User:Jacquelineb22/sandbox

Common Property and Individual Rewards
In the book, "Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond. From Production to Produsage," Axel Bruns describes the connection between common property and individual rewards within produsage. He states that participation in produsage is motivated by the ability of individual produsers to contribute to a shared purpose. He states that this shared purpose is represented in the ability of produsage to create motivation among produsers and that the content being worked upon remains accessible and open to everyone. Bruns claims that in order for a diverse community to contribute and engage in produsage, there must be few obstacles that would impede their contributions. He states that there must be plentiful and accessible existing content available for produsers to edit and contribute to, along with minimal obstacles that involve technical and legal restrictions. For example, Bruns states that when individuals engage in collaborative work, enforcing intellectual property rights may hinder them from editing or working on their peers' work. As a result, an alternative method for imposing intellectual property rights is needed in order for produsage to function efficiently. Therefore, he argues that we may need to declare existing content as common community property, such as through a Creative Commons license.

However, Bruns adds that any attempt from individuals or groups within or outside of the produsage group to capitalize on the content of information shared must be avoided. Any content that is worked upon by a community must remain easily accessible and that edits or modifications to the content must be available under similar conditions. In addition, any contributions made by participants to the shared content must be rewarded and recognized whenever appropriate.

As a result, Bruns adds that although the content is shared communally, produsers still gain personal merit from their own contributions to the project being worked upon. In addition, these individual rewards are a source for further motivation for participation by the community in produsage projects. He explains that such personal merit, honors the individual by adding to their network of relationships and those beyond the community. Therefore, the main reward in engaging in produsage is personal status, rather than financial gain.

Citizen Journalism
Axel Bruns states that citizen journalism is an example of produsage, in which it relies on its users to work as participants in evaluating, publicizing and responding to news stories. He argues that citizen journalism draws from voluntary contributions from its participants who utilize technology and the Internet to coordinate the process of citizen journalism. Citizen journalism may take place in websites such as Indymedia, Slashdot, OhmyNews, and The Huffington Post. Axel Bruns also expands on the importance of social networking sites, such as Twitter, serving as platforms for citizen journalism to take place.

Commentary on websites like The Huffington Post and Twitter respond to already existing and published news stories. However, Axel Bruns states that it collects and combines these already existing materials and contextualizes them by pointing out new ways for their interpretation and analysis. As a result, he claims that comments compile information by highlighting its implications and are a form of news curation.

In addition, Axel Bruns utilizes Twitter's hashtag system as an example of providing an open and accessible space for individuals to participate in citizen journalism and produsage. When users tag their posts with hashtags, they are enabling for a larger conversation to take place with other Twitter users and further extend the potential number of participants engaging in citizen journalism. The process of news curation is decentralized and shared; Twitter users collaborate on compiling, collaborating and curating information. As a result, Twitter is an online space that allows its users to share, report, and discuss news stories in a collaborative and open group.

Wikipedia
Axel Bruns utilizes Wikipedia as an example to illustrate the characteristics of produsage. He states that Wikipedia is a collaborative online encyclopedia and differs from traditional encyclopedias because they only rely on the contributions of credible experts. As a result, traditional encyclopedias exclude participation from the public and lack a diverse group of contributors to engage, analyze and critique the work of the group. However, Wikipedia values the produsage characteristics of open participation by allowing anyone to edit a page on their website. Users are able to start new pages they wish to elaborate on or edit an exising page. In addition, users can read the work of others who have collaborated on a page before and critique or build upon what has already been written on a specific topic. Bruns also points out that Wikipedia embraces the produsage principle of fluid heterarchies. There is no sole leader on a Wikipedia page, thus users are allowed to freely evaluate each other's content. He adds that those who contribute more to a page may have visibility in the community in contrast to those who have lower rates of participation, however, the leadership is always in flux.

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.....(continuation of Applications of Produsage Through Media Convergence)

In addition, Jenkins elaborates on the idea that content is spreadable. He states that the spreadability of content is a logic of circulation and that content gains value as it travels through culture. He utilized viral videos as an example to show that individuals who share and spread this content are contributing to increasing its value, whether for potential commercial interests or for entertainment. As a result, he states that circulation is a grassroots hybrid system and shaped by the individuals from the bottom up who pass along the content by their own choice. This type of spreadability contrasts the traditional type of distribution from corporations who are the main entity distributing content or products. Similarly, Bruns' concept of open participation elaborates on the idea that the more individuals working and collaborating together produces higher quality content. In addition, it emphasis collaboration rather than one individual taking sole ownership of a piece of work. Jenskins' and Bruns' theories compare in that they both value multiple individuals collaborating to improve upon a piece of work or contribute to spreading its content. Jenskins' theory of media convergence values that it requires multiple individuals to work together to spread content throughout culture, while Bruns' theory values the collaborative effort of individuals working together to critique, analyze and reconstruct a piece of work.

Jenkins also discuses in his theory that content may be global. As individuals help spread content by sharing it with people within their networks, the content has the opportunity to be shared outside of the original culture it originated from. He utilizes the example of the emergence of anime in the United States to show the power of spreadability in sharing content to different communities and cultures. Anime originally emerged in Japan, however, as anime fans began circulating the content online and informally translated anime shows into English, it spread to audiences in the United States and more Americans be came a part of the anime fan base. As a result, the anime fan base in Japan contributed to the popularization of Anime in a global context and introduced new content to the American marketplace. In comparison to Bruns' concept of open participation, Jenkins adds on that the spreadability of content may bring new audiences from a global standpoint, thus increasing the number of individuals who are able to participate and engage with the content or product.

Lastly, Jenkins characterizes content as independent. He states that while mass producers like corporations may have an advantage over independent producers in regards to visibility, such as indie film makers, independent producers still have opportunities to get their content exposed to the public. For example, he utilizes kick starters as an example of a funding source for independent producers and the creation of their content. Independent producers have the power to appeal to audiences that the heads of corporations or commercial structures are also trying to attract. As a result, in comparison to Bruns' concept of fluid heterarchy, which states that there is a fluid level of leadership in a produser group, independent producers showcase a fluid level of leadership against large corporations because they still have resources and networks to get their content across to their desired audiences.