Axel Bruns states that there are many produsage environment enabled by technology that has emerged during the past century (2008). It seems that the produsage of information and knowledge in particular has been demonstrated in the field of health. Bruns (2007) states that public has moved towards becoming produsers of democracy; that producer no longer only distribute knowledge and information to consumers. Consumers have become much more actively involved in shaping their own media and network usage. This has allowed the emerging of information from both professionals and non-professionals or ‘experts’ and ‘folks’ to contribute in their own knowledge through different non-bias points of view in relation to health.
The most obvious example, and has been discussed for many times by many experts would be Wikipedia. This community-led content creation and maintenance builds by anyone; as mentioned ‘expert’ or ‘folks’ (Bruns, 2008). It is an equal opportunity platform to have their thoughts and views on a topic aired regardless of the quality or quantity of their contribution. These continuous updates of content is what Bruns discusses as Unifinished Artefacts, Continuing Process, how it “deconstructs to form granular, modular tasks inviting and harnessing even small contributions from casual members of the produsage community, and as the collaboratively prodused content is shared in an openly accessible information commons, the process of produsage must necessarily remain continually unfinished, and infinitely continuing.” This allows the platform of collective intelligence to improve its content indefinitely.
Another example would be Wellsphere, a collaborative networking site that shares and contributes a range of information regarding health promotion, medical health, health science etc, across its network of bloggers and writers of experts and health professional as well as patients and general public. This “open participation” and innovative site provokes collaborative contribution whether is major or minor, substantial or insubstancial, they’re all valuable to the overall site. In addition, the holoptic model of communal evaluation in produsage, as Bruns (2008) argues, allows contributors or “produsers” collaborate with one another and is made available to see and evaluate everyone else’s contributions and therefore has effectively benefited the diversity of knowledge and information, maintain community cohesion and content consistency.
I believe that the act of produsage has emerged and expanded an even wider content from produsers own expertise and has made available in different produsage environment of this online, networked, information economy today. We have departed from the traditional, organised, hierarchical model while community based, “bottom up” emerges. Consumers have turned into users and the media are no longer “something that is done to them” (Bruns, 15). Produsage has also sustained an active and diverse community of contributors in an open environment which impose no barriers to participation. It has truly benefited and the field of health in every way today since community knowledge is valued and required to support and comprise with the knowledge of experts.
Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond From Production to Produsage. The key characteristics of produsage, P. Lang, 9-15. New York (accessed 24 April 2009).
Bruns, A. 2007. Produsage:A working definition. http://www.produsage.org/produsage (accessed 25 April 2009).
I agree that produsage has truly benefited the field of health due to value placed on community knowledge and its ability to support the knowledge of experts. The existence of professional and amateur hybrids within collaborative networks such as Wellsphere and evolver.net are particularly important.
As you have outlined Wellsphere shares and contributes a range of information regarding health promotion, medical health, health science etc through a variety of writers both health experts, patients and the general public. The social action network evolver may be of interest to you as it takes this sense of collaboration to the next level by using this medium not only in an online setting to collate a diverse knowledge base and in a sense enlist interested members of the community of varying degrees of expertise that are united by a shared interest; but also to convert this collective intelligence into action in the physical world as well. Evolver.net supports the opportunity for the network to put their ideas into practice and I think this is a particular interesting aspect for its applications to the health industry.
I would also just like to point out that I believe some barriers still do exist within the processes of produsage and that the health orientated networks are not always an “open environment” (Flew 2008). Many health networks still require uses to become members (sometimes as a means for marketing products i.e weightloss) and usually only allow comments and not edits to already posted content.
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Crystal,
I may seem narrow minded, but I never think of the new media as an aspect of modern society which effects such traditional pillars separate to online technology- especially health.
I am always frequenting blogs that cover things like fashion, music or art- all aspects that many would consider as “popular culture” and that I believe, dominate the internet. This believe of mine is built from the fact that you won’t find “medicine” amongst my bookmarks or tags (unless of course, it is Grey’s Anatomy or Scrubs related).
The website, Wellsphere has revealed to me that medical journals and forums are available online and are accessed by users at a similar rate to those which are focused on popular culture.
I suppose the very fact that our own university offers a course that focuses on both media and health is an example that the two now stand side by side.
I applaud the way you have highlighted health and medicine as yet another industry that, along with the concept of produsage, is adjusting in our modern world. Whether people like it or not, the internet is changing the way we access everything in our society- and your blog focus is a standing example.