Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture

Abstract

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

Collaborative Design

“…Jenkins et al ( 2009 ) define participatory culture as 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… members also believe their contributions matter and feel some degree of social connection with one another…. (pp.…”

“…Many students, including those labeled "at-risk," thrive in these spaces where FEATURE ARTICLE "everyone knows something, nobody knows everything, and what any one person knows can be tapped by the group as a whole" (Jenkins et al, 2009 , p. 59). Jenkins et al ( 2009 ) argue schools have a role to play in fostering such participatory cultures, which prepare youth to be media makers, who not only have access to technological tools, but can articulate their understandings of "how media shapes perceptions," and develop ethical practices around media consumption and creation (p. 10). Jenkins et al's (2009) work has important pedagogical implications for educators and school institutions, both alternative and traditional.…”

“…Kress ( 2000 ) proposes a shift from language "use" to "transformation and remaking," where the maker is positioned as designer rather than user , and that through a process of use , the maker adapts, changes, and remakes resources according to their desires and needs (p. 156). Scholars define this capacity for remixing as central to media literacy and a provocative way in which youth talk back to institutional power structures (Knobel & Lankshear, 2008 ;Gustavson, 2007 ;Janks, 2010 ;Jenkins et al, 2009 ). Thus, implementing a multiliteracies pedagogy has the potential to democratize learning spaces and support collaborative environments where students' roles move back and forth between learner, teacher, and leader.…”

“…Thus, implementing a multiliteracies pedagogy has the potential to democratize learning spaces and support collaborative environments where students' roles move back and forth between learner, teacher, and leader. It is in this way that I see important theoretical connections between multiliteracies (New London Group, 2000 ) and participatory culture (Jenkins et al, 2009 ), connections that have significant pedagogical potential: positioning students as (re)designers supports a participatory culture of increased civic engagement in democratized spaces where youth create, collaborate, and share their work. While it might not be possible to fully enable participatory cultures within the constraints of school institutions, embracing a multiliteracies pedagogy opens spaces for students to begin to shift their school identities from user to designer/redesigner of cultural products.…”

“…These teacher activists (Simon, Campano, Broderick, & Pantoja, 2012 ) work to understand the role educators can play in disrupting the perpetuation of "risk" that results in some students' marginalization and disengagement from school. This article argues that enabling a participatory culture (Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton, & Robinson, 2009 ), grounded in a multiliteracies pedagogy (New London Group, 2000 ), speaks to these issues and fosters the necessary shift from a pedagogy that focuses on products and testing to one that is culturally relevant and honors process, discovery, and possibility.…”