Not that you have time to read this right now, but if the whole Pro Am concept has been of interest to you, you might want to check out this PDF:
Leadbeater, C. and Miller, P. (2004). The Pro-Am Revolution: How Enthusiasts are Changing Our Society and Economy: How Enthusiasts Are Changing Our Society and Economy. Demos.
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It was an interesting article. Even more interesting were the economic portions that discussed disposable income as an indicator of those likely to become Pro-Ams. Since the study was written in 2004, the worldwide economy has suffered greatly, leaving me to wonder if the gardener and rock climber are still the same Pro-Ams today.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think there is a lot more room for observation and study on Pro-Ams and their impact on society, especially as it pertains to Web 2.0 technology.
How many people started out using one 2.0 technology and then used that as a platform to design something even better? Twitter is just the Facebook status update bar with out all the other stuff. Was that just a coincidence?
I don't buy that this is a "new" thing. I grew up with people that had ham radios, could rebuild and build amazing engines, who could sew and can and bake better than any professional around.
ReplyDeleteMaybe now we just have a way to see these people.
Gina
ReplyDeleteI agree that what the net allows is more sharing of this knowledge - as you say we now have a way to SEE these people more
Pro Am isn't a new concept or phenomenon at all. It's just being discussed now in the context of Web 2.0 since it has made visible a lot of this type of activity. I think I'll post more on this later on the d-board since the concept has gotten a bit twisted around on there.
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