In recent years, the leveling eye of the internet has allowed us to see that the so-called professional isn’t always the most qualified person for the job.

Wikipedia, the publicly maintained online resource with 50,000-some contributers, reportedly rivals Encyclopedia Britannica for accuracy. Pundits in the blogosphere are often the first to crack world-shaking news stories. And a band like Arctic Monkeys can go from nowheres-ville U.K. to the top of the charts on the back of an internet campaign spearheaded by fans.

Dazzled once again by the internet’s potential, the media has latched onto the consumer-producer as the future of all things creative. And advertisers, watching old forms of media lose their hold on our attention, are wondering how the internet’s collective power can be harnessed to innovate and market products.

Is the consumer as producer—cheekily dubbed the prodsumer by Seed Senior Writer Robert Cherry—a viable marketing tool? Or just another illusion created by beguiling worldwide web? In this issue, Cherry sits down with Seed’s Strategic Director Of Operations, Hunter Thurman, to plumb the depth of this latest trend.

Happy to talk,