Module 1.1 Introduction: How does the media engage you? How do you engage with the media?

Reading and audio summary: 

Jenkins, H. (2009). Critical Information studies for a participatory culture (pt 2) [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2009/04/what_went_wrong_with_web_20_cr_1.html

• Jenkins provides feedback on a Conference held in Virginia, focussing on current media, and media created in a participatory culture.
• Current media is created by means of politically and financially involvement, whilst media created within participatory cultures is created by the public.
• People fear 'cultural change', which can restrict user participation, e.g. fears around cyber safety and personal safety can restrict school students’ online participation.  
• There are “social, cultural, and educational concerns which block full participation” (Jenkins, 2009)
• Libraries and schools should reconsider the importance of online participation, and learning outcomes for students.
• Web 2.0 technologies should be promoted because it instigates collective intelligence and public engagement. I have to agree with the author, social networking platforms should be vividly promoted in schools and libraries.
• Most importantly, online users should be made aware of Copyright issues, 'Fair Use' and ownership of materials.
• American media industries are declining due to financial constraints. Consequently, people are becoming online journalists themselves. In a way, people are acting as ‘gatekeepers’ to media and information.
• Social networking platforms encourage people to come together online to interact with people sharing similar values, cultures, ideas and experiences.  
• Social networking applications can also be utilised to share media internationally. Yet, in many countries access to media is restricted due to political issues.

xplanevisualthinking. (2009, September 14). Did you know 4.0 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

• This video (published in 2009) provides valuable insight into the advancement of media and technology.
• Digital media is replacing analogue or traditional media formats.
• There is a rapid decline in newspapers, TV, radio and magazines. For example, people are going online to read online newspapers, as well as downloading more songs from the Internet.
• However, with the advent of digital technology, piracy of music has rapidly escalated on the Internet. In 2008, 95% of songs downloaded that year were not purchased. This figure shocked me; I could not believe that so many people are downloading music freely.   
• Social media, such as Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia attract billions of users per month. Wikipedia has more than 13 million articles in more than 200 languages.
• I have to agree that social networking media is becoming more and more popular than traditional media formats, e.g. Facebook attracts more that 500 million online users.
• Twitter has played an enormous role in the Obama campaign, as well as in the Iranian elections in 2009 to get their political views across to the nation.
• People are using more digital devices, such as their mobiles to communicate with other people. Nokia in the United States of America (USA) sell 13 mobile phones every second. The video claims that in the USA, 93% of the population owns a mobile phone. This figure also amazed me, and shows how popular mobile phones really have become.
• It is believed that in 2020, the mobile phone will be the most important method of communication and connection device to the Internet. It can be argued that desktop computers will be less used in the future if mobile devices become the norm.