Unit 2: Identity in Participatory Culture
Project: Class Wiki
→ first task, Annotated Bibliography (16-Oct)
Week 7
M 10/05 Discuss: Beer (2013), Popular Culture & New Media Chapter 6:
“Bodies and Interfaces: The Corporeal Circulations of Popular Culture” via Library access (or D2L PDF)
- focus: developing approach to writing about culture, new concepts/terms
→ Inventory (Collaborative Doc)
- discuss: examples from observations — culture forms in areas of interest for project → share in comments
W 10/07 hybrid work — read & Discuss:
- Jenkins, “If It Doesn’t Spread, It’s Dead (Part Two): Sticky and Spreadable — Two Paradigms” (February 13, 2009)
plus Choose One - “(Part Five): Communities of Users” (February 20, 2009)
“(Part Six): Spreadable Content” (February 23, 2009)
“(Part Seven): Aesthetic and Structural Strategies” (February 25, 2009)
“(Part Eight): The Value of Spreadable Media” (February 27, 2009)
* Reminder: discussion prompts here
» Blog Entry 3:
- 200 words, on your blog, due class-time Friday
- discuss culture form selected with specific example, using terms/concepts from recent readings (especially the Jenkins post you chose Wednesday)
10/09 Discuss: key ideas from Beer and Jenkins
- preparation: read this overview page and watch two videos
→ also have notes ready, for creating collaborative Inventory doc 2 - focus: continue recognizing and (re)defining “culture” in networked age and participatory forms
— using readings from this week and y/our examples → preparation toward project
- looking ahead: Annotated Bibliography and Wiki Editing (week 8)
I am interested in Youtube vlogging
This is a link to a famous Youtube vlogger, Zoe Sugg, and her video blog (vlog) from yesterday.
I’m interested in working with music like covers
I think the change in music in our culture in the past decade is pretty interesting. That is, the mass acceptance and proliferation of electronic music, e.g., DJs, remixes, dubstep, pop music, etc.
Examples: Up until the early 2000s, instruments were more widely used in groups and bands (keyword: group) where as now there seems to be an emphasis on independence and on single-person acts and integrated technology use and the use of computers to produce music. People like Skrillex or Diplo or any mainstream DJ is a good example of this.
Continuing off my last comment about music, streaming capabilities, and mobility of accessibility — I am interested in music as a culture form. This really tied into the reading from the weekend in terms of being in a bubble and using media as a shield for a private sphere in a public space.
Music video remakes and parodies on YouTube
https://youtu.be/foMQX9ZExsE
I am interested in talking about YouTube vloggers and how their life is a mesh of their online personality and their real life personalities and how those two come into play with each other. Here is an example of a video where a vlogger does a Draw My Life video in which she shares more about her personal life than what she shares in her normal videos.
http://www.booooooom.com
This site is a combination of all types of creative art, in all meanings of the word. I am interested in the future of where music and visual art is going so I thought this would be a good place to start.
I’m interested in music, specifically how the industry is adapting to the growth of electronic music, and the huge amount of remixes that come with the genre. Soundcloud is a place where many artists have been able to build their careers, however recently many labels have felt that their releases are being threatened by independent artists remixing a song owned by them and putting it up on sites like Soundcloud.
This is an example of how a remix can make a song great in an entirely different way, while still keeping much of the elements that made the original great. Many argue that remixes can boost the popularity of an original song, contrary to many labels’ beliefs.
https://soundcloud.com/porter-robinson/porter-robinson-divinity-odesza-remix
The culture of music festivals and how media has made that whole lifestyle expand. An example of this is the music festival Lightning in a Bottle.
http://lightninginabottle.org/
Games — SimCity BuildIt
Music — music videos; parodies in particular
My interest lies within the video culture. I am interested in looking at how Netflix streaming promotes specificaly generated and collected content for viewers and the ability to participate and view on multiple devices.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=house+of+cards+triler
More specifically,
One of the topics I am interested in is online music, particularly on how we find ‘new’ music on the internet and how that process creates a sense of community between ‘discoverers’
–or on how algorithms play a part in introducing all ‘new’ music via suggestions based on prior listening habits and their impacts on music tastes following suggestion after suggestion.
Link to reddit page about ‘your favorite band no one has heard of’:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/32yciz/what_is_your_favorite_band_that_no_one_has_heard/
For music, what is currently extremely popular are covers, remixes, or mashups of popular songs in a variety of styles. Take the EDM scene, many use a variety of songs and beats in order to create their remix. But that can come from a multitude of songs and not just one, hence the mashup. As for the covers, YouTube channels that cover new popular songs in styles popular many decades ago are popular. A few years ago albums such as Pop Goes Punk were coming out and all their songs were covers by bands in different genres. Rather than come out with completely original content, older content being used in new lights seem to be extremely popular now.
