Citizen journalism and produsage

"Think of cultural products, or art works, or the people who even use them, as being unfinished. Permanently unfinished."
Brian Eno


This idea of news and information being 'permanently unfinished' amazes me. Citizen journalism means a wider base of knowledge and experience, encouraging a diverse population to participate in an ongoing process of news production. It can be forever unfinished; new information can be added and old information can be edited.


Axel Bruns' thesis 'From Reader to Writer: Citizen Journalism as News Produsage' states the four fundamental characteristics of news produsage to be: open participation, fluid heterarchy, unfinished artefacts, and the idea of common property.


It seems as though this indeed is an alternative to traditional journalism; with news produsage and citizen journalism, the content is pre-tested by a larger range of consumers, that is, it "relies on the collective insights of a broad userbase rather than a small number of professional editors for quality assurance." (Bruns, p.7)


This places under question the role of the journalist in a world where news can be produced by the everyday observer. This will definitely mean a wider scope of the news being presented, and a more diverse agenda and opinion; everyone can participate in the production of news, feeling a sense of inclusiveness. But what does this mean for mainstream media in the future? It will be interesting to see.


References


Bruns, A 2010, 'From Reader to Writer: Citizen Journalism as News Produsage'