Thursday, 8 September 2011
WEEK 6: I AM NO LONGER AFRAID OF COCKROACHES.. because I have friends.
Disregard the title, I saw it in the lecture and found it too funny.
Convergence led me to not being afraid of cockroaches any more. I believe convergence has such an exceptional role today with the use of new media (which is in some aspects convergent media).
This Youtube video outlines just how important convergence is. It explores the digitization and convergence of basic items such as newspapers, books and magazines. Basically print media is no longer print - it's online.
It is evident now that platforms have changed and so has the content. Audiences are no longer passive, but active prosumers (producer/ consumer). Without convergence do you think this would be possible? I would not think so. Gotta love convergence. Jenkins (2006, pg. 3) states that 'the circulation of media content depends heavily on consumers' active participation'. The link I shared above of the Britney Spears parody, it is a perfect example of how Youtube is circulating with consumers active participation. Imagine Youtube without user generated content, it would defeat the purpose of its' existence right? Again, Jenkins (2006, pg. 17) also mentions that convergence "occurs when people take the media into their own hands".
I think it is so amazing that us as audiences or 'produsers' keep media platforms such as YouTube alive. It gives us as audiences such importance in the evolution of new media and other technologies and their capabilities.
Reference:
Jenkins, H 2006,'Worship at the alter of convergence: A new paradigm for understanding media change', Convergence Culture: When old media and new media collide, pp 1-24, New York, New York University Press
VenetianPrincess, 2010, "Britney Spears - I Wanna Go - Parody ("I Gotta Go")" YouTube, accessed 8/9/2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q40DDjIKOmY&feature=related
xplanevisualthinking, 2009, "Did You Know 4.0", YouTube, accessed 8/9/2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8
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Through the expansion of youtube people have been able to see and experience new things. The fact that the majority of the videos on youtube is great and shows how creative people can be when given a little freedom. However, at the same time due to Youtube we have gotten endless cat videos, Rebecca Black, Justin Beiber and who know what else. Its things like these that almost want to make you say 'enough is enough':)
ReplyDeleteYer, that lol cats thing is enough already. Great post, I like reading Jenkins too. Hey, I was thinking that thing about not being afraid of cockroaches anymore maybe had something to do with nuclear power/holocaust, you know, that cockroaches are one of very few species that can survive nuclear radiation. Not sure, but I sense some sort of connection or significance here maybe? Like even if we are all obliterated the cockroaches will go on! Maybe humans will become extinct like the dinosaurs and earth will be inhabited by cockroaches? Perhaps cockroaches hold the key to how we can survive a nuclear event? Or maybe cockroaches have nothing to do with convergence and something was just lost in translation???
ReplyDeleteGood post! By becoming a prodsumer I like many other millions of people in the world now leave the chair of the passenger which in the past we were being driven wherever the driver wanted to take us. We can now be that driver and we're taking this to our advantage through websites such as youtube. This platform co-existence heavily relies on us little people producing content of whatever we feel like such as the video you linked in your blog. This gives us a power that did not exist 20 years ago. Convergence gives us a new power that takes a further step into our future of media and how we use it!
ReplyDeleteI like the whole focus around YouTube in your post. Did you know, as a YouTube producer of videos, you can access and track settings which focuses on your audiences' attention span throughout your videos on a visual timeline? I think it's clear that people are understanding the absolute importance of attention now that content is so abundant. Soon we will have much more quality content spread over entire sites and media sources!
ReplyDelete@Apollo - you've thought quite long and hard about the cockroach thing, lol! Who knows, maybe we can learn from cockroaches on how to survive from nuclear events.
ReplyDeleteI think at times some content posted on Youtube becomes more and more repetitive. I also didn't know that you can segment your audience on Youtube as an Author, this just goes to show that convergence has deeper levels than just producing content - it also effects the viewer.