Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage (Digital Formations) (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: stuff that matters, controlled vocabularies, stigmergic collaboration, Second Life, New York, Clay Shirky (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

We—the users turned creators and distributors of content—are TIME’s Person of theYear 2006, and AdAge’s Advertising Agency of the Year 2007. We form a new Generation C. We have MySpace, YouTube, and OurMedia; we run social software, and drive the development of Web 2.0. But beyond the hype, what’s really going on? In this groundbreaking exploration of our developing participatory online culture, Axel Bruns establishes the core principles which drive the rise of collaborative content creation in environments, from open source through blogs and Wikipedia to Second Life. This book shows that what’s emerging here is no longer just a new form of content production, but a new process for the continuous creation and extension of knowledge and art by collaborative communities: produsage. The implications of the gradual shift from production to produsage are profound, and will affect the very core of our culture, economy, society, and democracy.

Building on an analysis of key sites including Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, and Second Life, it explores the intellectual, technological, and social implications of produsage, as well as the legal and economic models employed by produsage projects. In doing so, the book highlights the implications of produsage for our culture, democracy, and society.

From the Back Cover

"This is quite simply the book about peer production that we’ve been waiting for. It is not just a book ‘about produsage’ from an outsider looking in, but a stellar production of the new form of consciousness, written from the inside out, both subjective and objective. The new world is already there, and Axel Bruns will let you see it." —Michel Bauwens, Founder, P2P Foundation "Axel Bruns’s far-reaching and conceptually powerful book captures a shift in cultural logic which is profoundly altering how culture gets produced, how knowledge gets circulated, how reputations get made, and how industry, politics, and education operate. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know more about Wikipedia, Second Life, or YouTube—in short, for anyone who wants to understand the turn towards participatory culture." —Henry Jenkins, Author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

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Product Details

• Paperback: 418 pages
• Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing (February 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820488666
• ISBN-13: 978-0820488660
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #184,444 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth a look, November 22, 2008

By	Thad - See all my reviews

I read this book as part of my graduate studies in communication at the University of Utah. I stumbled upon the author, but when I read this book, I knew I was on to something.

Bruns covers a lot of ground in this book, providing a good overview of the current state of online information production. The book focuses on collaborative information production and how this is disrupting "industrial" forms of content creation. Anyone familiar with Bruns' previous book, "Gatewatching," will find this book to be an excellent extension of that work.

Bruns' key discussion in "Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond" is how the audience has moved from users to "produsers," a term he coined. Scholars and general observers alike will find his analysis helpful and well written. Most of the book is composed of insightful case studies. It's definitely worth a look.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Information, Poor Writing, September 9, 2009

By	B. Howard - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Although Bruns does a good job of covering the topic of social media in the current world's context, the book is overwritten and boring. Further, Bruns' need to use his own terminology in the book is cumbersome, as the intent often seems to make his new words more mainstream, rather than actually getting his message across.

If this book had not been required reading for a graduate course, I would have stopped reading after about 50 pages.