Participatory Culture

As an aspiring photographer, I frequently take photographs. Everywhere I go, I have my camera. Like any photographer, I enjoy presenting my work to the public and by doing that I display my photographs in online albums, particularily on Facebook. Since almost everybody has an account on there, I receive frequent feedback from different people. As Ian said in class, we all go on Facebook for one reason: to obtain information. I never thought about it that way until he mentioned that, and then I thought about it, and that couldn't be more right. I don't only go on Facebook to get information though, I also provide information through photographs in creative ways. By doing this, I am part of a participatory culture, which is the choice of sharing creative pieces of work especially on the Internet. The Internet is a popular place for participatory culture because it is easy to access, and whatever you choose to display has the ability to reach large populations of people in a small amount of time. Flickr is one of the most popular photo-sharing websites out there. It gives people the opportunity to view people's work and also give feedback. I do not have a Flickr account for I haven't worked up the will to create a Yahoo account first, but I do visit Flickr often to marvell at the brilliant photography the world has to offer. This relates to Net Neutrality: the choice we have to view anything and everything we would like to at any time on the Internet. I have the choice to look at images of anything possible on Flickr, and that gives me a sense of freedom.
Professor Henry Jenkins said that participatory culture is beneficial because it increases participation of creating media, which also increases competition. He says it shifts the focus of literacy from one individual expression to community involvement. If one person shares his or her work throughout a community, the community is automatically involved because it addresses them to look. Participatory culture is hard to ignore. Everyone everywhere is interacting, sharing ideas, and communicating those ideas with eachother and making improvements. Even this blog represents participatory culture. My ideas+a medium+community=participatory culture.

Jenkins, Henry. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. "Digital Media and Learning". November 25, 2008.