Mass Amateurization

     

According to Clay Shirky “Everyone is a media outlet”, he defines “Mass Amateurization” as “The process by which a lot of ordinary people obtain the tools and become fluent in using technologies that were once commonplace only to the professionals that utilized them”. Shirky explains how media has changed the world in a very influencing way. It has become a source of instant information for all cultures and societies. He discusses how new technologies have offered the public new possibilities to publish and share any news, information and ideas. It helps people become more active and help publicize all kind of information through any kind of medium outlet. The ability to publish any source of information is now easier and does not require professionals. Anyone with any kind of connection to Internet is able to post, share and publish any work or ideas they work on disclosing to the majority of people.

     Agreeing with Shirky, yes technology is the only medium that most people rely on these days. For example, Facebook and twitter are rapidly becoming more easy outlets for the public. Anyone can now report any source of news or updates through these outlets at anytime and anywhere. This contradicts with the past few decades where people only relied on sources from TV, newspaper and magazines. But as Shirky said most TV shows and channels now rely on media outlets and help gather their information from these outlets.

     

      He also focuses on how journalists no longer have a huge mass of audience to report to since the widespread of web and Internet. For example, I always use twitter and Facebook for all my updates or any source of news I hear about or would like to know about. I cannot imagine myself without any of these media outlets. Yes Internet has been my first priority in the media world; I think I barely read the newspaper or watch television anymore. I can find access to everything online these days. I am also a video production major where now it is easy to download programs, edit my videos and publish it on YouTube. Shirky is trying to discuss how any person or group of people quickly disclose any kind of news and reports it immediately to the public.

     Henry Jenkins in his book “Convergence Culture” talks about fan fiction, and how they continue to expand in the field of social media outlets. He argues how economic, social and cultural media are changing and shifting in many directions. For example, entertainment and media industries control the production and type of sources that is being publicized to the public. They allow media outlets and these industries to construct into the public’s mind to help all these trans media outlets to monitor people. For example, making people, more familiar with videogames, reality shows, Facebook that make people no longer think about what they see and consume. These industries are allowing people to share all kinds of information they feel to disclose either it is something reliable or something that does not have meaning.

     Thinking about the future professional is really firm. From what we are saying today shows us how technology will be taking over most of our professional future. I guess we all now are media professionals. We certainly connect to all media outlets and publish whatever we feel to publicize. Shirky and clay communicate to us the importance of social media in our lives today. People no longer have to be professionals. They dicuss the power of social media and it’s impact on us as consumers. Almost half of the people know rely on media outlets. TV and newspaper are apparently disappearing, yet I believe they will never fade away but still the new technology is taking over.