Symbolic Amateurs - C. Hamilton

8/12/2019 Symbolic Amateurs - C. Hamilton

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Symbolic amateurs: on the discourse of amateurism in

contemporary media culture

Caroline Hamilton

University of Melbourne

If it feels a little bit like were amateurs, it is because we

are. Everyone is an amateur in this business. i These were

the words ulian !ssan"e used to describe the o#erations of

$ikileaks to the New Yorker in %&'& (ust weeks after the

whistle)blowin" website #ublished secret video foota"e of a

%&&* + army air strike in Ira- that killed a do en #eo#le.

The content of the video/known as Collateral 0urder/

and the means by which it was obtained, -uickly became asource of "lobal controversy. !t the time the 1enta"on

classi2ed $ikileaks as a threat to + national security and

sou"ht 3unsuccessfully4 to #revent more material surfacin"

by ar"uin" for what they called 5criminal sanctions.5 ince

then both !ssan"e and $ikileaks have been the sub(ect of

continuin" debate -uestionin" the ethics of their actions6 the

$ikileaks #hiloso#hy of radical trans#arency and freedom of

information contrasts starkly with the established #rotocolsfor #rofessional (ournalists, but their actions, in brin"in" to

li"ht foota"e that traditional media outlets would never have

found, have also been #raised. This tension between the

le"itimacy associated with #rofessionalism and the

discourses of freedom associated with amateur enter#rise

has lon" characterised how the #ublic value the work of

these two "rou#s. ince the '77&s however, thanks lar"ely

to the rise of the Internet, new dynamics between amateurs,

#rofessionals and their #ublics are emer"in". In the case of

$ikileaks, althou"h the debate is often #resented in stark

terms as a choice between #rofessional standards and

amateur ener"ies it is clear from !ssan"es lan"ua"e that

the situation is alto"ether more com#le8. ust what does he

mean, for e8am#le, when he states, everyone is an amateur

in this business 9 !mateurs are usually understood to be

disinterested in the business as#ect of their activity. In the

case of $ikileaks it is even #ossible to know to which

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business !ssan"e is referrin"9 1ublishin"9 ournalism9

$histle blowin"9 Hackin"9 Tasks such as hackin" or whistle

blowin" have no #aid, #rofessional e-uivalent : does this

mean that anyone who #artici#ates in them must necessarily

be re"arded as an amateur9 This essay takes !ssan"es

comments above as a startin" #oint for investi"atin" these

-uestions and the lar"ely #ositive rhetoric associated with

amateur labours.

$e are now very familiar with the discourses of di"ital

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an individual with a #assionate interest in a sub(ect or an

activity. The industrial revolution was in full swin" by this

time and it didnt take lon" for amateurs to become

associated in the minds of the #ublic with the dabblin" and

dilettantism common to "entlemen of leisure : those men

who were 2nancially inde#endent and took on work only in

order to portray occu#ation 3such as investor, s#eculator,

adventurer, "ambler, etc.4. This association had two

im#ortant conse-uences6 it resulted in a down"radin" of the

knowled"e many amateurs #ossessed to mere fancy or

triAin" entertainment and it hel#ed formalise the association

between amateur activity and 2nancial disinterest.

$ebster s ;ictionary, for e8am#le, de2nes an amateur asone that en"a"es in a #articular #ursuit, study, or science

as a #astime rather than as a #rofessional. This de2nition

demonstrates how the role has been conceived of as

functionally de#endent on its o##osite. $here #rofessionals

are understood as needin" to be 2nancially com#ensated for

devotin" the ma(ority of their time to an activity, amateurs

take on the task in their s#are time, content to acce#t no

2nancial reward.However common#lace such an understandin" of the

amateur mi"ht be it contains remarkable contradictions and

oversi"hts. !lthou"h de2ned in one sense as a devotee who

loves a #articular activity, in another, amateur connotes

su#er2cial, uncommitted #artici#ation. Bikewise, althou"h

devoted, amateurs are also described as ine8#erienced and

unskilled, -ualities that dont "el with em#irical evidence

that su""ests anyone devotin" time to an activity will

develo# com#etency. v Tryin" to de2ne the amateur in

relation to the #rofessional can also be misleadin" since

#rofessionals often volunteer their services and amateurs

sometimes "et #aid for their e>orts. 0akin" distinctions

between the two "rou#s on the basis of time and money also

wron"ly draws a correlation between lovin" your work and

bein" disinterested in money, im#lyin" that amateurs always

draw satisfaction from their #astimes while #rofessionals

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necessarily dislike their work and need 2nancial

com#ensation as inducement.

