From bloggers to independent music producers and
pro-ams (professional amateurs) a media revolution is afoot. Easy
to use and accessible personal publishing platforms fuel
this "do-it-yourself" media phenomenon, giving average
people with a computer a chance to air their voice
as far as the information
highway will carry it.
The rebuttal to commercialized media could perhaps be dated
to the French Revolution, when the concepts of the “people” and “social
movements” were first born. Independent newspapers,
flyers, and political art were steadfast fixtures of the
dissident voice. In the early part of the 20th century
independent radio would become the new carrier of iconoclast
revolution.
Independent media met a lull in innovation in the later
half of the 20th century. Although print zines, independent
music
cassette recordings, and underground comics were big with
Gen Xers in the nineties, such media devices never attracted
the masses to the extreme of other information media. It
wasn’t until 1999 when the weblog started multiplying
faster than rabbits that the mainstream jumped aboard the
independent media bandwagon. And it is perhaps the weblog
phenomenon, this open stream of consciousness and dialogue
that boosted the confidence of media aficionados to go
deeper into the world of the professional amateur media.
Before the word was even fully defined, the blogosphere
took the media world by storm. The blog is not only accessible,
but is used by independent and commercial interests alike.
This is due in part to a wide range of personal publishing
platforms, a veritable array of “weblogs for dummies,” that
are free, easy and downloadable.
Unlike a typical online journal, the blog is essentially
a constant outpouring of dialogue that is facilitated by
social blogging networks, support systems, and free (or almost
free) software. When the first weblog or blog, Mosaics What’s
New, was posted in 1993 hand-coded html script was used to
develop its form – a process that requires the patience
and determination of a slug putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
The average consumer had neither the skill nor the time to
enter the then nascent blogosphere.
In early part of 1999 only a few blogs existed. It wasn’t
until the release of free web-based software later that year
that the blogosphere was to move past its infancy. Blogger
developed by none other than the web giant Google in August
of 1999, took credit for 300 new blogs a day towards the
end of 1999. In 2002, Blogger touted over 750, 000 users.
As of 2005 some sources are reporting new blogs created every
5.8 seconds. That equates to 15,000 new blogs a day.
Now even popular social networking websites such as friendster.com
and myspace.com offer free blogging templates to its users.
With cross-platform software, bloggers can post just about
anything. Other blog specific personal publishing resources
like blogit.com, smart-writers.com, squarespace.com, netforall.com
and the popular wordpress.org are not hard to find through
search engines or blogging networks. Blogs can be created
and maintained at home, work, the library, and even off of
PDAs without extensive technological know how.
Personal publishing platforms are not just about blogging.
Anyone with a little cash can get a hold of other personal
publishing platforms for a variety of formats. Besides blogging,
the professional amateur can dabble in other areas of design
and media. Publishing platforms for print or the web such
as QuarkXpress, InDesign, and Acrobat Professional are some
of the more expensive software packages available to the
consumer. They require some degree of expertise and training
to use. Still, just about anyone can produce an online journal
or print zine on a laptop.
Certainly, the phenomenon of personal publishing platforms
raises questions about copyright law, intellectual property
and the public responsibilities that go along with a producer
of public media sources. It is often difficult to distinguish
fallacy from fact with official media sources. Such issues
become particularly sticky when considering that the information
highway moves across international boundaries. Still the
social impact of do-it-yourself-media is huge. Corporations
are seeing the immeasurable value of media tools such as
blogs in reaching the outer limits of the consumer market.
The commercialization of blogs is gaining mobility -- and
fast -- to the dismay of many grassroots bloggers. At the
same time the impact of public media proliferation on global
politics is already being considered for the long term. Is
it possible that we are entering an age of truly democratic
media sharing? Not as of yet. Only 3% of the world’s
population has access to the Internet let alone a personal
computer in the home. Regardless the personal publishing
platforms have had auspicious, if not miraculous, beginnings
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