The idea of mass amateurization as characterized by Clay Shirky can be defined as a movement of average people producing content with minimal resources and access to multimedia. Mass amateurization is seen as a form of expression that is available to anyone and everyone that has access to the tools and resources necessary to make whatever content they feel reflects their personality and possibly garner an audience with random viewers and potential scouters. The fact that anyone can make whatever they want with their freedom of expression and limitless, approaches at the expense of quality, is a testament to Shirky’s idea of mass amateurization. As for amateurization itself, it doesn’t limit to the idea that everything has to be of amateur quality, but rather the exposure that it has gained from the multitude of people that the product has amassed. Producers of amateur content have access to cameras and public software, provided platforms such as Youtube or social media to disperse their content as well as having access to public domain websites that encourage creativity like fan fiction. I know of a friend how edits gameplay clips of Gears of War for himself and other people, and gets recognized on a lower level compared to other video editors that are doing it for mass public attention, despite it being in a niche category. The fact that people make stylized clips of video games and existing media shows exactly what mass amateurization represents: the freedom to do anything as long as they put their mind, time, and effort into it.
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| Youtube amateur now comedian, Hannah Hart started with "My Drunk Kitchen" as a joke until it started gaining popularity since her debut video on March 16, 2011. Hart had her debut movie, "Dirty Thirty" come to theaters on September 23, 2016. (Image taken from Youtube) |
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| A comparison of generational values relating to the concept of mass amateurization and its influence in the media versus professional content. (Image taken from groovyone31's Wordpress) |
Shirky’s draw about mass amateurization is the
threat that it could pose to professional content and the creators of that
particular content. The idea of being undercut by amateur content creators for
little to nothing on expenses and profit brings out critical concerns that
professionals initially overlooked. In Clay Shirky’s perspective from chapter 3,
“Everybody is a Media Outlet” of Here
Comes Everybody, he notes the schism of ideology that professionals
initially had when the newspaper was starting to contest with the internet age:
“For people with a professional outlook, it’s hard to understand how something
that isn’t professionally produced could affect them” (Shirky 56). As the
internet age expanded, media distribution has expanded on a wide-spread level
of interconnectivity. Publishing and sponsorship can be dictated by how viral a
piece of media could be, especially if the author or producer of that media
communicates with their fans and potential suitors for business engagements.
Consumption of media now depends on the communication and relationship between
producer and audience, ensuring a long term relationship with the promise of
better content as reciprocity for their dedication. As Shirky puts it from chapter
4, “Publish then Filter” of Here Comes
Everybody, “The media landscape is transformed, because personal
communication and publication, previously separate functions, now shade into
one another” (Shirky 81). Whether it is original content or fan-made, the
audience and creators form a community to maintain that relationship.
Reflecting on the aspect of mass amateurization
and its effects on the ecosystem of media distribution, the idea of fan fiction
is one topic that heavily encapsulates Shirky’s concept for media production.
The spiel of the “Potter Wars” that Henry Jenkins in “Why Heather Can
Write," highlights the conflict of expression and interest between Harry
Potter fan fic writers and Warner Bros. Before the whole “war” began, a
passionate fan of the series by the name of Heather Lawver wanted herself and
everyone who shared this similar passion to express themselves as if they were
a part of a facet of the Harry Potter universe. She created her own website and
organization dedicated for fans of the series to participate in creating faux
news in relation to the Harry Potter universe, while promoting literacy in the
same breadth. The requirement for anyone to partake in Lawver’s The Daily Prophet periodical is rather
simple: “The construction of a fictional identity, and subsequently these
personas get woven into a series of ‘news stories’ reporting on events at
Hogwarts” (Jenkins 173). Imagination and creativity for literature is the only
boundary that communicates with other fans that Lawver was aiming for. Fan
fiction for Harry Potter expanded to a wider demographic that wanted to
incorporate their own storyline in the book’s universe, or even clarifying plot
points that are left unanswered upon the series’ initial portrayal. A massive
community of writers, editors, and critics of fan fiction capitalized and
benefitted greatly from the amount of web domains that were available for
aspiring writers to get exposure and advice to master their craft. Sites like fictionalley.org,
a haven for Harry Potter fan fiction were one of the many that opened the door
for fan fiction writers, and caught the attention of J.K. Rowling when the
sites were being targeted with “Cease and Desist” orders by Warner Bros under
the guise of copyright infringement. The
directors and Warner Bros felt threatened by the massive amounts of amateur
content for Harry Potter, only to reel back from the backlash of Rowling
herself and the many young fans around the world that were unfairly targeted.
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| An article that was written for The Daily Prophet periodical when it was still in print (Image taken from The Daily Prophet. NOTE: the original domain that housed these articles are shut down. |
For media professionals in the age of mass
amateurization, the only perk they have that stands out from the upstarts is
how widely recognized their content is. The future of a media professional lies
in the factor of what can they do to make something significantly unique from
the restrictions that are placed by their director or sponsor. Often times,
it’s easy for professional content makers to stay above the competition, but
the sheer number of content producers can outweigh on the influence that
professionals provide. The readings from Shirky and Jenkins tells us that the
age of medial professionalism is becoming blurred as constant streams of
amateurs are capitalizing on markets that would normally take time and
sacrifice to achieve. With newer content producers, it would breed new
innovations and techniques or improvements on existing techniques that
professional content makers are limited to, inspiring others to get involved.
Work Cited
Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print. Jenkins, Henry. "Why Heather Can Write." Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media
Collide. New York: New York UP, 2006. 173. Print.
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