Mass Amateurization

         In Clay Shirky’s  “Everyone is a Media Outlet,” he argues that amateurs have now utilized the tools that professional journalist have acquired to spread media. Non-professionals now have the tools to create and distribute content that professionals were usually responsible for doing. Shirky considers this to be mass amatuerization  The amateurs have unlimited access to the necessary tools to produce content and it spreads incredibly fast. Examples of mass amatuerization are all around us from blogs to social media websites such as twitter and instagram. Now with hashtags it makes it even easier for news to spread even faster. Shirky also explains the pros and cons of mass amatuerization.

The pros that he highlights is that with mass amatuerization you can produce information at a faster rate, you can get breaking headlines out before it breaks news. Amateurs’ face less scrutiny and have fewer rules to follow. However with such freedom there is more at risk and less professionalism. “But the Internet has changed the way some professions are viewed.  With professionalism come standards.  Standards become important within a profession as certain behavior is enforced by members of the same profession and is expected by the consumer.  The Internet allows easier production, reproduction and distribution of information and media. Much of this is accomplished without the use of professionals, which, in turn, is lowering standards.  The loss of professional control will be damaging for many of societies core institutions (Everyone is a media outlet” 73). In this quote Shirky explains the outcome of mass amatuerization. He goes on to explain that because of the availability to mass-produce, to anyone, it has affected the importance of professionals in the media realm.

            In my experience mass amatuerization is all around us. When I log into social websites such as twitter and instagram, there are people who are always posting stories about their lives or story headlines, or celebrity gossip. Although it is not professional journalism, it is still considered a form of journalism because it is relevant or current news that is being reported on in context to the real world.  Posts that report on news that break before the news is a form of journalism, the problem that I often see is that when non professionals report things they often time forget important details, or leave out important facts, they take a bias view, put a lot of their own opinions. They don’t leave room for the public to form their own opinion.

            With “Why Heather Can Write” she enters a new type of mass amatuerization while she may not be reporting on news she is still taking a popular medium such as Harry Potter and using it to get to a mass audience. Her work is attracting others and getting them involved which now makes it a form of mass amatuerization. In no way is she a professional but she has the tools to produce the same contents as a professional.

            The future of media professionals lies in the hands of the public. It will be the public to decide how they want their information and from whom. Do they want professionals who will oblige by the rules and take full responsibility if something were to go wrong or amateurs who can report whatever with no guidelines or rules to follow?  The readings suggest that the public will rely largely on news in the form of amateurs such as citizen journalism and blogs. The readings also suggest the ways of mass amatuerization is easier because the news travel faster. I think it’s important that professional journalist holds on to some aspects of mass amatuerization  such as social networks. This way news can continue to travel just as fast; we would still have a interactive community and be able to be in the loop constantly of what is going on.

Future of Social Media Future

Future of Journalism

The Rise of Mass Amateurization

When the word Mass Amateurization is dissected it can be described as a movement that allows people like you and I to create and distribute media at our own convenience. 

Society has almost been robbed of the structure that comes with professionalism, as Shirky said "Professionals become gatekeepers, simultaneously providing and controlling access to information, entertainment, communication or other ephemeral goods" (SHIRKY, 57)

So what does Mass Amateurization mean for professionals?

Is professionalism obsolete? 

For journalists especially, there has been the question of "Is there really need for Journalism as a profession?" With the crop of what is now known as "The citizen journalist" anyone can pretty much give people information at an extremely fast rate with the help of social media, and devices like the Iphone that can help diffuse information faster.  

For some "Blogging" is a lucrative career. 

It is great that society is embracing mass amateurization (Like we have a choice) Web 2.0 as given us an outlet to participate actively in this circus that is media. We are not only consumers of the media, we are content creators. Blogging is not just a virtual diary for some, but actually a lucrative career if done right. In this piece by The New York Post The Rise of The Power Blogger. Kate Foley chronicles the influence of bloggers in the fashion world. Have they displaced editors? Who are these power bloggers and are they the future? 

What I believe is that we can all coexist in the best way possible. Professional Journalists and Citizen Journalists alike, we should be able to create a symbiotic relationship where we learn from each other and help each other out. The media professional will always be relevant in the society, Journalism is still a profession and regardless of technological advancements, it is one that requires a certain level of education and experience to do a good job.

