In this day and age, we create things for media every time we go online. Whether it be creating:
a Facebook status
Or uploading a new image to Flickr
Or if you're as computer-savy as Andreas Illing you'll create an iPhone app that will give you about a million dollars in revenue and you'll never have to work again. Tiny Wings
Deuze discusses in his writing that convergence culture is important to study when looking at major corporate control, because it isn't just about the big guns any more. It's about the creative class, like Andreas, that keep simple mediamaking a business. This everyday creativity gives more control to the user and we are able to control the flow of media around us. Deuze sums this up like this:
"Media forces us to retreat into our own personal information space, where we exercise an unparalleled degree of control over what we watch and what we hear, what we keep discard of forward."
So when Deuze goes into the case studies in his article, he isn't just referring to the genius' who created Amazon and Counter Strike, he's referring to the fact that they have opened up a window of opportunity for users and consumers to become one. These platforms enable people to be creative and pick and choose what they want rather then the media controlling them. It is't just about professionals and amateurs any more, it's about being that person to create something as simple as an iPhone app. Perhaps Andreas Illing was born from Apple, who knows...
Nice idea! I like how you have made the link between the big media creators that get so much attention within articles, with the possibly new and upcoming creators. Today, like never before these new creators can be anyone with any amount of knowledge/interest, and that's what makes the industry so diverse and fresh.
ReplyDeleteI also love how the creators of iphone/android apps have the ability to totally suck me (and many others i'm guessing) in. Example: Tiny Tower. That shit is epic! but seriously, the creators of that were so smart - the fact that you have to be constantly playing in order to make money and expand your tower, and the features it contains like 'Bitbook' - a spoof of facebook, converging it with today's popular culture. If you haven't checked it out i highly recommend you do - as long as you have no assignments due in the near future.
Great blog! I loved the picture of the cat.....
ReplyDeleteEven though we as a consumer have more control and that now we have the capabilities of producing what we want it seems to be that now the corporate side want to get a hold of this new phenomenon. I see it as even though we can create what we want such as making content for WOW for example there is the little terms and conditions contract that basically mentions that what is created belongs to blizzard. Sure it seems freedom of creation is there for us to blissfully drench ourselves in but do our creations become theirs in the end?
Great post Dimity, I also really enjoyed the links between each photo, great integration of image and text. I do sometimes think we were born from a computer; not me in particular as I'm not very tech-savvy, but perhaps our generation. I liked the Tiny Wings example! I often forget with seemingly trivial things like an iPhone app that someone could be making money for life. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI would prefer baby-making to media making. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteor money making
ReplyDelete