It is incredible how the world we live in is so much easy to communicate with everyone now. The most powerful organisations can be reached, the most hidden businesses can be contacted and the most difficult political groups can be heard. Every confrontation between individuals now is more accessible thanks to the modern world technologies and especially to the social media for giving such opportunities. Now in understanding the way social media operates, the most consistent users are the youths and the way they engage with the political groups within their societies. In understanding this, Henry Jenkins have research different approaches that are known to the world and is being used by youths in engaging with the outside world. Henry Jenkins wrote, “texting, tweeting and sending photos or videos, passing the word was the point”. The most relevant concepts I have identified from Henry Jenkins that I believe is relevant to understand are; cultural jamming, transmedia and participatory culture.
Cultural Jamming, transmedia and participatory culture are all concepts that Henry Jenkins have identified as the ones helping youths in engaging with the outside world. These concepts also encourage a lot of involvement with political groups from normal citizens of any nation. Social media is the portal in which these concepts have been established and indeed these concepts have revolutionised the way in which message is being passed. In identifying these concepts, I have research my own nation of Solomon Islands in providing a sense of understanding. The Solomon Islands is a small country that is run by a government that is always changing. I believe one of these concepts is being strongly emphasised by the people of Solomon Islands and this proves that Henry Jenkin’s research is valid and can be related to the modern world events.
The modern world is completely different compared to the old world in regards to the way in which people engage with each other. The youths are an example of these modern world advancement. In one of Henry Jenkin’s concept that he has researched called cultural jamming. It is an interesting way in which youths have used to spread their messages. A simple definition of cultural jamming is changing the purpose of an advertisement through parody form. This parody then carries the actual message in which the particular group wants to share. It is quite obvious that this actual method is something that quite engaging when it comes to audience as audience are quickly attracted to such spin of things and eventually they are victims of the whole cultural jamming as quoted by Henry Jenkins “Mark Dery (1993) urge activist to disrupt the flow, block the signal, and hijack the signs coming from Hollywood and Madison Avenue.” The disruption and blocking of the signs are simple cultural jamming because they would then be able to transform the flow and the signals from the Hollywood and Madison Avenue to present their messages to the society.
The social media offers a very wide range of possible communicational ways for youths to engage with the outside world and also the political groups. One of the most effective concepts present in the modern day is transmedia. Transmedia basically means having to tell a certain message all over different platforms of the social media. This is exactly what youths of today are quite talented in. They create a certain message and they can spread the message all over the social media with different ways of communication ““texting, tweeting and sending photos or videos, passing the word was the point”. The politics of today is similar too. They often spread their agendas all over the social media in search of support but the reality is far greater than their actual agendas. Transmedia have been around schools and other smaller institutes including businesses and organisations. Transmedia is one handy way of transporting messages to all over the world because it has high possibilities that will reach the intended audience one way or the other.
Cultural jamming and transmedia are most influential way of spreading information to the world and for youths who often get engaged with political groups, they used these two specific concepts. One other concept that is quite obvious in the society is participatory culture. Participatory culture allows certain knowledge to be transferred from a more experienced individual to a less experienced person. Unlike other concepts which can have differences and power according to age, this particular concept focuses more on human-like survival. To participate in a culture is simple to be part of the actual culture. “The groups we discuss are differently situated in terms of their embrace of different media tactics…” Henry Jenkins firmly introduces participatory as the actual concept that the world is understanding. Indeed, the whole world has been shaped by knowledge being passed on by knowledgeable people. The society is much more the way it is because of these three incredible concepts of the society.
One of the interesting events that happened recently in Solomon Islands is that the government members had just passed a bill in the parliament that would allow them to not pay tax. In fighting against this insane step taken by the honourable members of Solomon Islands, the public is seeking for actual ways to contribute in ensuring the leaders do change their topic. As resulted, there were a lot of advertisement of honourable getting fed up with a lot of money and living carelessly in the parliament. Those parody add are meant especially to mock the honourable that actually get money in this particular way. Transmedia is quite relevant for this particular issue and I believe that Henry Jenkins have been correct than he was. Transmedia indeed have helped in this situation as youths now parody advertisement to share the message that the members of the parliament are stealing their own country. The motto of Solomon Islands stated “To Lead is to Serve” now after experiencing the whole bill being passed, youths have taken to social media and announced in a funny way that motto of Solomon Islands has been changed to “To lead is self-serve”. The message is obvious in this and credit to transmedia. The other two concepts can be used in this particular situation too but could not be as effective as transmedia concept is.
The world we live in is full of advanced technologies and sometimes it is quite difficult to listen to the sound of reality. Cultural jamming, transmedia and participatory cultures are all media cultures and should be entertained more often as it allows for many views to be heard overseas and locally. The most relevant concept that I believe should be maintained to sustain the present society is the transmedia concept. A simple concept but a worth considering. I personally believe that it has more effectiveness in reaching a greater audience with it. The world now is full of many different groups all searching for ways to influence the society, these concepts have the potential to help these groups to just that. The question now to ask ourselves is are we going to be using these concepts for the right reasons or are we going to use it for the wrong reason? Either way, these concepts can be very effective.
No comments:
Post a Comment