Mass Amateurization Post (Kunal)

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The “mass amateurization” described by Clay Shirky in “Everyone is a Media Outlet” describes how methods of communication which were once scarce and required the knowledge and experience of a professional became available to the masses because of a combination of several factors like cost, availability, and ease. He argues these shifts have allowed anyone to engage in transmission of messages and have displaced a considerable amount of need for the knowledge and access in the domain of the professionals like those in major media companies.

His argument could not possibly be truer given how as Shirky puts it, “anyone can be a publisher” (71). With the rise of the internet, people can publish any message they please online for the world to see and interact with. It’s been made possible by practically non-existent costs and the great availability and ease of use of many tools that allow such “self-publishing” to be possible. The smart device assumption (77) Shirky mentions is a large part of this because free or inexpensive web tools and computers are capable of doing just as much as the expensive tools other media forms like television use with greater flexibility and control for their users. Subsequently, it’s natural that media professionals would no longer be as necessary if it’s now so easy for any “amateur” to post their thoughts. Shirky says that the outcome is that the control professionals have over the media has loosened and the ways to find and interpret information has multiplied. He exemplifies this with the Trent Lott story gaining traction thanks to the writings to web blogs and with the volume of photos shared on iStockphoto.

I can personally vouch for his argument because I’ve followed and can find plenty of these “amateurs” who can often give me what professionals cannot give as well, if at all. Since I’m a gamer, I frequently search around the internet for the latest videogame and technology news. While there exist many large websites for these news like IGN, 1UP, CNN Tech, and Gamespot, I often find some more in-depth news first, if not only from the smaller or unlikely sources. For example, I can often find some information about a specific game in forums like GameFAQs and see it nowhere else or many days later on another larger site. A friend of mine managed to dig up considerably more information on Marvel vs. Capcom 3 from there forums. Without this “mass amateurization” I would never be able to find much of this game information because the big media has not and cannot cover it, you could only test a game by borrowing it from someone else before the internet, and the publisher will only reveal so much about a game before you actually buy and play it. But now that anyone can post this information, I can often find out everything I need to know about a game before I even consider a purchase and even see complete footage from a videogame Let’s Player. These “amateur” sources of information are often better than the big gaming sites as the pressure for skewed reviews to get advertising is completely absent.

I definitely think that the media professional will still have a prominent role in the future and will co-exist with the amateurs. Although Shirky says the distinction between professional and amateur is becoming more difficult, the two can still co-exist because their vastly different resources mean they can target different audiences. If the media professional truly had no future, we wouldn’t have so many recognizable and respected journalists or photographers like Annie Leibowitz. The professional’s primary advantage is that their greater number of resources allows them to channel their messages to a considerably larger audience, something that amateurs generally can’t boast. The Trent Lott story Shirky mentions got a largely increased amount of attention because the press’s decision to pick up the story from the web blogs greatly increased who was exposed to it. Nonetheless, the professionals will definitely forfeit some leverage they previously had because anyone can publish anything they choose without worrying about the cost or permission to publish. Ultimately, I expect something big like a large group of professional pictures or a big, high-interest story to be covered by professionals because they can reach a larger audience while more specialized news or specific coverage professionals can’t touch such as the gory murder of Neda in the Iranian election protests we talked about. I see a resemblance to a short head and long tail model with this “mass amateurization.” The big media companies will deliver smaller amounts of information that many are interested in as they can reach a larger audience and need to recoup large costs. Amateurs on the other hand, can easily deliver considerably more information that mores specialized or can’t be touched by the professionals at little to no costs for the long tail end of this model.

Ultimately, I see a future where “mass amatuerization” tools will be used to bring about information not normally covered by the professionals. The professionals will not become obsolete because their services will still be necessary to reach a larger audience they have already established. They will still be distinguishable from the amateurs because there is still value in their resources to reach bigger audiences and if there wasn’t, famous journalists or photographers wouldn’t still exist.

Works Cited
Shirky, Clay. "Everyone Is a Media Outlet." Here Comes Everybody: the Power of Organizing without Organizations. New York: Penguin, 2008. 55-80. Print.