Week 1: Amateur Revolution

This article written by Charles Leadbeater is quite conducive to the material we have delved into as an IMS201 class. As this reading discusses the current trend of the "Pro-Am," the Pro-Amateur who is an everyday individual committed to professional standards, the author credits the Pro-Am for reshaping society in the next twenty years. As we have discussed the concept of this Social Revolution during class lecture, I believe this article is relevant to our course topics. Moreover, the author gives examples where Pro-Amateurs have strategically succeeded in furthering our world via the web. Leadbeater cites rap, which was an industry that began as do-it-yourself music. The Pro-Am element was made possible with components such as Napster or Limewire. He also informs the reader that The Sims is almost entirely created by a Pro-Am group, advising and collaborating with one another.

I agree with Leadbeater, in that I believe our society is being taken over by the rise of this notion of the "Pro-Am;" the average joe, or the girl next door, who has mastered the art of becoming an all knowing guru on a certain topic. This Pro-Am has then gone on and written about it, blogged about it, experimented enough with it where the average joe is no longer an amateur, but rather an innovator of the tech-savvy world we have come to call home.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/87/open_essay.html