“The rise of interactive media does provide us with the beginnings of new metaphors for cooperation, new faith in the power of networked activity and new evidence of our ability to participate actively in the authorship of our collective destiny.”

The Royal Children’s Hospital’s Health Information Services provide a range of services for The Royal Children’s Hospital including record retrieval, clinical coding, and system administration. They provide advice and guidance to staff and the wider community on all aspects of health information management. This year, 2009, the health Information Services promotes a Medical Record Form Design for staff to design a medical record form for their area. This staffs are not manufacturers who have been responsible for designing and remodelling these medical record forms. This produsage-based design of medical record forms is a great example of turning artefacts to products.

Each form must comply with the Australian Standard on Hospital Medical Records (AS2828) by referring to the RCH policy 04-00-1-013 Medical Records – Design of Forms. Though staffs/produsers are to design under guidelines and have to ensure the consistency of the format with other hospital forms in the medical record, they are able to identify the effective and significant information needed in forms and design into “products of physical goods”, to modify old forms or create new ones to enhance the health community within their area. It is a great example of what Bruns (2008, 389) discusses, “produsage moves beyond the producer/consumer distinction, and learn to share their own innovations with the wider community.”

Produsers in the health community, works more effectively on the creation, sharing, and development of new information and knowledge resources than conventional producers are able to, and for such producers, their business is rapidly converting “from one based on content production to one which provides services to aid the community in its produsage efforts” (Bruns 2008, 391).

Consumers are becoming significant roles for produsage-based approach in this emerging new environment (Bruns 2008, 395). By using the produsage principles, produsers are able to develop a collection of information and knowledge sufficient to allow for the industrial production of physical goods. As it spreads further throughout in the health community, produsage will undoubtedly affect the structures of the setting of contribution, experts, non-experts are able to participate in develop and share unlimitedly, to maintain, improve and innovate in this open platform.

Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond From Production to Produsage. The key characteristics of produsage, P. Lang, 387-403. New York (accessed 21 May 2009).

Experts play an important role of providing core and fundamental knowledge, as well as being the curators of knowledge by pointing out the interrelations between different fields of knowledge. However, they are unable to have comprehensive experts on areas of knowledge remote from their core field (Bruns 2008, 214). In the act of produsage, folks on the other hand provide a different level of expertise in the health community; they are able to provide personal experience from their health problems.

The following are examples of different approaches in knowledge and information contribution:

Experts

A Healthy and Active Australia is a government based site that provides a range of information and initiatives on healthy eating, regular physical activity and overweight and obesity. This reputable site provides only the knowledge of experts, and folk knowledge is not.

Folky Experts

On the other hand, The Health Blogger, a site that runs by a nutrition enthusiast who’s a personal trainer. Even though this blogger/produser is not a health professional, his site is ranked number 9 in Top Health Sites. He acts as “folky experts”, contributing his knowledge in a way that experts are unable to provide. This proves that the knowledge of a folk is just as valued as the knowledge of an expert.

Experts & Folks

Mediapedia is a site that allows sharing and advancement of medical knowledge in relation to health by applying the new collaborate model. This model provides a free online platform for both health professionals (experts) and general public (amateurs) to contribute unlimitedly. In this combination of experts and folks, producers and produsers, they have “harness the benefits of both” in this bundle of knowledge and information in the health community (Bruns 2008, 220). It has truly bridge the division of the knowledge of experts and folks that they contribute, and balances the contribution from both sides in this produsage environment.

“Each of us knows something that others do not: specific, peculiar and unquestionably important – to someone. One man’s trivia is another’s vital fact… build up our own little calls of knowledge, individually, yet in unconscious concert with millions of others who have the same desire to share what they know.”

In this community-led online environment we have today, contribution from folks / amateurs are just as important as the contribution of experts/ professionals. “Experts” still has their place in the traditional core information contributing while co-existing with “folks” who have definitely enhanced the health community by providing a different aspect of health knowledge. We should all appreciate the diverse content collection of information and knowledge we have today through the workings of collective intelligence in the field of health.

Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond From Production to Produsage. The key characteristics of produsage, P. Lang, 199-222. New York (accessed 14 May 2009).

Bruns, A. 2008. Beyond the Pro/Am Schism: Opportunities for Collaboration between Professional and Citizen Journalists under a Produsage Framework. http://www.slideshare.net/Snurb/beyond-the-proam-schism-opportunities-for-collaboration-between-professional-and-citizen-journalists-under-a-produsage-framework (accessed 14 May 2009).

Even though Wikipedia is built through this fluid heterarchical community structures and ad hoc governance, polices are enforced to both the management of content, and to the governance of contributors (Bruns 2008, 113). These policies are, “Neutral Point of View” (NPOV), articles must be written from a neutral point of view, without bias all significant views; Verifiability, to add references and footnotes to articles; and No Original Research, no unpublished facts, arguments, concepts, statements, or theories (Bruns 2008, 113). Through these policies, both academics and volunteers are able to find a common ground and rationally discuss and contribute to this online encyclopedia while remain its reliability.

