Whats that word again?

Today's class has to be the hardest yet to follow and retain the concept for. You almost had to have a dictionary in order to understand the key concepts in Produsage...and that might not help with understanding the terms, like Fluid Heterarchy.  I don't agree that changing the terms helps us to grasp an understand of these ever changing phenomena, if anything it complicates it.  I'm reading George Orwell for another class and it his views were very evident withing Media 2.0 this week which are; when explaining something put it simply don't complicate an already complicated subject.
Tuesday we discussed Jenkins chapter on Fan Culture and copyrights.  The idea of copyrighting made me question if we have any original ideas left because it seems as if everyone wants to try and make money off of something someone else has already done.  there seem to be so many loop holes in the concept of copy writing that you almost would have to major in it to understand everything.  Fan culture has excellerated with the Internet, especially the Star Wars phenomenon. As a fan you have the power to be the producer and the consumer all at the same time, or as we learned in class today the produser

Push, Pull, and Churn.

Bruns' article is very dense but it does has a lot of interesting conceptual framework. He introduces and then analyzes many themes we are already familiar with in a broad sense. Bruns introduces the new word "produsage" to distinguish a difference in the new roles we all have within the gradually evolving structure.


(Most of the main differences outlines on the ppt and explained well in class - fluid heterarchy, communal evaluation, ad hoc meritocracy)

More to examine - harnessing and harvesting information and communities. Should corporations intervene in the internet ecosystem for economic gain? Will they have more power to to change the structure into a hierarchy, or do we all maintain the power to keep it a fluid heterarchy?

Do you feel the "information pull" ? Do you feel obliged to collaborate...or the drive to create? To participate somehow in the blender's slew of constantly churning and evolving information? Or do you, at least, see the traditional product push model less? Or are you less impressed by it? Do you challenge the traditional producers to step up and be more creative?

Trending New Words

What was exciting for me this week was that some of the terms for this class were also mentioned in my grad Liberal Studies Class on Globalization; especially Prosumption. In my globalization class the term was labeled prosumer-ism; same definition – individuals produce and consume simultaneously while on the Internet. In my globalization class we are discussing “The Clash of Civilizations”, by Samuel Huntington, and if there will ever be a unified world. And if there will be, how will we arrive at that point. We have read scholars debate that there will be an out rage of violence that we will engage in before we can arrive at a unified state. Prosumption was related to this topic because in class we have concluded (slash been thought) that the increase of mass media / communication as well as the advancements in technology has played a significant role in globalization. Civilizaions are clashing because we have yet to accept or coexist peacefully with other cultures beliefs, values, and history. Yet, why can we not coexist peacefully yet? Well we determined last night in class, that it is related to this term of presumption. People are placing their ideas and beliefs on the Internet that have been viewed around the world and seen and taken as imposing those that beliefs and values are better than other cultures, resulting in a clash among civilizations.

However, let me transition back on our class and the topic of “creating words”. I feel like we do this for EVERYTHING! We create words (or combine words) and hope they sound relatively relevant where it could possibly trend; or in Bruns words, trendwatching. We have created words that describe where we live; “Memphian” or I say, “Coloradian”. What we do; “I tweeted”. Names are created when celebrities that are dating; “Benifer” for Ben Afflict and Jenifer Lopez, or “Brangelina” for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. What about when we are intoxicated? Wasted, slammed, shit faced – “shwasted”?

Back to Bruns Trendwatching term – suggesting that anyone with even a tiny amount of creative talent can (and probably will be part of this not-so-exclusive trend… hello twitter! Hash tags equal trending topics and we like to watch those trending topics so we can stay involved and involved with what is happening locally, nationally, or globally.

Funny thing is we thought MySpace was the “neatest” thing that was put on the Internet regarding social interaction on the World Wide Web. But now we have Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Google+, Blogger, Digg. This increasing growth of communication and creation among consumers, I might as well create a new social networking outlet that since its the trending thing to do in the cyber world. If I do I will connect all these terms and call it; “social-cyber-connect-work”. Or is that to long?

Produsage...There's a Wiki For That!!

When I first began to read about produsage, I really didn't know what it meant. I mean, you can tell the root words of this one word (production and usage). But, I really didn't get what Lang was talking about until today.

