In your opinion, which is the most engaging format/medium?

I think the video is more engaging as it uses imagery (semiotics) to help convey the messages to the audience which are more easily understood then the text. The text needs to be read, contextualized, and then analyzed by the reader; whilst the video, through the use of semiotics, helps to contextualize the message being presented, thus better engaging the audience and presenting the message is a more condensed format for easier consumption.

In this thread, also pick out a few of Jenkins’ key points – the ones which appealed to you the most – and discuss, with examples.

The key points I took out of the video were:

·         That media is in a state of transition from a spectorial media to a participatory media and that in this process media production and consumption is becoming decentralized away from the old media conglomerates. This can be seen with Facebook being at the core of a political revolution in the Middle East, and with entertainment media such as movies, music and television being available online for steaming or download as the audience is now moving to a pull model away from a push model.

·         The change in recent times from the past where stories were past down from generation to generation and were parts of folk culture. This changed in recent times as the rights to these stories are now owned and cannot be freely shared by the ‘folk’ today as seen with ever extending time frame for copyright which protects companies like Disney from losing ownership over characters such as Mickey Mouse. However the audience still has the desire to remediate these owned media within participatory culture seen as a remix culture which brings the ‘folk’ into conflict with copyright laws.

·         Collective intelligence means that the more people can participate in problem solving meaning better solutions than any single individual could ever hope for. Making for more community involvement in complex issues, producing stronger societal bonds between participants in the process. Also the participants may be exposed to the ethical, and cultural views of the other members of society which they may not have previously considered which may differ greatly from their own making society more diverse. I think an example of this could be Wikipedia where many people contribute to the knowledge base to create an accurate information base.

·         The low barriers to entry means that stories previously unseen and unheard of in society are able to be told and distributed so that their stories can get out to the public. So without the tools of a participatory culture on a global scale a site such as wikileaks could not have been constructed and much of the information published would be impossible to distribute in the old media models.

·         I think the imagery at the start of the video of people using mobile devices to access the information is the most important point as the information is progressively becoming free of both time and space, and mobile devices are much more likely to fill the digital divide in cultures without a strong terrestrial network structure.

Jenkins, H. (2009). Great video w/ Henry Jenkins on participatory culture & how media is changing [Video file]. Retrieved from http://cinematech.blogspot.com/2009/05/great-video-w-henry-jenkins-on.html

This weeks lecture was about how a piece of media originates and then is remediated into different formats. This remediation is done though the work of individuals, within corporations using distribution networks present for the media. It made me reflect on how pieces of media are often seen as single cultural artifacts when in fact they are the result of several generations of remediation within the copyright restrictions of the media, and that they have altered over time with changes in culture and technology.

Probably the change I related to most was that of fan fiction onto today's remix culture and how this new culture collides with copyright restrictions when it is akin to fans remediating the original text just as the copyright owners have done but i would posit that the motives behind these remediations differ from fan love to financial desires as seen in many of the clips shown. And how these remediations over a period of time can indocrinate themselves into general pop culture.

The final clip of Leonard Nimoys ballad of bilbo bagins was disturbing and i will never forgive Helen for exposing me to it. NEVER! So now i am exposing all of you!

• Identify and discuss community fears and concerns about new media use.
• Consider violent and sexually explicit content on the web and in games.
• Discuss net filters and government regulations as well as resistance to regulation.

Concerns about new media I think fall greatly on the issue of authentic identity online. It is very easy online to create a fictitious persona and become someone else in cyberspace – someone very different from your offline identity. This can be within social networks, chat rooms, forums, games, blogs, dating sites etc.  It is difficult for online users, in fact almost impossible if you don’t know them in the offline world, to know if someone is who they say they’re online. Add to this that online communications are largely devoid of the verbal inflexions and body language that over the history of mankind have been used to connote and communicate effectively – giving the correct context to our communications -  then  it is possible to indicate this as a major issue. An issue that is trying to be resolved by net users as they develop new ways to communicate online but are still to simplistic to succeed (emoticons don’t cut it I’m afraid).  Online people can choose to set their own framework for themselves and act out a role that may be very different from their real self within that framework, whilst this may not be new as Goffman (1959) proposes that we do this in all kinds of different social frameworks, the scope of different roles, and the ability to play multiple roles all at once is different.

