User:Ctan9/sandbox

The article on produsage could include more information about the model of produsage versus more convential forms of information distribution. Bruns mentions the various aspects of produsage that make it more inviting to users - namely the four points highlighted in the article. Bruns mentions in his article in the Information, Communication & Society journal that there is tension between traditional operators of information distributors and produsage communities. The Wikipedia article could delineate how produsage challenges existing models. It could also expand upon the four main aspects of produsage by giving more detail. As in Fluid heterarchy and holoptism, it could state that heterarchy and holoptism attracts the large number of participants. It would add more depth to simply stating, produsage sites need huge number of participants.

This Wikipedia page could also include the uses of produsage sites, how they have contributed to learning and gathering information. Perhaps the most prominent produsage site is Wikipedia and it has really become the start point of many people's research. Produsage sites are perhaps as useful to any learning process as reviewing books, journals, etc.

Also, there are several complex terms involved which need to be simplified.

Unrestricted access and temporary merit-based leadership

Large numbers of participants, who comply with the features of produsage, are a part of successful produsage sites. [17] Produsage models need to be available to participants of all skill levels and abilities. Axel Bruns notes that while there may be disproportionate levels of contributions, produsers have to feel unrestricted and granted equal access to make contributions.[18] A balance of structure and openness is required in produsage communities. Oversight by small groups create unwanted control and absolute freedom disrupts cohesion.[19] In order to achieve this balance, produsage communites elect leaders based on the quality of contributions made. [20] In the case for some newer sites, however, moderators of communities may arise at random or the earliest member. [21]

The leadership structure in produsage communities are, as Axel Bruns puts it, in constant flux. Power diminishes if leaders become idle. As such, leaders not only required to make relevant contributions to the community, but also required to do so with consistency. The fluctuation and redistribution of leadership creates a flexible, fluid network of produsers. Axel Bruns states that the fluidity of structure allows for individuals or tiny groups to emerge as decision makers. Rather than having the whole community's approval at every stage. [22] Standard models of structures consist of a top down model where leaders overlook, and have the final say in content creation. Produsage sites, instead, opt for an all-access model where participants are granted transparency. [23]Leadership in this model removes command and control over participants; allowing produsers to make contributions as they see fit. [24] Communities within produsage sites form through common interest of individuals, resulting in leadership rising from within these groups.[25] The constant granting of leadership produces a community driven site where the community decides the direction the site is heading. [26]

I would like to include Fan Fiction in the list of examples of produsage section because Axel Bruns highlights it in his book, "Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage". I would like to include an additional section regarding overlapping theories. The theory of produsage seems to overlap with ideas by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. I think this would be a great inclusion to the idea of produsage to help illustrate similarity to models not explicitly mentioned as produsage.
 * Fan Fiction communities such as Sugar Quill represent produsage models in text. The collaborative efforts of the community to examine the relevancy and possibility of seamless integration of these fan-written stories into the fictional universe they are fans of, and in some cases collectively write a piece of fan fiction. The communal evaluation of the community fosters a collective sense of ownership of a piece of work that goes through regular revisions. As no one person has more say over the quality of the story, this displays the heterarchical model of produsage in place.
 * Clickworkers a small NASA experimental project that uses public volunteers for scientific tasks. Enthusiasts with different levels of skill were engaged to identify craters on Mars. These science hobbyists accurately identified Mars craters with professional precision . While there is a division between NASA and the engaged participants, Bruns acknowledges that power dynamics are not disregarded in produsage models but are accepted when the there is mutual benefit.

Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams propose solutions to the higher education system which has seen rise in uncertainty over the value of the education cost, students and faculty sharing resources rather than attending classes, and a growing interest in classes offered online. Tapscott and Williams, suggest transforming the approach institutions take in this digital age; one whereby the integration of new models of learning can better fulfil the needs of students and higher education as a whole.

Tapscott and Williams promote "collaborative and social models of learning" as methods for developing a successful "Global Network for Higher Learning." Currently, the teaching model involves professors disseminating information to students to absorb, memorize, and recall on tests; however, Tapscott and Williams urge that true learning occurs when students collaboratively explore and discuss what they are learning about. According to a study done by Richard J. Light at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the success of students in higher levels of education is dependent on their ability to organize and participate in study groups. Students who formed study groups were more prepared and involved in their coursework and retained more information than those who did not form groups. This resembles Bruns's definition of open participation.

In 1999, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology integrated OpenCourseWare as a way of harnessing information on the internet for students. A project that began in 2002, in 5 years, MIT managed to publish its entire curriculum of lecture notes and exams online. This information is made available for students and teachers, even from other institutions, to be "freely used, copied, distributed, translated and modified". Professors have equal access to OpenCourseWare regardless of the institution they belong to. Student users, Tapscott and Williams propose, should be able to share their desired education structure with professors. Professors then make curriculum structure decisions based on the advice of the community of students and professors to optimize learning. Tapscott and Williams suggest that this creates more value for the high cost of education. Unrestricted information made readily available for anyone to use, community interaction between students and professors without hierarchical lines, demonstrates produsage's fluid heterarchy. The degree's regularly updated coursework is also reminiscent of palimpsestic artifacts.

In addition, Tapscott and Williams explain how universities and professors sharing their course materials through OpenCourseWare would allow teachers to globally participate in forming more well-rounded and engaging courses, instead of forming them in individually. Since OpenCourseWare freely allows access to everyone, the information shared on this public domain is considered common property. This aligns with the common property characteristic of produsage. In this sense, the universities and teachers are produsers who are contributing to a shared purpose – improving coursework for the benefit of other teachers and students.