In addition, Dartmouth researchers looked at Wikipedia to determine if the anonymous, infrequent contributors are as reliable as the people who update constantly and have a reputation to maintain. The answer is, surprisingly, yes. The researchers were most surprised to find that the reliability of infrequent contributor’s contributions were at least as high as that of the more reputable registered users’ contributions (Dartmouth College, 2007). This founding verifies the effectiveness of what Bruns’ principle of Fluid Heterarchy, Ad Hoc Meritocracy; that all participants in the project has the ability to make a worthy contribution despite the fact that skills and abilities of all participants are not equal (2008).

One great example would be the word “Nutrition”. This word is unquestionably one of the main subjects that branches out to more specific topics; from Nutrition, to Nutrients, to carbohydrates, to rice, to China etc. This page shows links to more than 200 other words in Wikipedia as well as having External Links, Databases and search engines, and Further Reading. Moreover, 47 books, sites and other academic resources being referenced. As a student studying health nutrition, I feel that Wikipedia has built and maintain a reliable information source in the field of health and there is no doubt that it was co-created by many “experts” and volunteers who shares common knowledge of this subject area. And through this collective intelligence, people like me are able have easy access to information and knowledge that is linkable and up-to-date.

Even as many experts don’t recommend people to employ Wikipedia as reference, most subject areas are relatively credible. As Bruns states that it is important “to distinguish the credible, authoritative voices of fully formed issue communities from the vague, uncertain voices haunting the as yet less developed areas” (Bruns 2005, 133). Through the input of knowledge from everyone, not just programmers and ‘experts’, the representation of knowledge in this open-participation community has become, in my opinion, one of the best, and evidently a successful research tools.

Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond From Production to Produsage. The key characteristics of produsage, P. Lang, 101-133. New York (accessed 5 May 2009).

Garinkel, S. 2008. Wikipedia and the meaning of Truth. http://proquest.umi.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/pqdlink?vinst=PROD&fmt=6&startpage=-1&ver=1&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=1594844751&exp=05-07-2014&scaling=FULL&vtype=PQD&rqt=309&TS=1241780944&clientId=14394&cfc=1  (accessed 7 May 2009).

Dartmouth College. 2007. Dartmouth researchers confirm the power of altruism in Wikipedia. http://proquest.umi.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/pqdlink?index=24&did=1379610821&SrchMode=2&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1241911236&clientId=14394 (accessed 5 May 2009).

Citizen journalism provides user-generated content of news and information or simply anything that might be interested and worth knowing by public. Of course, the choice of ‘gatewatching’ is still in the public’s hands, choosing from this vast variety of sources; as Axel Bruns believes as the process of highlight news, of publicizing rather than publishing information (Bruns, 74). These citizen journalists guide public to a whole new level of information and knowledge retrieving and has transformed news and information distribution from a hierarchical, top-down model with high barriers to entry to a more decentralised and networked model (Flew, 146).

The Skeptical Hypochondriac site provides personal health stories with topics ranging from nutrition and health care to psychology and social trends as well as current health news. Dave Pell, a blogger or citizen journalist, created this health blog seeing as there are no go-to blog on the subject of personal health. Dave incorporates traditional news with the use of wittiness and humor as well as providing readers interesting facts and news on different health topics, such as Best and Worst Fast Food and Supermarket Items or Virus Hunting and Epidemic Spreading. Dave greatly demonstrates the role as a citizen journalist, collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and information. He captivates audience with non-bias, quality information from a different point of view when being a ‘produser’ allows him the freedom of opinion and expression. As mentioned before, with the variety of choices there are for public to ‘gatewatch’ today, Dave Pell’s personal health site definitely captures his readers’ attention by showing his reliability and consistency of posts and his style of writing.

Axel Bruns also discusses the produsage principle of Common Property, Individual Rewards, which refers to the sharing of information can benefit both public (community) who receives information and the individual (blogger) who contributes (2007). This communal resource allows Dave Pell to build his status, credibility and reputation while sustaining the produsage of news and information for his readers; and with a space to make comments is yet to come, readers will find themselves becoming involved in contributing by sharing and critiquing the information.

Mainstream news media are now facing the threat of online citizen journalism, knowing that these citizen journalists strives to meet the needs of audience today by providing specific news in a open, free and different perspective. They sure will share and tell all news that is available in the world, rather than what the mainstream journalists want us to see today.

Note: Only one citizen journalist blog site was reviewed in this post, the following sites demonstrates different ways to deliver health news and information.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Medpedia

Tips for Life

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 30 April 2009).

Flew, T. 2008. New Media: An Introduction. Citizen Journalism. Oxford University Press, 143-167 Hong Kong (accessed 1 May 2009).

Pell, D. 2009. The Skeptical Hypochondriac. http://skepticalhypochondriac.com (accessed 2 May 2009).

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).