Convergence Culture. Where Old and New Media Collide
I'm indeed really sorry for posting this piece late; I got the book so late.
I like how Henry Jenkins is presenting all these media related issues in his book. Jen-kins is telling about “the black box” that is making as multitasking and getting more deeply into media world. But who is actually deciding, what kind of “black box” is in our living room and are we the people that decide what we will see and use from “the black box”? Is it always money that makes us move?
Where the old and new media collide is just not the technology, but the people that are using new and old media. It is more about adapting new media instead of old one to survive in modern media world. We are indeed living in the middle of media storm, but the question is that can we use our media for good? Even when people are using social media as facebook or twitter or what ever, do we use it for good? Or are we just making ourselves lonelier than ever. As we are taking more distance to “real” people, we are learning new ways to keep contact. So actually we are making choice, how we use our “black box”, but still it is always depends cultural influence. Like facebook or blogging is not open for everyone, so this way “the black box” rules are with the government.
As Jenkins points out the change we are living, we do not feel the change because we are living the moment now. Everything will be different in less than 10 years and then we will study again, what we did not know then. And the one researcher that makes best guess, what will happen in future will be celebrated as a innovating genius in that time.
Jenkins, Henry (2008) Convergence Culture. Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NYU Press.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Convergence Culture FromALICE DUVERT
I am not familiar with media studies and my English is not so good, but Jenkins' book was quite easy to read thanks to many clear examples.
In his book, Jenkins tries to figure out what is the relation between media convergence, participatory culture and collective intelligence.
According to Jenkins, media convergence should be seen as a multiplication of media’s types and media contents. It is also the fact that the relation between all the media is becoming stronger and stronger. So new media are not replacing old media, they just cooperate and reinforce each other.
Participatory culture would be the active consumer’s participation is these changements. Indeed, consumers are no more passive media spectators. Producer and consumer interact with each other so that they may have several position. A consumer can easily become a producer. This phenomenon is easy to understand and for my point of view, it is more visible on the internet (youtube, wikipedia, myspace, all kind of blogs...). So there exist new rules in the media production, even in not everyone is equal in front of this production. In order to become a producer you should have specific abilities. For example, a lot of people use Youtube to watch videos but not every user uses it to post video. Even if it seems quite simple to post a video, you must have some tools and knowledge in order to do so.
Finally, collective intelligence is the result of the fact that consumption has become a collective process. According to Jenkins, everyone has a role to play is media production and can bring his own part of knowledge. And this collective intelligence would be an alternative source of media power. This phenomenon doesn’t have to be under estimated because it already has a great impact through popular culture.
What Jenkins wants to stress in his book is first that the idea of convergence doesn’t mean that all media content is going to flow through a single black box. He takes the example of mobile phone. Indeed, with a cell phone you can do much more than just call your friends. You can play games, take pictures, make movies, surf on the internet etc... So you might think that all media are converging is this little box. Actually, Jenkins wants to show us that there is a multiplication of black boxes even if media are converging. According to Jenkins mobile companies will be part of media convergence but they won't own it.
Then, Jenkins points out the fact that convergence is a cultural and social process as much as it is a technological one.
And finally, we are all still learning what it means to live in a convergence culture because we are taking part to this new phenomenon, which is a process that keeps going on.
I think Jenkins' analysis is totally relevant in a context of globalization. And we may think that this convergence culture is challenging our educational system. Indeed, the new mission of education would be to give the possibility to everyone to be a media producer. Because we are no more passive spectators, we all should be able to participate to this convergence culture.
In his book, Jenkins tries to figure out what is the relation between media convergence, participatory culture and collective intelligence.
According to Jenkins, media convergence should be seen as a multiplication of media’s types and media contents. It is also the fact that the relation between all the media is becoming stronger and stronger. So new media are not replacing old media, they just cooperate and reinforce each other.
Participatory culture would be the active consumer’s participation is these changements. Indeed, consumers are no more passive media spectators. Producer and consumer interact with each other so that they may have several position. A consumer can easily become a producer. This phenomenon is easy to understand and for my point of view, it is more visible on the internet (youtube, wikipedia, myspace, all kind of blogs...). So there exist new rules in the media production, even in not everyone is equal in front of this production. In order to become a producer you should have specific abilities. For example, a lot of people use Youtube to watch videos but not every user uses it to post video. Even if it seems quite simple to post a video, you must have some tools and knowledge in order to do so.
Finally, collective intelligence is the result of the fact that consumption has become a collective process. According to Jenkins, everyone has a role to play is media production and can bring his own part of knowledge. And this collective intelligence would be an alternative source of media power. This phenomenon doesn’t have to be under estimated because it already has a great impact through popular culture.
What Jenkins wants to stress in his book is first that the idea of convergence doesn’t mean that all media content is going to flow through a single black box. He takes the example of mobile phone. Indeed, with a cell phone you can do much more than just call your friends. You can play games, take pictures, make movies, surf on the internet etc... So you might think that all media are converging is this little box. Actually, Jenkins wants to show us that there is a multiplication of black boxes even if media are converging. According to Jenkins mobile companies will be part of media convergence but they won't own it.
Then, Jenkins points out the fact that convergence is a cultural and social process as much as it is a technological one.
And finally, we are all still learning what it means to live in a convergence culture because we are taking part to this new phenomenon, which is a process that keeps going on.
I think Jenkins' analysis is totally relevant in a context of globalization. And we may think that this convergence culture is challenging our educational system. Indeed, the new mission of education would be to give the possibility to everyone to be a media producer. Because we are no more passive spectators, we all should be able to participate to this convergence culture.
FANDOM - TV series fan From ALICE DUVERT
Just like a lot of people, I often watch TV series but paradoxically I watch them on my laptop. Indeed, between the moment when an episode is broadcast on the US Tv and the moment when the same episode is visible on French TV, you must wait a lot of time. To overcome this problem, you can easily find the latest episodes on streaming websites with subtitles.
The Internet has a major role in showing of series because it is the fastest way to watch it but also because it is a free area where fans can talk to each other. They express their feelings relating to the last episodes, their wishes for next episodes etc...
This link between the internet and series is so strong that some series are exclusively broadcast on the net. I am for example a fan of a serie whose name is “Décide-toi Clément” (translation would be “Make a choice Clément!”). It is a friend of mine who created this series with few means of support. The concept is to exclusively show the series on the internet and the internet users have a choice between two continuations/ two ends after each episode. Actually, the internet users help the hero to take a decision. They must vote for what they want simply clicking on a link, then the producer takes this choice into account and few weeks after he broadcast a new episode.
It is not very known in France but there already is a second season and there are more and more fans who can meet and talk on the series's blog or through facebook. Around 1300 people vote for each episode.
Blog: "http://www.decidetoiclement.com/en/blog/" http://www.decidetoiclement.com/en/blog/
Facebook:"http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16937785884&ref=search&sid=556423599.1044824551..1" http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16937785884&ref=search&sid=556423599.1044824551..1
I think this is a good example of how the Internet is becoming the main media, where a lot of innovations are taking place. On the internet you feel more active compared to TV or newspaper and there is a real interaction between people.
Media Diary From ALICE DUVERT
I chose to compare my use of media when I was in Finland and when I came back in France. Indeed, I noticed some changes due to the languages, my activities etc...
Actually, I had the feeling that my laptop was the only communication medium in Finland. Every morning I was used to check my emails and the news in France. I didn’t miss France that much but one year ago, I decided to chose “Le Monde.fr” (one of the most famous newspapers in France) as my home page when I surf the Internet. Thus, even if I don’t feel like reading the French news, I briefly see the home page of Le Monde several times in the day. Usually I just read the main titles, or if I am especially interested in a article I read it more carefully. I really like keeping myself informed through the internet because you feel free to make your own selection and focus on what your are interested in.
Every morning I also check Facebook. For a long time, I refused to sign in because I thought it was a kind of violation of private life. But finally, it was the easiest way to keep in touch with my friends all around the world. Facebook is also an essential tool in the Erasmus network, it gives the opportunity to get informed of the events, parties, trips etc... and easily share your pictures with your friends.
Later in the day I usually need to use the computers at the library in order to complete assignments. Once more, I surf the internet in order to find further information that I didn’t find in books. You are still active when you research on the net. Sometimes it is hard to classify all the information that you get: what is relevant? Is the author of this article generally approved? Is it serious and reliable?
That is what you can notice using the Internet: you are free, you can find a broad diversity of sources and points of view. But then, it is your own responsibility to classify these sources and it is not obvious.
In the evening I like relaxing watching TV series on my laptop. On streaming websites you can find the latest seasons that are not even on French TV, with subtitles. In these conditions, TV seems quite obsolete.
Sometimes I also use Skype to call my family or even my friends in Finland because it is for free and much more convivial than phone.
Because I didn’t have TV in Finland, I liked listening French radio via my laptop. Actually, I notices that my laptop was a kind of “super media” through which I could have the opportunity to read newspapers, listen radio, watch TV etc...
In France, my uses of media are not exactly the same. Actually, newspapers and TV are more accessible for me so I use more varied media even if the Internet is still in first position.
Every morning I check my mail just after waking up. These last days it was very important for me to read my mail because I was looking for an internship for my second semester. So every morning, I was keen to check if I received any answer to my candidacy. Fortunately, I finally found an internship!
In the morning, I also switch on the TV. But I don’t watch actively any program. It is just to have a background noise when I am alone and I am eating my breakfast.
Later in the day, if I have some time, I like reading magazines. I am for example a subscriber of ELLE, a fashion magazine. And when I read interesting articles, I sometimes like to find on the Internet further informations, about an artist, a brand, a event, a film that I discovered during my lecture.
In the evening I switch on the TV in order to watch the news. Sometimes I am not interted in every reporting, but it is a good way to have a global views of current affairs. Later, either I watch a movie on TV or, if there is nothing exciting on TV, I watch I movie using streaming websites on my laptop. But even if I am watching a movie or a series, I am all the time speaking to my Finnish friends through MSN or Skype. And that is why I am not able to go to bed early...
Actually, I had the feeling that my laptop was the only communication medium in Finland. Every morning I was used to check my emails and the news in France. I didn’t miss France that much but one year ago, I decided to chose “Le Monde.fr” (one of the most famous newspapers in France) as my home page when I surf the Internet. Thus, even if I don’t feel like reading the French news, I briefly see the home page of Le Monde several times in the day. Usually I just read the main titles, or if I am especially interested in a article I read it more carefully. I really like keeping myself informed through the internet because you feel free to make your own selection and focus on what your are interested in.
Every morning I also check Facebook. For a long time, I refused to sign in because I thought it was a kind of violation of private life. But finally, it was the easiest way to keep in touch with my friends all around the world. Facebook is also an essential tool in the Erasmus network, it gives the opportunity to get informed of the events, parties, trips etc... and easily share your pictures with your friends.
