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Read in Mirror!
The professor's blog for English 4304, the Writing and Culture Capstone Course for English Majors, Spring 2008. The topic for this capstone course is "Rhetoric(s) of Information, Reading, and Writing in a Digital World."
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5 comments:
The quote about the "black box fallacy" was very interesting to me so I googled it and was directed to Jenkins' website: http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/06/convergence_and_divergence_two.html With this link you will find an interesting article about convergence and divergence related to the black box. Its pretty interesting...
Chapter 6:Photoshop For Democracy
My section: Playing Politics in Alphaville and Vote Naked (227-239)
Main concepts:The Sims and collective intelligence,"vote naked"
Minor concepts: democracy & children, polarization, grassroot community
At the end of chapter 6, Jenkins discusses pop culture's influence on politics and democracy. Jenkins states that, "pop culture may be preparing the way for more meaningful public culture." An example of this is The Sims online game's fictional town "Alphaville."
Through the online game, consumers were able to use convergence culture for political activism. The game encouraged "players" to be active citizens.
Jenkins believes that in order to get young people to vote, we have to reach them earlier in life. The concept of democracy is exercised in the game. Children, who are not allowed to vote and may feel powerless in their everyday lives are able to use the fictional town to become active in a community. The game is not just a game, but it is a tool to motivate children and young children to become active and involved in their own communities.
In the section of "Vote Naked", the word "naked" defined as "raw", "exposed", and "vulnerable". Jenkins believes that we feel more comfortable discussing pop culture than politics. Politics is an uncomfortable subject for people, so they decide to keep their political views private. The fear of being "naked" may cause conflict in relationship.
The concept of polarization is mentioned in the end of the chapter. Polarization is a great part of American history. From the People from opposing sides caused heated debates that forced the nation to take a good look at the problem and create a solution. The negative side of polarization is the stigma each groups receives from the outside group and assumptions are made about about what each group's political beliefs. Polarization is an example as to why people are uneasy about discussing political beliefs.
Grassroots is another concept that is discussed at the end of the chapter. Grassroot communities involves the common people. They can be left or right and each group can have their own ideas and encourage their members to vote in their favor.But what if people do not vote? This all goes back to the notion of politics being viewed as complicated and many people are just not interested in it. Should Politics be apart of our everyday lifestyle? Should active community involvement(like in The Sims Online) be a requirement for citizenship?
We are all a part of this inevitabl, political, media ecosystem. The transformation and integration of old media and new media is a natural progression of evolulotion of language. Jenkins quotes editor Jesse Walker, "The new outlets aren't displacing the old ones; they're transforming them." Everything is changing because it has to, it is the natural progression, and like anything there are benifits and downfalls. Jenkins overall goal is to explore all the aspects of the convergent culture we have been living in for some time now, and to project how we are being effected and causing the changes by adding to the progression. Everthing begins and ends with language. Thought begins with language, and we progress by way of our use of language and language devices.
Susannah--You might be interested in Lacan's emphasis on language and the formation of identity. Like you need something else to read this semester! Dr. L
In this chapter Jenkins looks at the effect that mass media, specifically convergence culture, has on politics. The account of The Sims game and its effect on political participation of its gamers is just another example of what is taking place throughout the media industry. the internet has now become a world of liberation and unlimited access. Pierre Levy's Collective Intelligence (2000) is a product of the possible future that can be achieved through a re-prioritizing of information and communication. in Levy's world convergence culture, mass communication and participation would be the normative. the fundamental aspect to Levy's Collective Intelligence is the ability of all people to communicate with others of different backgrounds, as to attain multiple viewpoints, which his theory would lead to more informed decisions (235). Jenkins makes it clear that the political engine in the U.S. and abroad have come to realize the power of media. and the ever growing role of countless Americans in communicating, participating and using media as an information highway. According to Jenkins in order for the U.S. government to truly get to the American people and abroad, it must acknowledge the idea of a space of free information where citizens of the world can access anything. And thereby decide the scope of the virtual world and reality.
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