Mass amateurization is happening in several places in the professional world, but no where is it's influence more strongly felt then in the media, particularly the news industry. Here according to Shirky sites like eBay and Craigslist, where anyone can request a good or service , have been moving into the territory of classifieds and is cutting off that form of advertisement from the tradition print media (56). Journalists are also facing harsher competition from the rest of the world. As Shirky says "anyone can be a publisher" and this is the founding principle of the mass amateurization (77). When anyone can post a video of events uprising in the Middle East or update their Facebook about the events of an earthquake they are now the journalists breaking news as it happens even though they probably don't see themselves as such. This change is caused by simple odds. When any given event happens the odds of a professional journalist being there are slim, but odds of a passerby walking by and being able to take pictures of even film the event or almost to the point of being guarantied.
There are many ways these effects can be seen such as the ever increasing popularity of blogs or video sharing sites like youtube. However the example the I feel most resinates with the issue of mass amateurization is the site that guy with the glasses and its leading man Doug Walker. A person who started out like many others as a simple youtube user has found such success with his videos that he and some of his close friends have started up a company for the site. It has since grown to host videos from many different people covering many different topics of interests. Not only is he living many internet users dreams, but being able to go from making amateur videos into having that be his profession blurs the line between the two.
One of the big things the Stirky talks about when future of this increasing control of news to those that normal are the consumer (62) and the blurring of the line between professional and amateur (72). When the Senator Lott made a pro racist comment at a dinner one night the professional media hardly blinked since they didn't think to think of it as being news. However millions of bloggers took up arms at the remarks and eventually the "mass media" was covering the story as well. Continuing the blogger trend Stirky also brings up the issue of what happens to the people that live on the line of amateur and professional. Bloggers aren't professionals, but what about the professionals that use blogs? What of bloggers that end up crossing the line and end up as professionals, was what they posted when they were "just bloggers" professional news? Clearly the line between the two is becoming more and more blurred and will only get worse over time.
This now begs the question, what does the future hold for the media professional? Personally, I think they will continue to go strong. While amateurs will increasing be the ones able to break the news on a story they will never be able to cover it the way professionals do. This is obviously due to the funding available to the professionals and as such they will be able to investigate things more fully and odds are write more eloquently then we can as the common folk. The other major issue facing the internet is the issue of trust. When anyone can post anything online it can be hard to tell if the crossed their "t''s and doted their "i"s when getting the information they are reporting on and so the chance of them being misinformed or them misinterpreting things is much higher. As such journalists should be able to sleep soundly knowing they will have a job when the wake up in the morning.
Shirky, Clay. "Everyone Is a Media Outlet." Here Comes Everybody: the Power of Organizing without Organizations. New York: Penguin, 2008. 55-80. Print
I have to agree with the vast majority of your post. Amateurs are definitely starting to become viable sources of information as publishing continues to become easier and the they continue to hold a kind of freedom that the professionals can never have. A freedom to discuss or report on almost anything without needing permission from a larger authority or worrying about controversy or financial gain. I can definitely relate to the example with Doug because I get to see comedic or critical reviews of older Movies I've often never heard of or even seen from big media. obviously, the professionals won't become obsolete because they possess things amateurs can never have like a huge pool of resources and an already established audience. Subsequently, their services will still be valuable for spreading information even if its not as valuable for obtaining it.
ReplyDelete