Later in the day I usually need to use the computers at the library in order to complete assignments. Once more, I surf the internet in order to find further information that I didn’t find in books. You are still active when you research on the net. Sometimes it is hard to classify all the information that you get: what is relevant? Is the author of this article generally approved? Is it serious and reliable?
That is what you can notice using the Internet: you are free, you can find a broad diversity of sources and points of view. But then, it is your own responsibility to classify these sources and it is not obvious.
In the evening I like relaxing watching TV series on my laptop. On streaming websites you can find the latest seasons that are not even on French TV, with subtitles. In these conditions, TV seems quite obsolete.
Sometimes I also use Skype to call my family or even my friends in Finland because it is for free and much more convivial than phone.
Because I didn’t have TV in Finland, I liked listening French radio via my laptop. Actually, I notices that my laptop was a kind of “super media” through which I could have the opportunity to read newspapers, listen radio, watch TV etc...
In France, my uses of media are not exactly the same. Actually, newspapers and TV are more accessible for me so I use more varied media even if the Internet is still in first position.
Every morning I check my mail just after waking up. These last days it was very important for me to read my mail because I was looking for an internship for my second semester. So every morning, I was keen to check if I received any answer to my candidacy. Fortunately, I finally found an internship!
In the morning, I also switch on the TV. But I don’t watch actively any program. It is just to have a background noise when I am alone and I am eating my breakfast.
Later in the day, if I have some time, I like reading magazines. I am for example a subscriber of ELLE, a fashion magazine. And when I read interesting articles, I sometimes like to find on the Internet further informations, about an artist, a brand, a event, a film that I discovered during my lecture.
In the evening I switch on the TV in order to watch the news. Sometimes I am not interted in every reporting, but it is a good way to have a global views of current affairs. Later, either I watch a movie on TV or, if there is nothing exciting on TV, I watch I movie using streaming websites on my laptop. But even if I am watching a movie or a series, I am all the time speaking to my Finnish friends through MSN or Skype. And that is why I am not able to go to bed early...
Monday, January 25, 2010
Jenkins Analysis From Morais Hélène
Jenkins mentions throughout his book the convergence of different media, different media processes. He even called his book Convergence.This word expresses in some sense the point from which the media intersect. He represents change, change of a specific content to a content transmitted by a variety of media.Through this term Jenkins evokes as well the interdependence increasingly strong of all these communication systems.For Henry Jenkins, the term convergence describes technological, cultural and social changes. He develops this theory in his book using many examples to illustrate it.The book also addresses the issues of “participatory culture” and “collective intelligence”. It opposed these two concepts to the passivity of older consumers.
The notion of “collective intelligence” is probably one of the most interesting from my point of view. Indeed, the constant evolution of media and their innovations have allowed this idea of “collective intelligence”. The information is all collected on the Internet for example. Websites are created, referring to specific issues and mixing explicative texts and perspectives. Movies but also music are accessible in an easier way. In this sense media represents nowadays a real cultural platform. This evolution depends on the active participation of consumers according to Jenkins. However, if Internet represents the main place for information, offering considerable data on a countless subjects, we must not forget that many erroneous information are circulating as well.Moreover, everybody have not access to the “collective intelligence” that is created and becomes increasingly important.
In discussing the concept of “collective participation”, the author underlines the roles played by media producers but also by consumers. Indeed, the current form of media gives to the consumers the opportunity to participate actively to the media development and the establishment of a “collective intelligence”.In fact, instead of announcing the death of traditional media like many people do, Jenkins underlines the impressive fertility born of the convergence between new media thanks to the impulse of users. He said the new media are interacting in complex ways with the formers. Thus, newspapers, radio or television does not have to disappear but are just coming into line with new media like Internet, mobile phones...
The notion of “collective intelligence” is probably one of the most interesting from my point of view. Indeed, the constant evolution of media and their innovations have allowed this idea of “collective intelligence”. The information is all collected on the Internet for example. Websites are created, referring to specific issues and mixing explicative texts and perspectives. Movies but also music are accessible in an easier way. In this sense media represents nowadays a real cultural platform. This evolution depends on the active participation of consumers according to Jenkins. However, if Internet represents the main place for information, offering considerable data on a countless subjects, we must not forget that many erroneous information are circulating as well.Moreover, everybody have not access to the “collective intelligence” that is created and becomes increasingly important.
In discussing the concept of “collective participation”, the author underlines the roles played by media producers but also by consumers. Indeed, the current form of media gives to the consumers the opportunity to participate actively to the media development and the establishment of a “collective intelligence”.In fact, instead of announcing the death of traditional media like many people do, Jenkins underlines the impressive fertility born of the convergence between new media thanks to the impulse of users. He said the new media are interacting in complex ways with the formers. Thus, newspapers, radio or television does not have to disappear but are just coming into line with new media like Internet, mobile phones...
An example of fandom phenomena From Morais Hélène
It is difficult for me to assert that I am a fan of something in particular, though I am very interested in the huge and international phenomenon generated by the books of J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter. A success that was not expected by the author herself! Actually, this saga provoked an unexpected mass of fans all over the world, a mass of fans which is still continuing to grow up years after years.
Furthermore, this phenomenon generates a profound activity through a broad sample of ages.
This phenomenon, called the “potter mania” in France, is really interesting in the sense it concerns many varied areas such as books, movies, music, games, clothes, toys… Actually, the fandom phenomenon and the success of this story have generated the creation of a myriad of by-products. In a certain sense, the commercial exploitation of the original books has provoked an increase of the fans movement and permit to maintain it as well.
Besides, the fandom activity is really varied. Fans can develop their passion in a myriad of different activities. The multitude of blogs created by fans, for instance, can show the importance of this phenomenon. Generally created by teenagers, the information they communicate are rich and various. Most of these blogs are created and used in order to share information about the topic or conveys some personal opinions. Actually, we can find in it much information about the books, the movies, the actors who embody the main characters, or the new games which are going to bring out.
It is as well the place where they put some articles, some interviews, and some videos in order to inform fans of what happens new for this topic. In general, many pictures and images are posted to illustrate these places.
With these blogs, Harry Potter fans can also share their feelings about the stories, the movies, the characters, etc… or share their opinion about it.
In fact, they are always informed of everything and they are also in touch with each other. The blogs: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/ is a very good example of a fandom blog. There are always recent news about the film, the actors or everything which concerns Harry Potter (even decorations such as “gingerbread creation”).
The book official website (http://www.jkrowling.com/en/index.cfm) permits to the fans of J.K. Rowling to have news, information about the books, how she wrote it, more precisions about the characters, or some animals for instance.
Fans have to discover all the clues and the secrets through the website in order to have information, or to obtain some secret draws by J.K. Rowling for instance…
Fandom phenomenon can be perceptible as well through some elements such as the number of enters in cinema to see the adaptation of the books, the queue to have an autograph of the author or of the actors, the number of fans gathers at the premiere of the movies, the security measures to preserve the secret of the last book, or the fact that for the publication of several tomes of Harry Potter some bookshops have organize a sale that took place at midnight and gathered a huge number of fans. In United States of America, the 6th movie of Harry Potter was showed for the first time at midnight, and according to Warner Bros, the film achieved revenue of $ 22.2 million just for this session!
And fandom activity through the phenomenon of Harry Potter is not ready to stop, even if the last book is brought out. Actually, fans are waiting for the last episodes of the movie and this story seems to cross generations. Consequently, fandom movement is still active…
Furthermore, this phenomenon generates a profound activity through a broad sample of ages.
This phenomenon, called the “potter mania” in France, is really interesting in the sense it concerns many varied areas such as books, movies, music, games, clothes, toys… Actually, the fandom phenomenon and the success of this story have generated the creation of a myriad of by-products. In a certain sense, the commercial exploitation of the original books has provoked an increase of the fans movement and permit to maintain it as well.
Besides, the fandom activity is really varied. Fans can develop their passion in a myriad of different activities. The multitude of blogs created by fans, for instance, can show the importance of this phenomenon. Generally created by teenagers, the information they communicate are rich and various. Most of these blogs are created and used in order to share information about the topic or conveys some personal opinions. Actually, we can find in it much information about the books, the movies, the actors who embody the main characters, or the new games which are going to bring out.
It is as well the place where they put some articles, some interviews, and some videos in order to inform fans of what happens new for this topic. In general, many pictures and images are posted to illustrate these places.
With these blogs, Harry Potter fans can also share their feelings about the stories, the movies, the characters, etc… or share their opinion about it.
In fact, they are always informed of everything and they are also in touch with each other. The blogs: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/ is a very good example of a fandom blog. There are always recent news about the film, the actors or everything which concerns Harry Potter (even decorations such as “gingerbread creation”).
The book official website (http://www.jkrowling.com/en/index.cfm) permits to the fans of J.K. Rowling to have news, information about the books, how she wrote it, more precisions about the characters, or some animals for instance.
Fans have to discover all the clues and the secrets through the website in order to have information, or to obtain some secret draws by J.K. Rowling for instance…
Fandom phenomenon can be perceptible as well through some elements such as the number of enters in cinema to see the adaptation of the books, the queue to have an autograph of the author or of the actors, the number of fans gathers at the premiere of the movies, the security measures to preserve the secret of the last book, or the fact that for the publication of several tomes of Harry Potter some bookshops have organize a sale that took place at midnight and gathered a huge number of fans. In United States of America, the 6th movie of Harry Potter was showed for the first time at midnight, and according to Warner Bros, the film achieved revenue of $ 22.2 million just for this session!
