Bruns (2011) thoughts so far (W2 Reading)

I'm halfway through reading the Bruns (2011) article and before I started the C5C half of the article, I felt the need to make a blog post about it.

It's quite incredible (to me, at least) that this article was written in 2011. Reading through the first half,  I felt like it was written within the past 5 years. Now, more than ever, I believe the Internet users are true "produsers." There's so much opportunity now for collaboration on anything and everything! I wonder if Bruns (and others) had any idea of what potential Web 2.0 and produsers had back then. How would Bruns react to reading his article now?

One part I really liked in the first half of the article was on page five. Bruns (2011) writes, "it [produsage]  also has historical connections to pre-commercial models of scientific research and other ideals of open intellectual engagement in academia as well as the civil society beyond." This quote stuck out to me. What does the Internet and produsage have in common with historical scientific research? 

Using NotebookLM (a great resource if you aren't aware of it), I gained clarity. Essentially, the four main aspects of produsage (open-participation, fluid meritocracy, continual refinement, and common property) are eerily similar to what early scientific research and everyday life used to be all about: sharing knowledge and being collaborative. At a certain point in history (I'm not sure when exactly), scientists and academics openly exchanged ideas and findings. They built off of each other in the pursuit for new discoveries. This was the same for the everyday person. It was more common to share what you knew and to collaborate with your neighbors/friends just so you could know a little bit of everything.

It wasn't until things started getting commercialized that mostly everything became private and collaboration wasn't as encouraged (I don't know what that time was. My mind goes to the industrial revolution, but even then maybe it was closer than I may be thinking). 

Anyways, I had to get that out and share it here. To think that in some way, the Internet and Web 2.0 has helped us return to our roots (collaboration, knowledge-sharing) is pretty cool. I know sometimes I think the world has taken technology too far, but there are clear positives to it.

What are your thoughts? How did you react to the Bruns (2011) article?

Reference:

Bruns, A. (2011). Beyond difference: Reconfiguring education for the user-led age. In R. Land & S. Bayne (Eds.), Digital Difference (pp. 131-144). Brill Sense.