Tryin" to de2ne the amateur by takin" the #rofessional

as a counter#oint is also un#roductive from the #ers#ective

of the new forms and modes of work that have emer"ed in

the last twenty years. 0any work roles 3es#ecially in the

media industries4 now deliberately avoid classi2cation or

refuse o cial forms of consecration or authorisation6 the

reality TF)celebrity, the social media user, the blo""er, the

citi en (ournalist, the hacker, and the media intern are all

roles #erformed somewhere between the lines of

#aidGun#aid, #rofessionalGamateur, authorisedGuno cial.

These liminal roles 3and, increasin"ly, the liminal s#aceswhere they are #erformed4 are com#lemented by the e-ually

uno cial online activity known as co)creation. +sed to

describe the #henomenon of non)#rofessional audiences

#artici#atin" in the interactive #rocess of makin" and

circulatin" media content and e8#eriences usin" the tools

and #latforms #rovided by technolo"y com#anies, co)

creation unites amateurs and #rofessionals within the 2eld

of a sin"le di"ital economy in which 2nance and otheralternative forms of ca#ital o#erate and interchan"e. vi +ntil

very recently one way to understand the work of the

amateur had been to note that as a "rou# they have been

#rotected from the alienation and e8#ro#riation associated

with ca#italism because they labour for the love of it.

However, as recent scholarshi# in the 2elds of sociolo"y and

#olitical economy has demonstrated, the di"ital economy

#rovides e8em#lary evidence that the #otential e8ists for

ca#italism to e8tract 2nancial value from these emotional

investments. vii Thus, amateurs are as likely as their

#rofessional counter#arts to e8#erience the e8#loitation of

their labour. n the Ai#side of this scenario is the #ro#osition

that amateurs, hitherto #resumed to be #rofessionally

disinterested, actually share much in common with their #aid

counter#arts when it comes to #rofessional values, standards

and re#utation. viii

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This com#le8 situation is not aided by the fact that

increasin"ly the word is a##lied to more and more "rou#s of

#eo#le. !udiences, consumers, users, critics, and more, are

all described today under the mantle of amateur, or its new

variants : the 1ro)!m, the 1roduser, or the 1rosumer. i8

Consider, for e8am#le, how many di>erent ways in which the

amateur is 2"ured in contem#orary social studies6 for

social scientists concerned with labour e8#loitation the

em#hasis falls on amateurs as un#aid contributors to the

information and cultural economiesK 8 for critics of the di"ital

cultures that have s#run" u# across the web the word

connotes the un#rofessional standards of the un-uali2ed

massesK8i

for media "urus and theorists like Henry enkins,Bawrence Bessi", and Wired ma"a ines Chris !nderson, the

2"ure of the amateur #ersoni2es the freedom and

democracy enabled by o#en connections. 8ii +sed as it is in an

ad)hoc manner, the term amateur is now also synonymous

with ad)hoc. How then are we to understand todays amateur

workers and how do we take account of their value9

Symbolic amateursn the basis of em#irical evidence alone, to##lin"

"overnments and dealin" in to#)secret military 2les is not

the sort of thin" the avera"e #erson does in their down)time

away from the o ce or after the kids have been #ut to bed.

!ssan"es version of amateur #ursuit involves a 2eld of

e8#erience -uite distinct from those of the beni"n

enthusiast6 $ikileaks have #ublished everythin" from the

o#eratin" manuals from the Luantanamo =ay detention

cam# to the ta8 records of the movie action)hero $esley

ni#esK they have collaborated with ma(or "lobal media

or"anisations like the Guardian , the New York Times and the

Washington ost K !ssan"e can claim the su##ort and

friendshi# of inAuential names in the media industry alon"

with le"al re#resentation by a suite of the worlds to#

lawyers s#ecialisin" in human ri"hts and international law. 8iii

His is a very #articular kind of amateurism. The contention

that an or"anisation with the skills, means, and im#act of

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$ikileaks is amateur su""ests that somethin" has

fundamentally shifted in social e8#ectations re"ardin"

amateurs and the kinds of work that they do.