The professional society should also embrace Web 2.0, we need them as much as they need us. If the internet is the best way to reach out to readers let us incorporate that more into the daily workings of how we work. In this article by Social Media Today titled Blogging is more important today that ever before, the author discusses how important blogging is and how all companies should incorporate a social media aspect to their routine. 

RESOURCES

The Rise of The Power Blogger. By Kate Foley. New York Post

Blogging is more important today that ever before. By Nicole Beachum. Social Media Today

Here Comes Everybody: Everyone is a Media Outlet. By Clay Shirky

                                                                                         

                                                                                             

Mass Amateurization

In his essay Clay Shirky strives to clarify what journalism is and who could be a journalist.  The author's reference to a dictionary description of journalist shows that it is not his or her skills rather the publishing part of the job makes person a journalist.  Hence, anybody who is able to publish his or her work could be a journalist.  Especially, in our contemporary society with multiple virtual opportunities to publish, anybody could become or consider themselves journalists.

            Clay Shirky refers to a senator from Mississippi Trent Lott who gave inappropriate speech and how it snowballed over the virtual space, while the regular news papers did not discussed his speech as much.  However, senator Lott felt obliged to make public apologies because of the virtual news sites, which triggered the regular news media to publish much more about the incident.  This is the case of convergence or interrelationship of both virtual and regular media sources.  It describes that one is not taking over the other, rather each have their own style of existence and could perfectly coexist.

             Similarly, Jenkins is pointing out that children who are publishing online creating their own environment are not intentionally damaging the original source of Harry Potter or Warner Brothers, rather coexist and moreover help the book get its popularity and audience.  

            Children that are participating in The Daily Prophet simply found common denominator, which helped them to create their own environment where they comfortably can publish their writings using their imagination.  The power of the virtual space is underestimated as Heather points out in the case with Polish children.  She says that Warner Br went after Polish children, however they all knew each other well enough, which helped to stand by each other’s side. 

            Virtual publishing space enables anybody be able to publish what for a long time was privilege only for a professional journalists.  However, mass amateurization helps news spread much quicker, which creates  an outcome that might not have been possible otherwise. In some instances amateur journalists might poses unique information or images that majority of population may never get access to it.     

Tree of Wishes and Offerings

Caucasus Mountain Range, Dmanisi region,Georgia

          Moreover, while publishing video on youtube, one could also place advertisement and earn money.  

                                              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPoGOJ9klc

  

   

Mass Amateurization
Amateurs vs. Professionals 

In Everyone is a Media Outlet, Clay Shirky describes mass amateurization as a global takeover of basically, people taking journalism into their own hands. People that are not professional journalist are putting out news, and having large reader consumption; this is a serious problem for the capital of professionals. Shirky makes it a point that citizen journalism is going nowhere, it’s just growing and growing; journalists just have to find a way around that. One of my favorite quotes that helps describe why Shirky is stressing the point of “mass amateurization” is, “A Wikipedia article is a process, not a product” (Shirky 59). This line from Shirky’s readings is one of the truest statements of today’s media world; because Wikipedia is like one of the first databases that pop up in Google’s search engine. It is the first database everyone sees, and clicks on.  But what’s scary about this “Process” is that people can alter the information at any giving moment, meaning that it could be changed to a falsified output of media.

When Shirky speaks about mass amateurization he is talking about all of our “citizen journalist”. These free spirits go out capture some footage, and attach a story to it; and they do this with in seconds. This type of media gets out faster, because it is “amatue”; there is no real professessionality to it. What journalist do that citizen journalist don’t do is “attribute”, meaning give the history on the story. Journalists investigate the matter at hand. 

Media outlets such as newspapers, and channels, even radio shows have a number to dial, or section on their website where citizen journalist could summit their own stories. The reason why media outlets have this is because they know the story the citizen journalist has isn’t enough, and has to be investigated by professional journalists; but citizen journalist sometimes do bring in good leads. Shirky explains that people in the media industry could not fathom this concept at first; he says “for people with a professional outlook, it’s hard to understand how something that isn’t professionally produced could affect them, not only is the internet not a newspaper, it isn’t a business or even an institution” (Shirky 56).  He is explaining that the internet is yes helpful but helps give off free information with no strings attached, and that is a problem for journalist.

