We are all powerful "prosumers"

 We are all powerful "prosumers"

“Prosumer” is formed by the two words: “producer” and “consumer”. It regards the idea that one person is the producer and consumer at the same time. According to Ritzer and Jurgenson (2010), for example, in the McDonaldization of Society, Ritzer (2008[1993]) discusses how consumers are “working” in the fast food industry; the consumer of that food, is also, in certain extent, a producer of the meal. In regards to the model of presumption, it can be applied to many different circumstances. In the following blog, I would discuss and consider how the model can be applied to one’s identity.

As an international student studies in Australia, I am the producer and also the consumer. I consume different kinds of services provided by the commercial sectors, like restaurants and public transports. Meanwhile, during my consumption, I occasionally participate in the production of these services. For example, when I go to a fast food shop, I would serve myself as a waiter, as I have to find my own place and take my meal to the seat by myself. The self-serve checkout in the supermarkets illustrates the similar idea. Consumers, like me, would take their own items to the counter and finish the whole paying procedures. They actually “produce” as cashiers in the supermarkets. Besides, as I am a student, I enjoy different kinds of student discounts. In the other words, I am actually “consuming” the identity of being a student.

(Photo sourced: http://www.littlemummy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Self-service-checkout.jpg)

As a netizen, I am a producer and consumer in the Internet too. According to Ritzer and Jurgenson (2010), Web 2.0 'is currently both the most prevalent location of prosumption and its most important facilitator as a 'means of prosumption''. Obviously, the Internet provides more opportunities for people to be a “presumer”. In the Facebook, or some other social networks, I am posting some wall posts as a producer. At the same time, I am reading the posts of my friends as a consumer. The similar ideas can be applied to YouTube, Twitter and different forums. Those ideas are also applicable to the blog where I am posting my own opinion. YouTube is actually a good facilitator of presumption. As a fan, I can listen to different songs and watch the music videos of my idols. I am enjoying the entertainment as a consumer while I am contributing to the hit rate of the videos as a producer. This finally turns out to be a brilliant idea for online promotion.  

(Photo sourced: http://lolforsmb.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/lol-social-sites.jpg)

All in all, everyone could be a “prosumer”. Under different circumstances and with ours different identities, we could produce and consume our own identities at the same time. Especially with the rise of Web 2.0, presumption is further encouraged. Moreover, upon capitalism, the ideas of presumption could surely being applied on a commercial scale. Online promotion with YouTube is one of the applications. The power of presumption could no longer be neglected. 

References:

Ritzer, G & Jurgenson, N 2010 ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 10 no. 1, pp 13-36.

Can the "thieves" of copyright be intimidated?

Can the "thieves" of copyright be intimidated?

“Copyright” is a new term which familiars the 21^st century’s people very much. People’s awareness towards “intellectual property” has been greatly raised. Since the eighteen century, the idea of property rights has been developed. The rapid development of technologies leads to more high-tech crimes, including illegal download of different copyrighted things. In this post, one of the five common tactics that corporations and their legal representatives use to inhibit and counter public outrage: intimidation versus resistance would be further discussed.

Photo sourced: http://www.isentia.com/assets%5Cnewsletter%5Ccopyrightlarge.jpg

Technologies could bring people many advantages but also many disadvantages. Taking legal action is undoubtedly an effective way to prevent the crimes from happening, especially in this civilized society. However, with the help of technology, downloading music, movies and books from the Internet becomes much easier than before. Piracy is becoming an easy thing to do. And the police would find it even more difficult to target these high-tech criminals, as they exist in the boundless world virtually. Even the industries and the government would like to take legal action and intimidate the pirates; it could be a hard job to do. In 2005, a Hong Kong netizen has been successfully prosecuted by the Hong Kong Customs, for illegally share three movies on the BitTorrent indexing site. This case did trigger a heated debate in the world, as it was also the first case that involved jailing. I do agree that this could really intimidate the individuals who involve in illegal file-sharing. According to Martin, Moore and Salter (2010), “Most individuals are frightened when they are taken to court by a large company.” Individuals are always the weaker one when compared with the large corporations, especially in terms of money. Thus, the case could really be a warning signal to the perpetrators.

