I was sitting on the train pondering this topic, staring at the graffiti-covered walls that passed by, when I supposed that a comparison could be made between professional/amateur online content and professional/amateur art.
In this digital age, a person doesn’t require a degree to be able to contribute content to the World Wide Web; anyone with a computer and the most basic tech skills can do this. From this notion – that every Tom, Dick and Harry can post content to the Internet – derives the criticism that amateurs are destroying the credibility of the Web. It can be argued that a hierarchical system where professionals control the dissemination of information would produce a higher quality of authoritative information. Though this may be true, the capabilities of the Internet enable everybody to learn different skills, discover new interests, share information and gain knowledge. Professionals weren’t born with a degree – they began as amateurs and spent time learning before gaining qualifications in their field of interest. Interaction with the Web might even encourage an amateur to become a qualified professional.
Arists don’t need a degree to create and contribute great work to the world. Any child can put paint on paper and produce a picture that would make their mother proud. Art is fueled by creativity, passion and expression and amateur work is no less ‘art’ because the artist is not an industry professional with qualifications. The work of famous artists may indeed teach us more about techniques and art history – but just because a painting wasn’t produced by Picasso doesn’t mean there is nothing we can gain from it. The same is true for amateur online content. If approached and used correctly, amateur contributions to the Web serve a valuable purpose: to stimulate the world through sharing beliefs, opinions, perspectives, interests, knowledge, information, news, creativity, skills, and passions.
Sites based on the concept of produser-led content creation are popular platforms for amateur contributors; they enable “all participants to be users as well as producers of information and knowledge” (Bruns 2007). Such sites founded on amateur contributions that have taken off on a large scale include Wikipedia, YouTube, and blogs. In the same way that spaces where multiple graffiti artists have contributed and built upon each other’s work can be considered visually pleasing, these produser-led sites where many amateurs contribute content are mentally stimulating.
All content (whether professional or amateur) on the Internet should be approached with some degree of caution. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between professional content and that of amateurs. And it is here where problems arise. Professional and amateur content have different uses. We must be careful not to use amateur content in the wrong way; for example, Wikipedia should not be used in context as a reliable and credible source of information. On the other hand, we must ensure to reference information from professional sources to acknowledge the author. We wouldn’t pass off any old painting as a famous Van Gogh artwork; the same should be true for online content – it should be clearly presented as either professional or amateur content.
This is just my amateur train of thought… I don’t have a professional degree yet, but does that make these blog posts that I have written of no value at all? I don’t think so. Rather, as with other amateur content, these posts are food for thought. I hope this one leaves you full.
May 27, 2009 at 4:54 am |
Good post lauren,
I really like how you approached the topic and I agree that we can appreciate things once we understand them in the right context. The links you made with amatuer art and online content was interesting and I certainly didn’t think of it that way before! But it’s true, we can apprecitate and learn things from art, even if it’s not by a professional and we should be approaching online content in the same way. I think problems with the net arises when people expect wrong things from it, like you said with Wikipedia where some people rely on it to get ‘facts’ when they’re more of a ‘common perspective’ of things.
And I agree that some people do feel encouraged to pursue professional careers by learning from their ‘amatuer experience’ on the net. I certainly know some of my art-degree friends learning from others through websites like ‘deviantArt’ where they get to display what they’ve done and give comments to advise each other on how to improve their skills. I think it’s great how they can do this through technology now, and hope more people come to appreciate that communal learning aspect of the internet.
Thanks for sharing your insight on the topic and hope my comment taught you something too!!