USER GENERATED CONTENT

The participative aspect of the web has brought User Generated Content (UGC) to the heart of a "mixed culture", where the means of web production and broadcasting of old and new media come together and are reinterpreted.

UGC represents a space where users seeking to create original, personalised, portable work, free of any editorial or formal constraints, can express themselves. Using their imagination, individuals can build their very own space on the web, distinguished by its singular content. One can find articles on anything from alternative German rock music, to salmon fishing, to the latest versions of X jeans, the dangers of Y cream, etc. Such web spaces may confuse the neophyte with their hybrid, intuitive organisation and labyrinthine functioning based on numerous hyperlinks.

"Wireless Generation", "iPod generation", "wirefree generation", "digi life generation": whatever name we use, these terms refer to young people who have grown up with the internet, text messaging, iPods, iPhones and who have become a part of the participative web as no other generation has previously. These users want customised content that matches their tastes perfectly. Their demands for personalised content are a far cry from the offerings of today’s cultural institutions; consequently, media content has to keep up with these users as they move about.

The wireless generation is characterised by its nomadism and its desire for all things custom made. This is a culture that values spontaneity and authenticity, in terms of both the creative approach and formal results. What is "home-made" is valued above all things.

This culture is anchored in the initiatives of amateurs who wish to create, express themselves and share, at the risk of producing awkward content or breaking with convention. This culture is driven to be itself, to be recognised as such and to communicate on this premise. With its methods of data and heterogeneous web source analysis, Exvisu is in a position to closely understand the developments this generation of "content mixers" is undergoing.