The means by which the crowd is being mobilized for production purposes through network production are varied. Increasingly, these means have become so dominant as to be almost invisible. For example, it has become a commonplace for software companies to release “unfinished” products to the market. This is sometimes done implicitly (such as the case with many Microsoft products, released knowingly with undetected defects, or “bugs”) or explicitly (such as the case with “lab” and beta products of Google). In both cases, consumers take an active part (either consciously or unconsciously) in the production process by serving as testers or quality control workers, or even by actively correcting problems and offering improvements. Prosumption in this case entails the transference of part of the production costs on to consumers.
Network Production
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