Research 3

“Interactivity is the property of the technology, while participation is the property of culture” –Henry Jenkins (8)

Henry Jenkins wrote an article in 2006 for the Macarthur Foundation. The paper, entitled Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century (referred to as The White Paper by the author), shifts the focus of media education within our society from that of a technological stand point to that of a cultural standpoint. I found the above quote to encompass not only the overarching theme of the paper but it also serves as a reflection of our societies views of digital technology and why many controversies surrounding implementation of digital technology are confusing to the public.

The article states that much of the youth of today are involved in many forms of what Jenkins calls participatory culture. Examples of participatory culture come in four forms: affiliations, expressions, collaborative problem-solving, and circulations. Affiliations include any activities including metagaming, game clans, MySpace and Facebook. Expressions are “producing new creative forms, such as digital sampling, skinning and modding, fan videomaking, fan fiction writing, zines, mash-ups” (Jenkins 3). Collaborative problem solving involves individuals working as teams to complete tasks and “develop new knowledge” (3) such as wikipedia. Participants in circulations are involved in “shaping the flow of media, such as podcasting and blogging” (3). Jenkins goes on to acknowledge that much of our society feels “that children and youth acquire these skills and competencies on their own by interacting with popular culture” (3). This assumption is obviously false based upon many controversies surrounding cyber culture, controversies which are beyond the assumed technological growing pains.

Jenkins views three primary concerns in terms of media education, The Participation Gap, The Transparency Problem and The Ethics Challenge. First, Many people in the world wish to be involved with the internet revolution but due in part to either inadequate availability to equipment or lack of knowledge to use the equipment some individuals are restricted from participating. The second and third issues are quite possible where much of today’s problems, such as internet piracy and Digital Rights Management (DRM), arise.

Most media education seems to focus on learning the technology and the skills to be able to use the technology. This is a very worthwhile endeavour but seldom are people taught "to see clearly the ways that media shape perceptions of the world" (Jenkins 3). Furthermore, media education, though it does instruct skills for using technology it fails to instruct people to approach their participation in cyber culture with responsibility in regards to society on a whole. These are issues that "might prepare young people for their increasingly public roles as media makers and community participants" (Jenkins 3).

One prominent challenge facing participatory culture right now is internet piracy. Many major media companies have resorted to suing other companies and individuals for copyright infringement and theft via file sharing. The media industry is at fault for wanting to secure what is legally theirs, but the fault lies their inability to see what this participatory culture is creating (and thus proliferating the media companies content). Likewise, the people responsible for copyright infringement are not trying to steal, for example music, for the sake of stealing, but are reaffirming the product media company has released by including it in their new "mash-up." What the individual fails to realize is the larger effect that this behavior has on our society and our economy.

Media education needs to stem from the culture not from the technology; from the participatory not from the interactivity. If our society would stop allowing our media to instruct people on how to act and expecting the "magic black box" (Jenkins 7) to automatically instill education and start becoming invested (participating), we will be in a much better position to address some of the current and future problems.


Jenkins, Henry. MacArthur Foundation. The White Paper