Examples:
Cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-Pjdb8_uKw
Mashup:
For the my topic I was thinking of doing something sports related. I think the best examples of this would be highlight tapes or preseason hype videos, that are aimed towards getting fans excited for the upcoming season.
Rocky Mountain Showdown Highlights: https://youtu.be/nKGgvAI7lSo
I’m interested in the “old school” form of music. More specifically the 80’s genre of rock and roll. Seem likes a loose and free lifestyle
Many games available for the PS4, Xbox One and PC are first person type games. Whether it be shooter games like Call of Duty or strategical thinking games like Portal. These games give the player a sense of being out of body kind of. They are in the game and it starts to become reality. There are multiple ways for people to communicate with each other like through headsets and discussion boards.
My interest is how streaming music online effects popular music, and what is good/bad. Through sites like pandora, and spotify one’s own musical tastes are affected. When a suggestion is given there is an algorithmic process behind it that is deciding what popular music is. Also the effects it may have on the actually making of music, and the music industry
Effect on Music Industry: https://storify.com/hugovanessen/the-effect-of-spotify-and-pandora-on-the-music-ind
For the purpose of this assignment I would like to further research the streaming culture within the music industry. I am particularly interested in how this means of dissemination has created an active participation amongst modern music consumers. Additionally, I want to analyze the assemblage of these streaming platforms and reveal how the infrastructure of such sites have generated the channel that allows us to communicate through music downloading and listening.
A good example of this would be the act of creating a playlist via spotify, or “liking” songs on pandora. This provides a set of data the site can then use to understand the specific taste of the user and connect them to others active on the site with similar taste.
I am interested in DIY cooking videos.
Example: Buzzfeed food on Facebook
→ thought-provoking passage:
“This would be to think of mobile media use, and the bubbles image, as
being the production of affective territories or perhaps more accurately
the affective production of territory through media.” (p.155)
→ example:
Vine compilation…?
» Wednesday 10/07 hybrid work — Class Discussion:
1. Brief comment (due 2:30pm):
post specific term/concept from one reading, to add to our Inventory for writing about culture & technology
*(so, not just something important from the article; rather, thoughtfully selected as potentially useful later — for our observing and describing participatory culture and network technology in the wiki project)
→ include a quote that helps explain/understand this idea.
(this helps as warm-up toward blog entry due Friday)
2. Classmate reply (due 3:00pm):
provide a specific example of a culture form, with a brief remark noting relevance (or how you see the concept/term identified “at work” in the culture form).
–or–
Comment briefly (2 sentences?) and connect this reading to the one you selected — especially for an enhanced or compound perspective on participatory culture.
** note: for either first comment or reply, you might also note any lessons for writing about digital culture in networked-media ecology — observed in the reading (contrast Jenkins vs. Beer?) and identified for us for later.
I read Chapter 7 — I found the idea of online worlds interesting and his concepts of “outsiders” and “insiders” of this spreadable media. I am contemplating how music platforms and cultural forms can reproduce this idea of insiders and outsiders and how this can be translated into how one can make a private sphere of a public sphere simply by plugging in to the cultural form of music. In a sense you can become the only insider in that moment in an online world of music.
On part five Jenkins introduces the term “influencers” theory where certain connections are more important than others and that these can be, in some sort, exploited to get a message across. However people that are putting out content do not necessarily have to be well connected, they simply have to be connected and it is these connections that will manage to pass the message across different spheres.
This is a cool idea because people are part of “different worlds” on media depending on your interests. Those interests can be small and vague or be spread across hundreds of platforms and cultures. An example could be a person really into music festival culture compared to someone interested in gaming but somehow through all the connections they could both come across the same content.
This raises a question, which we might not even need to try to address/explain, worth considering at least indirectly:
by now (long after Jenkins was writing, with much acceleration and saturation today) maybe producers of participatory culture have “influencers” (or highly-connected network nodes) in mind when creating…?
in other words, making something (e.g. a parody video) not just with an idea for the cultural expression but specifically for certain demographics — channels for mass viewing, circulation, response…?
