“The web allows people to express themselves” (Gauntlet, 2005 in Lister et al, 2009 p.166)
People have been expressing themselves creatively longer than the web has been in existence. Those around us would listen, watch, comment. We would seek out audiences if we were either good enough, or thought we were worthy of an audience. Perhaps what this means is that we now have a world-wide audience within easy reach.
I’ve always dabbled in music, and because you are on the internet, you can listen to what I have produced. None of it about to win any awards, but it has been an enjoyable (pre-child, pre-MSC) hobby.
Gauntlett, David (2005) Web studies: what’s new?, in David Gauntlett and Ross
Horsley (eds) in Lister, M. … [et al.], (2009) “Chapter 3. Networks, users and economics” from Martin Lister … [et al.], New media: a critical introduction pp.163-236, London: Routledge