DIY Culture & Design

When DIY Cultre and Design is discussed, there are a few things that come into mind about the everchanging world, development of technology and the greed of humanity for more than what is available. It is through this that websites such as Instructables and eHow that allow people to build and produce things that are not known to the everyday person. However there has been many debates over the practicallity of these websites as some are known to have detailed instructions on how to make items such as car bombs and grenades. While for the typical teenage, these concepts of building things that make a bright flash and lots of noise seem like entertainment, our world is continually being attacked by terrorism whom through these same sites are able to learn to master these techniques for destruction.

While there will be a continuous debate over the practicality and success of such websites, it is needless to say that they are changing the face of learning. For a  university student such as myself studying marketing, the continual growth of such sites will lead to a change in marketing models as competition will grow.  In saying this, I mean through avenues such as YouTube, people are now able to upload instruction videos for free where they can attract popularity due to their success. An example of this is someone wanting to learn how to play a guitar can pay up to $60 a lesson from a teacher in face to face lessons, however at the same time can go to YouTube and type in “learn to play guitar” and have numerous free videos with similar content.  This will influnce the market as people will begin to realise that any practical based idea can be taught through videos for free,  and therefore ask the question “why bother paying to learn this skill when I can learn it online for free?” This means that for marketers of the future, other effective avenues will need to be explored to find possible points of difference to influence customers towards their company of interest.

Experts and Amateurs

As we look back at the world, we are faced with many different areas of growing interest amongst society. There are many questions that are raised, about what is real, what is truthful, what is legal, what is legit. It is from the progression of time and age that these answers have arisen, where people in society are looking for new and alternate ways to create and modify physical and intellectual property. Through these means they try to create a foundation of something new and diverse, far from that of the mainstream culture that is presented to us on a daily basis.

It is from this that concepts such as the professional-amateur concepts have arisen, where people are unable to reach heights set by others in society and are venturing to other areas to gain success whether it be through wealth, fame or just personal satisfaction. So what is this pro-am concept that is rising through society that is turning the tides and allowing ease of access for both the collaborator and consumer? Pro-am is defined by Flew (2008, 113) as being “innovative, committed and networked amateurs working to professional standards”. These are the people who are not given the exposure or networking abilities to find their own stardom through traditional means but rather venturing further to drive themselves higher.

While most people view the differences between professionals and amateurs of that of hierarchy, it is much more seen as “a struggle between two different systems of representing knowledge” (Bruns, 2008). The best example of this is that of reality television show American Idol and other international versions similar to this. This show is designed at allowing amateur singers to audition and take part in a contest to gain a record contract. While at the beginning of the show there are a lot of punters whom think they can sing when in reality just hurt your ears, there are that rare few whom you listen to and go “wow, this girl has talent.” The first season of the show featured a female named Kelly Clarkson who was just an average young woman who believed she had a talent for singing. Due to Kelly not being signed to a label and therefore lacking recognition as a professional, she was eligible to go on this show. As the show got to its finale, she was announced the winner receiving the most votes from all over America. This gave her a record deal and the ability to be recognized as a professional. Since then she has released numerous hits, scoring high on the charts and received countless amounts of fame and fortune. What does this have to do with pro-am? It demonstrates the fact that there are many amateurs out there who have the qualities of professionals, however just lack the ability to put forward these traits.

It can be seen through that this divide between the two areas of professional-amateur status’s is beginning to close as reality television shows and websites such as MySpace Music are allowing the unknown to be known. The question that remains is will this rise the bar of expectations from society or lower us to decreased medium?

Kelly Clarkson from American Idol

Wikipedia

Wikipedia, a term that has taken the world by storm, whether it be academics, students or just the general public, everyone has an opinion about its appropriateness and practicality. So first of all, what is this Wikipedia frenzy that everyone is discussing?

Wikipedia is seen as “a growing public encyclopedia of over 4 million articles on subjects on the Internet; registered users may freely edit content of these articles” (Chance, 2007). A collaboration of the words wiki (a collection of WebPages) and encyclopedia (a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on either all branches of knowledge), this website is seen as the forefront of any published material concerning facts from all aspects of life.

The reasoning for its attention from a global audience is due to many factors, of which can be narrowed down to how it “illustrates the positive potential of information systems in supporting the emergence of more emancipatory forms of communication possibility of Rational Discourse” (Hansen, Berente, & Lyytinen, 2009). The ability to create and modify user-based content on any page in the Wikipedia database allows the contribution network to be limitless. In addition to its open sourced pages, the easy access and free of charge capabilities demonstrate its followings of the principle of Universal access (Ebner et al, 2008).

However, while from one end of the spectrum the positively seems endless, the website is often scrutinized in regards to its reliability and accuracy on the various topics. Discussion over Wikipedia’s topical coverage and how it is driven by the interests of its users, creates a link to the reliability and completeness of Wikipedia likely to be different depending on the subject-area of the article (Hansen et al, 2009). This is shown through universities not accepting Wikipedia sources as acceptable when referencing throughout a piece of assessment.

