Produsage
Produsage is the type of user-led content creation that takes place in a variety of online environments, open source software, and the blogosphere.
According to Bruns, produsage has four defining features: 1) Open participation and communal evaluation; 2) Fluid heterarchy through ad hoc meritocracies; 3) Palimpsestic unfinished artifacts in a continuing process; and 4) Common property and individual rewards.
An unlimited number of participants, allows more people to assess, critique, and analyze the existing contributions, increasing the quality of the outcome.
Bruns also brings forth the point that it is beneficial for the community to interact with other organizations, as it broadens the range of knowledge in which they can use to formulate a more impactful message.
[6] In order to achieve this balance, produsage communities elect leaders based on the quality of contributions made.
Axel Bruns states that the fluidity of structure allows for individuals or tiny groups to emerge as decision makers, rather than having the whole community's approval at every stage.
[4] Communities within produsage sites form through common interest of individuals, resulting in leadership rising from within these groups.
[4] Axel Bruns challenges conventional ideas of production and consumerism by offering a perspective of the community in which producers are continually contributing by writing, rewriting, updating and suggesting ways to improve content.
The exchange of interactions as produsers collaborate, establishes and builds the artifact, which becomes both a source of information as well as an environment where opinions, ideas and revisions are addressed, discussed and refashioned.
He specifically points out that the framework and design of Wikipedia, which stands as an example of a holistic palimpsestic artifact in its nature.
Bruns describes Wikipedia as being a continual developing process of produser-led expansion of knowledge, which is repeatedly over-written and multi-layered.
He states it is characteristic of sources which promote produsage to be divisible into different components, each of which can be individually and independently produced by different users.
This shared purpose is represented in the ability of produsage to create motivation among produsers and that the content being worked upon remains accessible and open to everyone.
[10] There must be plentiful and accessible existing content available for produsers to edit and contribute to, along with minimal obstacles that involve technical and legal restrictions.
As a result, an alternative method for imposing intellectual property rights is needed in order for produsage to function efficiently.
[11]: 70 Axel Bruns' idea of produsage aims to describe how people in this digital age are communicating, through the explanation of four different characteristics; open participation, common property, palimpsest artifact and granularity as well as fluid heterarchy and holoptism.
He explains that participation require low barriers of for expression where individuals are given things to do through media and often feel a strong support for sharing their creations with other members.
Similarly, Bruns' states that a characteristic of produsage is a palimpsest artifact, which can be defined as content which is written and rewritten over again constantly with the goal of improving upon the source.
[4] Both Jenkins and Bruns conceptualize that user contribution is an essential characteristics of new media communication and consumption, in which individuals absorb content and remake or refashion it to either clarify an idea, promote a message or simply for enjoyment.
[12] He utilized viral videos as an example to show that individuals who share and spread this content are contributing to increasing its value, whether for potential commercial interests or for entertainment.
[12] As a result, he states that circulation is a grassroots hybrid system and shaped by the individuals from the bottom up who pass along the content by their own choice.
[12] Similarly, Bruns' concept of open participation elaborates on the idea that the more individuals working and collaborating produces higher quality content.
Jenskins' and Bruns' theories compare in that they both value multiple individuals collaborating to improve upon a piece of work or contribute to spreading its content.
[12] He utilizes the example of the emergence of anime in the United States to show the power of spreadability in sharing content to different communities and cultures.
A project that began in 2002, in 5 years, MIT managed to publish its entire curriculum of lecture notes and exams online.
[15] Unrestricted information made readily available for anyone to use, community interaction between students and professors without hierarchical lines, demonstrates produsage's fluid heterarchy.
Since OpenCourseWare freely allows access to everyone, the information shared on this public domain is considered common property.
