"Generation C" in a Coronavirus World

It's cool when one of your mandatory readings for a graduate class actually dovetails with current events in today's news...especially when the article was published 13 years ago.   I was reading "Beyond Difference: Reconfiguring Education for the User-Led Age" (2007)  by Dr. Axel Burns.  He focused on the "Generation C" (for 'content') which exhibits a "strong preference for the establishment of a knowledge commons over a proprietary hoarding of information."    And this has consequently led to the rise of "produser" (producer/user).

The produsage from these produsers is community-based with fluid roles since "produsers participate as is appropriate to their personal skills, interests and knowledge.  This has led to "an explosion in the amount, breadth, and depth of available content on a wide variety of topics."

This last statement could easily describe an applicable article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Coronavirus Lockdowns Spark Boom in Online Learning for Adults, Too".  Online learning sites such as Skillshare, Coursera and others have been triple-digit increases in people signing up to learn.  

But more impressively is the increase in people starting online sharing of their knowledge for the first time as a result of the pandemic.  This is a testament to the Content C mindset of  average people using their skills to teach others content that they are knowledgeable about, and have interest in.  One woman starting offering English class through WhatsApp, offering one-on-one, one-hour sessions.  And the surge in content producers is not limited to professionals.  Hobby skills like Pilates and learning to play the ukulele saw a triple digit increase in people providing such content.

So as the pandemic left us isolated inside with extra time (no commuting), possible job furloughs (financial incentive) and plenty of digital connectivity, people have plumbed their individual knowledge wells and turned their own hobbies, passions and talents into online content and training, and a new revenue stream for this new generation of produsers.