zapatista struggle (Russel 2001, 400).  International news organisations discovered these citizen stories and broadcast them across mainstream networks (Russel 2001, 400), demonstrating the power of citizen journalism to present stories which would normally be silenced.

For the professional practice of PR, the rise of citizen journalism means practitioners must seek to develop online relationships and network with prominent citizen journalist communities to ensure messages are received by publics through all possible media outlets including blogs and independent media sources.

While citizen journalism brings an alternative perspective to traditional news media, its reliability is not always comparable to professional journalism. As highlighted by Mimi in her blog Citizen Journalism: Proceed with Evaluation we must always question the accuracy of citizen journalism material.  Mimi has presented a guide to evaluating the reliability of information provided by citizen journalists.  Along with the QUT library evaluating information check list this approach should be consulted when looking to citizen journalism for news and information.

REFERENCE LIST

Adams, D. 2006. Journalism, citizens and blogging. In Proceedings 2006 Communications Policy and Research Forum, University of Technology Sydney. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00006112/01/6112_1.pdf (accessed April 22, 2009).

Bruns, A. 2007. Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation. Proceedings Creativity & Cognition 6: 1-7. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/6623/1/6623.pdf (accessed April 21, 2009).

Flew, T. 2007. A Citizen Journalism Primer. In Proceedings Communications Policy Research Forum 2007, University of Technology Sydney.      http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00010232/01/10232.pdf (accessed April 29, 2009).

Flew. 2008. New Media: An Introduction. 3rd ed. South Melbourne: Oxford UP.

Russel, A. 2001. The Zapatistas Online: Shifting the Discourse of Globalization. Gazette 63 (5): 399-413. http://augustana.ab.ca/rdx/eng/documents/mexico/The%20Zapatistas%20Online%20-%20shifting%20the%20discourse%20of%20globalization.pdf (accessed May 1, 2009).

Wilson, J., B, Saunders and A. Bruns. 2008. “Preditors”: Making Citizen Journalism Work. In AMIC Conference: Convergence, Citizen Journalism and Social Change, Brisbane Queensland,       March 2008. 1-39. Brisbane: University of Queensland. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17398/1/17398.pdf (accessed May 1, 2009).

Online networked communities which foster produsage are a platform for everyday web users to exchange knowledge, information and opinions regarding professional developments, personal interests, news and politics on a global scale.  This new media phenomenon has caused a fundamental shift in the practice of public relations and corporate communications.  Public relations is grounded on the principle of maintaining two-way communication with stakeholders, however traditional media which has dominated most of the last century is essentially one-way (Macnamara 2006, 10).  The conversational nature of produsage communities has allowed public relations practitioners to join these collaborative environments and engage in true two-way dialogue with its publics.

Produsage networks, particularly blog communities and social networking sites are enabling public relations practitioners to gather timely information, monitor public opinion and engage in direct dialogue with stakeholders (McAllister and Taylor 2008, 230).  While these forms of new media have brought corporate communicators a deeper insight into their publics, it has also empowered stakeholders.  Produsage social networks allow stakeholders to define their own perspective on organisations and freely disseminate their interpretation (Bernoff and Li 2008, 36).  This power shift is being counteracted by public relations professionals who are becoming active produsers themselves through participation in regular blogging where key messages are reinforced and spread.  Public relations blogging also serves as a media release outlet where journalists are increasingly looking to blogs for story leads (McAllister and Taylor 2008, 235).

Youtube is a strong focus of produsage within the public relations profession and demonstrates the power shift in corporate communications.  Youtube is simultaneously an outlet used by key publics to expose unsavoury organisational operations and a tool for public relations professionals to respond to, communicate and disseminate messages. Recently Domino’s employees released a video on Youtube of poor health practices undertaken in an American store.  The video received thousands of hits, sparked public outcry and caused a crisis for Domino’s.  In a public relations response to the crisis, Domino’s engaged with the produsage community and uploaded a video on Youtube which contained an apology for its breech of health standards and how the organisation is addressing the issue.

This example illustrates how public relations practitioners no longer have complete control over the management and dissemination of organisational messages. As online collaborative communities grow produsers will continue to play a critical role in the development of public relations.

REFERENCE LIST

Bernoff, J., and C. Li. 2008. Harnessing the Power of the Oh-So-Social Web. MIT Sloan Management Review 49 (3): 36-42. http://proquest.umi.com.ezp02.library.qut.edu.au/pqdweb?index=6&did=1458948591&SrchMode=2&sid=2&Fmt=6&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1242962509&clientId=14394 (accessed April 19, 2009).

Bruns, A. 2007a. Produsage: A Working Definition. http://produsage.org/produsage (accessed April 10, 2009).

Bruns, A. 2007b. Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation. Proceedings Creativity & Cognition 6: 1-7. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/6623/1/6623.pdf (accessed April 21, 2009).

Macnamara, J. 2006. The Fork in the Road of Media and Communication Theory and Practice. Institute for Public Relations 4: 1-11. http://www.instituteforpr.org/files/uploads/MacnamaraPaper_b.pdf (accessed April 20, 2009).

McAllister, S. and M. Taylor. 2007. Community college web sites as tools for fostering dialogue. Public Relations Review. 33 (2): 230-232. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6W5W-4NBXVDC-1-1&_cdi=6581&_user=62921&_orig=search&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F2007&_sk=999669997&view=c&wchp=dGLbVlW-zSkWA&md5=e044fd2fd41297bd9e64211eca7133d6&ie=/sdarticle.pdf (accessed March 29, 2009).

Blog header image taken from:

Zavros, M. Spring/Fall 11. http://www.michaelzavros.com/2004h.html (accessed May 1, 2009).