You're a Prosumer and You Don't Even Know It

The article, Production, Consumption, Prosumption by Ritzer and Jurgenson (2010) explore the concept of prosumption and its increasingly evident appearance in our lives more so today than ever before. Prosumption according to Ritzer and Jurgenson (2010, p. 14) ‘prosumption involves both production and consumption rather than focussing on either one’.

An overused example to explain prosumption is McDonaldisation. This term was developed by Ritzer (1993) but the concept began with Henry Ford and his development of the assembly line for producing cars. The most efficient way of completing a task is found and then broken down into smaller ones. This is efficiency; the first of the four dimensions of McDonaldization according to Ritzer (1993). This task is then completed the same way every time and this is another dimension, predictability. Another is control refers to the irreplaceability of humans and machines. The last dimension is calculability and means quantity over quality.

(Image: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-is-mcdonaldization-theory.html)

McDonalds is a global producer and their products are the same in every country. Just like people in every country are prosumers.

When you think about it we do a lot of the work that the McDonalds ‘restaurant’ should be doing for us. We wait a long time in a line to order our own food and then wait again for our food to be made and handed to us. We then carry our own food to a table that we need to find. If we want anything else we need to get it ourselves. There is no waiter to serve us like at other restaurants and it can be said that we are part of the production in creating our meals.

 Toffler (1980, cited in Ritzer & Jurgenson 2010) believed that Prosumption was a well-known in pre-industrial societies. Although today with the web 2.0 (provider generated information) prosumption is at its finest and clearly exemplified in many thing we do in our day to day lives. Do you have a Facebook account? If so, then you are a prosumer. Like McDonalds you do all the work like post photo’s, video, text, information and links and also share others information.

I am a prosumer when I post this blog.

But what happens to all the information that you supply without payment on Facebook. Ritzer and Jurgenson (2010) suggest that Facebook sell your information to advertisement agencies, but today, it was found here that Facebook handed over data to the Australian government. This is an example of uberveilance.

Are you happy about being a Prosumer?

References

Ritzer, G 1993, ‘The McDonaldization of Society’, Sage Publications, London

Ritzer, G. & Jurgenson, N, 2010, ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption’, Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol. 10, no 1, pp. 13-36

White, A 2013, ‘Facebook hands over data on hundreds of Australians in first half of this year’, The Herald Sun, 29 August, Accessed 28 August 2013, <http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/facebook-hands-over-data-on-hundreds-of-australians-in-first-half-of-this-year/story-fni0fiyv-1226705818264>

Global Media Entertainment Discoveries May Not Be Discoveries At All

I agree with the argument that creative arts, cultural products, invention and discovery are not original ideas, but the combination and recombination of previous ideas. Christopher Booker, an English journalist and author believes that there are seven basic plots and that all stories told can be grouped into at least one of the seven plots he listed in his book ‘The Seven Basic Plots’. This means that with the amount of television drama series, there must be many with very similar plots and characters. Is this wrong? Do copyright laws prevent this from happening?

As Kirby Ferguson indicates in his series ‘Everything is a Remix’, there are many more copyright cases today than ever before by saying ‘prior to this (George Harrison’s case) plenty of songs sounded much more like other songs without ending up in court’. So with many more copyright cases being heard today than in any other era, why wouldn't copyright laws prevent similar television drama series airing as the laws do for songs?

Well, according to the U.S Copyright Office ‘The general idea or concept for a program is not copyright-able’.  Although, what about when the story-lines and main characters of two shows are similar? Where is the line drawn? This is hard to tell as stated by Ferguson; copyright laws are very broad in order to cover a broad range of happenings.

The two television drama series that I have in mind are a couple of my favourites, The O.C. and Gossip Girl who were both created by Josh Schwartz.

(Image: http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/File:Gossip_girl_11.jpg)

(Image: http://www.last.fm/music/O.C.+California)

The O.C. was first aired in 2003 and Gossip Girl in 2007. The similarities can be seen here and consist of similar characters who even look the same with both shows having a very similar storyline. Yes, both shows were created by the same person but even university students have to abide by copyright laws that do not allow their own work to be re-submitted/ re-published. I assumed that professionals would have similar rules. Another issue is the fact that the Gossip Girl series is based on a novel written by Cecily Von Ziegesar in 2002. So did Schwatz ‘copy, transform and combine’ which is what Ferguson believes creative artists and inventors do, and make The O.C. to have it cancelled and then dive in to just copy the original work anyway? Again, is this wrong?