The idea of what makes content “spreadable” is interesting and actually quite simple. It boils down to a difference in mass culture and eventually popular culture. In part 6 of Jenkins’ string of articles, he brings up a good point about the difference between what makes mass culture and what makes pop culture. When it is under control of the “producer,” Jenkins asserts, “it is mass culture,” but when it is “under the control of its consumers, it is popular culture.” This made me think about the idea I had for our upcoming project: the change in the music scene and the acquired taste for more electronic music. This change in music culture had to start somewhere and it probably started with a DJ playing around with sounds on his computer. Then one person heard that and more than likely showed it to their friends and the spread of the media continued from there. Thus, it was introduced into the world of popular culture and has ever since grown exponentially. The people now have “control” of the music and they want to hear more and more and as a result, the content continues and will continue to spread until a new thing comes along.
This is a good point, I like how you point out the difference between ‘mass culture’ and ‘pop culture’. I too agree these hold different meanings. For example I believe mass culture is more along the lines of a “breaking news” situation, and doesn’t necessarily become popular by choice. Popular culture however represents a more interpersonal connection, weighing the interests and values of the community you are focusing on.
In section six of Jenkins texts, he discusses how the context behind the media determines how it is spread. He takes into account that no one, not even the producers, can explain the true reason for the rapid spread. The spread occurs because it holds some certain value to the community, not simply because it is interesting, but for many other reasons. Jenkins discuss these reasons including; offensive messages, meaningful context, or hidden agenda. “These same factors may come into play when fans advocate for a franchise or consumers promote a brand.
They are doing so because the brand express something about themselves or their community. They are doing so because the brand message serves some valued social function.” Jenkins continues this and gives other reasons as to why people decide to share certain media forms, establishing a deeper relationship between media and viewers going beyond the idea of basic interest. This can be a helpful way to view popular culture when looking at the project. It might be better to look at the values of the target community, rather than our own personal interests.
Good reminder in that last point, approaching culture forms we examine with question/perspective of “communities of users” (part 6): “affinity spaces” and roles (Pools, Webs, Hubs) indicated by the culture produced and circulated.
In part seven of Jenkins’ series he discusses the ideas of aesthetics and structural tactics in the spreadability of digital media. In this section he introduced the term/adjective of media as being “producerly.”
Producerly content is open-ended and can be understood in various and different ways, basically relying on the viewer to construct the majority of its meaning and relevance. The media may be amusing or somewhat provocative but Jenkins asserts that “compelling content remains a crucial factor in the spreadability of media.”
Jenkins elaborates: “…Not all content is equally spreadable. Producerly engagement encourages individuals to take on content as their own and invest their own identity in it, making it a potential tool of communication. But…we must remember that in order to become spreadable, the content has to be able to create worth.”
The openness and abundance of meaning that producerly content presents is all well and good, but in order to be spread a lot and gifted from person to person the content usually has to be (in some way) socially meaningful in its communication.
This is especially useful for us to keep in mind, “producerly engagement”—
and you note a secondary question of ours for the project (later), of self-expresssion or identity in participatory culture:
“individuals take on content as their own and invest their own identity in it”
→ something we might consider (maybe like Beer’s point about embodiment/affect?) for each culture form we examine soon…
Part 2 focuses on individuals and how choices, investment, and actions determined what has value in the current mediascape. Jenkins states, “Media companies and brands need to learn to respect the increasingly empowered roles which their users are playing in the circulation and production of meaning around their products.” I agree because viral marketing is inherently a social system. In Part 3, Jenkins notes that users don’t just pass static content but transform it so that it “better serves their own social and expressive needs.” But it is important to acknowledge (from Part 2) that changing or repurposing media doesn’t necessarily distort the original communicator’s goals but instead allows the message to reach new constituencies.
I read Part 5 and some of it focused on how the producers use information of the consumers to create a better platform. So I think that there is more focus now on what the consumers want and media companies are actually starting to see how the people who use their products want to process information and the consumer is getting more power.
“Changing or repurposing media doesn’t necessarily distort the original communicator’s goals but instead allows the message to reach new constituencies.”
The culture form that I have shifted my focus onto for this project is the contemporary “skate video.” Originally the skate video was a media form who’s main goal was to literally showcase skateboarding, usually varying slightly in cinematographic construction. Today skate videos come in all shapes, sizes, and storytelling forms. The objective can be far from just showcasing skateboarding, yet skateboarders and different constituencies within the ideology can find exactly what they want to see on the Internet.
These are both technically skate videos, but it isn’t hard to distinguish each one’s goals in how they convey skating:
Narrative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpRBr_mguT8
Skate as Culture & Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsSC6y9cz1k
Skate as Serious (maybe sadistic): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZcpNBfqWN0
Skate as Drama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAtSaJo8WQ4
The list goes on for days…
Important note, updating/changing the “virality” model: reminding that we “don’t just pass static content but transform it” in participatory culture, seen especially with memes. Key activity to look for as we start examining culture forms more closely, “changing or repurposing” — if not asking why? then maybe what happens? (effect) or how? (self expression?)