Violent and sexually explicit online content should be “regulated by code” as Lessig put it. Whilst this may be seen as a big brother measure the web needs some structure to provide social and cultural gate keeping. I don’t think access to such materials should be denied but the individuals who do use these should be easily identifiable and mirror the access to these materials offline. For example, if you want sexually explicit material offline you actually have to go to a sex shop, and whilst the workers don’t know who are and you still have anonymity, the act of actually going there for the individual is very different as the shop is in the public sphere. Online you can remain in your space and the public sphere would never know in anyway what you are looking at which makes it an easier option for consumers of the material as it is far more removed from the public sphere. Not many people would walk into a sex shop whilst down the street, but many more may take a sneaky look online free of prying eyes.

With violence I find it hard to condone violent movies, games, music and say that these remain separate from the offline world as when they become commoditized (Turner, 1969), as they have been as part of the process of regulating a deviance into popular culture, they then become part of pop culture which we all then begin to consume in some way thus creating an ongoing trend towards the acceptance of violent media in the community and thus I think a gradual increase in violence in the community.

I am not in favour of Net filters and government regulation unless it is a process that is completely transparent and inclusive of all parties equally – State, Corporations and Community. I am in favor of a reduction in online anonymity as if a person is held accountable in the offline world for their online dealings then I think the web would be a very different place and far more regulable as many of the rules and customs of offline society would be more easily transferred and applied within cyberspace. In short – Don’t block the content just make people accountable for the content they access.

Goffman, E 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. 1st Edition. Anchor.

Turner, V 1969. ‘Liminality and Communitas (part 1 of 2)’ in The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure , Aldine Transaction, pp.94-118.

In the second part of Jenkins blog post entitled Critical Information Studies for a Participatory Culture he discusses theoutcomes of a conference about media reform from the perspective of participatory culture. And looks at what factors block his ideals of a more a participatory society by looking at 10 keys points, and how a participatory culture can further society as a whole.

The first point he makes relates to public policies based on ‘fear’ or what I identify as Cohen’s “moral panics”. A moral panic is when a person, a group, or a set of conditions become defined and labeled as a threat to a society’s values and interests at particular point in time. These panics are then stylized, stereotyped and amplified by the mass media to present an unrealistic view of the actual threat to the masses. In this context Jenkins argues fear is being generated about cultural change online, is being generated about what online access is doing to today’s youth, and finally that the myths of the dangers online are being sensationalized. Jenkins posits that these concerns should not be used to block user participation but rather be used to raise focus on “ethical responsibility” and “civic awareness” so that users can make better assessments of online dangers so they can be avoided. This would decrease the “role of ignorance and fear in public debate” about new media. I largely agree with this position but also believe this era of fear is natural by the dominant generation and as online participation become legitimatized and part of society through a process of online commoditization that these fears will dissipate leaving a vibrant participatory culture behind.

His second point relates to overcoming the digital divide and how access to networked computers is crucial to a participatory culture and that those who have access will be at a great advantage as they will be able to more freely participate than those with restricted access. I reflected on this and thought about how cultures who do not have access to networked computers may still be able to actively participate via internet connected mobile devices .In a presentation by Anand Giridharadas on the ABC recently he mentioned that soon more people will have access to a mobile phone then a toilet globally and that India is in the midst of  massive mobile phone uptake which is changing their social structure. Thus I think these new mobile devices could fill the digital divide which Jenkins is concerned about.

Jenkins next refers to how participatory culture may affect schooling as the informal learning which takes place through online social ties within online social networks and online interest driven networks.  This led me to consider the great importance of integrity and authenticity of information garnered by users online as falsehoods could rapidly spread in online social networks and become truth. But how do online users easily assess this? And do users know that they need to assess this as they have usually got data from reliable old media sources. In the positive however these online networks also create a new environment rich which both produces and shares media in Lessigs remix culture. It is important however that these tools of a participatory culture are accessible on the mobile devices I mentioned earlier as these will possibly be the ubiquitous internet access point across all cultures globally.

These social and interest driven networks will also have the ability to produce a collective intelligence as described by Suriowiekis term “wisdom of crowds”. More minds collectively trying to solve problems will lead to better more considered solutions that take into account many different social and cultural contexts. Thus the more people who have the ability to participate in these networked think tanks the better of the entire community will be, producing stronger societal bonds between participants in the process. Also the participants may be exposed to the ethical, and cultural views of the other members of society which they may not have previously considered which may differ greatly from their own.