There are many shows with this same similar storyline and include, Melrose Place and Laguna Beach. These shows are global and reach many people in different countries who in turn create their own shows and could add to the list of similar television drama series.

Although, shows are made to entertain the viewer and if the audience only enjoys these particular drama series then they will be hurt if copyright laws act to limit the amount of shows produced. Or maybe the audience will just purchase more copies of the one television series making them more money. With this view, copyright laws seem worthy.

But then again maybe the audience will just share movie files. This may be 'illegal' but globalisation has made it difficult for authorities to rule.

References

Mars-Jones, A 2004, ‘Terminator 2, The Odyssey Bad’, The Guardian, 21 November, Accessed 13 August 2013, <http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/nov/21/fiction.features>

U.S. Copyright Office, 2010, ‘Copyright| Dramatic Works: Scripts, Pantomimes, and Choreography, 13 August 2013, <http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl119.html>

Vimeo, 2012, ‘Everything is a Remix- Part 4’, 13 August 2013, <http://vimeo.com/36881035>

Wikipedia, 2013, ‘Josh Schwartz’, 13 August 2013, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Schwartz>

Deal Or No Deal- a global game show that shows a global desire

The Deal Or No Deal Australian Opening in 2003 is a memory of mine. Nine year old me was upset that our Sunday night family ritual of sitting in front of the television watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was disrupted by my father’s decision to change the channel to the Seven Network to try the talked about, Deal Or No Deal. We were instantly hooked and although today the show has made many changes I still enjoy watching the program during weekly dinners with my mother. Many people enjoy the game show, especially older women who come into my Intencity store to play the Deal Or No Deal video game.

(Image: http://www.segaarcade.com/dond-street)

Maybe I hold this particular game show close to my heart as the last time I saw my late Maltese grandmother, we watched Deal Or No Deal together. Realising this made me stop and think about the show and question why so many people from different cultures enjoy it. I came to realise that it was because winning money is desired by all people in different countries. Is this a global desire? I think so.

I then stumbled upon the Italian version of Deal Or No Deal and found my Italian grandparents enjoyed the show too. With some research I found that 17 other countries had a version of Deal Or No Deal. This means that Deal Or No Deal is a global game show and makes clear to me that all people in all countries have a desire to win money. I now view all cultures and the people in those cultures in a similar way to myself as I know we all have at least something in common- We have the desire to win money.

In 1995, Malcom Waters defined globalisation as “… a social process in which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding”. I believe this aligns well with the global Deal Or No Deal. With this game show all cultural restrictions are faded and other thinkers like me are aware that they are receding. This allows people in different countries to enjoy the show.

Although, like Jan Nederveen Pieterse said in 2004, ‘Globalisation is uneven’. This is true for Deal Or No Deal which differs from country to country in many, many ways. Deal Or No Deal is just an example of this statement showing that many countries develop at different speeds and at different times making globalisation an uneven ‘playing field’. For example the Italian version of Deal Or No Deal use boxes instead of brief cases. 

(Image: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/12/time-warner-bid-endemol)

A simple game show has driven me to see globalisation in a new way. To become aware of a shared desire and to learn that yes, globalisation may be uneven but we can all still be connected.

Reference List

Blackwood Company, 2008, ‘Deal Or No Deal Australia Opening’, online video, accessed 5 August 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWceF0izO2A

Deal Or No Deal, 2011, ‘Worldwide’, 5 August 2013, http://www.dealornodeal.co.uk/show/worldwide/

Intencity, 2013, ‘Home’, 5 August 2013, http://www.intencity.com.au/

National Spelling Bee, 2013, ‘Get to know the competition’, 5 August 2013, http://www.spellingbee.com/

Nederveen Pieterse, J 2004,Globalization: consensus and controversies, Globalization and culture: global mélange, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md.

Rai1, 2013, ‘Affari tuoi’, 5 August 2013, http://www.affarituoi.rai.it/dl/portali/site/articolo/ContentItem-6c509d7d-34b3-443c-ae49-816a5930fa13.html?homepage

Sega Amusements, 2012, ‘Deal Or No Deal Street’, 5 August 2013, http://www.segaarcade.com/dond-street

Sweney, M 2011, ‘Deal or no deal? Time Warner makes €1bn bid for Endemol’, The Guardian, 13 December, Accessed 5 August 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/12/time-warner-bid-endemol

Tv.com, 2012, ‘The Price is Right’, 5 August 2013, http://www.tv.com/shows/the-price-is-right/