Produsage, a term that has been made popular by Australian media scholar, Axel Bruns, is best explained in his own words as 'the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement' (Bruns, 2007). Produsers are the citizens that engage with this ever-growing online collaboration as they are users that are producing information: Producer + user = produser.
It is a concept that may take you a while to get your head around, so the best example that can explain it is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online portal of information on just about every subject, even produsage. Often looked down upon by scholars as a reliable reference of information, it is a site where all of the content is produced by the users of the site. Internet Executive, Mark E. Moran, says 'its [Wikipedia's] reliability and credibility fall well short of the standards for a school paper' and in an online article goes on to provide a number of reasons as to why it is unreliable.Wikipedia admits itself as not being completely credible or reliable.
(wikipedia.org)
Anyone can take part in editing the information on a subject and can add subjects themselves. So in reality, the information provided can be completely made up. However this community of online produsers, constantly wanted to update and improve information, usually fix up any misinformation fast. Many of the contributors to the site back up their information by providing furter references within the wikipedia article, showing that the information is based off more reliable sources.
Wikipedia is today. In this age, the contribution of so many different brains into one article seems reliable enough. Its a method of finding information that will continue to be used by students whether they choose to reference the site or not. Academics should begin to trust the site more as so many of the articles these days are fully referenced.
Do you understand the terms now? Wikipedia is the prime example of how an online community can work together to produce a unique source of information. Wikipedia is produsage.
If you still aren't 100% sure what I'm on about, read it straight from the man himself in Brun's book 'Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage.'
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