Other people's views of usergenerated content

Hi Jenny, I asked a few people what they thought user generated content meant and how they use it. This was also a task I asked you to do - asking five people the same question. It would be great to include this in some way:

1. This is Emma Flynn, a curator and old art school friend's response: 

'ok on the user generated content:

I have recently been discussing with a fellow PhD who is working on a project around online criticism, so this term makes me think of blogs and ratings/reviews websites first. On the other hand it also makes me think of creating a facility or machine where by audiences can create something themselves by using something provided for them.

its a tough one. I google it (which is probably bad) but got this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-generated_content and my thoughts were right for it to draw me to online/new media.

There are a few examples which instantly spring to mind, facebook/twitter (being obvious). i guess a lot of what comes to mind immediately are platforms for user generated content, like youtube and flikr.http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

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to the second question where i use UGC:

If i think about reviews and ratings I use them for most purchases I make online (or in shops when im not sure about the quality of an item (eg electronics purchase). So amazon, tripadvisor, google. I am always using facebook for photos/comments/updates, and other networking media like Linkedin and twitter (although differently - twitter mostly for Hansberg/Woolf activities and linkedin is a carefully constructed professional forum for me)

i am always lured into any surveys (cause i love answering questions) and even lured into ridiculous things like voting for the next step in the BT adverts (like is she pregnant? what dress should she wear) - which i know is so awful but i am quite attached to their storyline - normally i wouldnt bother :P"

    2. This is what my mum (she is a forensic child psychiatrist) had to say: 

"For me, user generated content means when I am working with a patient and the patient implements something they want to include themselves into the suggestion of their treatment/ recovery" 

For the second question my mum said she 'would avoid any form of user generated content for herself at all costs'.  

I am still waiting for three people to get back to me but will upload the information when I have it.