Indeed, !ssan"es statement is (ust one e8am#le of a

wider trend in di"ital media culture6 consider Loo"les

ea"erness to remind users that their billion)dollar business

be"an life as (ust the #et #ro(ect of tech students with a

motto be2ttin" commercial naNfsK dont be evil. r

@acebook CE 0ark Ouckerber"s I1 letter to investors that

counterintuitively mana"ed to sell shares in a multi)billion

dollar com#any on the basis that it was not ori"inally

created to be a com#any. 8iv The same lo"ic also under#ins

the success of many reality TF #ro"rams, such as !an"ingwith the Stars and #elebrity $pprenti"e , which involve the

conceit of havin" reco"nised #rofessionals #erform as

amateurs in order to stabilise their careers as celebrities.

These e8am#les demonstrate one of the increasin"ly

common #henomena in the #resent the media landsca#e,

somethin" that mi"ht be best described as symboli"

amateurism/that is, ado#tin" the #ose of the amateur even

while inhabitin" the s#here of the #rofessional.

Self-conscious workers

The resur"ence of discourses in the media re"ardin" the

work and culture of the amateur is understood to have arisen

with the ra#id s#read of di"ital networks since the turn of the

century, however, as far back as '7** the sociolo"ist Pobert

!. tebbins noted a "rowth in occu#ations 3in entertainment,

s#orts, the arts4 where what is now work was once #urely

#lay. !ccom#anyin" this, tebbins noted, was a sur#risin"

develo#ment6 amateurs, hitherto unconcerned by the

#erformances of their #rofessional counter#arts, were now

more motivated to emulate them. This he attributed to the

mass availability of #rofessional #erformances in everyday

lifeK in other words the "elebration of professionalism in the

e8#andin" communications culture was drivin" amateurs to

do more to brin" themselves closer to this level. !s tebbins

e8#lains, QaRs #rofessionali ation s#reads from one

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occu#ation to another, what was once considered #lay

activity in some of these s#heres is evolvin" -uietly,

inevitably, and unnoticeably into a new form, which is best

named modern amateurism . 8v To tebbins, modern

amateurism reAects a stron" desire for reco"nition, a

willin"ness to turn #lay into obli"ation, seriousness, and

commitment, as #artici#ants seek to meet #rofessional

standards, e>ectively imitatin" the #erformance of

#rofessionals. 8vi Essentially, what tebbins noted was that an

e8#andin" communications culture was makin" amateurs

more aware of the nature of #rofessional standards and, in

sensin" their distance from these standards and their limited

access to #rofessional tools, amateurs were driven to domore to brin" themselves closer to their #rofessional

counter#arts with the aim of achievin" some mark of

success. tebbins does not "o on to e8#lain the reasons

behind this newfound drive, althou"h it is worth notin" that

his observations on modern amateurism bear a remarkable

relation to those of modern scholars of work culture who

#rovide detailed accounts of how the discourses of

"lobalisation and neo)liberalisation have im#acted on the#ersonal ethics of workers. 8vii

En(oyin" a #o#ular #erce#tion as commercially

disinterested and emotionally invested, the 2"ure of the

amateur is an es#ecially useful resource for a media industry

seekin" to im#rove its #ublic relations. Commonly seen as

2"ures for social "ood, the amateurs work is not "enerally

or"anised by a lo"ic of monetary incentives, notes Fasilis

Sostakis, but is chieAy based on values like sharin", res#ect,

sociali ation, and reco"nition. 8viii To talk of amateurs is also

to indirectly reference #ositive social attributes like natural

talent and innovation, commercial disinterest, naivety,

informality, honesty, and freedom. =ecause they are not

interested in business lo"ic amateurs are re"arded as

demonstratin" a #articular situated aesthetics and ethics in

their work6 it is understood that they draw their creativity

and innovation from sources una>ected by the market#lace.

