Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture
Henry Jenkins(P. I.)
with Ravi Purushotma,Margaret Weigel,Katie Clinton and Alice J. Robison
The MIT Press
Cambridge,Massachusetts London,England
Executive Summary
According to a recent study from the Pew Internet & American Life project,more than one-half of all teens have created media content,and roughly one-third of teens who use the Internet have shared content they produced.In many cases,these teens are actively involved in what we are calling participatory cultures.A participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement,strong support for creating and sharing creations,and some type of informal mentorship whereby experienced participants pass along knowledge to novices.In a participatory culture,members also believe their contributions matter and feel some degree of social connection with one another(at the least, members care about others’opinions of what they have created).
Forms of participatory culture include:
Affiliations Memberships,formal and informal,in online communities
centered around various forms of media,such as Friendster,Facebook,MySpace, message boards,metagaming,or game clans.
Expressions Producing new creative forms,such as digital sampling,skinning and modding,fan videos,fan fiction,zines,or mash-ups.
Collaborative problem solving
Working together in teams,formal and informal,to complete tasks and develop new knowledge,such as through Wikipedia,alternative reality gaming,or spoiling.
Circulations Shaping the flow of media,such as podcasting or blogging.
Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture
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