And fandom activity through the phenomenon of Harry Potter is not ready to stop, even if the last book is brought out. Actually, fans are waiting for the last episodes of the movie and this story seems to cross generations. Consequently, fandom movement is still active…
Media Diary From Morais Hélène
In making-up my media diary I realized how the media are constantly present in my everyday life. Indeed, there is not one day spent without used it. From waking up until the moment I go to bed, they accompany me ... Or rather, I use them. First, I wake up every morning thanks to my cell phone. I use it as an alarm. I checked if a message is waiting for me and if it is the case… I read it! In general, if I am not late, I take time to turn on my computer and I take my breakfast reading my emails or my Facebook. I answer the most urgent messages and post some comments on the social networking site. In general, when I am in France, I listen to the radio at the same time, but in Finland it is a little bit different... I often call some friends before leaving to university, in order to know where to join us for the lunch or for the class. Later, I go to the library. I often take time to read newspapers or books I need for some homework or essays. I also use the computer to check again my emails and looking for some information. This is usually the moment I chose to read the French newspaper online. I also often select some articles about a topic that particularly interests me or that I studied. When I come back to the university, I turn on my computer when I get home. I spend more time on Facebook, I call my family with Skype and I talk with my friends using Messenger. The computer and especially Internet keeps me in constant contact with my family and the rest of the world in a certain way ... I regularly use the television in my own country, but I have not in Finland, so I spend much time surfing on the Internet. I usually watch documentaries about current issues and various subjects or I listen to music on Youtube, looking for new bands. I even use the computer as dictionary at this moment…But I just put it out before going to bed. I still spend half an hour at least to read a novel before sleeping. And I fall asleep after having checked one last time if no message appears on my cell phone ... On weekends, if I organize myself differently, I am still using more or less the same media, I just spend more time in using it…
Monday, January 18, 2010
A fan of Blade Runner
I have always been a person who dislikes being a fan and being labeled as a fan of something. On one hand it has been dislike of fanatism in general, on the other hand I don't like that others simplify my personality through tags that label me as fan of something, or even see me as a sterewotype of something. As a teenager I couldn't understand worship of bands and celebrities, and regarded mass following in general stupid even to a degree that I tended to ignore things that were popular back then, even though later I've grown very fond of some bands that were popular during my teens, such as CMX and Smashing Pumpkins. And even if I have had really keen interest in something, I've lost interest in it quite fast and focused my attention to other things. That being said, there is one science fiction movie that has always been one of my favorites, which keeps its marvel after several watchings and that still has atmospheric visuals even when compared to today's special effects and computer generated backgrounds.
Blade Runner is a science fiction film that borrows a lot from Film Noir, but is still in my opinion a good example of soft science fiction where science is used to portray questions essential to society and humanity. The futuristic LA is not just a backdrop of events but reflection of developments of society in time to come. The setting is bleak, dark and rainy, but details and atmosphere makes the setting beliavable and hauntinly beautiful. Themes of the movie touch pollution, genetic engineering, technological determinism, globalization, corporate power and fear of death, but the most important question in the movie is about humanity - what makes us human? Human-like replicants are identified through testing and hunted by assumed human, Rick Deckard. The viewers may first identify with Deckard, but gradually, as the movie progresses, replicants start to seem more and more human. Deckard, hunting and killing replicants because of his job starts to question himself, and the difference between the humans and replicants.
The movie has influenced a lot of later films and video games. It has also somewhat big cult following, and has stood the test of time well, eventhough it wasn't a big hit when it was released. I have also participated in online discussions and interested in the fan community surrounding Blade Runner. The visual style and music still inspire me a lot, and the films and games that carry some sort of resemblance to Blade Runner always interest me, even though I am often disappointed with them. The movie is for me a some sort of standard that I compare science fiction movies to, and I haven't yet came across anything that comes close to it. In truth, perhaps I don't even want to.
The Convergence Culture
The first impression of the book was that it's much easier to read than I thought thanks to it's writing style. The most of the examples chosen were very familiar to me, but the phenomenas surrounding them were not that well known yet, and Jenkings has done a huge job in collecting and analyzing phenomena surrounding the media products of nowaday. The main examples are very diverse: reality-tv series, transmediated world of matrix, the consumer participation in Star Wars, consumer rights over Harry Potter and political spoofs in US politics. The examples are in my opinion so varied that the book can cater all kinds of readers but hardly anyone is already familiar with the phenomena reflected by examples in every chapter. Personally I found the chapter 4 about the grassroots creativity most familiar and interesting, especially it's latter part.
In chapter 4, Jenkins presents Star Wars is a franchise which both encourages grassroots participation and which is at the same time an example how copyright holders try to keep franchise the way they indended. Star Wars has been a subject of huge fan following for decades, and also a target for fan made movies of various filmmaking technologies. The copyright holders in media industry have divided into two stances, which Jenkings calls the prohibitionists and the collaborationists. Former have taken very strict stance to regulate and restrict fan made content, the latter see fans as important promoters and collaborators of franchise. In the new media(mmo games in the example of Star Wars) latter seems to be the way of the future, and in case of Star Wars MMO, fans were allowed to influence the creation of the Star Wars galaxies universe.
In case of MMO games, and perhaps in case of new media in general, the collaboration with customers seems to be the more beneficial stance in my opinion. In MMO game the franchise must be expanded by a huge amount of content, and in order to keep subscriptions running, players must feel the world as their own. Even though the Star Wars lore had been much larger than is visible in the movies, the alive, interactive world demands creation of new lore, and in that fan activity can be very useful. Tools for player interaction and activity creation are required in a modern MMO game, and licence holders cannot possibly regulate all this new content that users are creating.
Jenkins doesn't want to predict which of the stances will reign in the future even though he hopes that the collaborative stance will gain more foothold in the media industry. When games are considered, I tend to be more hopeful than Jenkins. In case of MMO games the media companies don't really have a choise to regulate content of a franchise because the player created content is essential in order to keep MMO world interesting. In the chapter, there is also discussion of modding games and how community created mods can prolong the life of a game and help to find out what kind of features players want from a game. Even though modding tools have been available for a quite long time at least in some games, I'd say that the modding tools and level editing is becoming more and more popular, and even a selling point for games for consoles as well. Another possible trends in gaming, online distribution and expansion pack releasing are not yet very well connected to user created content in my opinion, but approving and distributing high quality user created content as a part of official lore and game expansions could be highly profitable for game companies, even if they paid royalties to users that create content.
Media diary summary
Sorry I posted my assignments late because my invitation to this blog was expired already. Hope you have time to comment.
I wrote my media diary from 5th to 9th of December 2009 because I spent that weekend mostly at home and therefore used more time following media than usual weekend. At some weekends when I'm not home I hardly follow any media intentionally.
5.12.2009 Saturday
I powered on my computer somewhere around 12, checked emails and news. Also visited internet forums and browsed internet, read wikipedia etc. for interesting but probably useless information. On the evening I listened to music I played Dragon Age on PC for some time. I couldn't really concentrate on playing so I decided to watch a horror movie Pandorum on late evening. I didn't feel sleepy, perhaps because of the movie, and started reading discussion about the movie on IMDB.com, rather usual habit of mine when the movie is good or thought provoking. Later, around 03 at night I used skype to chat with my girlfriend. Rather unusual day for the lack of phone usage, especially on saturday.
6.12.2009 Sunday
Woke up late, powered on computer to check out mail & news from internet forums. Had a few phone calls and text messages, chatted a bit on facebook which I rarely use. On evening I read local newspaper along with other mail that was left on my mailbox. Had TV on for a while and watched Independence Day celebration for a while. Did some schoolwork on computer on the later evening and chatted via messenger and skype.
7.12.2009 Monday
Woke up bit before school so I didn't have time to spend on computer in the morning. Picked up mail when I got from school. On the evening I checked internet forums & youtube while eating(a habit) and checked bus&train schedules for wednesday. Used IRC, messenger and skype later on evening. Used phone for calling as well.
8.12.2009 Tuesday
I had time before the school so I checked mail and browsed internet while having a breakfast. On evening I did some schoolwork on pc, logged on to irc/msn/skype but didn't use much. I played Dragon age for around 5 hours on late evening. I don't usually have that much opportunities to concentrate on playing, because for me it takes a while before I can focus on game properly.
9.12.2009 Wednesday
Woke up relatively early, powered on PC and checked mail & browsed net and checked facebook. Got Christmas commercials via SMS. Checked train schedules online and prepared some reading & tv-series episodes for my laptop to have something to do while traveling. Left home for groupwork meeting, used phone to tell I'll be late :D. Read a bit of Ilta-Sanomat tabloid that was left on train, also had more phone calls. Used MP3 player as well.
Because of the weekend at home I used lot of computer, and because my travelling plans had delayed a bit I had Tuesday evening to concentrate on playing. I have some habits in my media use, but the time I spend on each media can vary greatly. One habit is checking emails and rarely facebook when I wake up and turn on the computer, continued by somewhat pointless internet browsing when I have time. Browsing forums and other sites on my main PC has become some sort of replacement for TV, I often do other things at the same time, like chat online with my laptop or eat, quite often I even browse some nonrelated sites amidst reading school related articles and books. I almost always search information and read discussions about media products that have gained my interest, spending even more time searching information than using the media product itself. That is the case with most movies, games and books I'm interested in.
I wrote my media diary from 5th to 9th of December 2009 because I spent that weekend mostly at home and therefore used more time following media than usual weekend. At some weekends when I'm not home I hardly follow any media intentionally.
5.12.2009 Saturday
I powered on my computer somewhere around 12, checked emails and news. Also visited internet forums and browsed internet, read wikipedia etc. for interesting but probably useless information. On the evening I listened to music I played Dragon Age on PC for some time. I couldn't really concentrate on playing so I decided to watch a horror movie Pandorum on late evening. I didn't feel sleepy, perhaps because of the movie, and started reading discussion about the movie on IMDB.com, rather usual habit of mine when the movie is good or thought provoking. Later, around 03 at night I used skype to chat with my girlfriend. Rather unusual day for the lack of phone usage, especially on saturday.
6.12.2009 Sunday
Woke up late, powered on computer to check out mail & news from internet forums. Had a few phone calls and text messages, chatted a bit on facebook which I rarely use. On evening I read local newspaper along with other mail that was left on my mailbox. Had TV on for a while and watched Independence Day celebration for a while. Did some schoolwork on computer on the later evening and chatted via messenger and skype.
7.12.2009 Monday
Woke up bit before school so I didn't have time to spend on computer in the morning. Picked up mail when I got from school. On the evening I checked internet forums & youtube while eating(a habit) and checked bus&train schedules for wednesday. Used IRC, messenger and skype later on evening. Used phone for calling as well.
8.12.2009 Tuesday
I had time before the school so I checked mail and browsed internet while having a breakfast. On evening I did some schoolwork on pc, logged on to irc/msn/skype but didn't use much. I played Dragon age for around 5 hours on late evening. I don't usually have that much opportunities to concentrate on playing, because for me it takes a while before I can focus on game properly.
9.12.2009 Wednesday
Woke up relatively early, powered on PC and checked mail & browsed net and checked facebook. Got Christmas commercials via SMS. Checked train schedules online and prepared some reading & tv-series episodes for my laptop to have something to do while traveling. Left home for groupwork meeting, used phone to tell I'll be late :D. Read a bit of Ilta-Sanomat tabloid that was left on train, also had more phone calls. Used MP3 player as well.