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That conce#tual link between amateurs and in"enuity

has only been stren"thened over the last twenty years by

virtue of the fact that amateurs have been central to the

develo#ment and #romotion of the world wide web. The

#artici#ation of amateurs was central to the develo#ment of

the early conce#tion of the web as a "ift economy for

information e8chan"e 8i8 and more recently the celebration

of the #artici#atory culture of $eb%.& is su##orted by a

discourse in which em#owerment, di"ital networks and

amateurs are united in somethin" of a holy trinity. Thus, the

di"ital media environment and the wider cultural ideolo"ies

it has nurtured re#resent a #rofound #aradi"m shift in the

way we understand the contribution of non)#rofessionals,and their symbolic value to our culture. +nderstood in this

conte8t it makes sense that or"anisations like Loo"le,

@acebook and even $ikileaks wish to harness their

enter#rises to the conce#t of amateurism6 this discourse

allows them to identify their o#erations with mental and

s#iritual freedom : the kind of freedom that is associated

with inde#endence from the commercial world and attaches

an im#lied ethics to their work. This a##ealin" rhetoric is undercut by closer

investi"ation of o#erations in the modern media industries.

The "rowin" normalisation of amateur activities in the

hitherto #rofessionals)only conte8t has blossomed into a

not)so)small scale industry in which the talents, styles,

modes and habits of the amateur are not only harnessed by

business but also self)consciously re#roduced. Here, two

e8am#les will serve to demonstrate the #roblem from the

#ers#ective of the amateur and the #rofessional res#ectively.

Peality television #ro"rams o>er #articularly rich

terrain for e8#lorin" the #osition of amateurs in the media

industry. The 2"ure of the as#irational, enthusiastic amateur

"enerates lucrative drama via the #seudo)#rofessionalisation

of #astimes with shows like Master"hef , Ne%t Top Model and

& Fa"tor all relyin" on amateur labour to #roduce stars. 88

These #ro"rammes also #romote a discourse in which

amateurs are celebrated for their ability to be re"ular while


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also dis#layin" remarkably #rofessional abilities. 88i However

encoura"in" of individual talents and abilities these shows

mi"ht be they also reinforce standard #atterns of #ower and

control6 askin" their #artici#ants to #erform at the

#rofessional level while still bein" treated as members of the

audience. @urthermore, these #ro"rammes encoura"e the

dis#lay of #ersonal life and #ersonality for the #ur#oses of

drama while also havin" real conse-uences in terms of

#rofessionalisation and success. !mateurs in this #osition

cannot remain disinterested for lon". Indeed, these

#ro"rammes "ive drastic warnin"s to amateurs whose

#rofessional disinterest leads them to as#ire beyond their

abilities.!s discourses of amateurism have reoriented

themselves towards the #erformance of #rofessionalism,

discourses in business have turned to em#hasise work as a

creative, #assionate, self)directed enter#rise. Enabled and

liberated by the information networks of di"ital

communications, business culture has become identi2ed

with untrammelled mental and s#iritual freedom : a freedom

once de2ned by its inde#endence from the commercialrealm. 88ii n this to#ic scholars of sociolo"y of work have

noted that in the new economy the discourse of amateurism

is #ervasive even amon"st #aid workers and business

#rofessionals. =ecause amateurism em#hasises work as a

#rocess of develo#in" self)ful2llment, #assion, authenticity

and self)actualisation it has #roven #articularly #o#ular

amon" workers in the creative industries where the

e8#ectation of e8ternal rewards 3such as #ro2t4 is low. !s

!n"ela 0cPobbie has acknowled"ed, there is a uto#ian

thread embedded in this wholehearted attem#t to make)over

the world into somethin" closer to a life of enthusiasm and

en(oyment. 88iii Thus, work becomes imbued with the features

of the Pomantic tradition, su>used with #ositive emotional

-ualities and the discourse of amateurism is internalised by

workers, becomin" a strate"y for re"ulatin" the #recarity of

their own circumstances in the new economy. 88iv

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The conce#t/if not the reality/of these modes of

work links the hi"hly a>ective, #ersonal, but often un#aid,

labours of amateurs with the skills, e8#ertise and standards

of #rofessionals, all in satisfaction of the #roductive

#rinci#les of the information economy. 1rofessionals are

encoura"ed to be more like their amateur counter#arts and

take satisfaction in their lack of (ob security, while amateurs

are encoura"ed to #erfect their skills to the #rofessional

standard and be Aattered by the attention accorded to them.