 Shirky explains that the outcome of mass amateurization will grow and just culturally change the world as the internet takes over even more. News is going to be put out differently in years to come. Now we are in a “news evolution/ revolution” with the way we put out media through Iphones, computers, the Itouch, and ect. Not only do we have these devices to put out media, we have sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that intensify mass communication. For example whenever there is a presidential election now, information about candidates are flooding these sites. In 2009 was the first time we really saw the networks help out in an election like never before. Obama’s campaign was part of our media evolution; we got to see polls and stats in a way we had never seen before. Shirky says “the mass amateurization of publishing undoes the limitations inherent in having a small number of traditional press outlets” (shirky 59). We no longer need to go on to CNN and get the news about an election; we can go to Twitter and probably get it faster.

Jenkins says “we take a large piece of media and we expand on it (Jenkins 179).  We see this happen in media all the time, where a “Professional” may publish something; and now an amateur expands it into a piece of media of their own. George Lucas creator of star wars probably had no idea, in the time frame he produced the movie; that it would become an expansion of multiple amateur publications.

I see mass amateurization only growing in the media world. These amateur’s may one day become professionals. But as of now I see the major media outlets like the New York Times still being much more popular for factual content; because they are credible. I feel a lot of people get their information off of places like Twitter, but then cross reference with a site like the New York Times because of credibility purposes.  I see Jenkins, and Shirky in a couple years updating this information in new books, talking about the next media revolution; maybe will have new devices, and media outlets by that time.

credited Image: http://www.bspcn.com/2010/06/18/6-ridiculous-arguments-that-actually-happened-on-wikipedia/

Credited Image:watchdogwire.com - 630 × 238 - Search by image

by Alan Caruba

Citations :
Clay Shirky,published March 25, 2008, article Most reviewed: Here Comes Everybody and We-think 
Henry Jenkins,2007, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

Mass Amateurization: Digital Age & Newsprint is disappearing!

    In Clay Shirky's "Everyone is a Media Outlet" he describes mass amatuerization as the process by which everyday citizens are able to crossover into the platform of professionalism because of the advances in mass media. The specialized skills that were once needed to become a professional are no longer needed because non- professionals have been given access through the internet to perform in a similar way that a journalist would. Shirky writes, "The individual weblogs are not merely alternate sites of publishing itself, in the sense of publishers as a minority and professional class." (Shirky 66) Before it would be hard to get published or to have recognition from others but now it is so much easier. Now that non professionals can publish whatever they want they aren't binded to an ethical code as a journalist would be.

  Shirky does believe that citizen journalists are important to have in society and that has been proven through  the magnitude of awareness that has been gained since the recent killings in Syria. Here is a video of a day in the life of a citizen journalist in Syria. Through social media these citizen journalists were able to notify people in other countries about what they were faced with everyday. The problem with citizen journalists is because they can publish whatever they want it will be up to journalists to filter it afterwards as  Shirky describes in Publish then Filter. Shirky explains, "Now that our communications technology is changing, the distinctions among those patterns of communication are evaporating; What was once a sharp break between two styles of communication is becoming a smooth transition." (Shirky 87)

*Image from bbc.co.uk of Syrian Activists

 
 Shirky describes how important it is to journalists to be recognized by other people in the journalism profession and argues that the digital world has robbed newspapers of their businesses.  Journalist have an obligation to get information out to the public, but if every one is publishing and isn't held to the same standard as a journalist there wont be any fact checking. That could cause serious problems if there is an abundance of false information floating around on the web. Publishing these days is practically free so it easy for someone to post false information because no one is really held accountable.

In Jenkins' "Why Heather Can Write" Heather created her own blog that was a spin off of the Harry Potter series. Within this blog she created a newspaper called "The Daily Prophet" that allowed other students in her class to contribute their own imaginative stories. Fan fiction culture allows students from different ethnic,cultural, and national backgrounds to be able to all work together. Jenkins explains that "a decade ago, published fan fiction came mostly from women in their twenties, thirties and beyond. Today these older writers have been joined by a generation of new contributors who found fan fiction surfing the internet and decided to see what they could produce." (Jenkins 186) There will be a lot of competition in the near future.

   The printing press has been around for five centuries.There is also a constant struggle with different media outlets and now professionals vs non professionals because everything is so easily accessible. Citizen journalists may eventually begin to work with professional journalists almost in the same way that cops send in people undercover.The Economist on Youtube has created a video explaining how citizen journalism has changed the news world. I also feel as though all print journalism will be published online in the future. It will be harder to weed out what information is accurate or not but I also think that online publications are going to have to rely on their reputations. These two readings suggest that  the citizen and professional journalist dynamic has changed and it will continue to change in the future. Hopefully one day we will all be able to come together to critique the false information that is being published in the internet. 
** Cartoon by cagletoons.com

Bibliography

Jenkins, Henry. (2007). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media 
                   Collide. New York: New York University Press.

