Chapter 4: Remixable data and transformations

Further reading: Dr Axel Bruns

"Bruns argues that in fact there isn't a step by step transition from reading and consuming materials to making and sharing them online, more that each of us as we participate are both producer and consumer." (1)

I wanted to explore this further as I feel it refers directly to a carrer in the performing world.  We are our own brand, our own producer but we have to consume the industry around us and those in it in order to progress.  This creates a great link into how I should be using web 2.0 in my practice.

"The production of ideas takes place in a collaborative, participatory environment which breaks down the boundaries between producers and consumers and instead enables all participants to be users
as well as producers of information and knowledge – frequently in an inherently and inextricably hybrid role where usage is necessarily also productive: participants are produsers (3)." (2)

"These produsers engage not in a traditional form of content production, but are instead involved in produsage – the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement." (2)

These two excerts highlight how as "produsers" (3) we are blurring the line between between producer and consumer as we become both roles.  It is important for me to remember as I develop in my practice that I am the producer of my own work and this freedom means that there is no right or wrong answer.  We are all searching for self improvement especially as performers and the material to help us is out there thanks to web 2.0, we can now share and learn from each other but......

It is important to consider "the re-use and remixing of existing content becomes new artworks which are then able to be further reworked by subsequent generations of users. This opens up new avenues for creative work and publication beyond the traditional media industries, as well as undermining

romantic notions of the artist as individual genius." (2)

I am remixing data right now in order to further my own learning and develop my understanding.  However this reminds me that creatively I think it is still important to try and be an individual.  Moving forward I will be concious of taking on board what I learn from others but not be afraid to create something different that I can call my own.  But with so much remixable data is anything individual anymore?

"The outcomes of the produsage process are no longer discrete product versions, but rather rapidly evolving revisions of existing content, released for public view and further update immediately upon revision." (2)

This highlights the fact that I am the producer of my content and my career and I need to keep up with the immediate revision of the ever changing internet.  Technology enhances everyday and I may explore all the current tools that can delevop my practice but it is important to remember that this is a constant process.  There will always be new ways and avenues to explore to evolve my exsisting content.  I summarise my further reading of Bruns work with this quote that leaves me thinking of where our remixable data and transformations will lead us to in the future.

"The traditional models of production are further complicated by the fact that users are no longer passive consumers, but frequently express a desire to participate actively in guiding the development process for new and existing products." (2)

Refrences

(1) http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/docs/566/262964/Module_1_BAPP_Handbook_3730_Reader_1_2011-12_final.pdf

(2)http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.105.3421&rep=rep1&type=pdf

(3) Bruns, A. Towards produsage: Futures for user-led content production. Proceedings: Cultural Attitudes  towards Communication and Technology 2006, eds. F. Sudweeks, H. Hrachovec, and C. Ess. Murdoch University, Perth, 2006, 275-84. Also available at http://snurb.info/files/12132812018_towards_produsage_0.pdf (accessed 25 Nov. 2006).