A concise introduction to content and the content industry, from the
early internet to the Instagram egg.
From the time we roll out of bed to check overnight updates to our last
posts, likes, and views of the previous day, we're consuming and
producing content. But what does the term "content" even mean? When did
it become ubiquitous? And at what cost? In this volume in the MIT Press
Essential Knowledge series, Kate Eichhorn offers a concise introduction
to content and the content industry, examining the far-reaching effects
content has on culture, politics, and labor in a digital age.
Eichhorn traces the evolution of our current understanding of content
from the early internet to the current social mediaverse. The
quintessential example of content, she says, is the Instagram egg--an
image that imparted no information or knowledge and circulated simply
for the sake of circulation. Eichhorn explores what differentiates
user-generated content from content produced by compensated (although
often undercompensated) workers; examines how fields from art and
literature to journalism and politics have weathered the rise of the
content industry; and investigates the increasing importance of artists'
"content capital"--the ability of artists, writers, and performers to
produce content not about their work but about their status as artists.