It is this exposure which Jenkins then moves to when discussing how a participatory culture would promote diversity, thus making cultural diversity easily distributable.  In doing so the world views of participants would be greatly broadened and enrich their own cultures. In this point Jenkins notes that danah Boyd and S. Craig Watkins feel that social networks actually only strengthen existing ties and in essence act as online gated communities. I do not agree with this as I think it is only true of bounded social networks such as Facebook, however unbounded social networks like Twitter allow for open discussion and sharing in a public space, even though there is the problem with their being much more ‘noise’ in these open networks. I think These kind of unbounded social networks may also negate the segregation of cyberspace as proposed by Sholz and mentioned by Jenkins in this reading as the ability that these networks provide to be able to create multiple selves online allow for the involvement in many different communities thus allowing for participants to explore many facets of themselves freely.

Jenkins next mentions copyright and fair use. Whilst I agree that there is a need for a less restrictive licensing system to create a vibrant participatory culture I think the transition to this vibrancy will take some time to come to fruition. The transition from copyright to creative commons will be resisted by old media as they will protect their existing economic and distribution models for as long as they can. However as new media asserts itself in the next 1-2 generations a shift will take place from users being consumers, to them being prosumers (those who both consume and produce). This will mean there will more audience created overflow materials which will also act as an audience driven recommendation system which lead back to the original professional content. In this prosumer era creative commons will play an important role as it is an easily understandable, usable means of licensing remix material that promote original pieces of media within an active participatory culture.

As mentioned previously, Media created by prosumers in a creative commons driven participatory culture is effectively a system of free advertising via an audience recommendation system. In this reading by Jenkins he discusses the lack of revenue sharing and quotes Orielly where he states “we make all the content, and they make all the money”.  But I think this not always the case as there are cases where some bloggers and YouTube channels make money via the online advertising models made available to them.  Thus it is the battle for attention that is the new economy in a participatory culture that is built around engaging online content that people want to engage with. Thus if you can gain a wealth of attention you will still be financially rewarded and get the slice of the pie you deserve. Other users of these tools are getting a free distribution platform which was never present in old media and thus can even in the smallest way add to cultural content and sharing their thoughts and creations freely on a global scale. A participatory culture thus enriches us through the exchange of information and ideas rather than purely financial wealth.

Social media is designing a new civic media as newspapers and other old media producers are folding in the face of economic rationalism. This was discussed recently on the ABC by John Nichols where he posited the lack of resources behind citizen journalism will never allow for the same in-depth analysis into social and political issues seen in the past by journalist with old media organizations. I agree with this notion as whilst Jenkins participatory culture allows for  users to be involved in discussions and alert people happening at a particular moment in time, it doesn’t not allow for the creation of in-depth content which often is the starting point for these discussions, in-depth content which is more often than not from journalists with old media.  Citizen journalism also then raises the question again of integrity and authenticity as a participatory culture can quickly spread information thus the audience needs to be savvier in what they consume. So in a participatory culture it is important to acknowledge the role of and value of the old media journalist, and the in-depth analysis they are able to do. And acknowledge that they are still required to give this analysis so that existing ideologies can be thoughtfully challenged or analyzed thus enabling an active democracy.

The ability to think globally has been assisted by the internet as we now have access to news from any number of sources around the world which has furthered the politicization of the world as media on issues become more visible and sharable on a global scale. In the old media we were restricted to the news which was presented to us on the Television, Radio and print medias. With new media we can source news from where we choose free of the constraints of time and space via mobile internet. Thus the audience is now more aware of and sensitive to issues on a global scale, issues which may be affecting people from cultures very different from their own and in doing so open the eyes of the audience who can share this information via online social and interest networks which further promote the democracy creating greater political transparency via new media as states can no longer easily ignore important issues.

In Jenkins final point he discusses activism and how it could be restructure by participatory culture as it will be a widely accessible public forum for the discussion public policies. It is hard to argue here when looking at the current events in the Middle East, particularly the political uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia for which much value was placed on the power of Facebook and its networking abilities further stressing the value of a participatory culture in democracy.

In conclusion Jenkins presents a series of key talking points which overall I agree with some objections made earlier in this review. Many of these ideas will develop as we transfer in the generations to come from old to new media and warrant ongoing analysis during this transition – which was obviously the point of this blog post by Jenkins. So for me it achieved its goal of making me think about and reflect on each point from my own social context, and made me consider how a participatory culture changes how we receive, interpret, create and share information, and how we need to be aware of the consequences and rewards of these changes.