I read chapter 8. The idea of spreading media just to get reactions out of it stood out to me. He describes it as “groundswell”- as a movement that can’t be stopped but must be joined in order to retain currency. This means the media can have positive or negative connotations to it. People have to react in order for it to spread. This can happen in music, youtube videos, or even memes.
This can also be applied to the insider/outsider concepts Jenkin’s spoke to in my article — In order for one to retain currency they must be an insider of the “groundswell” concept you are talking about. This spreadability instills an ideal on what is popular culture and the platforms it is spread through is digital and specific. You are either a part of the popular culture and using/familiar with your cultural platform (insider) or you are not and become an outsider.
I thought this was interesting because it relates similarly to what I read about advertising. The media doesn’t necessarily need the reaction to be good or bad, they just aim to get a reaction period. When something attracts attention, it boosts it to spread. If something is getting attention then it attracts marketers who pump it up more with promoting and branding.
I agree with you (and the reading)! The reactions people get from media influence whether or not they choose to reproduce it or pass it on. For example, that whole “Nae Nae” movement was big because people were interested in learning a dance so the positive reactions influenced them to spread it across the internet.
I think this is a great point. Sometime it seems as though advertising agencies and the media don’t care what consumers’ reactions are as long as it gains attention, not mattering whether it’s caused by controversy or popularity.
I thought that it was interesting how he brought up advertising and how now, there are even more places for marketers to target their demographic. “With the rise of advertising interest in immersive online worlds, such as Second Life, and the increasing visibility of enormous, global networks of online gamers, big trans-national corporations have started to take notice.” He went on to talk about this being active in the gaming world but I connected it to celebrity social media pages. Kylie Jenner for example now has her own app where you can see where she got her clothes and what products she uses. In this case the celebrities themselves serve as a marketing tool. (Chapter 7)
This idea of advertising is really interesting because many businesses and celebrities, as you mentioned, are using social media in order to make a profit. This can be subtle and sometimes we don’t even realize that we are being socialized into looking at certain companies differently because of what they post online. I think this also relates to Jenkins example of Dove and how by putting out their video on internal beauty vs. outward beauty we, as consumers, are more likely to pick up on their sentiment and buy their products over others.
I see such advertising methods at work in the media of music in the past couple years, at artists become more popular, they become the faces of marketing certain brands. For example, Drake and Nas have a new commercial for Sprite, just years ago Drake had one by himself as well. In the current day and age it’s not uncommon companies to seek someone famous to endorse their product, as Drake he mentions in the video below, “Rapping is not impressive anymore, you have to be more, you have to be a multi-layered artist”.
Very valid point you make! It seems like now a days more and more companies use celebrities, and not just one, but several different celebrities to endorse their product. It seems like a way for them to try and get their product out to each and every culture.
I really like this idea. It is indeed true that celebrities sell. It’s this idea of popular culture that really sells, as Jenkins might point out. If a company can get a big name in pop culture it shows that they are both committed and “big,” as in popular. I’m definitely a victim to this marketing scheme. It works on me every time. I don’t even really have to like the product but if I see someone I know and really respect using it, odds are I’ll be sucked in next time I see the product.
I thought Jenkins’ term spreadability was easier to grasp than “viral”. I agree that viral can mean so many different things, but if you use the term spreadability then talking about the movement of media is better. I liked how Jenkins also took the audience into account when talking about spreadable media. We are the ones that see something and then transform it like a remix of a song, so it is cool to be mentioned. We could definitely use spreadability in our group Wiki.
I agree with you, the audience is definitely what makes the video go viral/spreadable and they are the ones that hold the power as to what does and doesn’t go. This is also related to chapter 5 where he says that the way it is spread is not what matters, but rather who spreads it. This brings in the theory of six degrees of separation and he points out that “messages move through society from one weakly connected individual to another,” rather than someone who is super connected.
In Part 5 of the Jenkins reading about Communities of Users, he talks about information is spread in communities and how the brands use information from that. Towards the end of the article Jenkins makes a point of how “communities aren’t created, they are courted”. The brands find out what platform works for them and that creates a better way to not only share information but to also create better communities. With the information provided or type of product being sold the consumer can go on a site and spread media.
”Most brands will need to court a range of different communities and travel across pools, webs, and hubs if they want to reach the full range of desired consumers”.