Because of the weekend at home I used lot of computer, and because my travelling plans had delayed a bit I had Tuesday evening to concentrate on playing. I have some habits in my media use, but the time I spend on each media can vary greatly. One habit is checking emails and rarely facebook when I wake up and turn on the computer, continued by somewhat pointless internet browsing when I have time. Browsing forums and other sites on my main PC has become some sort of replacement for TV, I often do other things at the same time, like chat online with my laptop or eat, quite often I even browse some nonrelated sites amidst reading school related articles and books. I almost always search information and read discussions about media products that have gained my interest, spending even more time searching information than using the media product itself. That is the case with most movies, games and books I'm interested in.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Convergence Culture
I'm really sorry for posting this piece late. The reason why I can only do it today is that this Blog is blocked in China, which made it ironically interesting when I' was trying to discuss the role of the participators here in this article. :D
In the book Convergence Culture, we are warmly led by Jenkins to his fantasy kingdom resulted from the collide of the new and old media. Here is the place where the power of the media producer and consumers collapse, giving out the glamorous sparkles. In his wonderland, everything is possible. Most of the prophesies mentioned by Nicolas, Negroponte in the book Being Digital are or on their way of becoming true.
In his book ,Jenkins mainly focus on discussing the relationships between the media convergence, participatory culture and collective intelligence.
By the word “convergence“ Jenkins meant “the flow of content across multiple media platform”, “ the cooperation between multiple media industries”, and “ the migratory behaviour of media audience who will go anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want”. Such idea could be referring to any fields.
Although the content of media in different countries depends on their own media system and economic system and political system, the consumers are always playing one of the most important roles as the participators. So “convergence” here is never the simple idea of the convergence of the multi-functional media technique, but the convert of culture. In such environment, the consumers are encouraged to pursue all the information they want, trying to find the connection between the information spread in around the media.
Jenkins' term “participatory culture” is used as the contrast of the early term of “ passive media spectator-ship”, describing the different roles played by the media producers and consumers. Also in his book, Jenkins explained that the participation of the consumers could be seen as the “collective intelligence”, which could part the media power source. It is impossible for every to know everything, however, with the combination of all the resources, we know all. Such idea is the basic of the collective intelligence. And the website like Wikipetia has proved the possibility of such idea.
I think what makes Jenkins' Convergence culture so special is that he clearly pointed out what kind of earth-shaking changes we are experiencing. We are used to live with the internet in our life, taking for granted for all the information we can get. However, we didn't realized that what kind of astonishing development has taken placed during the past decades when compared with the past. We should be aware of such amazing great changes and be sensitive of prosperous future. Being a part of such information evolution is so amazing.
In the book Convergence Culture, we are warmly led by Jenkins to his fantasy kingdom resulted from the collide of the new and old media. Here is the place where the power of the media producer and consumers collapse, giving out the glamorous sparkles. In his wonderland, everything is possible. Most of the prophesies mentioned by Nicolas, Negroponte in the book Being Digital are or on their way of becoming true.
In his book ,Jenkins mainly focus on discussing the relationships between the media convergence, participatory culture and collective intelligence.
By the word “convergence“ Jenkins meant “the flow of content across multiple media platform”, “ the cooperation between multiple media industries”, and “ the migratory behaviour of media audience who will go anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want”. Such idea could be referring to any fields.
Although the content of media in different countries depends on their own media system and economic system and political system, the consumers are always playing one of the most important roles as the participators. So “convergence” here is never the simple idea of the convergence of the multi-functional media technique, but the convert of culture. In such environment, the consumers are encouraged to pursue all the information they want, trying to find the connection between the information spread in around the media.
Jenkins' term “participatory culture” is used as the contrast of the early term of “ passive media spectator-ship”, describing the different roles played by the media producers and consumers. Also in his book, Jenkins explained that the participation of the consumers could be seen as the “collective intelligence”, which could part the media power source. It is impossible for every to know everything, however, with the combination of all the resources, we know all. Such idea is the basic of the collective intelligence. And the website like Wikipetia has proved the possibility of such idea.
I think what makes Jenkins' Convergence culture so special is that he clearly pointed out what kind of earth-shaking changes we are experiencing. We are used to live with the internet in our life, taking for granted for all the information we can get. However, we didn't realized that what kind of astonishing development has taken placed during the past decades when compared with the past. We should be aware of such amazing great changes and be sensitive of prosperous future. Being a part of such information evolution is so amazing.
Friday, January 15, 2010
The Convergence Culture
Henry Jenkins's "Convergence Culture" speaks of a shifting canon, changes of a border-line and an achievable utopia. Once upon a time, the information producers were a concentrated, almost monopolistic and mystified power; and one day, the devil came into the story with an increasing light of collective intelligence and this mystified shadow became visible. Now, we are in the middle of this fairy tale, old producers are fighting to wear their old clothes in a new fashion and the devil is increasing the light more collectively and more participatory to keep the power naked. Also, once the boundary between producers and the consumers were a border line, the devil occupied a territory between the producers and consumers and now both of them are migrating to this in-between land. And once there was an impossible utopia, there was a wish for an achievable utopia, something light as air as democracy, and the devil showed a way. Henry Jenkins is the story-teller of this fairy tale in his "Convergence Culture". He narrates that how the devil of new media makes this fairy tale to be real, to be possible to live in.
Although, the western producer-heroes tried to wear fascinating Sunday clothes, the saint-producers of my country had sword and a mystifies mask of smile and anger. The convergence culture was growing in my land from a luxury culture of high-class families to the plastic product of an ordinary daily tool. There was a collective attempts of the ignored people in using the plastic tools of new media. They could see each other and they were replacing the ignorant eyes of the government to the interactive none-neglecting and collective looks of each other. It showed its power in these months, in the protests against the mask of the violent saint, the government, in order to touch an achievable utopia of democracy. Youtube played an important role; armature film-makers of the streets, all the young people of 16 to 60 were making their own films, the adventure of Harry Potter in Tehran streets, and the young ladies were participating in reading Lolita in Tehran. They were posting their films; the kind devil of new media could occupy the territory and in this land the violent saint were naked. He was not saint anymore, He was killing the innocents in the streets in front of the millions eyes of a convergence culture. The saint is fighting now, he tries to make its own Photoshop, yes, He is using Photoshop to show he is many, the tricks of photoshoped images are obvious, therefore this many faces became one face, a minority of armed people who can not stop lying and the convergence culture can not stop revealing.
But, as Jenkins asserts, it is just the beginning; "we must continue to ask hard questions about the practice and institutions which are taking place. we need to be more attentive to the ethical dimensions by which we are generating knowledge, producing culture and engaging in politics together." (Convergence Culture, p. 295)
I wrote in my mini-research of the internet research course about a protest that took place last month; the protest of men who wear scarf to defend of an Iranian activist. Iranian government arrested Majid Tavakoli a student activist in Dec. 7 2009. The day after at 2 PM, a news agency website belongs to fundamental party and a supporter of the current coup published a photo of him with scarf that obviously has been taken in jail to humiliate him as a male in Patriarchy culture of Iranian government. Few hours later, about 6 PM, a female Iranian young journalist who lives in London posted a note in her weblog and suggested to Iranian men to wear scarves in response. She posted a sample photo of one of her male friend in her post. In response to her idea the protest began in Facebook. I myself posted my own picture in my profile, just after looking at a photo shared by a friend of mine in Facebook, it was two hours after the journalist posted her idea. During the night, the action of posting men-pictures with scarves was completely funny and the females were commenting, liking and encouraging the males. The day after some non-Iranian supporters joined the protest and an Iranian Rapper posted his portrait in scarf and in few hour Iranian academics in USA started to join and post their pictures. VOA talked about this protest in 9 Dec and CNN wrote about it in 14 of Dec. I assert that "“Men wear scarves” protest is a grassroots protest. Participants are varying in ages, nationalities, socioeconomic status and ideologies from Islamic-left to Marxists and liberals. There is no leading party who manage the strategies of this protest, in other word this a distributed expert system of citizens who use social media to express their believes and accompany within a wider protest called Green movement that defines its strategies in media field by “each citizen a media” slogan which is a mixture of face to face propaganda systems in oral culture and online social media as ‘do-it-yourself’ media systems.
"This protest is anti-patriarchy and shows the canon shifts of values in a culture. Before the coup it was not acceptable for men to wear as women but this protest expresses itself in an anti-patriarchy quality reversing the hegemonic values dictated by the power. A man has been arrested and the power used women clothes to humiliate him and a woman suggested a simple reverse action and men accepted."
Yes, this is collective intelligence. This is the power of my kind devil, the Convergence Culture where old and new media collide.
Although, the western producer-heroes tried to wear fascinating Sunday clothes, the saint-producers of my country had sword and a mystifies mask of smile and anger. The convergence culture was growing in my land from a luxury culture of high-class families to the plastic product of an ordinary daily tool. There was a collective attempts of the ignored people in using the plastic tools of new media. They could see each other and they were replacing the ignorant eyes of the government to the interactive none-neglecting and collective looks of each other. It showed its power in these months, in the protests against the mask of the violent saint, the government, in order to touch an achievable utopia of democracy. Youtube played an important role; armature film-makers of the streets, all the young people of 16 to 60 were making their own films, the adventure of Harry Potter in Tehran streets, and the young ladies were participating in reading Lolita in Tehran. They were posting their films; the kind devil of new media could occupy the territory and in this land the violent saint were naked. He was not saint anymore, He was killing the innocents in the streets in front of the millions eyes of a convergence culture. The saint is fighting now, he tries to make its own Photoshop, yes, He is using Photoshop to show he is many, the tricks of photoshoped images are obvious, therefore this many faces became one face, a minority of armed people who can not stop lying and the convergence culture can not stop revealing.
But, as Jenkins asserts, it is just the beginning; "we must continue to ask hard questions about the practice and institutions which are taking place. we need to be more attentive to the ethical dimensions by which we are generating knowledge, producing culture and engaging in politics together." (Convergence Culture, p. 295)
I wrote in my mini-research of the internet research course about a protest that took place last month; the protest of men who wear scarf to defend of an Iranian activist. Iranian government arrested Majid Tavakoli a student activist in Dec. 7 2009. The day after at 2 PM, a news agency website belongs to fundamental party and a supporter of the current coup published a photo of him with scarf that obviously has been taken in jail to humiliate him as a male in Patriarchy culture of Iranian government. Few hours later, about 6 PM, a female Iranian young journalist who lives in London posted a note in her weblog and suggested to Iranian men to wear scarves in response. She posted a sample photo of one of her male friend in her post. In response to her idea the protest began in Facebook. I myself posted my own picture in my profile, just after looking at a photo shared by a friend of mine in Facebook, it was two hours after the journalist posted her idea. During the night, the action of posting men-pictures with scarves was completely funny and the females were commenting, liking and encouraging the males. The day after some non-Iranian supporters joined the protest and an Iranian Rapper posted his portrait in scarf and in few hour Iranian academics in USA started to join and post their pictures. VOA talked about this protest in 9 Dec and CNN wrote about it in 14 of Dec. I assert that "“Men wear scarves” protest is a grassroots protest. Participants are varying in ages, nationalities, socioeconomic status and ideologies from Islamic-left to Marxists and liberals. There is no leading party who manage the strategies of this protest, in other word this a distributed expert system of citizens who use social media to express their believes and accompany within a wider protest called Green movement that defines its strategies in media field by “each citizen a media” slogan which is a mixture of face to face propaganda systems in oral culture and online social media as ‘do-it-yourself’ media systems.