Hearing the definition today in class "the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement" was really a long way to say people coming together, making a collaborative effort, for one common goal. That's when the light bulb came on for me; I immediately thought about Wikipedia and our upcoming assignment for class. I even located the article for it on Wikipedia, but it's referred as participatory culture. Which I think is an even better title for it because it says exactly what it does. Here's the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_culture.

I think produsage is a fantastic idea because you can get much needed feedback whether you want it or not. It also makes people collaborate and brainstorm to come to a general agreement on various topics. I feel it's kinda like group work without that one lazy person who doesn't do any work but gets the same grade as you do.

Hey! I can relate to that....

So I had no idea what I was going to write about for this weeks blog entry. Luckily between the mention of reddit and the graphic about the information commons I think I have a topic.

Reddit is a prime example of the Information Commons. There are links to links and sub-catagorized links called sub-reddits which encompass just about any interest you could want to think of. Users of reddit (called redditors by their own) find content from across the web and in many cases create the content themselves. The users are also the consumers hence we have a community of produsers living within the information commons.

Gaining entrance to the community is as easy as creating an account (which is free) and jumping into an existing thread or posting a new thread on the topic of your choice. Reddit truly is a mini-commons where there is little barrier to entry and no barrier to retrieval.

Fan Culture

The other day in class we discussed fans and the media industry. I guess the accurate way to associate how fans can be is "fandom". There's even an article on Wikipedia about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fandom. Fans can be sometimes be the greatest thing and i'm sure at times also something close to the worst of things as well. As we talked about the pros and cons of fan production on Tuesday. The attention that fans can bring to a certain industry can give positive or negative attention. Regardless it's still attention that otherwise wouldn't have been there. Fans at times may feel as if they somewhat have some kind of ownership towards a product because they associate it with it so much and that at times is where the negative and positive attention could become a problem. I personally don't have an issue with the fan fiction. I enjoy parodies that fans are able to put out on the internet. For the most part they are always very enjoyable and bring a different level to the media. For instance with the different Twilight parodies that are out. The amount of time that fans devote to putting out a product like that is amazing. Should the big time industries be worried about parodies hurting their product? Probably not. But I don't know a way that we could stop them from trying to take the rights away from fans. Because without the fans there would be no major films, songs or etc. I'm all for the fair use and fans being able to express themselves in such ways because in my eye attempting to sue a fan for a parody of some sort would only make you like a villain.

Fan Culture and Produsage

In Jenkins Chapter 4, he discusses the roots of fan culture and how it has evolved. Once starting in villages, the remaking of stories and tales has expanded into fan production in an online version. I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, but the obsession that is still present today gives way for fans to create their own content for the phenomenon of Star Wars. The combination of Star Wars and Cops that we saw in class was….well…strange. I can see the excitement in the creator’s minds about how awesome it would eventually be, but I lack the enthusiasm because I’m not into star wars as much as others.

Fans have always had the ability to recreate the stories they love. The issue lies in the fact that copyright laws don’t always consider the power of the internet and free speech. While we strive to speak our own revisions of great or not great works, we are still using others’ material and putting that to a mass media puts you in the path of a lawsuit. I said in class that I put a commercial on Youtube and it features a Rick Ross song. Instead of suing me, the record label put a link on the page to buy the song if so desired. Take a look at the commercial; it’s my revision of the typical soccer mom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HJb1EYSE-g

We talked about intellectual property in class and the ownership capabilities of your ideas. The great thing about fair use and the rights for fans to make parodies of your creative works allows for some introduction of free speech. Click Here to see the 4 determinants that merit fair use. Each case is different, as I learned from my Mass Communication Law Class.

Loking at Levinson’s Chapter 10, while it doesn’t necessarily go along with everything that we have discussed thus far, it does have some merit in produsage…which I’ll talk about in a minute. Podcasting, which Levinson goes into detail about, is actual a free service provided by iTunes (Levinson, pg. 157). I liked his case study of Grammar Girl on the same page. I don’t really understand how a grammar podcast got such high views, but strange things have happened and perhaps her own method of delivery worked for the time. If you CLICK HERE you can go to her website and listen to it…which I have and she is quite interesting.

Produsage is a very new topic to me in this class. I’m not a great fan of putting words together to make new words, but then again I contradict myself in the Twitter world with my Tweeps and Twitterverse. In any case, produsage is never ending and can be changed, molded, and added to at any time. I will need to venture to the business department to take a closer look into prosumption. I wonder how Dr. Markman feels about the book’s Web 2.0 reference and the controversy around it. Some see it as a way to market on the new media concepts emerging today, but Web 2.0, social software, new media, and new new media are all terms for relatively the same concept. It would be nice to have one phrase that encompasses all, however there are sections and fragments of the internet life that do need separate dedication of knowledge and research.

