Produsage

Produsage is the production of something and its usage that is seen in online environments like the use of Wikipedia and blogs and is the “collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement” (Snurb 2007).

(Blogspot 2006)

Produsage fits in with Henry Jenkins participatory culture as Jenkins theory shows us that people in modern culture combine many different types of media and media sources (in Swinburne online resources 2013). The whole idea of participatory culture is that we the users of the internet are participating and taking media into our own hands as we are being the makers, curators and distributors of media by remixing, transforming, integrating and innovating media not just consuming media (Jenkins 2010). Participatory culture allows people to take control of their media and media technologies and combine different types of media so that they can share, express their stories and points of views in powerful, different and new ways (Jenkins 2009). The participatory culture fits with Produsage because Produsage is not just about consuming media but is about being a part of media by rethinking, remaking, transforming and collaborating different types of media together and participating in the media and media culture (Snurb 2007).

 Participatory culture and Produsage are interrelated as without participating in the culture you cannot then remix, remake existing content to further improve it or to tell your story (Snurb 2007), by participating in blogging or citizen journalism, creating or editing articles on Wikipedia or remixing music like artists do on triple J’s like a version you are essentially conducting Produsage.

I think a great example of Produsage is the video that artist and performer Will.i.am made in response to President Barak Obamas “Yes We Can” campaign. Will.i.am sung along to a mise en scene of Obamas speech and a film clip he made which included an array of artists and actors singing along, included graphics and texts, and would have resonated well with media users and people following the political campaigns at the time (Will.i.am 2008). I think that is the beauty of Produsage and participatory culture is that it can really help people to learn and be aware of things they might not have known before.

                                                                          (Will.i.am 2008)

Another great example of Produsage and participatory culture is the Like a Version sessions that triple j runs with artists. I count the like a version sessions which allows new and popular artists the opportunity to cover, remix, mashup and put a new or their own spin to older songs as Produsage as the artist is consuming the original artist's work. It is Produsage as the artists performing in like a version are putting their own spin, heart and feeling into the songs they are performing and likely improving older and relatively unknown songs. My favourite example, which I will display below, is Illy’s like a version: ‘Illy covers Silverchair, Hilltop Hoods, Paul Kelly, and Flume for Like a Version’.

                                                                             (Illy 2013)

                                                                              

References

Blogspot 2006, ‘Time Person Of The Year’, [image], accessed 8 February 2014, < 3.bp.blogspot.com>. 

Illy 2013, ‘‘Illy covers Silverchair, Hilltop Hoods, Paul Kelly, and Flume for Like a Version’, [video] triplejtv, viewed 8 February 2014, <http://youtu.be/L13vI3kGMqc>. 

Jenkins, H. 2010, ‘Participatory Cultures’, [video] Education CEMPVideos, viewed 8 February 2014, <http://youtu.be/dc9LK-YtXKY>.

Jenkins, H. 2009, ‘The New Media Landscape’, [video] HCDMediaGroup, viewed 8 February 2014, < http://youtu.be/ibJaqXVaOaI>. 

Snurb 2007, ‘Produsage: A working definition’, Produsage.org, accessed 7 February 2014, <Produsage.org/node/9>. 

Jenkins, H. in Swinburne Online 2013, ‘SLPR100 Professional Communication Practice week 2 Key Theorists’, accessed from Swinburne University of Technology ilearn website: <https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2FdisplayLearningUnit%3Fcourse_id%3D_149973_1%26content_id%3D_3796657_1%26framesetWrapped%3Dtrue>.  

Will.i.am 2008, ‘Yes We Can (Obama Song)’ [video] chilloutvids, viewed 8 February 2014,

 <http://youtu.be/UFpDBKQP-HE>.

Avatars, Simulacra and Consumer Society

As an avid player of the Sims, I know firsthand that, through virtual identity games, we are indeed replicating our consumer society. When playing the Sims you can create a whole array of avatars. You can make them look like yourself, a better version of yourself or you can make them look like friends or family, or completely different to anyone you have ever met. When playing the Sims players have the options of starting virtual reality families by getting married to another Sim and can have babies, toddlers, pre-teens, and teens. Players can turn their Sims into seniors if they wish and send their Sims to work to earn Simoleons, which is Sim currency that can be brought with real money or earned within the game. As well as sending adults to work, pre-teens and teens can go to day school or night school.

(the sims free play 2014)

So how does this relate to replicating our consumer society? Well in the game players; earn money to buy the luxuries they may not be able to afford. Players can design their dream double story homes with in-ground pools and ensuites; design their homes with lavish furniture and giant plasma screen TVs. Therefore, when you have had a bad day at school or work, you can go home to your Sims and shop for new clothes, shoes, furniture, pay to get a tattoo, haircut or anything else you could desire and not worry about the implications this could cause if you really went shopping. Your real friends who play the game and visit your town can view all of this. When playing the Sims you can make your avatar more “attractive” by changing their body shapes, skin colours, hairstyles and colours and by buying expensive clothes or giving your sim a tattoo or piercing.

(the sims free play 2014)

  Simulacra was devised by Baudrillard the simulacra and simulation are copies of things that may or may not have been reality to begin with or things that no longer have an original; are hyper real (Felluga 2011). The Simulacra fits in with the Sims and replicating our consumer society because the virtual reality game is designed to copy real life situations and real life experiences, causing people to lose their original experiences and realities due to becoming so engrossed with the game. People can become so engrossed in games like the Sims and Second Life because this hyper reality is better than their real realities.

 

“As the Internet of things advances, the very notion of a clear dividing line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred” (Mulgan in Vitrualbigbox n.d)

References

Felluga D. 2011, ‘Models on Baudrillard: on simulation’, Introductory guide to critical theory, viewed 5 February 2014 <http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/postmodernism/modules/baudrillardsimulation.html>.

Vitrualbigbox n.d. ‘As the internet’, Wordpress blog, viewed 6 February 2014 < http://virtualbigbox.wordpress.com/>. 

The Sims free play 2014, ‘the sims free play gallery’ [image], viewed 6 February 2014 < http://the-sims-freeplay.en.softonic.com/blackberry>.