"This protest is anti-patriarchy and shows the canon shifts of values in a culture. Before the coup it was not acceptable for men to wear as women but this protest expresses itself in an anti-patriarchy quality reversing the hegemonic values dictated by the power. A man has been arrested and the power used women clothes to humiliate him and a woman suggested a simple reverse action and men accepted."
Yes, this is collective intelligence. This is the power of my kind devil, the Convergence Culture where old and new media collide.
Convergence Culture
Henry Jenkins is "an old friend of mine" so to speak, as I read quite a lot of his earlier writings back in 2005 when I was working on my BA Thesis. In the first years of the second millennium he was, as much as I remember, an only well-known authority on the field of videogame theory who bull-headedly tried to convince the public that videogames are a new art form, more precisely – an art form of 21th century. Now it seems that the abovementioned issue has lost its relevance; it looks like scholars have reached the consensus that videogames are an intriguing research topic in itself, even if they are something "less" than art (the divisions between the high culture and low culture are never really dead until they stop existing in people's heads).
Jenkins' texts are easily accessible to people whose background is in humanities (on contrary to some other new media theoreticians). It may be that his own background in journalism is partly to blame on that. In my opinion, his overall writing style could often be characterized as journalistic: it is clear that he loves catchy titles, for example. However, being journalistic is not always the good thing. For example, jumping from an analysis to a reportage (he does it in the introduction of a book) is in my opinion extremely annoying. When I am reading a supposedly scholarly book, I do not want to be "entertained" by a long overview of some convention that goes on pages and looks like it is copied from a local paper: I would like a point to be made and then, hopefully some conclusions as well. Fortunately, both points and conclusions can be found from the book later on.
Even if Jenkins says in the beginning of the book that it is hard to say something definite about the current and coming trends in what he calls a "convergence culture" as everything is in such a rapid change, it still seems that Jenkins himself represents a kind of techno-optimist in this debate. For example, Jenkins is enthusiastically describing so called "knowledge communities" in the first chapter of a book that tells us about the fans of the reality-show publishing spoilers about the "Survivor". I would present a question: who can vouch for these "knowledge communities" that they really are to function as "knowledge", not for example "rumor", "blind faith" or "mass hysteria" communities – assuming that all or most of the members of these communities are anonymous and really never need to take real responsibility of the information they're providing? Jenkins speculates over the political power this kind of "spoiling" could theoretically have, if many people would work as motivated on some other issues than reality-show, but does not rise that question, assuming that the grains of truth will be eventually washed out from the groundless speculations. I suspect that this would not always be the case.
Also in the later chapters of the book Jenkins has picked out the success stories of "convergence culture" (the selection of case studies in itself is excellent, of course). Even if he mentions that new kind of media users, (active users on contrary to old passive users) are sometimes cooperating with corporate powers and sometimes seem to be waging a war with them, after finishing Jenkins' book the reader is still left with the impression that the new, participating users will "win the war" and have the future to themselves. As we know for the recent developments (media mogul Rupert Murdoch's wish to remove the indexes of "his articles" from the Google search engine, for example), there is actually no way of predicting which directions the producer/user relations will actually take.
Jenkins also seems to believe that extensive file sharing is something that cannot be stopped or reversed (talking of music industry) but in the practice file sharing sites are sued and closed constantly. Examples of warning are made out of people who have downloaded some music files and then sued and fined with hundreds of thousands dollars. Is it not so impossible to imagine an Internet now, I think, that would be totally controlled by corporations and where everything that has any value (news value, intellectual value etc) would be charged. If this anti-utopia should come to true one day, what would happen to Jenkins' convergence culture, I wonder.
Jenkins' texts are easily accessible to people whose background is in humanities (on contrary to some other new media theoreticians). It may be that his own background in journalism is partly to blame on that. In my opinion, his overall writing style could often be characterized as journalistic: it is clear that he loves catchy titles, for example. However, being journalistic is not always the good thing. For example, jumping from an analysis to a reportage (he does it in the introduction of a book) is in my opinion extremely annoying. When I am reading a supposedly scholarly book, I do not want to be "entertained" by a long overview of some convention that goes on pages and looks like it is copied from a local paper: I would like a point to be made and then, hopefully some conclusions as well. Fortunately, both points and conclusions can be found from the book later on.
Even if Jenkins says in the beginning of the book that it is hard to say something definite about the current and coming trends in what he calls a "convergence culture" as everything is in such a rapid change, it still seems that Jenkins himself represents a kind of techno-optimist in this debate. For example, Jenkins is enthusiastically describing so called "knowledge communities" in the first chapter of a book that tells us about the fans of the reality-show publishing spoilers about the "Survivor". I would present a question: who can vouch for these "knowledge communities" that they really are to function as "knowledge", not for example "rumor", "blind faith" or "mass hysteria" communities – assuming that all or most of the members of these communities are anonymous and really never need to take real responsibility of the information they're providing? Jenkins speculates over the political power this kind of "spoiling" could theoretically have, if many people would work as motivated on some other issues than reality-show, but does not rise that question, assuming that the grains of truth will be eventually washed out from the groundless speculations. I suspect that this would not always be the case.
Also in the later chapters of the book Jenkins has picked out the success stories of "convergence culture" (the selection of case studies in itself is excellent, of course). Even if he mentions that new kind of media users, (active users on contrary to old passive users) are sometimes cooperating with corporate powers and sometimes seem to be waging a war with them, after finishing Jenkins' book the reader is still left with the impression that the new, participating users will "win the war" and have the future to themselves. As we know for the recent developments (media mogul Rupert Murdoch's wish to remove the indexes of "his articles" from the Google search engine, for example), there is actually no way of predicting which directions the producer/user relations will actually take.
Jenkins also seems to believe that extensive file sharing is something that cannot be stopped or reversed (talking of music industry) but in the practice file sharing sites are sued and closed constantly. Examples of warning are made out of people who have downloaded some music files and then sued and fined with hundreds of thousands dollars. Is it not so impossible to imagine an Internet now, I think, that would be totally controlled by corporations and where everything that has any value (news value, intellectual value etc) would be charged. If this anti-utopia should come to true one day, what would happen to Jenkins' convergence culture, I wonder.
summary of media diary, 19.12-26.12
No matter which day I chose to talk about my media use after the election coup in Iran. I can not be far from my laptop. When I was in Iran, internet was the only possibility to find out the true news about the protests because all sorts of media were being controlled by the government. It was difficult to reach to the websites due to filtering and low speed of internet and therefore it was more time consuming. I noted my media use here in Finland for a week between 19 of December and 26 of December. I woke up by a telephone call in about 3 AM and a friend of mine from Iran told me that Montazei, the spiritual father of the Green Movement, passed away. Sorrows became nonsense when you were losing your own friend each day in streets. I just woke up and sat in front of my laptop and wrote an essay.
Almost 16 hours per day I was using internet for different purposes in that week. Using social media, like twitter and Facebook;I was posting the news of the street, the demonstrations and analysis of the events there. I was negotiating with friends on the interpretation of the events to find the best strategy. It was the calendar of each day: Waking up at eight, sitting in front of laptop at half past eight, reading the news and analysis of last night that take about two hours, following twits of the day and posting best of them on my own account in parallel to other works, writing my own analysis and essay about the event of the day, posting them on my own blog, sending the link of my posts on social medias and also to important online daily newspapers, analysis of the feedback of the readers, being tired of politics in all afternoons, finding some good clips and musics, sharing them with friends on Facebook, translating a new poem and posting it to my poetical website, coming back to politics and being tired until the sleep comes. Eating and drinking was the only possibilities that makes me to be far away from internet. My mobile rings few, just for my friends in Europe and sometimes for important news from my country, Iran. Mostly I have my calls on skype, and I use skype to call my friends and family in Iran. I watch important news TV channels on Internet. I translate poetry on my laptop, I rarely use papers, It is just my own poems that force me to use papers. I watch movies on my computer, I listen music there. In that week I just left the house two times to buy some foods. No friends I met, No where I went.
There are many difference in the nature of each media in internet. Facebook is a full traffic highway. You have to be fast and read quickly, and to response quickly when you are protesting.
Many friends are reading you, therefore you have to response to many and you have to comment on many. TV channels are relaxing, you can listen to them when you are eating and you have not to answer, you are alone. Youtube is funny, you find your favorite clips there, first you listen and enjoy and the you try to share your discovery with your friends. Translating poetry is my joy, I like to find the best words, the best poem related to my own feeling and also to the events of my country, I can be calm because I can do something creative in the heart of traffic. So, it is relaxing and it brings a kind of self-confidence that you are not losing yourself in the traffic of the events and news. For choosing a poem, I used four times internet and three times the anthologies I have in print. The end of my media diary was a stressing day, I knew that tomorrow there will be a demonstration and the government will be so violent. Yes, I was right, 38 have died, two of my friends and 1100 have been arrested. It is a kind of responsibility to humanity for me to use my own possibilities in order to help my people; Alas, now this is possible just by internet.
Almost 16 hours per day I was using internet for different purposes in that week. Using social media, like twitter and Facebook;I was posting the news of the street, the demonstrations and analysis of the events there. I was negotiating with friends on the interpretation of the events to find the best strategy. It was the calendar of each day: Waking up at eight, sitting in front of laptop at half past eight, reading the news and analysis of last night that take about two hours, following twits of the day and posting best of them on my own account in parallel to other works, writing my own analysis and essay about the event of the day, posting them on my own blog, sending the link of my posts on social medias and also to important online daily newspapers, analysis of the feedback of the readers, being tired of politics in all afternoons, finding some good clips and musics, sharing them with friends on Facebook, translating a new poem and posting it to my poetical website, coming back to politics and being tired until the sleep comes. Eating and drinking was the only possibilities that makes me to be far away from internet. My mobile rings few, just for my friends in Europe and sometimes for important news from my country, Iran. Mostly I have my calls on skype, and I use skype to call my friends and family in Iran. I watch important news TV channels on Internet. I translate poetry on my laptop, I rarely use papers, It is just my own poems that force me to use papers. I watch movies on my computer, I listen music there. In that week I just left the house two times to buy some foods. No friends I met, No where I went.
There are many difference in the nature of each media in internet. Facebook is a full traffic highway. You have to be fast and read quickly, and to response quickly when you are protesting.
