In “Everyone is a
Media Outlet” Clay Shirky describes mass amateurization as the masses learning
how to use the technologies that once were only utilized by professionals. Although they do
not learn it to the level of expertise, but only to the level of being able
create products that were once only produced by professionals. He uses an
example of the scribe to illustrate his definition. He explains that the scribe
was once the only way you could copy a book or document or get something
written down on a piece of parchment. Once people began to read and write and
publishing was developed the scribe no longer held an exclusive status. “In the 1400s scribes existed side by side with
publishes but no longer performed an irreplaceable service.”(Shirky) The mass
amateurization of the public diminished the status of the scribe to a delicacy
rather than the common way to copy a book or write a letter.
Even
today the news is no longer only what is broadcasted from the major networks,
but what your fellow peers in society have to say about every topic or anything
considered news. You wouldn’t know that Tom is having a party from CBS but on
twitter and facebook you might hear from Jane that he is and that it is going
to be a “banger”. You may not know that your favorite band is playing a show at
a local venue from the major news services but a fan made music blog or the
bands website might tell you about that show, the rest of their tour and when
their new album is coming out.
The mass
amateurization of our society has benefited me by making whatever information I
want to find available for me in some form on the web. If I want to hear
controversial news or opinions I can Google it rather than settling with what
fox five has to say. On the other hand Shirky argues that the mass
amateurization of our society is putting quantity over quality and is making
news like Stacy is bored as accessible if not more accessible then news about
the status of our economy. He thinks the overwhelming amount of trash we have
to swim through in the media to find actual important news and information is
hurting our society and dumbing us down.
Jenkins
is a little more optimistic in which he thinks the mass amateurization is
creating the professionals of tomorrow. He uses the example of Heather and how
she writes fan fiction of Harry Potter to explore her creativity, something she
would not be able to do in school. Being able to access all kinds of different
fan fiction inspires amateurs to give it a try and you never know which one of
these people may be the next big thing. I for one think its great that because
of you tube and vimeo we can all be amateur video producers and through free
recording software’s like garage band we can record music right in our homes.
This is a luxury once only available for producers with investors but now its
available to the public accompanied by the free publisher the Internet.
Even
though amateurs will now have a fair opportunity to excel I think the future of
the media professional will be preserved. Even from what Shirky and Jenkins
have to say it’s clear that there will always be a place for these professions.
Although we all may have available recording software and publishing outlets it
does not mean that everyone will use it to its full potential or with the skill
of a professional. What the availability of these technologies will do is give
those with talent who would not have an opportunity in the past an extremely
larger chance to have their media exposed to the masses and become a professional.
The readings suggest that the way professional media outlets do business will
have to shift. The playing field is now more or less even and professionals
have a whole new set of competition. The new competitors are the mass
amateurized public who hold the potential and capability to have a greater
impact on society than the professionals do.
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