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Participatory CulturesAccording to a recent study from the Pew Internet & American Life project (Lenhardt & Madden, 2005), more than one-half of all teens have created media content, and roughly one third of teens who use the Internet have shared content they produced.
In many cases, these teens are actively involved in what we are calling "participatory cultures". A participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices. A participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have created). |
Forms of participatory culture include:
Consider the internet celebrity and influencer network phenomenon.
- AFFILIATIONS — memberships, formal and informal, in online communities centered around various forms of media, such as Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook, Twitter, Google Meetups, MMOs, etc.
- EXPRESSIONS — producing new creative forms, such as memes, animated gifs, video, fan fiction writing, zines, mash-ups, etc.
- COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING — working together in teams, formal and informal, to complete tasks and develop new knowledge.
- CIRCULATIONS — Shaping the flow of media such as podcasting, blogging, SoundCloud.
Consider the internet celebrity and influencer network phenomenon.
A growing body of scholarship suggests potential benefits of these forms of participatory culture, including
Access to this participatory culture functions as a new form of the hidden curriculum, shaping which youth will succeed and which will be left behind as they enter school and the workplace.
Some have argued that children and youth acquire these key skills and competencies on their own by interacting with popular culture. Three concerns, however, suggest the need for policy and pedagogical interventions including the:
Educators must work together to ensure that every American young person has access to the skills and experiences needed to become a full participant, can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in online communities.
- opportunities for peer-to-peer learning,
- a changed attitude toward intellectual property,
- the diversification of cultural expression,
- the development of skills valued in the modern workplace, and a more empowered conception of citizenship.
Access to this participatory culture functions as a new form of the hidden curriculum, shaping which youth will succeed and which will be left behind as they enter school and the workplace.
Some have argued that children and youth acquire these key skills and competencies on their own by interacting with popular culture. Three concerns, however, suggest the need for policy and pedagogical interventions including the:
- PARTICIPATION GAP — the unequal access to the opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge that will prepare youth for full participation in the world of tomorrow.
- TRANSPARENCY PROBLEM — The challenges young people face in learning to see clearly the ways that media shape perceptions of the world.
- ETHICS CHALLENGE — The breakdown of traditional forms of professional training and socialization that might prepare young people for their increasingly public roles as media makers and community participants.
Educators must work together to ensure that every American young person has access to the skills and experiences needed to become a full participant, can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in online communities.
Schools as institutions have been slow to react to the emergence of this new participatory culture.
Schools must devote more attention to fostering what we call the new media literacies: a set of cultural competencies and social skills that young people need in the new media landscape.
Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement. The new literacies almost all involve social skills developed through collaboration and networking. These skills build on the foundation of traditional literacy, research skills, technical skills, and critical analysis skills taught in the classroom.
The new skills include:
Schools must devote more attention to fostering what we call the new media literacies: a set of cultural competencies and social skills that young people need in the new media landscape.
Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement. The new literacies almost all involve social skills developed through collaboration and networking. These skills build on the foundation of traditional literacy, research skills, technical skills, and critical analysis skills taught in the classroom.
The new skills include:
- PLAY — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving
- PERFORMANCE — the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery
- SIMULATION — the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes
- APPROPRIATION — the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
- MULTITASKING — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.
- DISTRIBUTED COGNITION — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities
- COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal
- JUDGEMENT — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources
- TRANSMEDIA NAVIGATION — the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities
- NETWORKING — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information
- NEGOTIATION — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.