“Digital media put the tools of production into the hands of the everyday computer user making it incredibly easy to produce content. These creative skills used to be something that people worked to develop. Now it appears that amateurs can produce content of a fair standard within a relatively short period of time. Where does this leave ‘professionals’ and highly skilled artists?”
Digital Media in today’s society is readably available to the average Joe, meaning that anyone can produce creative content relatively easily. If it’s your dream to be a hit artist, you can make music; if you want to be a graphic design, you can buy CSS to achieve your goal; if you think you are the next Carrie Bradshaw, you can write your own weblog; if you have a knack for making movies, you can be the next big thing on youtube. These computer programs are easy to understand, thus easily self-taught. ‘Professional amateurs’, that is people without qualifications, are popping up in many fields of work, intimidating practitioners and changing our economy and society[i].
Digital technology has become an inescapable part of twenty-first-century life.[ii] The 1990s were a decade in which large corporations were rampant; their control over society was virtually unchallenged.[iii] But now, anybody that owns a computer and is hooked up to the Internet can become a ‘professional amateur’ thanks to Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is “focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online”[iv] but there are concerns about user privacy, data security and identity fraud surrounding it.[v] Professional amateurs can be seen as both a positive and a negative. As a positive, programs such as CSS, imovie, Garage Band or weblogs make it easy for people to discover a hidden talent or passion for a particular craft. And let’s be honest, who hasn’t had a play on at least one of these mediums to discover they are without talent? The lucky bunch that do, have portals available to them (such as youtube, myspace music, to name a couple) to share their work with the world. Take pop artist Lily Allen, for example. She is a high school-dropout, ex-ecstasy dealer who was picked up by a record company after being found on myspace. Or the creator of the game The Sims, that is now hugely popular and known worldwide.[vi] These people are professional amateurs, thanks to digital media and as said by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, “in this era of exploding media technologies there is no truth except the truth you create for yourself”.[vii]
Web 2.0 presented to the world the idea that you can work without a university degree; that people don’t need a grade to assure them their music sounds good or that their writing is enjoyable. What makes a professional any more capable or reliable than a knowledgeable amateur? What makes the amateur any less a reliable source of accurate information? That the 2.0s would ask those questions with a straight face is, in a nutshell, part of the problem.[viii] This does not mean that people are not attending universities or gaining degrees. The rise of Web 2.0, however has not resulted in a decrease of university courses. Bachelors of journalism, film and screen, design and music are still being taught at thousands of schools across the world. Today’s Internet just celebrates, even reveres amateurism rather than expertise. [ix]
The negatives of Digital media come from those who are qualified professionals, the people who have pieces of paper saying they went to university or community collage. The Web 2.0 revolution spawned user-generated content meaning that amateur bloggers, homespun moviemakers and attic recording artists are replacing professional journalists, musicians, moviemakers and other purveyors of expert information.[x] And they are not happy. These programs and portals are believed to be encouraging plagiarism and intellectual property theft, and oppressing creativity. Take the field of journalism for example; online weblogs are fomenting a revolution in communication causing the journalism field to change. The publics’ demand for up-to-date news around the clock means print journalism isn’t providing news fast enough to satisfy society’s needs. Rapidly posted weblogs from all over of the world however, are accessible to anyone with the Internet at anytime. How are professional journalists meant to compete? This is a great example of one of the negatives of professional amateurs.
Professional practitioners feel amateurs are threatening their jobs as they are not restricted by collage training and are free to creatively express themselves. Whether a person studies a certain field at a university level is up the individual. Those you chose to study and obtain degrees do, however, have a few advantages over amateurs. Professionals have a solid three; maybe four years experience-using programs like CSS and are trained in every aspect of the programs that amateurs might miss himself or herself. They are also used to being in a competitive environment surrounded by others with the same passion and career goals. Those who have obtained degrees are also taught more than just how to effectively use computer programs for their chosen profession, but also how to work in their industry; like how to deal with clients and how to present themselves in a working environment. Amateurs miss out on this vital training, but in some cases, like the example of Lily Allen given before, the training is picked up on the job instead of in a classroom.
So what is the result of having professionals and professional amateurs working together? A sort of “hybrid”[xi] of creativity is created that without Web 2.0 wouldn’t exist. People will continue to generate content, whether it is by someone who is qualified to do so, or by passionate enthusiasts. And with the increasing power of applications and tools we have within our grasp, we will continue to generate more and more content.[xii] Web 2.0 would have some about at some time or another in history to bring about this debate, as “you can delay technology, but you can’t stop it.”[xiii] Professionals need to understand that in this day and age, there will be amateurs trying to do the same thing as them, and that yes, they might be in fact better at it than them.
In conclusion, because of Web 2.0 amateurs can produce creative content of a fair standard within a relatively short period of time. This leave ‘professionals’ and highly skilled artists wondering how to compete in this competitive field. What needs to be remembered by all is that just because Blogs, for example, exist does not mean we can all be good reporters or journalists. Or that we own CSS does not mean we can produce good designs. It only means that we can all publish stuff. If the content is good, then it should be shared and celebrated with the world, no matter who created it. Professionals should harden up, embrace these new methods and be thankful Web 2.0 is around.
[i] http://www.demos.co.uk/files/proamrevolutionfinal.pdf?1240939425
[ii] The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture by Andrew Keen http://library.books24x7.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/toc.asp?bookid=27511
[iii] Silent Takeover: global capitalism and the death of democracy by N Klein, No Logo
[iv] http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Web_2_point_0.html
[v]http://www.cch.com.au/DocLibrary/cch_professionals_web20_whitepaper_final.pdf
[vi] http://www.demos.co.uk/files/proamrevolutionfinal.pdf?1240939425
[vii] Liquid Truth: Advice from the Spinmeisters,” PR Watch, Fourth Quarter 2000, Volume 7, No. 4.
[viii]http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/theluddite/2007/06/luddite_0621
[ix] The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture by Andrew Keen http://library.books24x7.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/toc.asp?bookid=27511
[x] http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,22184723-7582,00.html?from=public_rss
[xi] http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1921
[xii] http://psychobserver.com/2008/03/08/the-end-of-user-generated-content/
[xiii] http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,22184723-7582,00.html?from=public_rss
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