The basic goal of the article is to discuss the importance of media literacy and the participation of the youth in the participatory culture. Many people believe that schools are not placing a high enough importance of the participatory culture and that the youth are learning valuable skills in video games, books, and other place completely unrelated to school. The youth are participating in the contemporary culture through affiliations, expressions, collaborative problem-solving, and circulations. The stories Richardson, Lawver, Ross, and Meeter show that these skills learned from the sources outside of school are teaching them life skills that will be highly valued in the workplace and will help them succeed throughout life.
Key Terms:
Affiliations – informal or formal memberships in an online community which is centered around various forms of media such as Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, or online forums.
Expressions – when the member participates and produces new creative forms such as, but not limited to, fan video making, digital sampling, and mash-ups
Collaborative Problem-Solving – when people work together in teams to complete a task and work to develop new knowledge
Circulations – consists of podcasts or blogs and shapes the flow of media
Media Creator – someone who creates a blog or webpage and posts original artwork, photos, videos, or stories online
Recycled aluminum can tops which have been modified to resemble a “person.” The person who created this piece is a media creator because they created the piece and then uploaded the photo online for others to view.
Participatory Culture – open and supports to all types of artistic expressions, offers advice to people who post for critiques, where all contributions will be seen, and a place where members feel a connection to others
Connections to the Course:
As mentioned in the article learning and developing skills that deal with the participatory culture is important. This course is taking a step forward compared to many of the other courses offered. In this course students will be able to use different forms of media, such as blogging, in order to communicate and share ideas with the professor and other students. This course will also help the student grow as a media creator because all of the work that is submitted follows “loosely” formed guidelines which allow the student to get in touch with their creative side.
Other related materials:
After reading the article I did a search in Google which produced a video made by a student for another course but related to the topic. The Youtube video shows how participating in online games, such as The Sims, can help a person develop life skills.