Are You A Produser...?

The term Produsage is not very common nevertheless Produsage is seen daily all over the world however how many of us are exposed to Produsage without even knowing what it means and knowing that it exists?

My first experience of Produsage was probably at a young age listening to music artists conflicting the old with the new. As mentioned on Produsage.org ‘produsers engage not in a traditional form of content production, but are instead involved in Produsage – the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement’.

To put into an easier context, Produsage is seen continuously within the music industry and social mediums such as youtube and second life. We the users turned creators transform old versions into a new form which has similar aspects but a different look.

Are you a Produser... ?

You may be thinking Produsage is a form of untalented, unoriginal art however we must be conscious that original content still exists by an ever diminishing number of people, original content is not dead and may never be. Advanced Technology that we are exposed to today enhances us to innovate new products in ways that we have never been able to before concluding to a demand within the market.

So why has Produsage been introduced into society? It is because we as consumer want something more, something we can create and relate to?

Consumer demand is ever growing and ever changing and companies are struggling to keep up with different trends. Consumers are using existing content in pursuit of further improvement. Key Examples of Produsage can be seen through software such as wikipedia, youtube or in online games such as The Sims, Second Life which is prodused by its users rather than the publisher.

The core object of Produsage is to involve users as producers concluding to these user-produsers taking lead into the development of new content and ideas. Produsers tend to collaborate rather than work individually and in order to be a produser rather than a producer it is necessary also to be a user of other participants content.

You may not be informed or aware but there are many forms of Produsage in today’s modern world, here are just some examples to help you understand better:

Second Life is a great example of produsers in action. Second Life is an online game were you as the user controls the game rather then the creator of the game. Second life puts you as the user turned creator in charge giving the user a sense of creation and control within the game.

Youtube is a fairly new creation which is where many producers are created without them even knowing. One of the more recent creations is the popular Hitler Film Downfall has been recorded then recreated by a producer who has selected a scene in German and has put English subtitles over it creating the scene to be something it isn’t. The Youtube Clip is called “Hitler finds out the truth about Santa”. This particular use of Produsage is very conflicting since the Producers of the film are not happy that the film is being mocked however are happy the way this youtube clip has marketed their product due to people wanting to watch the real scene.

TheForce.net is a very popular website created for enthusiasts to continue on story lines from famous films and books. These users turned creators are able to set up forums/blogs and rewrite and continue on scripts which have ended due to the producers not continuing on. Fan Fiction.com is a similar site to force.net were users are aloud to unleash their imagination and become the creators.

Produsage is not a term used very often however is seen, heard and written every day. You may be a produser or just experience it without knowing but it certainly is identified daily around the world.