PROSUMERISM: social networking = free labor?
I keep coming back to an article I found via design theorist and educator Ellen Lupton's blog Design Your Life on the idea of "prosumerism." Now fast becoming a buzzword (I think I first heard of it six months ago, and now it's popping up all over the place), prosumerism is essentially a melding of the words "producer" and "consumer." The article "Designing Our Own Graves" by Dmitri Siegal is a critique on the DIY online movement in general, not to be confused with the craft-centric term of DIY.
From Lupton:
"Siegal has coined the word "prosumerism" to describe the convergence of production and consumption triggered by the D.I.Y. movement. Scrapbookers and knitters spend lots money on their supplies, creating markets for goods. More interestingly, on-line community Web sites rely on the time, labor, and creative capital of users to create their own product: "You do not own your Flickr account and you never will. When you update a MySpace account you are building up someone else's asset." (The same can be said for blogs like this one.)"
Hence, we are all "laboring" and "working" when we make content by posting to blogs, del.icio.ous, myspace, youtube, flickr, etc. And we labor to share our information and interests with the world. And yet the nagging reality is that we are "free" content creators moving around on operating systems and structures that we do not own or profit from. Our generosity is translating into "cultural capital" for the corporations that buy out the YouTubes of the world and reap profit via advertising to us.
When reality TV shows hit the air and gained popularity here in the States, the fallout was that writers and actors--folks covered by the Screen Actors Guild and union contracts--found themselves cut out of the jobs. If you look at it one way, television has been "democratized" by the inclusion of reality TV, but it can also be seen as a cheap and easy way for the media corporations to avoid paying for content.
As I just created a del.icio.us account, I'm left wondering what kind of future database I'm creating--that i'm an unpaid, generally oblivious, happily working cog in a machine that will process my interests and make use of the connections I make online. I do not own this structure and I never will.
Chilling.
3 Comments:
I am similar to you in point of view, the use of to create and producing without ownership. Isn't it the magic of a genuis mentor or boss; making you believe you own, but in the end what's yours is theirs.
And "structures that we do not own or profit from" Profit can come from sharing, feedback, open comment, communication.
Be proud of all your work and all that you do.
In an aggregate sense, you are correct that this development of content is often performed for free by consumers. But a few points to keep in mind:
- Reality show actors are just a different kind of (albeit non-unionized but still generally well-compensated) actors. Buying into the idea that they are real people is the real scam.
- When you blog on a place like blogspot you can copyright your own work. Many (though not lots) of people have translated their blogs into book deals. And getting free resources to host and display this content with little or no effort is pretty nice.
But if you are really concerned even about increasing the aggregate quality of this product, you can own the means of production and establish your own website fairly easily and cheaply.
None of this is to contradict your basic point. I think that it is important to think about seriously. And these are just some thoughts ...
good points, all. i'm in total agreement with micahd about the idea that thinking "reality TV" has anything to do with reality is kidding yourself. and it's true you can copyright your actual words and images that you put up on flickr and myspace, etc.
on a personal note, i used to do all my own web coding, even on the blog, but realized i lack the tools and software to make it as easy as the free services that are out there. i totally have accounts with myspace, youtube, flickr, blogger, livejournal, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. and they most definitely make my life easier with helping me organize and share content. but i still wonder if it's a double-edged sword in terms of what asset I'm literally building up--my own, for one, since i DO benefit from the exchange and web presence--but a corporate asset, as well.
thanks for sharing your thoughts in an articulate manner...
Post a Comment
<< Home