I also read part five, and I think what I focused on could be helpful for your ideas. In the beginning of the article he talks about how the term consumer is becoming out-dated due to participatory culture. The consumer now plays a role in the production of that culture, and community. Companies now have to cater to the consumer in ways they hadn’t had to before. The culture is no longer created by the company instead it is by the dissemination, and circulation of the product through participatory culture.
In section 8, Jenkins transforms the idea of spreadable media and directly relates it to the way we can benefit from it. I think that sometimes people only view spreadable media in relation to corporations and businesses in a negative light. Going along with Jenkins example of the Dove video highlighting the amount of makeup and photoshopping models go through, it is amazing how by embracing spreadable media Dove actually upped their sales and made more business from it. It is also cool to think how it started off as a Youtube video and spread to pain Dove in a positive light as well as serve as inspiration to other people and other videos to come. One quote from Jenkins that stuck out to me and goes along with my interest of Youtube for my Wiki is that “television may remain a stronger venue for “just in time” information, while the slower circulation of information online may ultimately result in much deeper saturation within the culture. ” I think that through the online culture and the Youtube culture, people are going to spend more time on those types of media than on TV. Youtube personally has taken over more of my time than TV and I think this is because it is more relatable and genuine because you are given a more authentic version of entertainment.
Good to point out that we’ll need to look around at present for updates to what Jenkins describes (writing 2006-09).
Particularly issue you note about “the slower circulation of information online”: maybe not information but media/culture, “saturation” in forms like memes that use older content — sticking around as they circulate and mutate (or are re-purposed), unlike say watching older videos on YT/Netflix…
I read the same section and I think it’s interesting how TV still remains the top advertising venue for consumers. I actually believe its is going to stay this way for a long time, because I don’t kind the internet really has that much affect on us, especially when we can choose not to play something. I think you have a really good point about YouTube, more and more people are watching YouTube than ever before, and its much like TV where we can not chose to watch ads, I think YouTube will actually pass TV in ads one day.
Under “The Problem of Agency” heading in part one, Jenkins mentions that not only do ideas circulate differently across different media, but how they go through an adaptive process when they’re passed around as different people find different meanings for them. Jenkins uses the classic “telephone” example to describe how memes are not simply passed around in their most original form, but instead are modified or remixed by those who use them. This may aid us by helping us keep in mind to not only look at the media we encounter or are presented with, but also at the ideas that went into the original construction of said media.
“The re-use, remixing and adaptation of the LOLcat idea instead suggest that the spread and replication of this form of cultural production is not due to the especially compelling nature of the LOLcat idea but the fact it can be used to make meaning.”
So, I read part five Communities of Users. The idea I wanted to focus on appears early in the text when he is speaking about the new terms for a“consumers”. He gives a few examples but the idea of “prosumers” is an idea that is especially interesting to me. Basically the line between what is being produced, and what is being consumed is beginning to blur through participatory culture. For me this is helpful because I want to see the effect participatory culture has on popular music. “consumers produce and circulate media, they are blurring the line between amateur and professional (Jenkins 2009).”
I read part 8, “The Value of Spreadable Med.” Jenkins discusses the value of spreadable media through a consumer market. These “viral” marketing strategies are becoming a game changer for many companies in a society that relies so heavily on technology, especially the internet. With lower cost, many companies are using this strategy, and make their ad/companies viral. Since it is so hard for companies to control where content go on the internet, they can not reach consumers in the right way, or any better than traditional advertising methods, resulting in many companies failing. But the ones that succeed benefit greatly and see large increases in sales.
Qoutes:
“Spreadability may help to expand and intensify consumer awareness of a new and emerging brand or transform their perceptions of an existing brand, re-affirming its central place in their lives.” (Jenkins)
“Spreadability may expand the range of potential markets for a brand by introducing it, at low costs and low risks, to niches that previously were not part of its market.” (Jenkins)
With searching with the library database, I am finding much luck with finding articles about gaming culture. I am looking at peer reviewed articles. There is actually a lot to search through and many topics I could dive into. It is just going to be time consuming to find about two articles that really fit with what I want to put on the wiki page. I already have three sources from the source list. I’m good with terms and concepts and how to apply that to various aspects of gaming culture. The problem I am foreseeing is having to0 much to talk about or constantly repeating myself. With there being so many aspects of the gaming culture I do not know if I should narrow in on a certain idea of gaming or include many.
How gamers help producers, how gaming has effected users meaning the worlds created in the mind(space/ out of body experience), the comparison of gamers and robots, community aspects of gaming, etc..
I feel there is a lot of information on a wide range of topics and I am not sure if i should focus on one term and apply it to many example or have many terms and use many examples.