RapGenius has since dropped "Rap" from its handle and users can now find annotations to multiple different genres of music. But Genius is taking it a step further. As this article by Vice Motherboard outlines, Genius is planning to annotate the web, and it is employing you as it's annotator.
A quote from the creator:
“The internet, with this product, is your canvas for creating whatever your mark is on the layer of annotation that is going to be on every document and on every webpage,” Lehman said. “You can go a very exegetical route, you can try to explain what’s going on, you can just get a little more creative or imagistic.”
By adding "genius.it" before any URL, you will be able to access the annotated version of any webpage (although I tried it and couldn't get it to work, so I'm guessing it hasn't launched yet or is still in beta mode).
I think this is the perfect example of "prosumer" work, because users are able to use the platform in ways of both consumption and production of annotations.
Do you think it's right that the founders of Genius are so blatantly putting it's users to work to expand the coverage of the platform to the entire internet? Is this a fair exchange of production and consumption?
in case embedded link doesn't work: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/post-rap-genius-shows-how-to-annotate-anything-on-the-web
I think this is a super interesting post, Nicole! Definitely a great example of prosumer work seeing as users are actively producing and consuming the media that (Rap)Genius is providing. If they can actually get the annotated version of multiple websites working I think it's a great idea- the founders are definitely putting its users to work but the exchange of content seems fair (enough) to me. - That's just my opinion This blog post also reminds me of some of the content that was discussed in "Social Media and Labour Time" by Fuchs.
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ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting! It kind of relates to Fuchs ideas that we do not have control over our creative content on the Internet and the way it's since genius is annotating preexisting sites. I do not think this is a negative thing though since it gives us as consumers more content to consume and view. I do not know much about the company but I think the service is free, which I'm sure consumers prefer as they are also creators of the content.
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