Benjamin
Gabe Nazario
Convergence
Post #3
15
October 2014
Being At The Right Place
At The Right Time
Media has grown a lot in the
past decade. Whether it be media outlets like YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter, or
media tools like an iPhone or a Go Pro. They’ve all become a huge part of everyday
life. What is interesting about this rise in media, that people sometimes
overlook, is that these new forms of media can actually help tremendously with
certain careers. The use of an iPhone with the combination of Twitter can
create on-the-go and even on-the-spot journalism. At first it doesn’t seem
right, because that idea of Twitter being a media outlet seems so simple. Well that's because it is. It is called mass amateurization, which is a term that Clay Shirky uses
in the reading, “Everyone is a Media Outlet.” He describes this in some
interesting ways, in the most basic terms it is the tools a non-professional
uses to create media and how it differs from professionals and whether that is
good or bad. Similarly, Henry Jenkins, author of the book “Convergence Culture,” speaks
upon this idea of non-professional authors and whether this is helping or
hindering media today. The main point to understand after all this is how much
mass amateurization can actually help the media world as a whole.
(Clay Shirky, Google Images)
haven’t even mentioned the editing process
that had to be done on these articles. But living near a city like New York this
long process was fine, because of the amount of media outlets that exist. There
are so many news corporations that people always had the news. But when it
comes to small cities and towns there weren’t and still aren’t many media hubs.
This is where mass amateurization comes into play for Shirky. He states, “The
mass amateurization of publishing undoes the limitations inherent in having a
small number of traditional press outlets” (Shirky, Everyone is a Media Outlet
65). Now we have thousands of people roaming about in these small towns and
cities who have the power to spread news through these media outlets such as
Twitter and Blogs. They can simply pass by a dramatic event, snap a photo or
become an amateur videographer and post it on any blog or social media website.
This becomes news, not only does this become news, but it is on-the-spot news.
This is something that is dramatic if we look back to what news used to be
like. “From now on news can break into public consciousness without the
traditional press weighing in” (64). Shirky states it clearly hear, that there is no
need to wait for news anymore. He believes that this is a huge step in media
today; he confirms that we still need professional media outlets for their
confirmation of these non-professional media makers. But this is something that
mass amateurization brings to the table; these non-professional journalists are
ahead of the game because they are using these new tools to spread the word
faster than ever before.
(Example of VMA Tweet, Google Images)
We see mass amateurization in everyday life all the time; you just need to be looking for it. At almost every award ceremony, whether it is the VMA’s or the Grammy’s if you look on most peoples Twitter news feeds there is literally a play-by-play explanation of every interesting aspect of the ceremony. Just this past month or so BeyoncĂ© preformed at the VMA’s. A lot of people didn’t watch the VMA's, but for some reason they knew that BeyoncĂ© took over the show when she preformed on stage. This is because mass amateurization, whether it be Blogs, Twitter, or YouTube, these people all found out what happened at this event hours after it was finished. They didn’t have to wait for the morning newspaper with the headline of her in her stain glass dress. This is what mass amateurization does, it helps people see news as fast as possible. The great part about this that Shirky stresses so much about in his writing is, “you no longer have to be a professional publisher to publish. Mass amateurization is a result of the radical spread of expressive capabilities” (66).
(Boy Writing Fan Fiction, Google Images)
Henry Jenkins would most likely agree with this idea of mass amateurization that Shirky describes. In Jenkins book, “Convergence Culture” he describes this group of children that are in a fan fiction club. What they do is they take certain books, like Harry Potter and they create their own stories from them. “Many adults worry that these kids are copying per existing media content rather than creating their own original work” (Jenkins). This is a fair argument for this specific situation. But there was something different about the way this group wrote their stories. Jenkins states, “These kids are passionate about writing because they are passionate about what they are writing about” (Jenkins). This is one statement that I think can correlate back to Shirky’s idea that mass amateurization is good for media. Mass amateurization is something that these non-professional media makers want to do, they don’t post that blog because they are getting paid, they post it for pure enjoyment. This might make the non-professionals more leverage then the professionals. Not saying that the professionals don’t love what they do, but these young media makers who aren’t getting paid to documents news definitely enjoy it. Jenkins described these young fan fiction writers similarly. They wrote so passionately about these topics not because a teacher was forcing to, but because they simply enjoyed it. This is something that I believe is a good shift in power. Yes, the media professionals are the most reliable, but its their job to create media, they have to. These non-professional media makers and fan fiction writers are doing this because they love it. This is it could be possible in the far future that these non-professionals can outrun the professionals.
(Twitter being used during a spotting event, Google Images)
So mass amateurization has not only helped media as a whole but I feel that it can completely change media in the coming years. Technically it already has, since professional media makers are now using the same tools that non-professionals are using such as iPhones. But there is no way that these professional media makers can always be at the dramatic event. Sometimes dramatic events happen at random times without any warning. It would take time for journalists to get to a location. But a non-professional media maker with an iPhone and a Twitter account can be a block away. That it why it is such a big deal and professional media outlets are threatened by it, anyone and everyone is capable of doing it. At the end of the day mass amateurization is simply about being in the right place at the right time.
Works Cited
Google Images. Google.com. 15 October 2014
Jenkins, Henry. "Why Heather Can Write." Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York UP, 2006. N. pag. Print.
Shirky, Clay. "Everyone Is a Media Outlet." Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations. New York: Penguin, 2008. N. pag. Print.
Shirky, Clay. "Everyone Is a Media Outlet." Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations. New York: Penguin, 2008. N. pag. Print.
Benjamin Gabe Nazario
Convergence
Post #3
15 October 2014
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