In my opinion, Henry Jenkins views convergence culture
as a worldly connection. Thanks to convergence culture, media is easily
accessible, there is a continual circulation of content, and with the speed of
the connection, anyone, anywhere, at any time can share something with the
masses. When reading the articles related to Jenkins' book, I was amazed by the
story of “Bert is Evil”. Who would have
thought it was possible for images to go from a bedroom in the U.S., to posters
held by anti-American protesters, to images captured and shown on CNN? In
convergence culture, everyone has a voice and what we share can be seen by
anyone.
Creative engagement is the ability for people to
share content they have generated or altered. Therefore, the images of “Bert is
Evil” is a great example of creative engagement. Dino Ignacio used Photoshop to
create racy images of the Sesame Street
character, Bert. This form of creativity is engaging not only because it is user
generated content, but also because other people can view, share, and discuss
the content.
Participators are engaging convergence culture in a variety
of ways. Since all our media is in one convenient place, we can share content,
view content, create content, and discuss that content with anyone around the
world. This instant connectivity keeps us engaged. The more we see, the more we
want to discuss and share what we’ve seen. Now, rather than just telling
someone face to face, we can post it for the world to see.
You made this clean cut and understandable...very well done.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that anything we post can be seen around the world or in "Evil Bert" case be taken out of context, so while we have a larger voice in this culture we need to be extra careful what we say even in jest.
Bert is Evil came as such a shock to me too. I was astonished that the company did not rectify what happened. It's a great use of creative engagement, however a sad one.
ReplyDeleteI too was shocked by the Bert is Evil Story, it just goes to show that now users can communicate nationwide. I really liked how you said that "we can post it for the world to see" Because that is so true with convergence the stuff you post can be seen on million different devices, the internet is full of possibilities now it has everything we need.
ReplyDeleteI like how you turned "Evil Bert" into a positive, rather than a negative. Yes, the content was controversial. But it's the fact that we have the ability to alter content and put our own twist on it that makes the content in the media constantly circulating.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about the use of Photoshop and "Evil Bert". This was a controversial topic that you turned positive. It is true that all our media is now in one place (the internet) and it is easily accessible.
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