Children as Prosumers

The transformation of cultural practices, underpinned by technological innovations and new forms of appropriation and circulation of cultural goods, has given rise to the figure of the "Prosumer" (McLuhan and Nevitt, 1972; Toffler, 1990). The seminal works introducing this concept depict a consumer who, far from being passive and dominated by a cultural offer imposed on him or her, is part of a culture of participation by actively producing cultural content for his or her peers. This merging of the roles of consumer and producer of cultural content is the work of individuals who are able both to develop a critical spirit and to contribute their creativity as consumers, because they are fully aware of how to exploit the possibilities that technological advances offer them to produce and disseminate cultural content. Transposed to children, various questions are raised by this figure of the creative consumer, who invests in crowdsourcing activities proposed by innovation-related marketing schemes, such as campaigns to improve packaging, create brand slogans, create new scenarios for television series, suggest plots for video games, create stories on social networking sites, etc.