Shirky, Clay. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: Everyone is a Media Outlet.  

                    New York: The Penguin Press.

Shirky, Clay. "Publish, Then Filter." Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens When People Come Together. London: Penguin, 2009. N. pag. Print.

The Truth about Mass Amateurization

In the book, Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky creates a clear visual of what Mass Amateurization is today. With the explosion of web bloggers and the popularity of many taking pictures at will, the world has changed dramatically. It is now evident that the traditional idea of what news is and how it is reported has changed. It has now fallen into the hands of everyday people. The average citizen is able to capture the local bridge collapsing before news reporters are able to arrive with their cameras and lights in which, "the mass amateurization of publishing undoes the limitations inherent in having a small number of traditional outlets."(Shirky 65)


To some this is a threat to the professional journalist. How is it that one can be trained for years and still not be able to capture the essence of "Breaking News?" Who filters the amateurs video or blog to determine fact from fiction? "The battle between the amateur and the professional is easier to understand, "in the same way you do not have to be a professional driver to drive, you no longer have to be a professional publisher to publish." (Shirky 66)This is Shirkys concern and well put. So how do we as journalist progress from this fear?



In the story 'Heather Can Write,' from the book " Convergence Culture" by Henry Jenkins the idea of marrying the ''Mass amateurization" idea with big media corporations, in which all parties benefit is very well displayed. A thirteen year old girl by the name of Heather Lawver created a website that resembled the "Daily Prophet," from the Harry Potter series. She explained that, " The Daily Prophet is an organization dedicated to bringing the world of literature to life.By creating an online "newspaper" with articles that lead the readers to believe this fanciful world of Harry Potter to be real, this opens the mind to exploring books, diving into characters, and analyizing great literature." (Jenkins 179) This was the idea behind "Fanfiction."

The other goal of Fan fiction was to appease the capitalistic world that we live in. Unfortunately, like the fear of the professional journalist, their is this idea that only one elite group can profit from anything that should have been created by a professional first.The company Fanlib was a free fanfiction outlet that was created by an entertainment lawyer and a media producer. They were like a wolf in sheeps clothing, "fanlib had done their homework by the standards of the venture capitalist world: they identified a potential market, they had developed a business plan; they had even identified potential contributors." They were able to even place in their rule book that, " completed work is just 1st draft to be polished by the pro's."(Jenkins 178) The ability of the "pro's" to take over is quiet disturbing when it comes to an amateurs work.  To justify these actions, as Shirky says, it is "because professionals are always concerned with threats to society; we do not want to see a relaxing of standards for becoming a surgeon or pilot."(Shirky 69)

pressinamerica.pbworks.com

One must remember that their is room for everyone. Everyone must play their part and know their rights. Not only are citizen journalists out in the field risking their lives to show the world the truth, they are also able to give the information for free to news companies to follow up and research to present the world with facts. Copy Right laws immediately go into effect because like Fan Fiction, "Content is vetted before going onto the site, with stories and videos made available to journalists for potentially developing into bigger...except that as soon as you post your prized video, " specific news stations, "get an unconditional, perpetual and worldwide licence to use it as it sees fit." (http://socialmediatoday.com/chris-measures/1430031/rise-citizen-journalism)

Social Media Today

 The big guys are legally able to take over citizens pieces of work to publish however they see fit. It is like an awkward team project where one person has done all the work and the others are riding on the backs and taking all of the credit. But this is America and this is how it will work until something changes where citizen journalists can be payed like professionals.

Picture Given by Google images

 Due to the facts, this not only a struggle between professionals and amateurs but also capitalism plays a major role in this cycle.  We live in a world where money makes the world go round. The amateur journalist and publishers have taken control of our media distribution without even trying. The "Professionals" are more concerned about losing their jobs, homes, and benefits. If their was a way to pay everyone equally I'm sure all would be fair in love and war. Professional Journalist should look at amateur journalist as them bringing the what as professionals bring the why, a joint venture in which all of humanity still benefits. Citizen journalists should learn their rights and understand the bigger picture of what is occurring when everyone works together to bring the big story.

