Page 550 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

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user-Created Content and
audienCe PartiCiPation
The rise of user-created content has altered the relationship between media
producers and consumers. The volume and quality of material produced by au-
diences is seen as evidence by some of the democratization of the media space.
At the same time that spaces dedicated to user-created content blossom, large
media companies are incorporating audience-produced content into their prod-
ucts and inviting audiences to participate. This trend has raised questions, how-
ever, about content ownership, the value of cultural labor, and the right to use
commercial media content and make meaning.
The rise and high visibility of user-created content is associated with both
the development of consumer-level digital production and editing tools, and the
maturation of the Internet as a platform enabling “push-button” publishing of
text, images, video, and audio. Though tied to more recent technological and
cultural developments, particularly the convergence of media devices and plat-
forms, and the emergence of Web 2.0, user creativity, and its incorporation by
professional media agencies has a longer history. The “letter to the editor” in the
newspaper is a good example of early modes of audience participation in main-
stream media. Magazines too have long invited audiences to submit content
such as articles, personal stories, and recipes. Radio has made extensive use of
the audience in the form of talk-back and call-ins. Similarly, television programs
such as America’s Funniest Home Videos relied heavily, if not wholly, on user-
created content. Outside of these narrow, sanctioned media spaces, community
and activist media sectors, as well as fan productions, have long demonstrated
the creative capacity of nonprofessional media producers.

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