Produsage is a portmanteau of the words production and usage, coined by German-Australian media scholar Axel Bruns and popularized in his book Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage. Produsage is the type of user-led content creation that takes place in a variety of online environments, open source software, and the blogosphere. The concept blurs the boundaries between passive consumption and active production. The distinction between producers and consumers or users of content has faded, as users play the role of producers whether they are aware of this role or not. The hybrid term produser refers to an individual who is engaged in the activity of produsage. This concept is similar and related to commons-based peer production, a term coined by Yochai Benkler.
Characteristics According to Bruns, produsage has four defining features: 1) Open participation and communal evaluation; 2) Fluid heterarchy through ad hoc meritocracies; 3) Palimpsestic unfinished artifacts in a continuing process; and 4) Common property and individual rewards. An example of this discussion feature is the Wikipedia Talk page, which facilitates an open discussion between users in evaluating the quality of work created by previous users.
Open participation A key characteristic of produsage is a collaboration between produsers to create content rather than working as individuals. The creation of content is frequently done by a number of different users rather than one single author. The produsage model provides tools that are designed and adapted to encourage open discussion. An example of this discussion feature is the Wikipedia Talk page, which facilitates an open discussion between users in evaluating the quality of work created by previous users.
Participation in a produsage model is also voluntary. Unlike a hierarchical community, there is no predetermined division of labor, but rather self-selected and voluntary tasks. The community considers the usefulness and relevancy of the contributions—ideas, comments, and edits—made by participants. The contributions that tend to be further evaluated and developed are the relevant and usable ones, while the irrelevant and unusable ones tend to be ignored. Even though the substantiality of useful contributions may vary drastically, they all positively contribute to the overall quality of the project. The participants who consistently make worthy contributions will be viewed as leaders amongst their peers.
Bruns also states that there is usually unrestricted access to most produsage models. An unlimited number of participants, allows more people to assess, critique, and analyze the existing contributions, increasing the quality of the outcome. In this sense, inclusivity is highly encouraged while exclusivity is highly discouraged. Bruns also brings forth the point that it is beneficial for the community to interact with other organizations, as it broadens the range of knowledge in which they can use to formulate a more impactful message. Therefore, the overall organizational structure of a produsage model is based on collaboration, participation, and inclusivity.
Fluid heterarchy, ad hoc meritocracy Large numbers of participants, who comply with the features of produsage, are a part of successful produsage sites. Produsage models need to be available to participants of all skill levels and abilities. Axel Bruns notes that while there may be disproportionate levels of contributions, produsers have to feel unrestricted and granted equal access to make contributions. A balance of structure and openness is required in produsage communities. Oversight by small groups can create unwanted control and absolute freedom disrupts cohesion. In order to achieve this balance, produsage communities elect leaders based on the quality of contributions made. In the case for some newer sites, however, moderators of communities may arise at random or the earliest member.
The leadership structure in produsage communities are, as Bruns puts it, in "constant flux." Power recedes if leaders become idle. As such, leaders are not only encouraged to make relevant contributions to the community, but are also expected to do so with consistency. The fluctuation and redistribution of leadership creates a flexible, fluid network of produsers. Axel Bruns states that the fluidity of structure allows for individuals or tiny groups to emerge as decision makers, rather than having the whole community's approval at every stage. Standard models of structures consist of a top down model where leaders overlook, and have the final say in content creation. Produsage sites, instead, opt for an all-access model where participants are granted transparency. Leadership in this model removes command and control over participants; allowing produsers to make contributions as they see fit. Communities within produsage sites form through common interest of individuals, resulting in leadership rising from within these groups. The constant granting of leadership produces a community driven site where the community decides the direction the site is heading.
Palimpsestic artifacts and granularity Axel Bruns challenges conventional ideas of production and consumerism by offering a perspective of the community in which producers are continually contributing by writing, rewriting, updating and suggesting ways to improve content. Content that is produced by produsers and the medium which holds the content is in a constant state of ongoing modification. Bruns characterizes this constituent factor of produsage as palimpsestic. Palimpsestic classifies objects as having the quality of being written and rewritten through many instances over time and showing evidence of that change. The exchange of interactions as produsers collaborate, establishes and builds the artifact, which becomes both a source of information as well as an environment where opinions, ideas and revisions are addressed, discussed and refashioned. He specifically points out that the framework and design of Wikipedia, which stands as an example of a holistic palimpsestic artifact in its nature. Artifact, as defined by Bruns, is a source of produser-created content. Bruns describes Wikipedia as being a continual developing process of produser-led expansion of knowledge, which is repeatedly over-written and multi-layered. Since virtually all users can contribute to an existing content on Wikipedia, there is always motivation to further improve upon it, by way of tools such as the Talk Page where users can interact and collaborate to push an article to a refined and more polished product. He identifies this characteristics as a stigmergic collaboration, where any user can have access to the artifact and add on their contribution to the original mark. Most often, produsage sites offer the architectural tools which enable produsers to record the history of the development of materials, thus users are able to trace back the evaluation of materials through its various stages. An example is the produsage site ccMixter, a community music site using open source multimedia management system to allow users to create music remixes on top of and in replacement of the original track.
In order for a production to be palimpsestic, the goal for its content must be granular. Bruns argues that granularity offers produsers a way to connect and contribute to a source or artifact in a way which is relevant to their background and knowledge. By anchoring multiplicity of viewpoints and interest to one source, content becomes more valuable, accurate and comprehensible, which is often a common goal of sources which provide information. He states it is characteristic of sources which promote produsage to be divisible into different components, each of which can be individually and independently produced by different users. This allows for the accumulation of skills and knowledge from a diverse background, rather than from a concentrated number of producers.
Common property, individual rewards Axel Bruns describes the connection between common property and individual rewards within produsage. He states that participation in produsage is motivated by the ability of individual produsers to contribute to a shared purpose. This shared purpose is represented in the ability of produsage to create motivation among produsers and that the content being worked upon remains accessible and open to everyone. In order for a diverse community to contribute and engage in produsage, there must be few obstacles that would impede their contributions. There must be plentiful and accessible existing content available for produsers to edit and contribute to, along with minimal obstacles that involve technical and legal restrictions. For example, Bruns states that when individuals engage in collaborative work, enforcing intellectual property rights may hinder them from editing or working on their peers' work. As a result, an alternative method for imposing intellectual property rights is needed in order for produsage to function efficiently. Therefore, he argues that produsers may need to declare existing content as common community property, such as through a Creative Commons license.
However, any attempt from individuals or groups within or outside of the produsage group to capitalize on the content of information shared must be avoided. Any content that is worked upon by a community must remain easily accessible and that edits or modifications to the content must be available under similar conditions. In addition, any contributions made by participants to the shared content must be rewarded and recognized whenever appropriate.
Although the content is shared communally, produsers still gain personal merit from their own contributions to the project being worked upon. In addition, these individual rewards are a source for further motivation for participation by the community in produsage projects. Such personal merit honors the individual by adding to their network of relationships and those beyond the community. Therefore, the main reward in engaging in produsage is personal status, rather than financial gain.
According to Bruns, one of the major motivations in engaging in produsage is to create a lasting work, through other scholars have argued that in some cases, particularly related to collaborative media creation, a moe important motivation may be related to the performance and experiencing a joint outcome by the creators and audience.
Overlapping concepts and other theories
Corresponding concepts and Henry Jenkins' media convergence