Bibliography:
1. Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody. [London]: Allen Lane, 2008. Print.
2. Jenkins, Henry. "Heather Can Write." Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. 
New York: New York UP, 2006. N. pag. Print.
3. "The Rise of Citizen Journalism" by Chris Measures

Mass Amateurization

 In Shrinky's chapter of the book Here Comes Everybody ,"everyone is a media outlet'' he points out a variety of flaws in today's media outlets. Such as the web , newspapers, magazine etc. He states "Control over the media is less completely in the hands of the professionals (Shrinky , 59) ." He is worried about how the world will be informed. He use to think newspaper was a good source but now he feels "mass amateurization" meaning that everyone can play journalist , has an influence of our delivery of news and other information, especially due to the web.
     
 " Journalist privilege has to be applied to minority of people to preserve the laws. ( Shrinky , 71)". Not everyone should be able to post up material because , as Shrinky feels, it mixes in the the professional, the amaetur, and te straight up garbage all in one making it a little more difficult to pick out the valuable sources.Some blogger are in fact actually privileged journalist, however, can it be trusted with all the posers mixed in? Rebecca Mackinnon , was working at CNN and then started her own blogging deal (Shrinky 72) Nowadays there is a not a thin line , but a indistinguishable line( so it seems) between a blogger and a journalist. It's hard to filter.

      My favorite part , or the part that stuck out to me the most was when shrinky stated "the future presented by the internet is the mass amateurization of publishing and a switch from "why publish this" to "why not?'"(Shrinky, 71) I agree with this statement. Today, especially on the web there is a lot of trash, non worthy pieces of information wasting time and creating more ignorance than there already is. Almost anyone can be or at least pretend to be a journalist , publisher, editor, activist,anything. I see it as both positive and negative. It's negative because anyone can just say and post whatever without any type of factual back up , reviewing , or professional production. For example I use twitter as a media outlet. Twitter is not a news web whatsoever but I know a lot of people that substitute reading or watching the news for just going on twitter and seeing a trending topic.Twitter is a place where people bring all the masses into one place to share it with a large amount of people. For example I may here something on the news, I tweet about it, someone reads it and takes my word , then re-tweets it or spread the news along with their own opinion. That's bad because that is how people become misinformed. Some people do not go out there way at all to read any type of news , even on the web because they feel social networks are good enough , like someone watched the news for them. In my opinion I think its good that certain topics make it social media and sometimes interest people into watching or reading news. However it gets bad when you just rely on what others say.

 

How many times has Will Smith died?

Mass amaeturization is not totally horrible. The same reason it's bad is the same reason it's great. Its usually fast, breaking news; Sometimes very raw and straight forward  Unlike a professional the amateur does not have to censor or worry about pissing people off. Also,I think it's a way for people to put their input and to feel more involved and heard. I think it brings us more together as a culture and society. All sharing opinions where people from all over can see it and read it and make comments on it! It's actually pretty cool! Also I think it's cool if someone of importance were to take the time and to read and actually care about what I say on a certain matter. For example I would be the happiest person in the world in Obama was to ever re-tweet one of my tweets. (even though I doubt it's him someone on his team saw it!    

 In Henry Jenkins' "Why Heather Can Write" he gives his audience a common scenario that happens all over. This is the younger generations and how they get affected by Mass Amateurization which gives them the freedom to express themselves in their own ways which can have a positive impact with  children and teenagers developing an interest in reading and  writing. Due to the popular culture and trends these kids become more engaged or inspired in creating stories and publishing. Jenkins mentioned, "At first, they might only read stories, but the fan community provides many incitements for readers to cross that last threshold into composing and submitting their own stories (Jenkins 187)."  Plainly, the internet is there to keep the interest of reading, writing  and creating in the growing generation. Getting the young people , as young as 9 to show interest in reading and writing is definitely a plus for Mass Amateurization!  

I think as consumers it is up to us to deal with the overwhelming amount of information being thrown at us. I think we are smart enough ( I hope) to figure out what is a trusted source and what is not. Some "news sources" are obvious that they have not so great credit-ability . If it seems shady stay away , simple as that. Some of it is only there for pure entertainment anyway. If we believe everything we read and take what Jane Doe has to say seriously that's our fault. Yes there are alot of options out there , but it's our job to filter that out, we cannot rely on them to do it for us and spoon feed what we read. What we as journalist can do is  work with the amateur or use them to make what we do that much better. As far as the future goes , I think well be okay.