thinking about the cult of the amateur lately. again. i think amateur generated content is only a legitimate threat to workers in an industry that meets these two criteria:

1.  the act of generating is fun, interesting or automatically rewards ego and vanity (film making, photography, et al)
2. the initial curve to “reasonably okay” artifacts is either shallow or readily accessible technology can make it shallow. meaning: easy and quick to get up to “okay” level of quality (fancy $300 cameras anyone?)

i think it would be astoundingly rare to see amateur plumbers begin to threaten the plumbing industry, or how about ditch digging? also, it’s unlikely your mom will take up brain surgery any time soon.

and it seems the people most offended by amateur content are the same people who came to a particular field out of an interest but without formal training and put in the work to beat the curve and elevate themselves. writer’s are offended by bloggers, photographers by nearly everyone with a camera-phone, and film makers by all these innovative indy kids wanting to make shorts with their iphone.

these three professions, as examples are all relatively fun to be involved. they are creative industries. the amateur mortician seems an unlikely combination of interest + vocation.

it seems to me that if the men and women gaining financially are interested in their industries for legitimate interests in things like film, or photography, or writing they should welcome the growth. they should feel excited by the addition of so many new viewpoints and people unconstrained by tired conventions (because they’ve yet to learn them).

admittedly much of the things created by amateurs will be dreck (much like this blog post you’re reading) but floating in that sea of dreck are rare finds of innovation and uniqueness that can alter a given field for ever.

take nan goldin for example. amatuer who defined an entire medium of photography.

or take the many bloggers who’ve rose through originality and passion to give clear new voices on important human issues.

to feel otherwise suggests not only a selfishness, but a clear failing of logic. if bean counts are what you’re really concerned with (ie. money, and the loss of revenue streams to less qualified individuals) one would think you’d focus on an industry with more concrete commodity definitions. ala making toliet paper, supply, demand and no frilly subjective elements.

you want your cake and you want to eat it too. that’s fair. we all do. however, the generation of “professionals” who came before you regarded you as under-qualified, brash, industry destroying bastard children of the modern age and yet you somehow found a way to become a part of the established field.

the creme as they say rises to the top. this is true in all functions of skill, talent and expertise.

i once played a set of 9 ball against a much greater opponent (he was a world renowned money player who i won’t name here) and i was on, he was off. I got to the hill (3 games a piece with him) and he ultimately won. but i felt at the time i could have taken that set. only a couple years into focused pool and i was very close to taking a set off a very well established, trained and experienced player.

however, what you learn in tournament play is that on a short curve luck and momentum are powerful tools to use against an superior opponent. you may take 3 games of a seven game set but play a race to 21 and you’ll get destroyed.

because it’s in the long term that these minor disruptions of luck and momentum are hammered out and the real factors of skill, experience, and craft become deciding factors.

and i think this seemingly unrelated lesson applies to the above mentioned issue of amateur created content. industries will lose the low hanging fruit to be sure. stock photographers are learning this. if any trained monkey can create the shot, then that means any enthusiastic amateur can too.

and they will lose some mid-game opportunities, as many wedding photographers are learning. the power of an unqualified customer base plus cut throat amateurs is going to slice a mainstay of photographic revenue right out of the picture.

but on the long haul—the public will become educated and truly skilled people will still have customers. you won’t see vanity fair turning over it’s green issue to some kid of flickr any time soon. the vector for real profit in any industry is creativity + talent + experience.

if you are living off any jobs that could be performed by any two of those you’re going to lose a lot of work. but if you find the spot in an industry, that respects those three qualities and understands their value you will be in a unique position where the flood of the amateur changing the industry and infusing it with life, new ideas, new constructs only improves your work—without threatening your income.

you cannot fight the amateur directly. they are too many and too willing to win the fight of attrition through numbers and dumb passion. better to position yourself to take advantage of what they bring, and insulate yourself from them by understanding the larger picture.