Produsage and Emerging Talent

Following up on my last post with another answer to a really sharp question from a reader of the book, in what I hope may become an occasional feature of this site: one of my LinkedIn contacts asked

Does produsage create emerging talent, or does it merely point it out? Okay, probably not a "quick" question, but my study of produsage makes me wonder if there has been any case studies on this topic. Any thoughts?

Definitely not a quick question, but a good one... I think we're only at the beginning of studies which look more closely at the community dynamics in produsage communities, which is really what that question is all about. My best guess would be that the answer is 'a bit of both' - clearly there's a certain degree of existing personal talent that people come into produsage communities with, but the daily and ongoing engagement with their peers also hones and fine-tunes their skills and abilities, and draws attentions to the best community members.

In other words, some of these emerging talents may have emerged anyway, even if working on their own, but their involvement in produsage communities probably helps them emerge more effectively, more visibly, with a greater support base, and with a better-developed and better-tested set of skills than would otherwise have been the case. That said, the daily grind of working within a peer community may also push such emerging talent to work more strongly with that community in mind (adopting their preferences and working to their requirements) - as much as the community may be able to help polish the rough edges of emerging talent, it may also end up blunting some of their most distinctive features...

Keep 'em coming!

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