Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century

Jenkins, Henry. (2009). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Executive summary (xi-xv)

Observing a growing tendency of the youth's engagement in media production and sharing their created products over the web, Jenkins defined a participatory culture: "A participatory culture is a 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" (xi) Further, he described that members of a participatory culture believe the importance of their contribution to the culture and fee certain social connection with one another. Despite the potential benefits from such participatory cultures, Jenkins argued for policy and pedagogical interventions for three concerns: participation gap, transparency problem, and ethics challenge. For that matter, Jenkins stated:

"Educators must work together to ensure that all young Americans have access to the skills and experiences needed to become full participants, can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and are socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in online communities." (xiii)

He wrote, "Inter-activity is a property of the technology, while participation is a property of culture." (p. 8). Thus, interactivity does not necessarily increase participation. Yet, he shows technology-deterministic approach, by writing subsequently, "Participatory culture is emerging as the culture absorbs and responds to the explosion of new media technologies that make it possible for average consumers to archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media content in powerful new ways." (p. 8)