Many friends are reading you, therefore you have to response to many and you have to comment on many. TV channels are relaxing, you can listen to them when you are eating and you have not to answer, you are alone. Youtube is funny, you find your favorite clips there, first you listen and enjoy and the you try to share your discovery with your friends. Translating poetry is my joy, I like to find the best words, the best poem related to my own feeling and also to the events of my country, I can be calm because I can do something creative in the heart of traffic. So, it is relaxing and it brings a kind of self-confidence that you are not losing yourself in the traffic of the events and news. For choosing a poem, I used four times internet and three times the anthologies I have in print. The end of my media diary was a stressing day, I knew that tomorrow there will be a demonstration and the government will be so violent. Yes, I was right, 38 have died, two of my friends and 1100 have been arrested. It is a kind of responsibility to humanity for me to use my own possibilities in order to help my people; Alas, now this is possible just by internet.
Summary of media diary 23.12.-27.12.
When it comes to media usage I’m a slave of habits. On weekdays I start using media almost instantly after waking up. I actually use both my cell phone and my computer as an alarm to wake up. Both are set to go off at the same time from monday to friday. I know this sounds slightly humorous at least but it’s an effective way to get up.
During breakfast I check my emails and facebook and on most mornings check up on some blogs. I use an add-on called Feedly in Firefox to follow up on my favourite blogs. A bad habit I’ve nurtured during the last couple of years is turning the tv on in the mornings. The television is usually on untill I leave my appartment. While I’m not actively watching any shows I like to have it on to catch some news and maybe the weather, sometimes the random nonsense reality show. I wouldn’t call my behaviour actively following the media but instead more of a routine I’ve grown into.
Later on during the day I might read magazines at the library, I specially like art and design magazines which I also buy, perhaps once a month. I don’t subscribe to any magazines or newspapers, but I do read Helsingin Sanomat daily where ever I might find it.
In the evening I’m more selective when it comes to tv. I usually don’t have the tv on all the time, only when there’s something I want to watch. My laptop is usually on and I spend alot of time reading blogs, sometimes blogging using Tumblr and instant messaging or using Skype. I also search for interesting content online using another Firefox add-on, Stumbleupon.
The period I kept the media diary was during Christmas. The first day was pretty much as desribed above but on the 24th I left for my family’s cabin and stayed there over new years. While there is no internet, a television remains and I did my best to keep it turned off. During this period I also listened to alot of radio, maybe 3 hours daily. I prefer non-commercial radio.
On all of the days documented I read fiction before going to bed. This is something that I've learned in the past six months and intend to keep it up.
During breakfast I check my emails and facebook and on most mornings check up on some blogs. I use an add-on called Feedly in Firefox to follow up on my favourite blogs. A bad habit I’ve nurtured during the last couple of years is turning the tv on in the mornings. The television is usually on untill I leave my appartment. While I’m not actively watching any shows I like to have it on to catch some news and maybe the weather, sometimes the random nonsense reality show. I wouldn’t call my behaviour actively following the media but instead more of a routine I’ve grown into.
Later on during the day I might read magazines at the library, I specially like art and design magazines which I also buy, perhaps once a month. I don’t subscribe to any magazines or newspapers, but I do read Helsingin Sanomat daily where ever I might find it.
In the evening I’m more selective when it comes to tv. I usually don’t have the tv on all the time, only when there’s something I want to watch. My laptop is usually on and I spend alot of time reading blogs, sometimes blogging using Tumblr and instant messaging or using Skype. I also search for interesting content online using another Firefox add-on, Stumbleupon.
The period I kept the media diary was during Christmas. The first day was pretty much as desribed above but on the 24th I left for my family’s cabin and stayed there over new years. While there is no internet, a television remains and I did my best to keep it turned off. During this period I also listened to alot of radio, maybe 3 hours daily. I prefer non-commercial radio.
On all of the days documented I read fiction before going to bed. This is something that I've learned in the past six months and intend to keep it up.
Identity and fandom
When I think to my life, I can say that I was not a fan of any one, But certainly I was a fan of some forms of being, some ways that let me experience an ideal understanding of myself within them. Yes, I can say that I am a fan of poetry. But, what is poetry? The answer changed from my sixth up to now and for sure it will change in future as well. There were people that I liked them because of my understanding of their existence, always there was someone who seemed to be a concrete instant of my understanding of the ideal. But knowing the changing essence of the answer, I could not be a fan of him/she. I was 16 when the religions collapsed in me and I found out that I can experience poetry in practice rather than ideas and concepts. I tried to meet many poets in my life, almost the bests in my definition of that time. I looked at many fans, I was not a fan. The poets knew, therefore they trusted me more than their fans. I was 19 when I learned the ways of online publishing. I started to publish my favorite poets online. Later on I became a manager of many websites for poets; poets of different ages, different countries.
Their fans were writing love letters. They were asking for meetings, to touch more of their private life. It was a matter of touch, a kind of erotic passion to something you love. I could understand them, they would like to touch themselves, but they were projecting themselves to an image, a beautiful, powerful image of themselves. Nichita Stanescu, a Romanian poet says:” poetry is not a tear/it is the weeping itself/the weeping of an uninvented eye/the tear of the eye/of the one who must be beautiful”. He defines poetry with a philosophical agony, uninventedness and a lost identity which is the beauty as an ideal. I could see the erotic passion of people to a beautiful invention of themselves in someone else; Someone that brings the possibility of inventing this kind of beauty, the possibility that exists in their gesture as a dear unknown, in their adventurous life. Therefore, fans were living in a sphere of impossibility. They loved their impossibility which became possible in someone else. The poets were totally different from the images of the fans. I could see that I was not a fan because I liked my own possibilities. I liked to make the impossibilities to be possible for me and by me; not through someone else, not by imagination, but as something real; touchable.
I started online publishing of my own poetry, translations, essays and notes from ten years ago. Now, I have my own fans. They write letters, love letters. Every time I am facing with these questions: "Who am I when you are calling me and who are you?"Yes, I wrote about an ideal understanding of yourself in the beginning; But this is not a fixed ideal; it is not a utopia. It is just a changing horizon as for Husserl. I am looking for myself, and my fans are looking for me. It seems we are going to the same direction, to a destiny that could be possible by me as an instant, a concrete existence of a changing ideal. But it is so simplifying answer. My fans are looking for themselves through me. But why me? I put the name of my website as "A name for Nobody". I wrote that I am nobody. I am looking for something to name me. For me, it is poetry that could name me, somewhere, sometime, but not now. The fans are looking for their own names, But I am not the one who could name them, who could call them with their own names. And this is why we are united by an alias name and we are far from a true name...
Their fans were writing love letters. They were asking for meetings, to touch more of their private life. It was a matter of touch, a kind of erotic passion to something you love. I could understand them, they would like to touch themselves, but they were projecting themselves to an image, a beautiful, powerful image of themselves. Nichita Stanescu, a Romanian poet says:” poetry is not a tear/it is the weeping itself/the weeping of an uninvented eye/the tear of the eye/of the one who must be beautiful”. He defines poetry with a philosophical agony, uninventedness and a lost identity which is the beauty as an ideal. I could see the erotic passion of people to a beautiful invention of themselves in someone else; Someone that brings the possibility of inventing this kind of beauty, the possibility that exists in their gesture as a dear unknown, in their adventurous life. Therefore, fans were living in a sphere of impossibility. They loved their impossibility which became possible in someone else. The poets were totally different from the images of the fans. I could see that I was not a fan because I liked my own possibilities. I liked to make the impossibilities to be possible for me and by me; not through someone else, not by imagination, but as something real; touchable.
I started online publishing of my own poetry, translations, essays and notes from ten years ago. Now, I have my own fans. They write letters, love letters. Every time I am facing with these questions: "Who am I when you are calling me and who are you?"Yes, I wrote about an ideal understanding of yourself in the beginning; But this is not a fixed ideal; it is not a utopia. It is just a changing horizon as for Husserl. I am looking for myself, and my fans are looking for me. It seems we are going to the same direction, to a destiny that could be possible by me as an instant, a concrete existence of a changing ideal. But it is so simplifying answer. My fans are looking for themselves through me. But why me? I put the name of my website as "A name for Nobody". I wrote that I am nobody. I am looking for something to name me. For me, it is poetry that could name me, somewhere, sometime, but not now. The fans are looking for their own names, But I am not the one who could name them, who could call them with their own names. And this is why we are united by an alias name and we are far from a true name...
Convergence culture
In his book “Convergence Culture” Henry Jenkins shapes the outlines of what media are today and where the media industry is heading to. He looks at the field from a point of view that emphasises the relationship between content and user. The main idea he proposes is that we should start to look at media differently. Or, in fact realize that the way we look at media today is not entirely compatible with the parameters of modern media.
Instead of seeing the industry as a technologically driven machinery that produces products that are in turn consumed by the consumer it should be looked at as a whole where each part forms an almost autonomous unit thus taking a larger role in shaping the product. In fact, this is to say that contemporary media shouldn’t be looked at “merely” as an industry but a phenomena that is not bound to distinct linear components. Technology has provided the means to allow new meanings and connotations for media, but the field has changed so that relying on one device or a singular medium is no longer the standard. Similarly the role of the consumer has changed into a more active role regarding the end product.
Jenkins uses well known examples from the fields of film, television, gaming and internet to portray the flow of media today. The cases discussed are from popular culture and therefore the reader is most likely to be familiar with each subject if not a fan of the particular subculture represented as an individual case. Jenkins' text is pleasant to read and the way each chapter is constructed is easy to comprehend even for someone not familiar with the subject. However, I must say that I found the text to be unnecessarily repetitive at times.
Personally I was well acquainted with most of the examples but found the chapter discussing The Matrix most interesting. In this chapter Jenkins talks about transmedia storytelling and how narrative can be created using multiple platforms. I’dd seen the Matrix movies including the animations and found them interesting but had not thought about the consept beyond the surface, untill having read Jenkins. With the fact that the plot is told through various media and so that each medium gives something extra in to shaping the fictional universe, the case all in all does seem more appealing.
Another interesting fact to me is that most of the individual products were given average or below the average reviews. This is particularly true when looking at the games for instance “Enter the Matrix”. In this review by 1UP.com the game is described as being “...a better movie than it is a game.”. Here the rewiever also refers to the film “ The Matrix Reloaded” as bearing more similarities to a video game than to a film. On a side note, it should also be said that the issue here is with game reviews emphasizing namely the game and often not how it relates to its context.
The pruducers obviously wanted to create a vast fictional universe and to achieve this they used various different platforms, with each unit building on what the others had achieved. In doing this they might have created a whole that functions well, but individually the parts may have ended up lacking in some respects. Looking at this in the context of Jenkins’ book and particularly the title with emphasis on convergence, I began to think about how these issues relating to transmedia in the context of The Matrix would be solved today. Eleven years after the first release in the saga, how would The Matrix look and feel if it were released in 2010?
