Symbolic Amateurs: On the Discourse of Amateurism in Contemporary Media Culture

Main Article Content

Caroline Hamilton

Abstract

The amateur is the person who engages in activities that for another constitute a professional work role. Despite the global drive for professional development, amateurs are increasingly valued in the digitised economy. This leads to a series of interesting and increasingly pressing questions with regard to the nature of ‘the amateur’ in modern society and culture. Are amateurs necessarily good? Is amateurism necessarily located with amateur practitioners? Do divisions between professional producers and amateurs hold relevance to a post-industrial, network economy?

Article Details

Section
Amateur Economies (Peer Reviewed)
Author Biography

Caroline Hamilton, University of Melbourne

Caroline Hamilton is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne. Printed Matters is the blog she maintains as part of her research project examining the effects of digital culture on print publishing. She is also the author of a book on the publishing success of Dave Eggers called One Man Zeitgeist.