Sunday, December 13, 2009
Convergence Culture
One of Jenkins’s core claims, a change of the relationships between media and us as a consumer of media indicates our use of technology, might be a good way to start thinking about the future of digital culture. According to Jenkins, a convergence culture represents a shift in the way as we think about our relations to media, that we are making that shift first through our relations with popular culture but that the skills we acquire through play may have implications for how we learn, work, participate in the political process, and connect with other people around the world (p 23). In this regard, a convergence of cultural activities seem to appear as we expand popular culture through the use of information technology (mobile phone or internet as a platform, for instance). And we learn to apply such skills (skills to use information technology whatever the way possible) to get involved politically as an individual, to acquire knowledge and to build a relationship. It might not be overstating that such a new notion of media, which described here as convergence culture, is growing. And it is mirroring changes in our lives how we purse a more convenient and fulfilling life by expanding the use of technology. It is overwhelming how we always find a way to use new media technology and how much we relay on information technology in a daily life. Needless to say that there is only a fuzzy boundary between who creates and controls media and people who consume them at the moment. And I believe we keep pushing the boundary as the use of technology seep in our lives.
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I just had the thought, that through this clash of old and new media and the new consumer and user spaces it provides, there are also many users who are left behind. To what I wrote in my commend to Ozgür’s entry, that you cannot pinpoint any particular group of user and producers when it comes to new media, I guess you can show who are none-users, namely those who have been left behind or are not acquainted with new media (like my parents and grandparents). With the fast paced technological developments it is easy to be left behind and sometimes it is hard to keep track. One of the main points that Jenkins had is that the outcome of new media and participatory culture are unpredictable. Can we say that we live in a two class society with those which participate (active or passive) in the new media landscape and those who don’t?
ReplyDeleteI believe that there is a division between those that use and those who don't use new media. The older generation doesn't seem to have much uses for the new media, and especially new media devices, unless the need is created for them. I have quite often helped my relatives in use of cellphones, computers, digital-tv receivers and such, but the incentive to use those technologies has not been the new tech offering some extra benefit for them. In most cases I know, the older people start using new tech, because they have to. And the devices are mostly used for the original purpose of purchase, for example only for calling, paying bills and checking email online etc.
ReplyDeleteSurely cellphones and computers would offer many benefits to them compared to old technology if they were used more adventurously. Maybe it's because the learning curve of new devices, but it might be simply that the new media doesn't seem interesting enough. For someone that uses new media tech all the time, it can seem incomprehensible that the older people don't even want to participate in the "media revolution". But for the older people, there doesn't seem to be any benefit, just inconveniences. Reading newspaper can be more convenient than searching news from online and calling someone is more personal and faster way of communicating than writing SMS or messaging via facebook.