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.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
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)
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