There. I have said it. For those of you who are not in my class, we are reading Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage by Axel Bruns for class.
First of all, I can’t even get through this week’s reading. The writing is tedious and over-academic. Does Bruns ever define technosocial? He sure uses the word a lot. I’m looking for a definition. Its not defined in the Urban Dictionary. Or Miriam-Webster. Maybe I missed Bruns’ definition – which is horrible because he loves this word!
Here is an example of why I am having such a hard time reading this book:
Operating under the conditions as determined by these technosocial affordances of the network (at least as they exist in many of the networked spaces of the Internet and the Web – not all networks are structured in similar fashion), then, users are able to involve themselves flexibly and fluidly in the tasks confronting the collaborative, ‘hive’ community; they collaborate not by performing only the monotonous, repetitive, predetermined tasks of the production line, or by contributing fully formed new ideas to the information commons, but instead enage in an ongoing, perpetually unfinished, iterative, and evolutionary process of gradual development of the information resourses shared by the community.
Yes folks, that is one sentence. This book is full of that sort of writing. YUCK YUCK YUCK.
Also, why is he making a distinction between the Web and the Internet? If he points out the difference, is there an importance?
I don’t think so. I think what he was trying to say is simply this:
Internet technologies have connected users with similar interests. Now not only do they work together to work on the boring (but necessary) parts of projects, they also enabled to create new information.
Which leads to the other reason I hate this book: this is not a new idea. Is “produsage” any different to what is now called “upcycling“? Is taking one idea and “enaging in an ongoing, perpetually unfinished, iterative, and evolutionary process of gradual development of the information resourses shared by the community” any different than the cultural appropriation that has gone on whenever cultures meet and start to blend?
So big deal, we’re able to work together globally on projects now because of the Internet. What Bruns is calling produsage is not a new concept…it just has a new transport mechanism.