Social media platforms promotes the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.
(Social Media. Wikipedia, The free encyclopaedia. November 12, 2009).
Even though the “prosumer“ concept has been around for 40 years (Toffler, 1970), my experiences as an active, involved content innovator as opposed to the traditional passive recipient of a product or service are new-found. I first became aware that I was flexing these powerful muscles as I blog, leave comments, and tweet, after reading Grown Up Digital, written by someone who Al Gore has called, one of the world’s leading cyber gurus, own own Canadian, Don Tapscott. GUD is a relevant and inspiring ‘Field Guide’, of the Net Generation, outlining the survey findings of 11,000 NetGenners (11 – 30 years old), whereby connecting the dots and colouring in the big picture as to how young people are using social media platforms to influence and shape their world.
To get a sense of the prosumer power, watch the YouTube clip of “In Conversation with Allan Gregg” (for those who want quick sound bites, watch 15:33 – 18:00). In a nutshell, Tapscott asserts, “if you understand the Net Generation, you will understand the future.”
Since this first read back in April, 2009, I have become increasingly aware of the innovative ways in which NetGenners contribute to the development, improvement and dissemination of products & services. For a very recent and radical example, pick up a copy of Yes We Did: An inside look at how social media built the Obama Brand (Harfoush, 2009).
Even more rewarding, I am now cognizant of being both participant & recipient of new media techniques that amplify the ways in which we are able to use our voices to advocate change in institutional pedagogy, politics and practices.
What empowering realizations!
Imagine the electricity consumption at 24-hr fitness centres!
I now turn my prosumer-gaze on the fitness world – which is both my workplace and playground. While sport has the privileged reputation of being healthy and green, the fitness industry is a far cry from environmentally conscious. For lack of an academic urge at 2:00 am* this morning, I will cite the Biggest Loser reality television series recent ”Green Week” workouts on unplugged fitness equipment to illuminate the copious electricity consumption of millions of treadmills across the world.
The buzz-word of today is eco-innovation and with that in mind, I encourage everyone to watch this green fitness centre concept video from Casey Shaaf of EcoDev Engineering, LLC, created for the 2009 Kettering Innovation Challenge and to appreciate the implications of this technology. Astoundingly simple, elegant and brilliant solution to recycling energy. Viewing it, I had to wonder, how is it that only 185* people have watched this video since September? Why am I the first to rate it?
I am hereby making it a personal goal to have this video reach 1,000 by the end of the year. 3 weeks left…
You in for the challenge?
* This blog post was originally published on Lighfooted.ca on November 27, 2009 at 2:00 am. Current YouTube count is 259.
Loren
2 months ago
haven’t yet watched the video, but will get to that at some point (no audio on my comp at the mo). That said, the notion of social media having an impact on green solutions is an interesting one to me. Read a book recently that looked at traditional advertising versus referral (as per social media – or the next door neighbour). Not surprisingly, referral was the clear winner for it’s implicit integrity. I get the feeling that’s what social media is all about.
Taking it that extra step, then, promoting/raising awareness of green solutions through social media would seem a very effective way of creating a meaningful (if local to your social ‘followers’ or ‘friends’ or whatever cute term comes out next). But then, if they tell their friends…
Jodie
2 months ago
Thanks for your comment, Loren. The Gregg + Tapscott as well as the the Green Fitness Concept are worth the wait to watch.
I think you’ve just described the real power mechanism behind social media networking – it’s a web of connectivity that is expanding at rapid speeds (faster than fingers flying on a keyboard) and is almost unimaginably broad-reaching. From my experience, this web seems to be most stable when it’s built on on trust, integrity and transparency.
kasia
2 months ago
Okay, all I’ve read is the top quote…but I have a comment about that!
Hmmm…I think it’s interesting that you used a quote from wikipedia about this. On the one hand, wikipedia is exactly what you are writing about — the democratization of knowledge, on the other hand, we’re always warned about never really using wikipedia for anything. Everyone I know uses wikipedia kind of in secret. Don’t know a social theorist that everyone is talking about? Read about him/her on wikipedia for two minutes and I get a sense of their work and feel a little less stupid.
Anyways, that was my first thought. I think the democratization of knowledge links nicely to a lot of the work I want to do, which aims at understanding public knowledge of medicine. I wonder to what extent a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Your writing is good, Jodie!
kasia
2 months ago
Oh, and I see that you talk about power as a web in your comment above — that’s very astute. You should read some Foucault on power if you are more interested in those ideas…
Rahaf
2 months ago
I love the idea of a green workout. I’ve been looking into that P90x workout and I like it because most of the exercises use your own body weight etc. But I find the combination of sustainability and fitness quite interesting and am looking forward on reading your thoughts as you discover this new space!
Jodie
2 months ago
Great suggestion on Foucault, Kasia. All the courses I’ve taken so far in the HKIN program have touched on his theories, but I really should get more in-depth understanding before I proceed farther. Some light holiday reading, perhaps?
I’m happy to see your comment on the Wiki quote; it was indeed intentional. I’m interested in the academic validation of the community of ‘knowledge creators’ and have been pushing against the traditional boundaries of research practices. For instance, I deliberately do not use a source if it exists in a hard-copy form only. All my sources are available online, and I submit my research papers electronically with hyperlinks imbedded in the text and all references as active links. Through the small act of adding hyperlinks, the assignment transforms from a static commentary to an interactive computer-mediated communication tool (Bruns & Jacobs, 2006).
Jodie
2 months ago
Rahaf, thank you for your thoughts! I completely agree: green workouts are the way to go! When I was running Lightfooted Bootcamps out of Toronto, I structured the workouts to be portable, quick & easy to do with very little equipment, and optimally carried-out in the great outdoors. Toronto parks are perfect places, if you don’t mind a puppy or two coming over to give you a friendly lick.
While exercising outside is not feasible all the time, the P90x or Wii Fit might be just the workout an environmentally-conscious jet-setter like yourself could use! I’ve given the P90x a whirl and found it ridiculously challenging, but still quite fun. And the physiological and motivational benefits of Wii Fit make for an interesting research topic, as I’ve learned this term. (http://lightfooted.ca/2009/10/asking-the-right-questions-2/).
Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll keep you posted with the latest green fitness concepts.