Med104 - Henry Jenkins

Med104 is underway! There have been lots of interesting discussions on the uni discussion board, I've kicked off Assignment 1 and continued to mildly fret about the remediation project....!

Reflecting on Med104's week 1's reading Henry Jenkins, "Critical Information studies for a participatory culture (pt2)" blog post April 10, 2009.

Which of these points did you find interesting?:
The way the internet seems to be interpreted through political agenda’s and mainstream media is very interesting to me. It is interesting how often these powers use fear of the internet, and fear of the changes that the Internet may bring to rile the public up. The foremost conclusion to understanding the impacts of new media on our lives is education and then research. “we need to develop strategies for decreasing the role of ignorance and fear in public debates about new media’. (Jenkins, 2009). The internet is part of almost everything we do, and I think that there is just as much opportunity for duplicity and non authentic behavior offline as online – it is more a matter of empowering ourselves and our children through education and awareness, just as we have previously in regards to offline potential issues. This does not in anyway mean that terrible things do not occur online, more that terrible things occur in spite of the internet not because of it.
Shared Concerns: 
Reasserting Fair Use is an interesting topic. Large economic powers have traditionally forced the hand of law makers in regarding to copyright law, ensuring the coin and intellectual power stays with them. With the decentralizing nature of the internet it has become apparent that a reworking of these ideas needs to take place to ensure all who are able to publish are able to claim their work as their own, and also that each individual is treated as the artist particularly in the face of litigation.
Concern/Disagree/Other Consequences:  
Overall, all the points are so interesting to me. These areas relate across the span of internet use and all of them are important to consider and to move ahead with. I find the idea of the digital divide and participation gap scary and interesting, it makes me wonder where on the agenda does it lie? Above eating a healthy lunch at school? Above home visits to children in danger? In the face of such adversity, is access to knowledge via the internet more important…or not?


cheers
Sarah