As part of week 1 in MED104 we need to discuss strategies for reading efficiently.
Reading efficiently is something I improved on somewhat by doing SSK12 at Murdoch Uni through the techniques and strategies outlined by Marshall and Rowland (2006).

Making notes depends firstly on the question ‘what you are reading for?’ It is important to clarify this before you start reading so you are able to manage your reading rate and what parts you are going to read within the material. If you are reading material you are unfamiliar with it might be useful to preview the reading before beginning. For university readings which are usually single chapters from a text or an extract I usually read the intro and conclusion to help me identify keep concepts in the reading and familiarize myself with the concepts and arguments being presented. This allows me to assess if I have to read more slowly to take in w hat has been written so I can make better notes.

Making notes made whilst reading can assist in:

-          Understanding the structure of the material you are reading.

-          Enabling you to highlight key words quotes and phrases.

-          Highlight parts of the text that need further review.

-          Focus on key parts of readings.

-          Commit to memory parts of the reading.

-          Acting as a reference for later reviewing of the reading.

So when making notes readers need to note things like:

-          The authors purpose, theories and assumptions.

-          The key arguments.

-          The key information.

-          Phrases and sentences which help to clarify points in the material.

-          Key quotes

-          Details, facts, statistics.

Non-linear note taking are methods such as mind maps where you note the central idea and build the notes made about that central point which is usually the thesis of the written piece. At present I use the linear methods of note taking. Within a lecture I will make notes on each key point which is presented to me. I use the same methods with texts and reading materials.

I can see the value in the non-linear note taking techniques for texts and readings as it helps the reader to highlight the central point of the material before reading begins via thorough previewing. From there they can them link key points made within the materials around this central idea.

In the reflection it has become evident to me the different requirements of note making in lectures and written texts. When making notes about a text you need to able to clarify what you want to get out of your reading in order to effectively make notes (i.e. am I previewing the text, skimming the text, etc.).

Table 9.3 in Marshall and Rowland relates the purpose of reading and reading rates (2006). This table helped me to clarify just how fast I should be reading for specific purposes and is something that I can use when I am studying. I am pretty much a one-paced reader. If I don’t understand a concept I re-read it at the same pace over and over until I understand it as I am still coming to grips with my university reading rates. By monitoring my reading rate I will be able to make a more in-depth analysis of my reading materials and thus make better notes.

At present I plan to persist with a linear note taking technique when a subject is familiar to me and I can understand the reading quite well. However, if upon previewing a reading I find the material quite foreign and confusing I will now use the non-linear method.  The visual aspect of this method I think will help me to better understand difficult subjects as it will take me more clearly define the central topic and sub-topics.

Marshall, L. & Rowland, F. (2006). A guide to learning independently (4th ed). Melbourne: Addison Wesley Longman

Class discussion and activities

• Identify personal media use and preferences; survey group and classify according to entertainment, information, communication uses;
• How do views about recent developments in the media differ between students and friends/family/older generations/different cultures? Why?

This is an outline of my general media production/consumption:

Media Summary

Looking at this within the context of "new" and "old" media, whilst i still consume old media such as news papers and magazines much more of my reading is now done online which is a different reading experience as media producers need to keep your attention with shorter articles as a reader is only one click away from leaving the article and generally the page has many links and other information designed by advertising compnayies to drag your attention away from what you are reading.

I now also think that i "multi-task" with my media consumption more now by accesssing more than one media at once such as checking email, facebook etc on my iphone whilst wathcing TV etc.

I also noe produce content online rather thaan just consume it as i have a blog which i write for which includes articles, podcasts and vidcasts which would not of been possible for the everyday internet users 6-7 tears ago but now is common place and can be done from any smartphone almost.

The smartphone seems to be the device which has changed my media consumption as i now have a ubiqutous internet access to social networks and my previously computer based internet media.

When disucssing this with family and friends this week i found that media consumption seemed to be along generational lines, with my social peers all having similiar media consumption traits although only a few of them produced media. the people it alked to from older generations were still much more confortable with old media types such as print, radio and TV and  little use of the internet outside of email and banking and used social networking very little also.

This indicated to me that people may be culturally tied to media consumption types due to their genrational norms and that the consumption of new media may be more tightly related to younger generations such as X & Y who have tried to break away from these traditional media types. perhaps GenX are web 1.0 and GenY are Web 2.0. Will need to investigate this further.

This could also change when considering if they do, or do not, have access to the internet easily.