In each case the only certain outcomes relate to #ro2t

mar"ins. 0alcolm Lladwell ty#i2es the attitude when he

writes in 'utliers of a youn" =ill Lates6

$e QUR marvel that our world allowed that 'D)year)old

to become a fabulously successful entre#reneur QUR

=ut thats the wron" lesson. ur world only allowed

one 'D)year)old unlimited access to a time)sharin"

terminal in '7? . If a million teena"ers had been "iven

the same o##ortunity, how many more 0icrosofts

would we have today9 88v

The a##eal of this story is the feel)"ood idea that anyone

with access mi"ht have the #otential to be the ne8t Lates

but behind this is a broader messa"e about the amateurs

ability to "enerate value for business. Celebratin" the #otent

mi8 of talent, new technolo"ies and accessibility that

enabled the teena"ed Lates, Lladwell is silent about the

ends to which the youn" amateur is workin". $hat matters

most is that his talent can be harnessed to the industrys

business outcomes. r, more correctly, what matters most

is that we never a"ain fail to sei e the o##ortunity to harness

more talent to the system. ;iscussin" the twenty)2rst

centurys Lates/@acebook creator 0ark Ouckerber"/

Bawrence Bessi" "oes a ste# further6

whats im#ortant here is that Ouckerber"s "enius

could be embraced by half)a)billion #eo#le within si8

years of its 2rst bein" launched, without 3and here is

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the critical bit4 askin" #ermission of anyone. QUR

=ecause the #latform of the Internet is o#en and free,

or in the lan"ua"e of the day, because it is a neutral

network, a billion 0ark Ouckerber"s have the

o##ortunity to invent for the #latform. 88vi

Lladwell ur"es us to learn from history. Bessi" o>ers an

u#beat celebration of the fact that amateur access is no

lon"er a #roblem6 the #latform is o#en and free and no one

needs #ermission. Lladwell wonders, how many more =ill

Lates mi"ht we have had9 Bessi" res#onds with, a billion

Ouckerber"sV !lthou"h #resented as a wholly #ositive

develo#ment, this vision is far from salutary. Ouckerber" hastaken the #rinci#le of not askin" #ermission as the

foundation of his social media #latform with very mi8ed

results. 88vii

Friendly Barbarians

In his book 'rdinary eople and the Media Lraeme Turner

identi2es a shift takin" #lace across all levels of the media

industry6 the key element of the current environment isthat, as audiences lose faith 3or interest4 in the traditional

version of the QmediaR #rofessions out#ut, and as increasin"

numbers e8#ress their concern about the undesirable

concentration of #ower in the mainstream media industries,

the emer"in" #latformsU are drawin" on the voices of their

#ublics. 88viii Turner su""ests the #ublic Ai"ht to social media,

blo"s and other online sources, and the #erennial interest in

new reality television formats and "enres is connected to the

#ublic unwillin"ness to continue to res#ect the media as a

#rofessional institution or classi2cation. It would seem in

res#onse the media have ado#ted a #osition of mutual

disres#ect. !ccordin" to Turner, the media industrys

#rofessional classes are rescindin" their commitments,

divestQin"R themselves of the res#onsibilities of bein"

#roviders of information to their citi enry. Instead, they

increasin"ly see themselves as commercial entities

res#onsible to their shareholders rather than the community

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or nation QUR increasin"ly investQin"R in the #roduction of

social identities as a means of #um#)#rimin" the market for

other #roducts. 88i8 ne e8am#le of this #um#)#rimin"

includes the ado#tion of the #ose of amateurism.

If amateurs were once leisured "entlemen ho#in" to

#ortray em#loyment they are now (ust as likely to be

successful #rofessionals ho#in" to #ortray casual

insouciance, 2nancial disinterest, creative liberation or even,

as is the case with !ssan"es comments, radical rebellion.

