Principles of Produsage

What is produsage? Is it a noun, verb or adjective? In the book Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage, Axel Bruns introduces the term produsage. When participants are not passive consumers, but active users participating in ways that are constructive and productive of social networks, they are productive users or produsers, engaged in the act of produsage (p. 23).

Here are the four key principles of produsage that Bruns presents.

Open participation, communal evaluation - Members contribute their knowledge to create useful content. By including a wide range of members, the varying backgrounds and experiences increase the usefulness of the content. The community evaluates the contributions and the members, and those members that offer usable content "rise in prominence."
Fluid heterarchy, ad hoc meritocracy - While some have more expert knowledge or experience, all members have an equal ability to make a worthy contribution. Leaders emerge based on contributions and their standing declines as their contributions do, so it is always changing.
Unfinished artefacts, continuing process - Projects are broken down into the smallest bits and the content is shared among the members. The produsage (not product) is infinitely unfinished and continuing.
Common property, individual rewards - Content will be available to all participants, past, present and future and is maintained and protected. Participation is motivated by the ability to contribute to a shared communal purpose. Members gain personal merit from contributions which encourage more participation.