Henry Jenkins, former professor of humanities, MIT, is one of the leading science authorities in the analysis of New Media. Today, he is Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at USC. In this dialogue, Jenkins explains how technology is transforming the traditional view of humanities. He outlines his vision of convergence culture in his book, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. He explains why he thinks the idea of copyright is an aberration. He goes on to relate the causes for conglomerates losing control of media flows and how to deal with this situation. He describes the new logic framework under which our current participatory culture is run. He defines himself in this dialogue as a critical utopian trying to demonstrate how to harness the great power that changes taking place in new media have on people. Emphasizing the ‘new social skills’, which bring about new forms of ethics, interactions, politics, types of economic activities and legal culture, in the clash between the new digital media and the old mass media.

Many teens today who use the Internet are actively involved in participatory cultures—joining online communities (Facebook, message boards, game clans), producing creative work in new forms (digital sampling, modding, fan videomaking, fan fiction), working in teams to complete tasks and develop new knowledge (as in Wikipedia), and shaping the flow of media (as in blogging or podcasting). A growing body of scholarship suggests potential benefits of these activities, including opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, development of skills useful in the modern workplace, and a more empowered conception of citizenship. Some argue that young people pick up these key skills and competencies on their own by interacting with popular culture; but the problems of unequal access, lack of media transparency, and the breakdown of traditional forms of socialization and professional training suggest a role for policy and pedagogical intervention. This report aims to shift the conversation about the "digital divide" from questions about access to technology to questions about access to opportunities for involvement in participatory culture and how to provide all young people with the chance to develop the cultural competencies and social skills needed. Fostering these skills, the authors argue, requires a systemic approach to media education; schools, afterschool programs, and parents all have distinctive roles to play. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning

The following is excerpted from a white paper produced for the Catherine and John MacArthur Foundation as part of their launch of a new initiative on Youth and Digital Learning. The full report can be read at http://www.projectnml.org. In this first part, we establish how the opportunities and risks posed by the new participatory culture force us to reassess media education for the 21st century. In the second installment, we will identify a framework of social skills and cultural competencies that we feel should be the foundations for this new media literacy education.

Responding to the contradictory nature of our current moment of media change, this article will sketch a theory of media convergence that allows us to identify major sites of tension and transition shaping the media environment for the coming decade. Media convergence is more than simply a technological shift. Convergence alters the relationship between existing technologies, industries, markets, genres and audiences.

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