Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and beyond: from production to produsage

TLDR

The new Generation C, active on platforms such as MySpace, YouTube, and OurMedia, drives Web 2.0 development and raises questions beyond the hype about what is truly happening. Axel Bruns explores participatory online culture, outlining core principles behind collaborative content creation across open source, blogs, Wikipedia, and Second Life. The book demonstrates that the shift to produsage—continuous collaborative creation of knowledge and art—has profound implications for culture, economy, society, and democracy. The authors note that users, now creators and distributors of content, were named TIME’s Person of the Year 2006 and AdAge’s Advertising Agency of the Year 2007.

Abstract

We -- the users turned creators and distributors of content -- are TIME's Person of the Year 2006, and AdAge's Advertising Agency of the Year 2007. We form a new Generation C. We have MySpace, YouTube, and OurMedia; we run social software, and drive the development of Web 2.0. But beyond the hype, what's really going on? In this groundbreaking exploration of our developing participatory online culture, Axel Bruns establishes the core principles which drive the rise of collaborative content creation in environments, from open source through blogs and Wikipedia to Second Life. This book shows that what's emerging here is no longer just a new form of content production, but a new process for the continuous creation and extension of knowledge and art by collaborative communities: produsage. The implications of the gradual shift from production to produsage are profound, and will affect the very core of our culture, economy, society, and democracy.