Thursday's word: Whatyado-ocracy

Whatyado-ocracy: A refined-by-discussion way of expressing the concept of Ad hoc meritocracy (which is one of the key principles of Produsage, the key term of class today).


When people earn their cool factor by what they DO rather than what they inherit (i.e. aristocracy) or their position in a heirarchy (i.e. a business).

Related to Heterachy.

ugh star wars!

I know a lot of u will hate me after this but I hate star wars or any syfy boring movies. I like to be entertained and star wars movies irk me. There is always so much going on but nothing worth watching. I like to see real people I'm not interested in seeing fictional characters besides cartoons. I don't think I could sit through a star wars movie. I'm not being a party pooper but reading about star wars I thought oh lord here we go. I don't understand how and why they make so much money. I could really use that money. Haha I'm I the only one who feel this way about movies that deal with zombies vampires and human/wolves? These movies suck. The only movie I have watched that is on my weird side is zombieland its was hilarious! Where do I go to change my mind I do want to be more open and not an old boring hag!!

Empowered words: Produsage & Produsers

I'm not sure what the word of the day from class today will be (yet) but the word I find fascinating from the readings: "Produsage" with its attendant: "Produsers"

Where I work upper management despises creative spellings. I wonder if Produsage will make it into the lexicon from the ranks of neologism?

The link above leads to a site which discusses same:

"The concept of produsage highlights that within the communities which engage in the collaborative creation and extension of information and knowledge that we examine on this site, the role of consumer and even that of end user have long disappeared, and the distinctions between producers and users of content have faded into comparative insignificance. In many of the spaces we encounter here, users are always already necessarily also producers of the shared knowledge base, regardless of whether they are aware of this role - they have become a new, hybrid, produser." (http://snurb.info/produsage)

In the typical local workplace, production is relegated to routine and innovation is left to professionals. In the typical online environment where users are given tools for production, the result can be anything from spam to high art. In the sort of environment that fosters online community and given plenty of tools and time to build, users can become produsers. I like that word.

Have your cake and eat it too?

After reading all of your comments from class, and reading the assignments…I have to say, I am worked up! I agree, the big corporations have gone a bit too far and are imposing on our freedom of speech (including expression). It seems even the public education sector has followed the conglomerate attack on our freedom. When Wal-Mart signed the school uniform contract with the department of education to provide the “only acceptable” uniforms for the public school system, they, too, stifled children’s creativity and freedom of expression. What’s next, they will not be able to carry their Star Wars lunch box with a PB & J sandwich because George Lucas doesn’t like PB& J and will not have his name latterly attached to that type of sandwich!

I understand the intellectual property rights of creativity, especially concerning software. Using Microsoft as an example when the MS office suite came out in 2010, an underground black market in Russia burned unauthorized copies of the CD and distributed it throughout the country causing Microsoft to lose millions. This, I understand----- The kid being sued for broadcasting a ‘homemade’ Mickey Mouse parody, really?! Are they forgetting that the next generation of creators will come from the consumers and fans of their work today? If we stifle this urge to create now, what will become of the entertainment industry 20 years from now?

America has always been known as the land of the free just as American’s have been known to be the best “out of the box” thinkers. How can we have both freedom of expression AND out of control corporate retaliation?

Let the kids have fun!

In chapter 4 of Jenkin's Convergence Culture, he talks about fan production and also copyright laws. How far is too far? "Marketers have turned our children into walking talking billboards who wear logos on their T-shirts, sew patches on their backpacks, plaster stickers on their lockers, hang posters on their walls, but they must not by penalty of law, post them on their home pages." Essentially, in a nutshell, copyright laws give production companies all power over any one person and leaves the fans (the main reasons why the companies are so successful) powerless. In my opinion, when you pay for something with your money, you should have the right to do whatever you want to do with it. Limiting our freedom of expression is kinda like limiting our freedom of speech...I would call it Un-American. The essence of being American is having the freedom to live your life autonomously and express yourself however you see fit, just so long as it does not physically hurt anyone else.
Copyright laws limit the creativity only to major corporations and according to the book, even Spielberg and Lucas made Super 8 films as teenagers that impacted their careers so now you wonder, where would they be had they not had that opportunity? Major corporations should be able to make their money and should not be able to take all of the fun out of it!?