Instead of seeing the industry as a technologically driven machinery that produces products that are in turn consumed by the consumer it should be looked at as a whole where each part forms an almost autonomous unit thus taking a larger role in shaping the product. In fact, this is to say that contemporary media shouldn’t be looked at “merely” as an industry but a phenomena that is not bound to distinct linear components. Technology has provided the means to allow new meanings and connotations for media, but the field has changed so that relying on one device or a singular medium is no longer the standard. Similarly the role of the consumer has changed into a more active role regarding the end product.
Jenkins uses well known examples from the fields of film, television, gaming and internet to portray the flow of media today. The cases discussed are from popular culture and therefore the reader is most likely to be familiar with each subject if not a fan of the particular subculture represented as an individual case. Jenkins' text is pleasant to read and the way each chapter is constructed is easy to comprehend even for someone not familiar with the subject. However, I must say that I found the text to be unnecessarily repetitive at times.
Personally I was well acquainted with most of the examples but found the chapter discussing The Matrix most interesting. In this chapter Jenkins talks about transmedia storytelling and how narrative can be created using multiple platforms. I’dd seen the Matrix movies including the animations and found them interesting but had not thought about the consept beyond the surface, untill having read Jenkins. With the fact that the plot is told through various media and so that each medium gives something extra in to shaping the fictional universe, the case all in all does seem more appealing.
Another interesting fact to me is that most of the individual products were given average or below the average reviews. This is particularly true when looking at the games for instance “Enter the Matrix”. In this review by 1UP.com the game is described as being “...a better movie than it is a game.”. Here the rewiever also refers to the film “ The Matrix Reloaded” as bearing more similarities to a video game than to a film. On a side note, it should also be said that the issue here is with game reviews emphasizing namely the game and often not how it relates to its context.
The pruducers obviously wanted to create a vast fictional universe and to achieve this they used various different platforms, with each unit building on what the others had achieved. In doing this they might have created a whole that functions well, but individually the parts may have ended up lacking in some respects. Looking at this in the context of Jenkins’ book and particularly the title with emphasis on convergence, I began to think about how these issues relating to transmedia in the context of The Matrix would be solved today. Eleven years after the first release in the saga, how would The Matrix look and feel if it were released in 2010?
Concernign calling myself a fan
I’ve been a fan of science fiction for a long time, from since I was a kid. For me it’s never been an issue of whether or not I feel I’m well educated enough about a certain character or if I dress up to look like them. For me liking it is enough. Then again there is a difference between watching the news and weather on tv and following my favourite sci-fi series. Being a fan does include a bit more effort, but I don't think that in order to be a fan one must also be fanatic.
Looking at the genres of science fiction and fantasy there is a definite trend that focuses on the fans dressing up as characters from their favourite fiction piece. Talking about it as a trend is actually not accurate as this has been around for some time. With contemporary science fiction I would date this around the time the first instalment in the Star Wars saga was released in 1977. At least I remember seeing clips of the premiere with fans dressed up as some of the characters in the movie. I think that the market had a large role in shaping this tendency. The market works with the producing body to create trends that are meant to sell. With this in mind one starts to think if a fan has the ability to resist certain trends and the commercial exploitation of a creative work that comes with trends. What does it mean to a fan when the essence of his fandom becomes a trend?
One of my favourite science fiction products is the re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica. With the original series done in the 70’s and 80’s the new release started out in 2003. I’ve often thought what it is that makes this a good show. Everything from music to acting and the plot just seem to work. So, instead of going through the plot I think in this case it is important to ask why this is good science fiction. To me good sci-fi needs to provide something that other genres might not deal with or a new viewpoint into a familiar subject. In other words: a sit-com that takes place in outer space is not enough. A while ago I found this post that discusses recent sci-fi movies in the context of popular science fiction cinema overall.
With sci-fi there is usually a central theme that the piece is built on. In BSG a core theme focuses on human-machine interaction and robotics (a classic theme in sci-fi) which through the show translates into a common discussion concerning otherness.
The show also uses transmedia storytelling similarly as with Jenkins' example of The Matrix. In this instance Youtube was used to broadcast webisodes and podcasts by the series’ creator Ronald D. Moore following each episode gave insight into each tv episode. Also two tv-movies were made and after the show ended a spin off was announced.
Looking at the genres of science fiction and fantasy there is a definite trend that focuses on the fans dressing up as characters from their favourite fiction piece. Talking about it as a trend is actually not accurate as this has been around for some time. With contemporary science fiction I would date this around the time the first instalment in the Star Wars saga was released in 1977. At least I remember seeing clips of the premiere with fans dressed up as some of the characters in the movie. I think that the market had a large role in shaping this tendency. The market works with the producing body to create trends that are meant to sell. With this in mind one starts to think if a fan has the ability to resist certain trends and the commercial exploitation of a creative work that comes with trends. What does it mean to a fan when the essence of his fandom becomes a trend?
One of my favourite science fiction products is the re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica. With the original series done in the 70’s and 80’s the new release started out in 2003. I’ve often thought what it is that makes this a good show. Everything from music to acting and the plot just seem to work. So, instead of going through the plot I think in this case it is important to ask why this is good science fiction. To me good sci-fi needs to provide something that other genres might not deal with or a new viewpoint into a familiar subject. In other words: a sit-com that takes place in outer space is not enough. A while ago I found this post that discusses recent sci-fi movies in the context of popular science fiction cinema overall.
With sci-fi there is usually a central theme that the piece is built on. In BSG a core theme focuses on human-machine interaction and robotics (a classic theme in sci-fi) which through the show translates into a common discussion concerning otherness.
The show also uses transmedia storytelling similarly as with Jenkins' example of The Matrix. In this instance Youtube was used to broadcast webisodes and podcasts by the series’ creator Ronald D. Moore following each episode gave insight into each tv episode. Also two tv-movies were made and after the show ended a spin off was announced.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Liking vs. fan vs. obsession?
I totally agree with Ave and her definition of fandom. I can say that there are many things I like but I don’t excessively spend time with following and “worshipping”. At the moment I like to listen to the band Gossip or The Noisettes but besides the singers name (or not even that) I don’t know anything about the band. Same with all the other artists I like and listen to, mainly for the sake of good music.
The closest I may come to being a fan is the TV series Scrubs. Scrubs is a comedy series playing in a hospital. I love Scrubs and watched all nine seasons from the beginning to the very end at least twice. I had a time when I watched about 10 episodes per week but only because they are all available for online streaming. If I hadn’t found the episodes online I certainly would never have watched all of them. Before I saw them online I watched them when I happened to come across them by accident on telly. I still love to watch it every now and then even though I know it. I had a few occasions when I ended up watching best-of-clips on YouTube, like the best scenes of a certain character or the best quotes. Or I tried to find certain quotes or the favorite ones of other viewers. Also if I learn that new episodes are online I definitely want to watch them but this often happened only weeks later when I actually remembered that I could have a look if there have been any updates.
But again, I don’t collect anything or know more than the content of the series. I don’t even know all the names of the leading actors; I rather watch it because I love the humor and the theme of the show. The same happened when I discovered the TV show How I met Your Mother last September and I ended up watching at least one or two episodes almost daily.
The closest I may come to being a fan is the TV series Scrubs. Scrubs is a comedy series playing in a hospital. I love Scrubs and watched all nine seasons from the beginning to the very end at least twice. I had a time when I watched about 10 episodes per week but only because they are all available for online streaming. If I hadn’t found the episodes online I certainly would never have watched all of them. Before I saw them online I watched them when I happened to come across them by accident on telly. I still love to watch it every now and then even though I know it. I had a few occasions when I ended up watching best-of-clips on YouTube, like the best scenes of a certain character or the best quotes. Or I tried to find certain quotes or the favorite ones of other viewers. Also if I learn that new episodes are online I definitely want to watch them but this often happened only weeks later when I actually remembered that I could have a look if there have been any updates.
But again, I don’t collect anything or know more than the content of the series. I don’t even know all the names of the leading actors; I rather watch it because I love the humor and the theme of the show. The same happened when I discovered the TV show How I met Your Mother last September and I ended up watching at least one or two episodes almost daily.
Exhaustive Media Usage
In haven’t realized how much time I actually spend in front of the computer until I kept track of it. Especially the time before Christmas (Thursday the 10th – Monday 14th) was quite busy. In average I spent more than 9 hours in front of my laptop. I was writing on essays, mainly using Word, pdf texts and and online dictionary.
When I have internet access I spend about 30mins to read or browse through online newspapers and I check my emails about 2 or 3 times per day. I also have to say that even though I rejected it at first, I became a regular but, I would say, rather passive FaceBook user which takes another 10 to 30min daily.
I also have been without a TV for the last couple of years and at the moment I rarely watch any movies rather more TV series which during the week does not take more than 2 or 3 hours altogether. About 2 or 3 times a week, mostly if I don’t have anything else to do I watch the news online. The time I spend watching things does not increase much during the weekend. The weekend of the 13th/14th of December was a huge exception when I spend about 13 hours (also Friday and Thursday) on the computer doing assignments and research. I mainly used word, google and online dictionaries, with checking my mails as distraction every once in a while. I can say that it was one of the most exhausting weekends I had so far.
It also became a frequent habit to turn on the computer every morning and check my emails or read the news if I have time before leaving the house. In general my laptop is the main source of media which I use. I have a bunch of books I want/have to read but depending on how I feel I can spend about 30min to a few hours reading in them. My mobile phone is too old to do much with it and it mainly serves the purpose as my alarm clock.
A big contrast to my usual habits have been the last 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year, the time I spend in Germany, and which I regarded as really refreshing because I hardly had any internet access, hence using my computer which I have with me became more or less useless. I don’t have any movies or games on it and the only times I used it was when I wanted to listen to music. The refreshing thing is that without internet I don’t have the urge to check emails and FB, only did it once a week when I had the possibility. And if I had internet access as during the last 3 days I did not feel like using it for anything else than former. During the last weeks, my media use was restricted to an estimated 6 hours of TV (news and movies) weekly and reading newspapers and magazines. Also my mobile phone was broken so one could say that for 2 weeks I was pretty much “unplugged” from any new media and I must say I really enjoyed it having plenty of time for reading books and magazines and I also listened to the radio about 2 hours daily which I don’t usually do.
When I have internet access I spend about 30mins to read or browse through online newspapers and I check my emails about 2 or 3 times per day. I also have to say that even though I rejected it at first, I became a regular but, I would say, rather passive FaceBook user which takes another 10 to 30min daily.