This situation isnt entirely newK for many years businesses

have ado#ted and imitated their amateur counter#arts

whether it be in terms of lo)2 aesthetics or "rassroots

distribution models. However, in the current mediaenvironment where amateurs are themselves contributors to

the industries out#uts and success, the ado#tion of amateur

tactics by #rofessionals has broader im#lications. Consider

for e8am#le the words of one of the #re)eminent #ro#onents

of symbolic amateurism, Wick ;enton, a failed (ournalist and

founder of the successful celebrity "ossi# website Lawker6

If you run Qan internet start u#R out of your house, then no

one e8#ects anythin", QUR If you have an o ce, #eo#le want stu>. They want cell #hones, lunch breaks, beer on

@ridays. 888 !s ;enton indicates, for businesses that #resent

the a##earance of bein" amateur there is the useful side

e>ect of #roducin" low)e8#ectations and thus low overheads,

but the ado#tion of amateurism "oes to the very heart of the

new media business model. ;entons success is built on his

realisation that the amateur blo" format and #latform can be

made to 2t the ma"a ine #ublishin" business model. Lawker

relies on ambitious amateur blo""ers and interns in the Wew


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liability for a writer lookin" to be #aid. !lthou"h the

mainstream media #ro2les of ;enton #resent him as a new

media 0e#histo#heles, his Lawker model is #o#ularly

feted in internet debates about future directions for

sustainable online (ournalism6 low overheads in #roduction,

hi"h #a"e)#er)views yieldin" advertisin" dollars, with

(ournalism an unintended, thou"h welcome, conse-uence. 888i

The rhetoric of amateur #artici#ation #resents the

#ossibility of an end to cultural "atekee#in" and the

be"innin" of a new, amateur 3em4#owered media

#artici#ation. !s 0ark !ndre(evic e8#lains, the underlyin"

#romise of the interactive di"ital revolution has been

#resented as o>erin" the #ossibility of endin" consumeralienation from the means of #roduction and re:enchantin"

the world throu"h the return of embodied #artici#ation in

media forms. 888ii In this environment symbolic amateurism

has #roved e8tremely useful for media #rofessionals by

allowin" them to identify with values relatin" to the social

and #olitical freedom of ordinary citi ens while still also

takin" best advanta"e of the #ower their industrial #osition

a>ords. !"ain, ;enton #rovides a refreshin" matter)of)factness on this sub(ect. !sked to e8#lain where he

understood Lawker sat on the scale of #rofessional

enter#rise he re#lied6 I think of us as bein" a little like the

friendly barbarians. QUR $ere the barbarians who can

actually : #robably : be hired to defend your "ates. 888iii

;entons descri#tion of himself and his workers as friendly

barbarians is an acknowled"ement of how the media has

self)consciously enfolded the amateur within this system by

#rovidin" an a##ealin" o>er to take u# #ositions as uno cial

"atekee#ers for the em#ire.

Conclusion

The e8am#les #rovided here illustrate how the discourses of

modern day amateurism, informed as they are by #revailin"

cultural norms relatin" to work and identity, and the Aows of

economy and information, are si"ni2cantly more com#licated

than sim#ly doin" somethin" (ust for the love of it. Indeed,

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many of these cases demonstrate how the #ositive ethical

values assumed to inform the work of amateurs in fact serve

as rhetorical cover for other modes of more ethically

-uestionable work. 1erha#s even in some cases a

#articularly modern form of work in which the amateur

abandons their su##osed commercial disinterest to become

enfolded into systems of disci#line and accumulation.

However, a word of caution is needed. The su""estion

that all amateurs are necessarily free and their work "ood

is itself built u#on a fallacy. !mateurs are no more likely to

#roduce work that is un-uestionably ethically "ood than

#rofessionals. !mateur labour does not always involve

a rmative feelin"s. !mateurs e8#erience (ealousy andcom#etitiveness. They may feel coerced to do certain tasks

in order to "et ahead in their #ursuits 888iv and are (ust as

likely as #rofessionals to feel (ud"ed 3by others or their own

hi"h standards4. 888v It also bears recallin" that "ood work

doesnt necessarily ensure "ood outcomes6 a #roduct may

be created to the hi"hest standards available and be

dan"erous or dama"in" to lar"e numbers of #eo#le. This is

true of e8#losive devices and it may also be true of television#ro"rammes. 888vi r indeed, social networks, search en"ines

or anonymous information sources. 1resent day attitudes to

work and success have an im#act on the behavior of both

the would)be #rofessional and the #seudo)amateur.