It Is Not That Serious !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We spoke in class on Tuesday about Fan production. One thing that really caught my attention in the mist of our conversation is the topic of suing. I think it is foolish that big time companies would want to sue anyone who uses any of their material such as, music, songs, or a cartoon characters. In my opinion they should be happy that someone likes their stuff enough to even want to use it. Record Label’s especially should understand that some publicity whether it is bad or good, is better than no publicity at all. I am just saying if I was an artist like Beyonce and I clicked on YouTube and I saw someone doing a parody remake of my video, I would be glad to know someone took the time out of their day to idolize me. Disney, Record Labels, commercials etc… know that deep down inside a 12year old kid making a YouTube video singing a song, or made their own cartoon show with Mickey means no harm. I guess that does not matter because all the label and big companies see is money coming from suing. I think there should be laws that restrict the suing policy of such careless acts, especially when publicity brings more fans than a loss of fans. CopyRight issues take things a little toooooooo far.

Power to the People?

In recent years, I feel like there has been a surge of criticism of the practices and first and foremost of the ballooning size of corporations from every sector of business - food and beverage, media corporations, huge conglomerates, you name it. They are being accused by consumers and consumer associations for their merging strategies and market power. GM buying Opel, fast food companies like Yum!Brands or Time Warner and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp growing in size and influence and thus being able to defend themselves with the best lawyers and attorneys. The consumer is mostly seen as the silent little mind who is only asked to buy the whole stuff. But are the people really that powerless? Especially Bruns refers to the web-active consumers as being actually produsers, coming together in decentralized, but very huge "hive minds" - decentralized information communities that are very potent in generating content and putting forward vigorous criticism against corporate measures, products and practices. Via the Internet, they access almost any source of information with no costs, build up support for their campaigns and operate in collaboration and task-sharing. I think this might be seen as a hint that the old, imbalanced feedback loops corporations installed are slowly being replaced by a growing and watchful public, ready to articulate their opinions and needs, to which huge enterprises better should listen...

Ego vs Fans

I really think this whole Copyright/Intellectual Property kerfuffle has much to do with the relative size of the creator's head. Honestly, if I was George Lucas, I would most likely be stuck on myself as well. But after you have been acclaimed and told over and over how amazing your work is, you want less and less for someone to mess with it. If it's terrible fan fiction or parody, the creator cries desecration, then sues your pants off. If, God forbid, it's actually good then the creator beats you, takes your idea, and finally sues your pants off for good measure.

Money loss simply doesn't explain the lengths some of these Artists/Creators go to squash the creativity of fans. However, the vindictive tenacity of a swollen ego, I think, explains it quite nicely. :)

The Super Fans

Fan-fiction, right or wrong?
Well that depends on who you're asking. Ask a fan, and its absolutely right. Ask some of the writers and creators, and it's not too bad. Ask the entertainment world, and it is EVIL!!! They have a view of "How dare you use our intellectual properties?!"

Intellectual properties? So know we can sue people over our thoughts and ideas?
Isn't that beyond childish in most cases?

I view it as the ultimate flattery and amazing advertising that costs the creator nothing. The fans spend their money to do this, to support the story.

Free advertising, merchandise sales, and dedicated fans. Darn that fan-fiction!!

Media Industry: Clear as Mud

It's funny how when something new becomes the new "it", such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Twilight, or whatever else you can come up with, it grows wildly expensive really quick. The Media Industry will come up with a doll for every character in the movie, McDonalds will give away toys dedicated to the movie (as long as you buy the happy meal), and of course there has to be life size costumes and etc. The Media Industry LOVES when you buy THEIR merchandise. They thrive on you becoming a fan. But, they thrive even more when you become too big of a fan. If you make a fan production, and that offends someone in the media industry, you get sued. They are yet again making money off of your fandom. Now most people in the 'biz' are being threatened by the PROam situation, and the creation of the long tail. We dont need the professionals anymore. They are too big of jerks to begin with. They want to sue you for putting a youtube video up if their song plays in the background. But, they had no problem selling you the CD. Why support a jerk, when you can support someone who wants to create for the simple joy of creating. I am a long tail advocate. I dont want to just buy the hits, I want to experience the non hits as well. And seeing how the smaller artists usually see it as all publicity is good publicity then Id rather be apart of their fan base and support them. I shouldnt be shut down or sued because I love something so much I want to be apart of the creation process. So the Media Industry can officially shove it, because they've made their beds, now they have to lay in it. .

