Produsage as experience and interpretation

This article examines the changes in audience discourses that emerge at the intersection between the classical idea of the audience being active in interpretation of media texts, and new forms of audience engagement in text production and distribution. Focusing on produsage, a term that is frequently used to describe audiences’ participation in online ecology, we argue for produsage to be conceptualized with regard to two aspects that are important for audience research: firstly, produsage as a form of relating to texts, and secondly, produsage as an experience in co-creation of texts. This overview of theoretical positions and empirical research is used to identify (in)stabilities in the conceptualization of audiences, thus arguing for greater recognition of produsage as a form of users’ experience and an interpretative act, rather than an alternative model of production, which will allow audience research to better account for nuanced and varied degrees of produsage.