Spring Break
Prof expounds on virtues of new media
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 11/4/08
Posted online at 4:27 AM EST on 11/4/08
Academic institutions need to embrace new technologies that shape their students' lives instead of suppressing them out of fear, Professor Henry Jenkins, co-director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a lecture last Thursday.
Library and Technology Services, the American Studies department, the Computer Science department, the Education program, the Internet Studies program, the Community Engaged Learning program and the Cultural Production program co-sponsored the event.
To demonstrate the omnipresence of media in young people's lives today, he gave the example of a representative student named "Jessica," who uses her computer to chat with friends, download music and do her schoolwork.
"Jessica" receives a text message from a friend that includes a music video of Soulja Boy, Jenkins said.
He said Soulja Boy first published his song on his blog. "He moved from being an obscure figure … to someone performing at the Black Entertainment Television Awards," Jenkins said. "He did this by using all the channels of participatory culture" such as the file-sharing software BitTorrent and audio streams on Facebook.
Concluding his example story, Jenkins said that "Jessica" and her friends created a YouTube video of themselves performing Soulja Boy's dance.
For Jenkins, this phenomenon is exemplary of today's participatory culture. It's characterized by "low barriers for engagement," he said, meaning that it was very easy for "Jessica" to move from being a video viewer to a video creator.
This culture increasingly creates a safe "space where you can start out bad and get better," he pointed out, with less fear of rejection and more options for improvement, adding that "there are very few public spaces where that is possible." Online, "all [members] must believe they are free to contribute."
He said people are increasingly forming knowledge communities, where a variety of individuals contribute their specific expertise.
Library and Technology Services, the American Studies department, the Computer Science department, the Education program, the Internet Studies program, the Community Engaged Learning program and the Cultural Production program co-sponsored the event.
To demonstrate the omnipresence of media in young people's lives today, he gave the example of a representative student named "Jessica," who uses her computer to chat with friends, download music and do her schoolwork.
"Jessica" receives a text message from a friend that includes a music video of Soulja Boy, Jenkins said.
He said Soulja Boy first published his song on his blog. "He moved from being an obscure figure … to someone performing at the Black Entertainment Television Awards," Jenkins said. "He did this by using all the channels of participatory culture" such as the file-sharing software BitTorrent and audio streams on Facebook.
Concluding his example story, Jenkins said that "Jessica" and her friends created a YouTube video of themselves performing Soulja Boy's dance.
For Jenkins, this phenomenon is exemplary of today's participatory culture. It's characterized by "low barriers for engagement," he said, meaning that it was very easy for "Jessica" to move from being a video viewer to a video creator.
This culture increasingly creates a safe "space where you can start out bad and get better," he pointed out, with less fear of rejection and more options for improvement, adding that "there are very few public spaces where that is possible." Online, "all [members] must believe they are free to contribute."
He said people are increasingly forming knowledge communities, where a variety of individuals contribute their specific expertise.
Be the first to comment on this story