‘Produsers’

Unlike legacy media channels, the internet possesses no barriers to entry as it is an accessible platform which users are able to use, engage and work with. Consequently, users have taken advantage of this by now participating in the production of further knowledge and information, instead of only being an audience on the receiving end. 

This concept of produsage has emerged as a result of the Web2.0 movement. This collaborative environment has lead to boundaries being torn down between producers and consumers as the two merge into one, ‘produsers’. 

Dr Axel Bruns states that produsage relates to “the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement”. Essentially, Bruns is highlighting that both the original creators of content and ‘produsers’ work together to enhance and advance the product. In turn, this means users can now be involved in adding value to content. 

For example, approximately 10% of the content in the video game, The Sims has been produced by its game publisher, Maxis whereas, an astounding 90% of content has actually been produced by the games users. This demonstrates the immense amount to which produsers are able to increase the value of content and essentially become an asset to many content creators. 

References

Bruns, Axel (2008) The Future Is User-Led: The Path towards Widespread Produsage. Fibreculture Journal (11).

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