'Prosumer'

[Barnhart]

Perhaps Wired got it from the treatment in The Barnhart Dictionary
Companion (Vol. 1.3, c.1982).

prosumer, proh SOO mur, n. {W} a person who is both a producer and
consumer of goods.  Informal.

This producer/consumer split was caused by market specialization
introduced by the Second Wave industrial society, and will be cured by
the emergence of the "prosumer" in the Third Wave.  Barbara Amiel,
Review of "The Third Wave" by Alvin Toffler, Maclean's, April 14, 1980,
p 64

Attributive use.

Instead of ranking people by what they own, as the market ethic does,
the prosumer ethic places a high value on what they do.  New York Times
Magazine, March 9, 1980, p 28

1980, coined by the American writer Alvin Toffler, born 1928, from
pro(ducer) + (con)sumer.

Editor's Note (2002), it is curious that it has gone unnoticed by
larger dictionaries.  Perhaps it is time to reevaluate this term.


Regards,
David

barnhart at highlands.com