Produsage - Intentional and Unintentional

Produsage

Unintentional produsage

Consumer-producer. Apparently, we are all hybrids in this digital world. We access the web to be entertained, to be educated, to research a topic, to exchange one-liners and photos with friends, to shop, etc, etc. We go to consume. We are, whether we know it or not, producers as well. I would differentiate between those who are intentional producers, and those who are unintentional producers. I had a recent experience as an unintentional producer that raised my hackles.

I was recently diagnosed with a pretty serious medical condition that requires some extensive care and maintenance on my part. I require a couple of medical supplies that I have shipped from a medical supply store. I have not shopped online for these, and I have never done a search for, nor inquired about these supplies. However, a friend did email me with the name of another supplier that may be less expensive. The subject line of the message did indicate what the email was about. My email carrier, Google, skimmed the message as they skim all email messages. It is done by a machine, so there is no invasion of privacy. I would add, not until you get to the point where each and every time you open a web page, an ad appears that is related to your medical condition. When others notice these ads and comment on them or question you as to why there are so many of them, it is safe to say, you are producing more than your share. I went to the website for the Network Advertising Initiative to learn more. I discovered there were nearly seventy different businesses who gather information in order to generate ads that are tailored to internet use who were using cookies to track and report my web habits for advertising purposes. The NAI's website has information regarding each of these cookies and the opportunity to opt out. I'll still see ads. I will not see ads tailored to me. I'll take it.

Intentional produsage - deviantArt

watch_your_step_by_peterpan81-d33f3es%20to%20use.jpg

"Watch Your Step" is a deviation submitted by the artist. It is an example of fractal art and is based on a previous work.

"Finding Neverland" is the fractal art piece the artist used as his inspiration.

finding_neverland_by_peterpan81-d2fclh1%20to%20use.jpg

His gallery can be found at "Peter Pan Gallery"

The website, deviantArt, is geared toward the graphic artist whose work is typically based on fantasy. The work there is not limited to this theme, however, since the website has grown to include photography, 'traditional' art forms which don't use a computer to assist in production, skin art, animations, poetry, and nearly anything the user might develop on his/her own. The work tends to be dark and edgy, and the pieces selected to be used as "daily deviations" are definitely not the scribblings of some beginner. The work is done by very serious artists, a good percentage of them professional, and deviantArt serves as a resource, a tie to a supportive community, as well as a place to market their work and sell it.


Open participation, communal evaluation / fluid heterarchy, ad hoc meritocracy

deviantArt's site supports countless galleries of work. I realize that the idea of produsage would, perhaps, not be a fit when considering this site since the productions are not temporary artifacts, and they are most often created by one person. The site, however, is an example of produsage. The ambiance of deviantArt, and it's very presence on the web, is a gallery of temporary artifacts. Those pieces may eventually be sold and become a 'product.' They remain on the website and can be enjoyed by all community members. They are not to be printed or reproduced in any physical way without the consent of the artist. They remain an artifact - a beautiful or moving picture that is nothing more than some code resulting in some uniquely illuminated pixels. The flavor of the site, the darker and edgier quality to most of the work and the site itself, is an example of many people contributing towards a common purpose. The flavor changes as the interactions between artists change. There are different forums catering to different types of artwork and different types of people. The members' social structure and their social prestige are very fluid and constantly changing. The shift moves much like a lava lamp as a produser submits a new work to be posted. The support and evaluations are sincere, and the artist will find people beginning to follow his/her work and linking to their gallery. Their opinions are sought when they are asked to critique the work of others. Their advice is sought when discussing techniques, and they are often asked to create a tutorial. They work alone or as a group to produce a tutorial that will instruct another artist on some general or specific technique.

lava.png

The community's attention span is short, however, with so much talent submitting so many different pieces. Another artist submits a piece, and the focus switches to applaud that artist. It is a burst of attention and acclamation followed by a sinking back into the community to applaud another member.

The evaluation is immediate, and sometimes the evaluation is pointed and cutting. Because these are all artists, their work is their passion, their spirit, and sometimes their living. Anyone on the site can post their work or even use it as an inspiration for a new work. However, the artist expects to be given credit, even if that is simply to link back to their gallery. What follows is a posting by a community member:

"**So I checked out this guys website just to see what it was and if you look through the "gallery" (if you can call it that), you will see a bunch of artwork from popular dA artists taken without permission and many of which have been edited with things like generic photoshop filters. He's even slapped on his website name on some of them as a watermark.

And he has the gall to advertise all this right here in the forums. :thumbsup:**"

I checked the link this community member had included in his posting. It led to the member page of the person accused. The message on the screen said that the membership had been canceled/ended. The move to the edges of the community ended up being a bit longer trip as the accused member saw it better to leave. This posting appeared in a forum called, "Rip-Offs," which is dedicated to making the entire community aware of foul play.


Unfinished artifacts, continuing process / common property, individual rewards

The "deviations" that are submitted to the site to be posted are not the only examples of contribution on the site. Artists are asked to create tutorials, either as a solo effort, or as a collaboration. The tutorials are often completed works. However, there are a good number that are submitted that an artist or group of artists will return to in order to edit and improve. These tutorials are often pretty significant works as far as the graphics and the artistic ability necessary to produce them. They are, at the same time, rather casual works that are often grammatically incorrect and whose creator may admit to having little or no training, and so advises the reader to bear this in mind. The Realism Tutorial and the is the skin tutorial Skin Tutorial are both examples of nicely rendered works that retain the casual tone of the author/artist. Both are artifacts in that they are often reworked and edited. They are the property of the community, and their authors are applauded and thanked. Common property created for individual rewards.


deviantArt contains another unique and noteworthy type of artifact. The site recently incorporated both Muros and PlzDraw, software that allows a user to draw on the webpage on which it is found and then submit the drawing for all users to see. Several forums are now dedicated to the use of these software packages. Some forums challenge the user to "speed paint" and create a picture of a certain theme as quickly as possible. I found two examples of these and the artifacts produced follow. These two forums particular forums challenged the user to "speed paint." The first pictures are, of course, kittens and the users who submitted them were children.

Kitten1.png
Kitten%202.png
kitten3.png

The second forum challenged users to draw some sort of angel's wings.

wings1.png
wings%202.png

A final artifact that is left incomplete is the picture-story. The drawing software is used in this forum and a user is given a statement to illustrate which is the beginning of a story. The user completes the illustration and includes another statement which the next user must illustrate. The game goes on and on as a story is created. The players try to keep the storyline alive for as long as possible, and they will often have to leave the work incomplete.

The following PowerPoint presentation includes the illustrations and storyline that tell of Bob, his encounter with a mysterious stranger, and his trouble with indigestion. http://mikeandthetoes.wikidot.com/local--files/more-week-7/Bob%20pics%20and%20story.pptx

Bob's Picture-Story will likely never leave the website, and it may go on and on for weeks or months. It, like the other illustrations created with Muros and PlzDraw, are temporary artifacts that are intended to teach and entertain.