Page 553 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

| User-Created Content and Aud ence Part c pat on

User creativity, however, recasts the audience as a media producer, somewhat
disrupting this model. Typically, media corporations have claimed ownership
and exclusive rights over content submitted to them, while policing the permit-
ted uses of content they produce. As such, news services, for instance, claim the
right to use (usually for free) and re-license (usually for profit) user-submitted
photos. This model has become more problematic with the rise of services where
users are the predominant content producer. For instance, virtual world Second
Life provides an open play space where users can build objects and create arti-
facts their avatars can interact with and move amongst. Early into its existence,
Second Life’s creators Linden Lab changed the rules of participation, assigning
the intellectual property rights to objects to the users who created them. This
has led to a flourishing “virtual economy” within Second Life where users on-
sell virtual goods. This is a virtual economy not everyone can participate in,
however. As much as digital publishing tools enable “everyday” people to par-
ticipate in the media space, this participation requires access to technology and
an Internet connection, as well as a certain degree of technological and creative
skill. As such, while user-created content is enabled by the rise in consumer-
level digital tools, the continued existence of a digital divide means some people
face technological, social, economic, and cultural barriers to participation.

reCent deVeloPMents in user-Created Content
1989—America’s Funniest Home Videos premieres on the ABC Network. At the time of
publication, the program, based on Tokyo Broadcasting System program Fun TV with
Kato-chan and Ken-chan, is still on the air.
July 1995—MTV News: Unfiltered premieres. Viewers called MTV and pitched stories
about their life. The network headed out to shoot short (no longer than 4 minutes)
stories on Hi-8 video, which were then edited together into a hosted program. The
program is cited as a key inspiration for Current TV (see below).
December 1995—Web-hosting service GeoCities launched (after a brief period as “Bev-
erly Hills Internet”). While a paid premium service was later added, GeoCities contin-
ued as a free service even after its acquisition by Yahoo! in 1998.
September 1997—User-submitted “nerd” news site Slashdot is launched (http://www.
slashdot.org). Slashdot is one of the longest established user-submitted news sites on
the Web.
August 1999—Pyra Labs launches Blogger, a free Weblog publishing tool. Google ac-
quired the service in February 2003. The simple interface and free site-hosting helped
to popularize the format.
October 1999—iMovie, a consumer video editing program based on the code used for
professional digital editing software, is bundled as a standard offering from Apple Com-
puter Inc. iMovie was later joined by iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, GarageBand, and iWeb, the
last four of which are digital editing programs.
July 2003—Social networking site MySpace launches. Allowing users to create Web page
profiles customized as they like, and connected to their friends’ profiles, the service