Producer=Consumer ?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Carrie819
In the digital age, consumers are becoming prosumers, they create and reconfigure their own 'products' according to their demand. New technologies help us to make things much easier by offering different advance capabilities. I think there is a trend of a greater agency in the digital age, where consumers/users are more active in participating within the media, they don't just watch what others are doing, but they are people who actually create, share and publish different contents and work online. For example, I've made video clips of friends' birthday parties using software and programmes such as 'Windows Movie Maker' and 'Photoshop', and have uploaded onto youtube, which I think I would not be able, or would not intend to do so without the use of computer or the internet, because it is too complicated and time consuming to produce and share something like this without a computer. However, Jose van Dijck suggests that 80% of the participants online are passive recipients of content, not everyone who participates is contributing.
Another point relating to the 'prosumer' era is the remix culture. It means that users are creating something new by someone else's material and engage with other forms of media. The remix of content, or the borrowing of texts (intertextuality), is often being used. As Barthe has suggested that the notion of authorship may have been challenged as it is difficult to know which the original is or who the owner of a certain 'product' is. This reminds me of a clip I've watched on Youtube of a remix version of the incident between Taylor Swift and Kayne West at the MTV awards. The video involves a guy who dresses up like Taylor Swift and acts the whole scene all over again but with his own script and Kanya West's song is added as the background music. People have become more like the producers. due to the advance technologies that are available, hence, the difference between producer and consumer is blurred.
Another point relating to the 'prosumer' era is the remix culture. It means that users are creating something new by someone else's material and engage with other forms of media. The remix of content, or the borrowing of texts (intertextuality), is often being used. As Barthe has suggested that the notion of authorship may have been challenged as it is difficult to know which the original is or who the owner of a certain 'product' is. This reminds me of a clip I've watched on Youtube of a remix version of the incident between Taylor Swift and Kayne West at the MTV awards. The video involves a guy who dresses up like Taylor Swift and acts the whole scene all over again but with his own script and Kanya West's song is added as the background music. People have become more like the producers. due to the advance technologies that are available, hence, the difference between producer and consumer is blurred.