 |
| The photo above says, "Ugh, what is this crap? Whoever writes this must check their facts or something. and is not a paranoid shut-in at all... i'm gonna go read a news blog instead. |
In "Everyone is Media Outlet" Clay Shirky describes mass amateurization. Mass amateurization occurs as a result of the radical spread of expressive capabilities and the most obvious precedent is the one that gave birth to the modern word (66). Shirky's definition of mass amateurization means that anyone can publish anything to the World Wide Web. As a result of people being literate, mass amateurization was a direct result (79).
When talking about literacy Shirky says, "The spread of literacy after the invention of movable type ensured not the success of the scribal profession but its end. Instead of mass professionalization, the spread of literacy was a process of mass amateurization," (79) if people couldn't read or write mass professionalization would exist. Since people are literate their able to post information on their own. Literacy is key to mass amateurization.
When talking about literacy Shirky says, "The spread of literacy after the invention of movable type ensured not the success of the scribal profession but its end. Instead of mass professionalization, the spread of literacy was a process of mass amateurization," (79) if people couldn't read or write mass professionalization would exist. Since people are literate their able to post information on their own. Literacy is key to mass amateurization.
Henry Jenkins wrote a story called "Why Heather Can Write" in this story he talks about fan fiction culture and amateurization. Amateurization occurs when Heather Lawver creates/ launches "The Daily Prophet". Heather's main goal is to promote literacy and create discussion within the Harry Potter community (180). Heather's website is successful and it allows interaction with difference ethnic, racial and national backgrounds. This web based, school newspaper resulted in worldwide participation where anything Harry Potter oriented could be talked about.
I think that media professionals will still exist but they won't be as important. As the future approaches I'm sure that there will not be any media professionals just like the scribe situation. Media professionals will exists temporarily because they have resources that they can use whenever they post a story to provide proof. For example mass amateurists most likely won't have solid evidence that can provide whatever their posting is true. Both authors suggest that mass amateurization has taken over the way we get news.
An example that I experienced from mass amateurization occurred today. Around 2:45 PM I decided to check Twitter on my phone. I scroll down my timeline and see that my former high schools well liked and highly favored custodian had passed away. At first I couldn't believe it but I saw other former classmates tweet about it even my former high school basketball coach sent me a text informing me. My high school coach said that the headmaster was preparing and email to go out to everyone associated with the school but it hadn't been produced yet. This is an example of mass amateurization. My classmates and high school basketball coach being mass amateurists tweeted and texted me the news yet the mass professionalists being the headmaster of the school hadn't even posted the news yet. As literacy advances mass amateurization spreads. We are no longer just consumers we are producers.
No comments:
Post a Comment