Jenkins- Chapter 6 and Conclusion

The largest part of Chapter 6 was simply the convergence between politics and social media. The focus was on the 2004 election and the use of photoshop, various websites, blogs, and people trying to report the how the election was going. Also, they looked into television. The mainstream news channels versus entertainment or comedy news like the Daily Show. It was really interesting that the people who watched the entertainment based shows actually knew more about the issues than the people who watched the news. I suppose that is because the ones who are watching the entertainment based programs look up more information on the issues while the people who watch mainstream news use that was their sole resource. Jenkins sees this cultural production as a means to promote politics I think. He saw Alphaville as a city where people could talk about democracy and the democratic process. It was a sort of debate between people of the city and a way for the people who participated in this online city to see the faults of democracy. Also, it gave young people in this country a way to participate in politics. I think this type of social media gives people a chance to share and participate in politics and spread their voices in ways that they couldn't before. I think the "vote naked" ads describe how regular people feel about politics. They are scared to talk about them because honestly, talking politics can cause fights and ruin relationships, people get yelled at for having certain views on things, etc. Other "regular people" could be young people who aren't able to vote; they can participate in things like the Sims game he talked about. These regular people can use social media to keep up on politics in the comfort of their own homes and become comfortable with politics becoming a larger part of their life (if they choose to). Jenkins also talks about the "Monitorial Citizen" which is a citizen who kind of just sits back and watches. Also in that section he talks about exactly what an "informed citizen" is. I think that is up to opinion; people get all their information from many different places. The Monitorial citizen can use this social media as another way to get information and use that information if need be. If I ever felt really attacked by politics I think I could see myself displaying that online or in other ways. However, usually I keep my views to myself instead of voicing my thoughts on politics. A lot of people out there get fired up about politics and then forget to respect other's opinions. I don't know if I live under a rock or am watching the wrong stuff, but I haven't seen much social media on the upcoming elections yet. There have been all these controversies with potential candidates, but I don't keep up on a lot of politics as it is so I haven't seen anything or participated in anything yet.

I see his convergence culture as different digital medias not focusing on one sole media but instead going across multiple medias. Star Wars was a really good example of that. It was originally shot as a movie, but then expanded into a video game, action figures, t shirts, etc. Also, I think convergence is participatory based. The mixture between large corporations and fans/participants is another large part of culture. Collectively and together these two parts can make up a better whole; a more intelligent whole. By having participants different areas of culture expands and gains more fans because they feel closer to the particular part of culture. I see it connecting with DIY on a few levels. The participants of convergence are usually making things, like movies. They use their hands and brains to create just like DIY crafters. The one thing that I feel is different between DIY and convergence culture is that with DIY they are usually activists against corporations and on some level convergence culture is trying to work with big corporations. I'm not saying that participants of convergence culture and corporations don't bump heads, but the goal is to eventually have a good relationship with each other and use each other in their own works. I think a lot of what Jenkins describes is digital craft like I said before. His article did change how I felt about digital craft. Previously, I felt like digital craft felt and sounded a lot like work. However, the people participating in this digital craft are making things because they love to make it. They are crazy fans of the things they participate in. That isn't work, that's leisure.