Fan productions

Today we have spoken about the pros and cons of fan production from the perspective of the media industries. We have listed a lot of cons, such as bad reflection on original, the industries have no control about the fan projects and the fans act obsessively.

In my opinion, fan productions can also support the media industries. For instance, the movie “troopers”, which is a parody of star wars. The consequence is that people begin to speak about this kind of movie. Maybe the movie causes viral effects, some people tell their friends about the project, and mouth-to-mouth propaganda starts. Therefore, the original movie of star wars could get more popular too. I mean such projects are made by true fans of star wars. It takes a longer time to create the movie. Tasks such as cutting, editing and composing are part of the project. Famous directors like George Lucas could be proud of their fans, who spent such an effort of their projects. In the end, they do not jeopardize the success of the original film. Additionally, I could not image that fan movies like troopers reflect badly on the original, because they created funnily. People more love about it, instead of taking it seriously.

Word of the Day: Lawsoup

Lawsoup: the murky mess o'stuff that comes from the discussion of Copywrite vs. Fair Use.

Note: that's "lawsoup" as opposed to "lawsuit" and that's where it all gets murky and full of beans.

What is Media 2.0?: Wiki project

What is Media 2.0?: Wiki project

I decided to do my WIKI on hair weaves. I'm interested in how to maintain the hair as well as maybe wearing some. I’m interested in how to choose the correct type as well.

In keeping with our Wikipedia discussion:

Link here. This was copied from reddit here. Enjoy!

Wiki project

I have decided to do my wikipedia project on a subject near and dear to my heart: Hardcourt Bike Polo. Since I play around twice a week, and have a great interest in the history and development of the game I feel monitoring the wiki page should prove a great learning experience. For those unfamiliar here's a picture:

mass amateurization and the effect on the professional

I decided to do a little more research into the topic of mass amateurization. Surprisingly enough I ended up: here. At a website written by the very author whose work we were discussing today. In the article I think a number of questions raised in class are answered or perhaps discussed further.

First who are professionals? Shirky states that "mass professionalization is an oxymoron; a professional class implies a minority of members". This means to me that we may all produce high quality content but if we aren't associated with the "professional group", we are not professionals.

The other thing he goes into in this post is the economies of weblogs. This put publishing and blogs in an economic perspective. This makes sense to me. With printed media because of barriers to entry not everyone is able to participate in production. However, with weblogs and blogging the barriers to entry are low (just have a computer and the ability to get online) anyone at any time can produce for this medium.

With this level of competition it is easy to see why many think the printed word to not be long for this modern world. Only time will tell what will happen. I for one like having a physical book and right of first sale.

The Pros and Cons of Amateurs and Professionals

After today's class discussion I believe that the determination of professionalism and amateur work is in the eye of the beholder.  We learned that there is not much that sets the two apart and as we learned in class there are those who are considered to be amateurs who actually perform on a professsional level.  The reason I believe that the distingshin between the two is in the eye of the beholder is because of the idea of the pro -am.  My aunt is a key example as to why this is true she didnt complete her degree therefore she deoesn't have the documentation of being a professional but her work ethic and and reputation have blessed her with the abilty to advance in her field and because she has done it for so long she has gained that professionalism. You also have those professionals who conduct theirselves as amateurs because they haven't taken the time to improve, and in this ever changing world if you don't improve or make an effort to stay current you get left behind and the next thing you know their are pro-ams who do a better job at what you where certified at doing.

Wikipedia project: Borussia Dortmund

For my wikipedia project, I choose the topic of “Borussia Dortmund”. Borussia Dortmund is a German soccer team, which plays in the first German soccer league. The team has won the German championship in the last year and is very successful. The article includes some discussions, for instance about some players or how the name of the team should be pronounced. I have decided for this article, because I’m very interested in soccer and Borussia Dortmund is my favorite soccer team. The article is very detailed and also has a longer history. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borussia_Dortmund

Collaboration

I want to discuss the similar concept of collective knowledge by a few authors: Matt Ridley, Shirky and Weinberger

Matt Ridley presented a TED talk entitled "When Ideas Have Sex" (also, similar and more detailed themes in his book "The Rational Optimist")

Matt Ridley spoke of a very broad idea that is essentially over time, as we exchange ideas, we are able to reinvent ourselves. We all know bits, but with collaborative knowledge and cumulative technology, we have gone beyond the capacity of the singular human mind. As a society and a network, we are innovating a new world. His argument was that over time, cumulative technology and knowledge has accelerated the rate of innovation. As we all learn and our knowledge and skills are specialized, we all work for each other. This exchange of products, services, and ideas raises everyone's overall prosperity.


