With social media becoming more and
more a part of everyday life the media world is changing. The line between
professionally made media and user generated content is becoming more and more
skewed. Mass amateurization is more popular than ever and has changed the media
landscape forever. Mass amateurization is a phenomenon that is difficult for
anyone to explain but Clay Shirky takes a pretty good shot at it in his book Here Comes Everybody. In chapter 4 of
his book he talks about the difference between user generated content and
professional content. “User-generated content is a group phenomenon, and an
amateur one When people talk about user-generated content, they are describing
the ways that users create and share media with one another, with no
professionals anywhere in sight.(Shirky 84)” So in essence user generated
content is what is being mass amateurized. Wherever there is user generated
content there is bound to be mass amateurization.
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| YouTube Community Credit: youtubersconnect.tumblr.com |
For video you have YouTube,
for photos you have Instagram, for music you have soundcloud and of course for
all the above and lot of useless personal information there is Facebook. Shirky
goes a step further and says “The mass amateurization of publishing undoes the
limitations inherent in having a small number of traditional press outlets
(Shirky 65). In other words the gatekeepers and editors of professional publishers no longer have the
upper hand on their respective industry. People can now publish whatever they
want, whatever is not making it through the establishment and get it out to the
world again and again, and nobody can do anything about it. A recent example
that comes to mind occurred after the first republican debate when Donald Trump
called out Megyn Kelly and Fox News after they went after him during the
debate.
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| Trump's Tweet Credit: @realdonaldtrump |
Now granted the debate was already a media circus but one tweet from
Trump intended for Kelly became the focal point of attention and eventually
swept the web and mainstream news by storm. While the debate was already a
trending topic in the news, it was he Trump tweet that made its way around the
blogs, political commenters and amateur journalists.
What
does mass amateurization mean for the media landscape? Shirky talks about mass
amatuerization on Journalism and how the powers at be are losing control of the
power they had on publishing and gatekeeping of media. He talks about how not
only is there an over abundance of amateur content but that it has come to a
point where anybody and everybody can publish anything and with his case of
journalism the definition of journalism becomes blurred. “If anyone can be a
publisher then anyone can be a journalist. And if anyone can be a journalist,
then journalistic privilege becomes a loophole too large to be borne by
society. (Shirky 71.) That then begs question of the the difference between a
journalist who does it professionally and earned the title and someone who is
just posting. Not only that but the old classic idea of journalism we’ve seen
in the movies and tv that is considered real journalism will be long forgotten.
The line between professional and user generated material will be close to non-existent.
Jenkins talks about fan fiction and how the fan created pieces are nearly as
popular as the original piece.
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| Harry Potter Fan Fiction Credit: HP from fanpop.com |
Fan fiction for those who don’t know are usually
stories created by a fan or an amateur that is about the same universe as the original
work that might include the same characters but the plots and stories are all
original ideas of the amateur. Jenkins uses the phenomena of Harry Potter to
explain both the positive and negative sides of fan fiction as well as the mass
amateurization of that fiction. “Our hope is that this experience will give
people the courage to branch out and start writing original stories (Jenkins
188). He explains while fan fiction does a lot to help people writing, reading encouraging
others to do the same as well as hone their skills, there is also a very fine
line between fan fiction and infringing on copyrighted material.
I
can’t say with absolute certainty where all this is going to lead us and what
it means for a media professional, at least in the far future but I do think we
are reaching a boiling point where there is so much stuff out there an amateur
will have a much more difficult time standing out as an individual. The media professional
on the other hand will always be around. I don’t think any think could ever
replace that warm fuzzy feeling we get when we are consuming quality media that
we know and love and is always to our standards. However, the industry could shrink
like the newspaper industry. With cable falling and online streaming becoming more
popular both the film and television industries are having a difficult time
staying relevant. I think there are some things that are always better left to
the professionals.
Jenkins
and Shirky see the growth of amateurization in two different lights. Jenkins
thinks that amateurization is actually helping young people and inspiring others
to write and create their own media. He says “rather, we should see it as
increasingly a space where children teach one another and where, if they would
open their eyes, adults could learn a great deal” (Jenkins 216). Shirky, on the
other hand feels amatuerization is leading to the downfall of professionalism
in media. Because everybody can publish anything work of the professionals
loses the special value it once had. “For a generation that is growing up
without the scarcity that made publishing such a serious-minded pursuit, the
written word has no special value in and of itself (Shirky 79).
Notes:
Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006.
Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations. New York: Penguin Press, 2008. 56-108.
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