Media-Culture Analysis for Discourse Community
- 10 points; due July 13
500 words (minimum) + media (image, video, etc)
Prompt:
Using one specific example (recent or historic), discuss a particular form of digital culture in the networked participatory context of current media conditions.
As media analysis, limit description in favor of supporting critical ideas with details from thoughtful observation, considering and discussing explicitly with concepts from class (3 terms minimum).
Imagine your audience is the “discourse community” who understands and contributes to (reads/writes) discussions about the cultural form (thus, assume some familiarity ― not needing to describe fundamental aspects).
Try analyzing the cultural example in terms of
media —
technology and network platform (Internet, Web, software, sites, etc)
— and social practices
(“consumers” & viewers? “multipliers”?)
in order to generate insights about the relation of technology and culture.
-
(Protip: analyze this way first, before composing, the way Bogost does with Facebook and the way Jenkins does with his pop/network culture examples — “break down” to aid critical perspective.)
From this activity, propose (as brief conclusion) your new understanding or view: for instance, about a key concept from a reading; networked media; further defining “participatory culture“
(note, this conclusion proposed can be speculative; it is mostly a “warm-up” toward Project 1 in this way, as an exercise developing your new ideas from insights about the examples observed).
Criteria (from syllabus)
Posted to personal blog, these informal compositions illustrate attentive reading of assigned texts, progress toward project, and engagement with class topics relative to schedule. Credit is earned for
-
(1) submitting on-time and with sufficient length;
(2) demonstrating attention to class topics, content knowledge, and critical thinking, particularly by describing insights and connections;
(3) providing thoughtful and relevant responses to prompts, through specialized discourse;
(4) using specific examples from personal knowledge and/or respective readings;
(5) while extending rhetorical knowledge and mastery of writing conventions, practicing efficient prose
(i.e. minimizing /avoiding summary, repetition, digression, and unnecessary discussion).
— (good examples of key terms + useful concepts from readings, helpful for Exercise)
“Spreadability assumes a world where mass content gets repositioned as it enters into a range of different niche communities. When material is produced according to a one-size-fits-all model, it necessarily imperfectly fits the needs of any given group of consumers. As content spreads, then, it gets remade — either literally through various forms of sampling and remixing — or figuratively via its insertion into ongoing conversations and interactions.“
— Jenkins (2009)
“By the same token, ideas circulate differently in and through different media. Some media allow for the more or less direct transmission of these ideas in something close to their original form — as when a video gets replayed many times — while others necessarily encourage much more rapid transformations — as occurs when we play a game of ‘telephone’ and each person passing along a message changes it in some way“
— Jenkins (2009)