Shirky begins with the underlying idea that humans are psychologically driven to consume, create, and share. The decentralization of the internet makes all these more accessible.
For the media and press, "the Web created a new ecosystem" (60) and changed the game. Not everyone has to defend why to publish something, but because they can, why not? The lack of gates and inhibitions allows for more freedom and flexibility, more niche markets, and, varied points of view.

Weinberger's article presents the idea that we are engaging in a new mode of social knowing. This is a different type of comprehension than traditional models. It encourages understanding. Knowledge is participatory, between all of us and most importantly "conversation improves expertise" (145).

The more everyone can contribute, the deeper the information can develop and get distributed. Pro-am hybrids are a fundamental part of this development. People have interests, we all know something. An essential part is that we share. Pro-ams have both the passion and strive to be credible and develop a professional reputation without an official title. Anderson focuses on the collective power of varying degrees (professionals, amateurs, and pro am hybrids) to create distinctive value in the marketplace.

I'd rather have too much information than not enough, let the voluminous expanse continue, we will adapt.

Wikipedia Project

For my Wikipedia Project, I am choosing the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Fortunately, I will make it to the park on this weekend during a roadtrip, so hopefully that will an insightful experience. The Wikipedia article offers enough notes and references to do some source checking...

We're all Media...but only to a point.

Back in the day, there were only trusted sources where we could go to get our information. Newspapers, magazines and national/local news were where we went to find out what was happening in our world. And with these trusted sources came those professionals who told us what we thought we needed and wanted to know.

Now, in the age of blogs, You Tube, gossip sites, and social media networks, we can learn about important news before it's even a blip on our TV's. And I think that's great...to a point. One of the issues I have is people posting things that they think are true, but they don't check the facts before putting in on the Internet. That may not matter to most, but I still feel that facts are very important. Not only does it help with credibility, it can also increase readership/followship (I know that's not a real word, but you understand what I'm saying.) I guess that's why I still get the majority of my news from BBC World News, national news broadcasts, and yes, the local news.

There's nothing wrong with getting your news from the Internet, but you shouldn't make that your end all to be all.

My Wikipedia Project

I would like to do my Wikipedia project on Afro-Textured Hair aka Natural Hair. I chose this topic because I wear my hair in it's natural state and I also feel I have acquired enough information on this topic to know something about it.

Amateurs vs Professionals

In today's class we discussed the difference between amateurs and professionals. In a sense I would say that most of us in the class had some of the same views on the subject. Personally I believe that professionals or amateurs do not have to be defined by a certain amount of credentials but mainly by the quality of the work. However, I say that based upon what the field might be. For a photographer for example, you don't have to have a degree in photography to have professional work but the quality of the work is how your audience will deem it professional or not. The same may not go for teachers. I would think that you would want to feel confident in the person who is considered the professional and that you will learn the most amount of info or gain the highest quality work. Society gives the title to who is seen as an amateur as opposed to a professional. Unless you strictly participate in a hobby for yourself and have no desire to be a professional everyone is more than likely trying to become a professional at something. That is one of the main reasons of school. To gain a degree and become a professional in your career and to be recognized as such. At least that is a goal of mine but I also do some amateur work on the side in certain fields. So am I only aiming to be a amateur in certain things? I don't really know that there is one way to clearly differentiate the two but I also wonder what is the actual importance of classifying one over the other? What does anyone else think?

I make some of those comments solely based on a certain career field. Anything dealing with medicine I would assume most of us would only want a certified and professional doctor working with us.

Wikipedia - Memphis Pom

I plan on creating a Wikipedia article about the University of Memphis Pom Squad. Not only am I passionate about the Pom Squad because I was on the team for the last four years and the captain my senior year, but because there is only local recognition for the team and our legacy deserves national recognition. The article can be linked to the University of Memphis Wikipedia article as well as the Varsity Brands page since they are the company that produces the national competitions we attend. I am hoping that creating this page for the Pom Squad will generate an increasing, positive, recognition for the 13 time National Championship team.