Participatory Culture

Objectives

• to define participation culture
• to find examples of participation culture in the making of media products of your choice

Both Jeff and David talk about forms of participation.  Jeff Howe illustrates how crowd sourcing and crowd funding works, this also about participation.

Jeff offers the idea that the internet has enabled people to create content that can be used by big companies.  Take istockphoto for example, this website exists to sell content to magazines, newspapers and moving image to film producers, the content is made by professionals and amateurs like you and me.  The high supply of content available has lowered to price of content and has made it less lucrative for professionals to work in this area.  Jeff states that 3things have led to this phenomena:

1. cheap digital camera with high specs
2. cheaper and easier to use software like photoshop
3. the internet

Task

Using your notes made from these videos, think of any examples you can where a media product has been created by participation culture, collaboration or crowd souring.

here are some examples, the first test is picking one that is no older than 5 years old. Have a look and pick one that is not older than this.

• The cosmonaut
• life in a day
• Iron Sky
• Collapsus
• Prison Valley
• Lost Zombies
• Simply Silvio
• Veronica Mars Movie

Find out the following:

• who was behind the making of it?
• what was the budget?
• how was it made?
• how much has it made?
• when was it released?

MITOLA Exam Questions

8. “The impact of the internet on the media is revolutionary”. Discuss.
9. 
   
10. Discuss the extent to which the distribution and consumption of media have been transformed by the internet. 

8. “For media audiences, the internet has changed everything.” Discuss. 

An exam answer must contain the following:

• Examples - These are your case studies and should discuss a product that has been produced, maybe it is an album, film or game.  Who made it? When was it made? Why are you bringing it up (it should apply to the argument you are making).
• Media areas x2 - You need to discuss 2 media areas.  Maybe this is film and music, or games and film...
• Which theory/critics to reference- it just means whose ideas do you want to mention.  We have discussed 3 in class so far. But we will discuss many more in the future.
• Main arguments
• Past - You should mention how the media product was produced, marketed and consumed before the internet.
• Present - what happens now?
• Future - what do you think will happen in the future? What is this based on?
• terminology - convergence, synergy, wikinomics is a theory but also counts as terminology
• conclusion - what do you think about the original question and why

Task

Use the 3 theories we have studied to discuss how the impact of the internet has or has not been revolutionary.  In this discussion you should use examples to back up you arguments and talk about past, present and predict future trends.  Use as much terminology as you can and write a brief conclusion.  Use the list above to help, a grade A will address all points.

Deadline: Next Thursday's lesson

Filter bubbles

Eli Pariser’s theory of The Filter Bubble proves that the internet shows us what it thinks we want to see, not necessarily what we want to see 

We think

We Think explains how digital technologies are enabling new forms of collaborative creativity and innovation.







Task:
What is We Think and how does it apply to the real world?

• Explain what is meant be We Think, who is behind the idea and when was it created?
• Try to find a real world case study that you use in the exam to back up the idea, ensure you write down who, when, where and what happened. This can be any of the media we have discussed

Wikinomics

Exist Elsewhere

Case Study

This could be a possible case study for you to use in the exam.  Keep all your case studies safe when you can access them for revision

Basic Info (facts)

(spend 10 minutes finding out the following information)

• Who are Exit Elsewhere? 
• Are they touring? - link
• How many views has their music video (Tokyo) had on You Tube?
• How many sales has Tokyo had? 
• When was Tokyo released? 
• Have they won any awards? - link

Deeper Understanding

(Spend 10 minutes attempting to answer the following questions, the red question represents something that you'll need to be able to do in the exam, but you probably won't be able to do yet)

• How have they made their video for Tokyo?
• Why have they made their video in this way?
• What has this video done for them?
• How does this relate to the topic we are studying?
• Which theorists does this relate to?
• How is this different form making videos 10 - 20 years ago?
• What do you think could happen in the future if this trend continues?
• Do you know of any other artists trying out technology like this?
• What would be the main points that you would make if you used this case study in the exam?