Media in the online age theorist- Charles Leadbetter

The theorist Charles Leadbetter explores how digital technologies are enabling new forms of collaborative creativity and innovation. He explains how the web is changing the world, and creating a culture in which more people than ever can participate, share and collaborate, ideas and information.

Leadbetter created a book called We-Think, which argues that society is no longer based on mass consumption, but on mass innovative production; a society where people can share and collaborate on ideas and inventions. According to Leadbetter, ideas only take life, become productive and can be fully developed when they are shared.

There are five areas of criteria that are necessary for true collaboration:

- A core of participants who are active and help to shape the community - for us any community needs to be seeded with active participants to create an active environment for others to join in.
-A mix of people who contribute to the community, the right mix of people who may bring different experiences or different views on issues; a mix of experts and amateurs, or a mix of customers and clients.
-People need to connect - this is either by a shared issue or concern that they are addressing or because they share other interests. A good online community is set up to allow people to connect easily, to identify and share commonality.
-Some structured collaboration - communities have a purpose and a set of structures and planned exercises or activities can help to maintain interest and give reasons for people to collaborate.
-The ability to create something - as a group, as sub-groups or independently. In any community a huge variety of items will be created by different people at different times. The key is to bring these things together meaningfully.

Leadbetter also discusses Sector Application:

• News- everyone shares information online. For example, a piece of footage from a breaking news story filmed via mobile phone and uploaded to the internet may be used by an official news source to inform everyone else. 
• The free use of content could relate to the Fair Use Act. This is particularly applicable to YouTube, since clips are borrowed from each other all of the time.
• TV/Film- websites like 'Contently' are used by advertising agencies to find directors/filmmakers and give them an opportunity to make an advert, when given a budget. This allows a mix of people to participate. This could also relate to Amazon Studios, where people can contribute their own original scripts, and BBC Writers-room, where there are competitions allowing people the chance to have a drama/comedy series/feature commissioned. 

In conclusion, Leadbetter has been able to further my understanding of media in the online age and how the development of new technologies has impacted communication in society.