Photo sourced: http://trinities.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/go-to-jail.jpg

Yet, Martin, Moore and Salter (2010) pointed out another important argument that “When hundreds of thousands of people are sharing files, how fair is it for any single person to have to fight a court battle or pay a huge fine?” A group of individuals could form big power. In the virtual world, it is very difficult for the authority to find the exact person who shares the files illegally. The police can only chase the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the related netizens. And the authority has to investigate the illegal sharing with the help of the Internet providers. Due to the privacy problem, the companies can reject the request of providing their clients’ information. These make the investigation even more difficult. Moreover, I think that people are more familiar with the copyright law now. Some years ago, these high-tech criminals may be afraid of the law since there were related cases which have successfully brought to the court. As time flies and the technologies are continuously developing, they would try to find another way out to share the files. It would be even more difficult for the authority to stop the individuals from illegally sharing files. The effectiveness of intimidation would be far more reduced too. Self-discipline may be the only way to stop the criminal behavior; otherwise, the world still has to do much to protect the intellectual property. 

Photo sourced: http://globalvoicesonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ge13-protest-375x276.jpg

References

Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C 2010, Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry, First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12, retrieved 10 August 2013, <http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2986/2680>

 

Media Empires: catch-up the trend and become the real empires

Media Empires: catch-up the trend and become the real empires

“Another common understanding, that globalization means time-space compression,” suggested by Nederveen (2004). The boom in technologies makes people can communicate more easily. Far distances mean nothing to people nowadays. People can simply make a phone call or sent an email to get in touch with counterparts in the other sides of the world. This idea is widely appreciated by people from around the world. Intensive interaction could be experienced in this shrinking world. As mentioned by Powell and Steel (2011), “Mediascapes refer both to the distribution of electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate information (newspapers, magazines, television stations and film production studios) which are now available to a growing number of private and public interests throughout the world, and to the images of the world created by these media” (Appadurai, 1990, p. 330). A wide range of channels are available for distributing the information now. Media empires have to change to catch-up the trend of globalization, in order to be the real sovereigns of the media empires.

Photo sourced: http://socialkloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/social-media-world.jpg

In the past, we obtained information by reading newspaper and books. The speed of information spreading was relatively slow and inconvenient. Later on, upon the technological development, we have radios, televisions and computers. Even, we can use smart phones and different electronic gadgets to read news via the Internet. The world is changing rapidly. The information flow is much faster than before.

In order to catch-up the trend, the media empires have to change too. A new system of running a media empire has been developed. In the era of information explosion, people now can easily access different kinds of information through the Internet. One of the most important jobs of the media empires is to gain readers’ attention. The newspaper publishers set up their own websites and apps. These can ensure that their latest news can be accessed by the readers. In this fast-moving world, everyone works in a fast pace. Working faster seems to be as important as working better. They are fighting for the wide range of news, as well as the market shares.

Photo sourced: http://www.wpjedi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/12.jpg

Besides, upon the development of social network, social media empires have been developed too. The main newspaper and media corporations would set up their own accounts in the social network, like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. They disseminate information and attract the readers and audience. As people are the most powerful in this age, in 2006, "You" were chosen in 2006 as Time magazine's Person of the Year, everyone is son influential to the world. The audience is determining who would be the media empires. Thus, they would not only focus on political and serious issues,as in the past, but also entertaining topics. They are developing an image of trendy and ensuring the interactions between the audience and them are intensive enough. They are not corporations but real images to communicate with. Being a media empire in today’s globalized world, accuracy and speed is not the most important thing. Merging into the shrinking world is more important than standing at a high place alone. This is what media empires should do in globalization.

Photo sourced: http://socialmediadecals.com/images/facebook-twitter-youtube-decal.jpg

Photo sourced: http://nextup.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/time-you.jpg

References

Nederveen Pieterse, J 2004, ‘Globalization: consensus and controversies’, Globalization and culture: global mélange, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., pp. 7–21.

Powell Jason L, Steel Rebecca, 2011, ‘Revisiting Appadurai: Globalizing Scapes in a Global World – the Pervasiveness of Economic and Cultural Power’, International Journal of Innovative Interdisciplinary Research, 1, 74-80.