I also have been without a TV for the last couple of years and at the moment I rarely watch any movies rather more TV series which during the week does not take more than 2 or 3 hours altogether. About 2 or 3 times a week, mostly if I don’t have anything else to do I watch the news online. The time I spend watching things does not increase much during the weekend. The weekend of the 13th/14th of December was a huge exception when I spend about 13 hours (also Friday and Thursday) on the computer doing assignments and research. I mainly used word, google and online dictionaries, with checking my mails as distraction every once in a while. I can say that it was one of the most exhausting weekends I had so far.
It also became a frequent habit to turn on the computer every morning and check my emails or read the news if I have time before leaving the house. In general my laptop is the main source of media which I use. I have a bunch of books I want/have to read but depending on how I feel I can spend about 30min to a few hours reading in them. My mobile phone is too old to do much with it and it mainly serves the purpose as my alarm clock.
A big contrast to my usual habits have been the last 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year, the time I spend in Germany, and which I regarded as really refreshing because I hardly had any internet access, hence using my computer which I have with me became more or less useless. I don’t have any movies or games on it and the only times I used it was when I wanted to listen to music. The refreshing thing is that without internet I don’t have the urge to check emails and FB, only did it once a week when I had the possibility. And if I had internet access as during the last 3 days I did not feel like using it for anything else than former. During the last weeks, my media use was restricted to an estimated 6 hours of TV (news and movies) weekly and reading newspapers and magazines. Also my mobile phone was broken so one could say that for 2 weeks I was pretty much “unplugged” from any new media and I must say I really enjoyed it having plenty of time for reading books and magazines and I also listened to the radio about 2 hours daily which I don’t usually do.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Disney fan
Since I was a child I have enjoyed watching Disney cartoons and read the stories. I have many favourites among Disney classics like Peter Pan,
The projects for the animation were already done in the beginning of the 20th century but they were finally given up because the production team considered it a challenge. The team worked also introducing new characters in the story for example the living objects in the castle to add a more cheerily atmosphere to the gloomy storyline. Also the prologue of the film which tells the story is made different with stained glass windows because the producers wanted to have the classical Disney prologue without using a book as they did so many times in the past. Also the visual effects were praised and stated to be "stunning early use of computer animation" as in the scene where Beast and Belle are dancing, 3-D techniques have been used for creating the ballroom.
The animated film was also nominated for many prizes and won most of them setting even records. For example, it was the only full-length animated feature film to ever be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and the winner of two Academy Awards for best original song and best original score. The film is part of the so-called Disney Renaissance era and after it animations were made mixing the traditional with computer generated imagery. The film was also the base for a sequel released in 1997, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and one in 1998, Belle’s Magical World as well as a theatrical production, Sing me a Story with Belle.
The music was composed by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and the songs were included in Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic box set and the Disney's Greatest Hits CD set. Moreover, the songs of the movie strongly influenced the Finnish metal band Nightwish and this can be seen on their first album Angels Fall First where there is a song Beauty and the Beast, a reinterpretation of the original plot.
Disney studios are also planning a release of the movie in Disney Digital 3-D format in 2011.
Here is the trailer of the animation, some more information about it and a link where it is the entire movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRlzmyveDHE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_(1991_film)
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Convergence Culture
I will concentrate closer how new media programmes, such as American Idol and Survivor are changing our media reality. Reality television shows are stealing time from quality programmes, such as documentary. Contemporary television culture in Finland is taken over by reality television shows, which I would like to call rubbish television programmes. The producers have created a brilliant idea how to get people addicted to these programmes and I must admit having followed for some of them, such as Idols, too. Comparing the quality of television programmes in the 80´s and 90´s with the offer today, the culture of the programmes is getting really poor now days. Spoiling survivors is an example how these programmes are affecting in part of the audience so strongly, that they can be called hardcore fans. They try to get information about the next episode before it is officially revealed. The producers and consumers, or spoilers how they call themselves, are playing sort of a catch me if you can game, where producers release hints (true or false) of the next episode and the spoilers are trying to solve the problem.
I was a fan of Star Wars trilogy in the 80´s, when the movie was hot stuff in Finland. I was just a small child then, but got a change to watch the trilogy with my older brother. I have seen the trilogy a dozen of times. It was a great disappointment for me to see the trilogy filmed all over again. Reshaping the mythology by fan gamers and filmmakers is absolutely awful, they are all spoiling the original movie! When it comes to Matrix I found the first movie magnificent, in my opinion it can be called a classic, but the following sequels were too much for me. Jenkins calls The Matrix franchise transmedia storytelling, ´the art of world making´. He also demonstrates that some might argue the Matrix has gone too far from most of the audience members. It must be true to say that just a small part of the audience is willing to track down bits of the story across the media channels. I think this kind of fan culture goes far away from real life to be understood.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Convergence Culture - How to predict the future?
In his book Convergence Culture- where old and new media collide, Henry Jenkins tries to explain the impact of convergence on the media we consume and produce.
The book is written in a very attractive style and Jenkins uses many examples to make his argumentation even clearer. The chapters in the book use a specific example of the changing relation between producer and consumer in media.
In my opinion, the liveliness of style is often underrated. A book like this really helps the reader to understand the ‘convergence culture’. The crisp style even convinced me to buy the book. Unfortunately, the use of examples often seems to imply more small mistakes in references. When Jenkins talks about the fan fiction, made by the filmmaker Evan Mather, he refers to “gets medieval” as a quotation from Samuel L. Jackson instead of Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction. Of course, these mistakes are not important to the line of argumentation in the book and therefore cannot be regarded as flaws. If we look at Jenkins’ arguments closely, we could argue that there are some flaws though. In the beginning of the book, Jenkins points out that he is not a neutral observer of media convergence. This results in a preoccupied position towards an optimistic view of convergence of media, participatory culture and collective intelligence. It does not have to be a bad thing on itself but in Convergence Culture, Jenkins decides to keep his distance towards technology. We have seen in several reviews that this position is, to say the least, problematic because technology plays an integral part of the concept of convergence. Jenkins preoccupied position also leads to an optimistic view of collective intelligence:
“Collective intelligence can be seen as an alternative source of media power (...). At present we use this collective power principally for having fun, but soon we will use these skills for more ‘serious’ purposes”(Jenkins, 2006, p.4).
You can never be sure when speaking about the future and personally, I consider this way of arguing very trivial. It would have been better if Jenkins gave an account of those ‘serious purposes’ that already exist. For example, when the book was published in 2006, Wikipedia was already gaining popularity.
Henry Jenkins’ Convergence Culture adds a lively contribution to the field of media studies in which media is restated but not replaced.
Media Diary, the way I use Media
My Media Diary time was based on between 4th to 8th of December.
Friday 4th
I used Ipod Touch for music and for fun about 20 minutes on this day to way school and away school.
I used laptop at my home 3h to 4h.
I watched TV movies so it took about 3 to 4h TV watching too at home.
Cell phone use was few minutes only.
Saturday 5th
I used Ipod Touch for music and for fun about 15 minutes on this day
I used laptop about at my home 2h. I was working this day so maybe I could count also using till as media devise too. I was working full day so that must be using till like 5h. And also I use company phone there too so that must be about 30 minutes of talking to customers by using phone.
Cell phone use for personal use about 30 min.
Sunday 6th
I watched TV today more than normally now it was about 5h. Maybe it was because it's Finland's inde-pendence day. That they you can see President celebrating with other celebrities in TV most discussed issue most be this day that what celebrities ARE wearing which is funny idea in Finland.
I used laptop about 5h at my home, making thesis and using internet and listening music.
Cell phone use is more in text messages so it did not take more than few minutes overall.
I also played Nintendo Wii because I usually get bored during Independence Day TV programs easily after all. Wii playing about 2h.
Monday 7th
I used Ipod Touch for music 20 minutes.
I used laptop at my home 4h for Internet: social media and school stuff.
Cell phone use about 20 minutes.
Tuesday 8th
I used laptop at my home 4h making this diary summary, using Internet as social media like facebook, trying to find new part time job and listening music. TV use was about 3h to 4h hours.
I used Ipod Touch for music 30 minutes.
My conclusion:
1. I use mostly my Mac laptop as media devise and Internet during the day as for media purpose.
2. Is TV and
3. Then cell phone and
4. Are Ipod Touch and Nintendo Wii. Since I got Internet have used it very steadily through this time. I usually look everyday e-mails from 4 different inbox and reason for this is because I got 2 school e-mails and 2 personal once. As for media device laptop is most used just because I do my schoolwork with, while I listen music and sometimes I use it for playing games. Internet use is almost obsessive behaviour now days=). I use it to keep contact, for information, for news and for fun. I am still making my thesis to my bachelor so it takes also nicely me to sit next to laptop every day. I prefer to work at home than school or library if I have to use computer.
Friday 4th
I used Ipod Touch for music and for fun about 20 minutes on this day to way school and away school.
I used laptop at my home 3h to 4h.
I watched TV movies so it took about 3 to 4h TV watching too at home.
Cell phone use was few minutes only.
Saturday 5th
I used Ipod Touch for music and for fun about 15 minutes on this day
I used laptop about at my home 2h. I was working this day so maybe I could count also using till as media devise too. I was working full day so that must be using till like 5h. And also I use company phone there too so that must be about 30 minutes of talking to customers by using phone.
Cell phone use for personal use about 30 min.
Sunday 6th
I watched TV today more than normally now it was about 5h. Maybe it was because it's Finland's inde-pendence day. That they you can see President celebrating with other celebrities in TV most discussed issue most be this day that what celebrities ARE wearing which is funny idea in Finland.
I used laptop about 5h at my home, making thesis and using internet and listening music.
Cell phone use is more in text messages so it did not take more than few minutes overall.
I also played Nintendo Wii because I usually get bored during Independence Day TV programs easily after all. Wii playing about 2h.
Monday 7th
I used Ipod Touch for music 20 minutes.
I used laptop at my home 4h for Internet: social media and school stuff.
Cell phone use about 20 minutes.
Tuesday 8th
I used laptop at my home 4h making this diary summary, using Internet as social media like facebook, trying to find new part time job and listening music. TV use was about 3h to 4h hours.
I used Ipod Touch for music 30 minutes.
My conclusion:
1. I use mostly my Mac laptop as media devise and Internet during the day as for media purpose.
2. Is TV and
3. Then cell phone and
4. Are Ipod Touch and Nintendo Wii. Since I got Internet have used it very steadily through this time. I usually look everyday e-mails from 4 different inbox and reason for this is because I got 2 school e-mails and 2 personal once. As for media device laptop is most used just because I do my schoolwork with, while I listen music and sometimes I use it for playing games. Internet use is almost obsessive behaviour now days=). I use it to keep contact, for information, for news and for fun. I am still making my thesis to my bachelor so it takes also nicely me to sit next to laptop every day. I prefer to work at home than school or library if I have to use computer.
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