The reasoning why this is relevant to my area of academic pursuit in marketing and media communication is that of the sites structure and interaction. While it is not formally recognized for its accuracy, Wikipedia features nearly 3 million articles on all topics whether it be movies, sports or scientific theories, there is a page defining your topic of choice. The advantage of such a website is it follows a model of user-led, collaborative content-creators (Bruns, 2008) allowing people to take part in produsage, having their own input into something larger. From this, people are able to look up unfamiliar ideas presented to them and get a grasp of what is trying to be communicated. This becomes relevant towards marketing as often campaigns and companies can present confusing and/or intriguing communications, making it difficult to deconstruct what was presented to them. However, through a user-led website, these constructs can be broken down and explained to allow ease of understanding. An example of this is the Carlton Draught ‘Big Ad’ that was shown on Australian television. This ad was very appealing towards the audience with its success being identified on a national level, however the advertisement did not show the finer technical aspects as to how many people were in the ad or what company made the ad. Wikipedia allows users to find out this information without the need of having to contact the company with a possibility of ending up down a dark hole without an answer.

Therefore while Wikipedia can be seen as being both hot and cold, it has presented a new area of access to information for the public and maybe even perhaps a new platform for media and communication advertisement. The potential is up to the users, who in the end are you!

Potential Wikipedia Issues

Citizen Journalism

When you wake up in the morning, you are greeted with a new day and a clean state for what is to follow. During your usual morning routine you have a shower, get changed and sit down to breakfast to read the newspaper about what is happening local, statewide and global. This is how people of the past lived each day a few years ago, until we were greeted with technological advancements where new media streams were created.

The creation of citizen journalism is a new concept for much of us, where is it seen as “the act of a citizen, or group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information” (Flew, 2008, p 144). Whether it is through written, online and other streams, the public are being presented with many different communication methods to deliver them news.

The concept of citizen journalism is seen as the ability to interact and contribute to current affairs whether main stream or of a personal nature, each piece of published material is a contribution to citizen journalism. As platforms such as blogs, social networking sites, YouTube and other user based systems expand, the necessity for qualified journalists will begin to be questioned. While traditional journalists distinguish themselves as professionals giving the audience what they need, not what they want (Gans, as cited in Bruns, 2008), the actual demand and practicality of having such job facets may become that of the past.

For someone such as myself, who is pursuing a career in the marketing industry, this has a significant effect of not only the output of information but also the input. An example of this is looking at the input of information. Traditionally to learn about new marketing techniques and innovative campaigns, marketers would refer to industry based publications such as written magazines. This was due to the limited market of available resources. As you know published press in a glossy magazine format is not the quickest media and therefore not seen as ‘hot’ as other mediums such as the daily newspaper. However, for marketers this was the place they went to as it was designed for their niche market. Where citizen journalism comes into the equation is now with the ability to blog directly onto websites, the internet has seen an increase in sites such as The Cool Hunter, which are marketing based websites with ‘hot topics’ in regards to the latest trends and fashions. This allows almost instant access for a global audience to view what is perceived as ‘the new and innovative’ for a fraction of the cost and transition time.

So how does citizen journalism affect us as a whole? Well go back to the picture I presented of a morning routine, this traditional scenario is fast tracking towards something of the past, where a newspaper is seen as ‘old’ news and other citizen journalism mediums are offering ‘hot’ press topics.

Produsage

Produsage is a newly fined concept brought into the limelight in recent times by Axel Bruns. This term of ‘produsage’ was created due to the ever-changing environment of the digital network, with technological advancements continually flooding the market making traditional communication models cease to accurately represent today’s society. It has been created through the effects of new media, where content has become more malleable with messages being reused, remixed and mashed up. It is through this that there has been an increased user involvement in messages through interactivity, intercreativity and produsage.

The ideology behind produsage is the how there has been a shift away from the traditional models of (information, knowledge, and creative) production, and a greater increase in collaborative content creation. In Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond (2008), Axel Bruns discusses the concept of how the creation of collective intelligence has allowed produsers to evaluate, examine and alter content in such a fashion that the outcome has produced a higher quality of information in their own individual online community. Many internet websites such as YouTube, Facebook and MySpace have taken these concepts and created communities where the content is purely based on the users of the site with their success related to the fact that formal qualifications are irrelevant in participation (Bruns 2008, 28). Through the opening up of content based websites and allowing the participation of content creation and modification to by individual, the black and white distinction between producers and users has since evaporated into a grey area of insignificance (Bruns 2008, 2).

The impact of produsage in relation to my degree in marketing has had significant impact in regards to theory and practice. This is becoming evident in society where businesses used to base their marketing campaigns on push techniques, where the message was predefined and trying to capture the public’s interest. However, due to produsage and the ability for people to creative their own user based content, companies are starting to drift away from push techniques and evolve into pull based marketing. This is where they study the market and the customers through their own messages, needs and desires communicate to the company what products are needed. An example of this in practice are blogs where feedback on certain companies (such as Apple) is discussed and things such as desirable features are listed by produsers, which give insight for the company in regards to future products.

Another area where marketing has been strongly influenced by produsers, is companies abilities to tap into areas of new media (mobile, internet, podcasts). Communicating towards customers has put a backseat to traditional advertising means and now experimenting with alternate mediums. I feel as this has significantly helped marketing and the whole business industry as the way in which business works is being able to target consumers to meet needs and wants. Without the development of new communication streams and defining these new areas of exchange, the economy would struggle to expand towards bigger and better things.