The wall collapsed

In the “Everyone is a media oulet”, Clay Shirky discribes the mass amateurization that the wall between professional and amateur has been collapsed. The influence of the masses on media has been stronger by the Internet, such as posting and commenting on blog. Every people can write and publish their idea without any cost.

Even though not all of the works from amateurs are great, some of their works inspire to republish old news, which are not covered by the press like Lott’s story in the reading. It was impossible before the invention of the internet. Now every people can enjoy journalistic privilege since the scarcity of publishing has gone that there are a lot of publishing options exist on the web.

A few years ago, there was a blogger who used to post love stories from her imagine. She was a high school student which is the age that most girls are interested in the fantasy of love. She wrote the story serially on her blog, and a few subscribers were happy to read her story at the beginning. However, the subscribers left the review on the other websites that brought a lot of other subscribers to her blog. Her story became popular, and she finally published the book based on the story on her blog. The book became a best seller of the year.

Clay Shirky also mentions the mass amateurization breaks professional categories. Such production, distribution and categorization were not easy, and only possible to professionals. However, those tasks have become simpler and easier that amateurs can have cheaper and more flexible option with the internet to produce and distribute their music or movie. The things what professionals have done are not so special any more. Clay Shirky says, “If everyone can do something, it is no longer rare enough to pay for, even if it is vital” (79).

Since there are a lot of easy tools for the internet have been developed that allow people to express their idea in various ways, I think the future of the media professional will have more difficulties to stay in business. However, I believe the difference exists between professional and amateur. As Clay Shirky indicates, “we make a distinction between the general ability to write and the professional ability to write in a calligraphic hand, just as we do between the general ability to drive and the professional ability to drive a race car” (80).