Shirky: Mass Amateurization

In his writing, "Everyone is a Media Outlet," Shirky tackles the concept of Mass Amateurization, and its effects on the media world. Mass Amateurization, as coined by Shirky, is the 'result of the radical spread of expressive capabilities (Shirky 66).'With the rise of the internet, emailing and social networking, the lines of heirarchy between professionals and amateurs begin to blur, allowing the amateurs to now have access to what was once limited to the use of professionals only.

Today, everyone has access to the media world with very few boundaries and limitations. What was once a society of the professionals, has now transformed to that of the amateurs. As the media grows and the professional class starts disintigrating, the masses will start accepting their privileges and their role in controlling the media. Shirky uses the example of Music recording and Newspaper printing to enhance his idea of mass amateurization (Shirky 59). With the rise of the internet, publishing costs and difficulty declined, opening these professional fields to the public, and emphasizing the concept of mass amateurization.

With the luxury of the internet, I, an amature, have the ability to take part in the blogging world. As a daily blog reader (http://www.manrepeller.com), and now a media blog publisher, I have the ability to publish and read what was once the domain of the 'professional.' The simplicity of the program, and the effortless accessability makes it easy for anybody to become a blogger. In the world that we live in, anybody "can publish anything anytime, and the instant it is published, it is globally available and readily findable. (Shirky,71)"

From shirkys argument, it seems that with rise of media, anybody can become a publisher, journalist, photographer, etc overnight. Though this is the case, i still believe in a future of professionalism. The demand for our morning papers, weekly magazines, z100, and Nicholas Sparks novels will never cease to exist, no matter how amatuer- accessible our world becomes. In my opinion, amateurs can never and will never fully compensate the job of the professional.

References:

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