!mateurs schooled in the same work culture as their

#rofessional counter#arts are (ust as likely to be uninterested

in devotin" themselves to common "oods. =oth "rou#s may

en(oy "ood e8#eriences of their work while remainin"

i"norant or unconcerned by the social value or im#act of

as#ects of their work and their interests may be self)

advancement, or sim#le #ersonal "rati2cation. Bet it not be

for"otten that the one)time amateur 0ark Ouckerber"

celebrated his early success with a business card readin"6

Im CE : =itch. 888vii

'J


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i Pa Shatchadourian, Wo ecrets, New Yorker , * une %&'&Xhtt#6GGwww.newyorker.comGre#ortin"G%&'&G&?G&*G'&&?&*faYfactYkhatchadourianZi8 '=v[ "S b8\.ii 1erha#s the best)known #ro#onent of the #otential for a free di"ital culture is BawrenceBessi". ee for e8am#le, Free #ulture( )ow *ig Media Uses Te"hnology and the +aw to +o"k!own #ulture and #ontrol #reativity 3Wew er all that much from what QamateursR claim their motivations are 3J%?4.i8 The term 1ro)!m was #o#ularised by Charles Beadbeater and 1aul 0iller in their re#ort The

ro1$m 2evolution( )ow 3nthusiasts are #hanging our 3"onomy and So"iety 3Bondon 6 ;emos ,%&&J4 Xwww.demos.co.ukG2lesG#roamrevolution2nal.#df\. 1roduser was a coina"e by mediascholar !8el =runs in his book *logs- Wikipedia- Se"ond +ife- and *eyond( From rodu"tion to

rodusage 3Wew


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8iv 0ark Ouckerber" com#osed a letter to accom#any @acebooks I1 3initial #ublic o>erin"4stock market listin". The te8t of this letter was #ublished online by many sourcesK see fore8am#le @acebook I1 6 Better from 0ark Ouckerber", Telegraph ' @eb %&'%Xhtt#6GGwww.tele"ra#h.co.ukG2nanceGnewsbysectorGmediatechnolo"yandtelecomsG7&MM D&G@acebook)I1 )Better)from)0ark)Ouckerber".html\.8v Pobert !. tebbins, The !mateur6 Two ociolo"ical ;e2nitions, a"i6" So"iologi"al 2eview %&.J 3'7**46 M %)?&?, M %.8vi tebbins, M D.8vii @or e8am#le, both Lre"" in Work4s /ntima"y and ;avid Hesmondhal"h and arah =aker in#reative +abour( Media work in three "ultural industries 3Poutled"e6 Bondon, %&'&4 reAect onthe ethical and a>ective dimensions of the new culture of work in the information economy.8viii Fasilis Sostakis The !mateur Class, or, The Peserve !rmy of the $eb, 2ethinkingMar%ism( $ 0ournal of 3"onomi"s- #ulture . So"iety %'6D 3%&&74, JM*)J?', JM .8i8 Pobert =arbrook, The Hi"h)tech Lift Economy, First Monday D.'%Xhtt#6GGwww.2rstmonday.or"GissuesGissueDY'%GbarbrookG\.88 @or a brief but e8cellent analysis of the im#licit ine-ualities of current reality televisionformats see !ndrew Poss, The 1olitical Economy of !mateurism, Television . New Media '&6'3%&&74 'DM)*.88i Sirsten eale observes the im#lications of this #rocess with re"ard to the !ustralian versionof the television #ro"ramme Master"hef . ee Master"hef4s !mateur 0akeovers, Media/nternational $ustralia 'JD 3%&'%46 % )DM.88ii Bee ie"el, $gainst the Ma"hine( *eing )uman in the $ge of the 3le"troni" Mob 3Wew


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888iv Case studies included in both 0cPobbie and +rsell demonstrate the com#le8 a>ectiverelations amon"st amateur workers in creative roles.888v Helen =lair,

Symbolic Amateurs - C. Hamilton

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