Participatory Media Cultures and Social Media

Participating in media cultures is something that is incredibly common for people in the 21^st century, especially at the University level. There are many platforms of media cultures that can be participated in so it is a large branch in which many people occupy. The gaming industry is something that has been evolving for many years now and it has become a major player in the entertainment industry. Look at Grand Theft Auto 5, it currently holds seven world records including, fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion, and that includes feature films (Karmali, L, IGN, 2013). Joost Raessens (2005), in his book, ‘Computer Games as Participatory Media Culture’ discusses how games are now apart of media culture that also associates with film and television. The principles he mentions that allow games to be apart of the media culture are, multimedialty, virtuality, interactivity and connectivity. Other media forms such as social media including Facebook can also deal with these properties, which highlight how social media is apart of participatory media culture, much the same as games. A study in 2009 found that college students in America reported using Facebook for approximately 30 minutes a day as part of a daily routine (Pembek et al. 2009 cited in Noor Al-Deen, H, Hendricks, J). This highlights how much Facebook is used as a participatory media culture.

The multimedialty of games includes the stationary and moving images as well as sounds that bring the game to life on a visual level as well as the sounds that a produced in the game, including soundtracks and sound effects (Raessens, 2005). Without multimedia there would be no media cultures at all to begin with, it is vital to all platforms of media whether it be film and television, games or even social media. Facebook has a particular layout that makes it unique and recognizable, and even though Facebook updates and changes its layout as soon as you get used to it, it is a demonstration of the multimediality involved. Individuals profiles also have an element of multimediality, a customizable layout to highlight certain aspects of someone’s life, pictures and videos are a large part of Facebook profiles. There would be a lot of thought that goes into what the online layout of Facebook should be, all involving multimedia. When the Facebook ‘Timeline’ was introduced, a video was uploaded to inform the users of Facebook what exactly timeline was and how to use it.

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Virtuality is another aspect that Raessens (2005) identifies as a measure of how games are part of participatory media culture. Virtuality is the “possibility to simulate virtual worlds a gamer can explore” (Raessens, 2005). Think again of Grand Theft Auto, in any of the franchises games, there is a huge platform in which users of the game can roam around freely completing missions or just casually take a stroll whilst beating up people for the their money. Grand Theft Auto 4 was a close imitation to New York City and Grand Theft Auto 5 is set in city of San Andreas, a creation of the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series. The game seems so lifelike that Michael Heim’s (cited in Raessens 2005) description of Virtualty sums it up perfectly, he states in relation to Virtuality that it is “an event or entity that is real in effect but not in fact.” Facebook is an online world in essence, you can communicate with others online and post your thoughts and feelings, due to the fact it is online it does not have to be a true representation of yourself. “Social media provides opportunities for users to engage in self-presentation of identity” (DeAndrea et al, cited in Noor Al-Deen, H, Hendricks, J). What seems to real to other people viewing someone’s profile may not be real in fact. People post photos of themselves on Facebook, it is quite common to have a profile picture that contains the individual in it, but if you examine the photo, it is usually a good photo. Profile pictures are the ones that anyone can see therefore most people will choose a photo that highlights them in a positive way. If you go through peoples Facebook profiles you will generally find many good photos of someone, and rarely a bad one. This is because people can choose what appears on their profile, and usually it is a selection of photo’s that makes them seem acceptable by society. Perhaps a few photos of them playing sport, or going out and partying and drinking, or just photos in general that are of accepted behaviours by their peers. This is usually a reason why students especially don’t want to be Facebook friends with their parents. Having family members on Facebook may alter the way someone presents himself or herself on Facebook.

source: http://www.blueskyresumes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/is320.jpg

Interaction is a vital component to social media, especially Facebook, a social media platform that is all about communication. Its sole purpose was for college students to be able to communicate with one another. Facebook allows for people to interact with each other at any time, with smartphones we can now do it anywhere too. Facebook has many uses now; people can organize events and invite people, chat to people on a real time basis, start groups to communicate and voice opinions or wish someone a happy birthday. Social media gives people the chance to be creative, get feedback from friends or keep updated on each other lives (Healy, J 2011 pg. 22). Nearly 50% of Australian children access the Internet after school and use it up to 6 days a week (Healy, J 2011). Interaction with their peers is something that is a must to adolescents growing up, much the same as it was years ago when there was no social media, new technologies allow for this interaction to occur on a daily basis. Online games are similar in terms of the interaction, on average; children spend 7.9 hours per fortnight playing online games, (Healy, J 2011). In online games, it is possible to talk to real people whilst in the game, that is where the danger is as you are unable to see who the person is. Even Grand Theft Auto 5 has an online component where you can form gangs with others.

Connectivity has a correlation with interactivity; people are able to connect over the Internet in online games, compared to games where you use a CD –ROM to insert into the console. Connectivity with others allows for an interaction and communication with other players from all over the world, there is a multitude of online games that involve this interaction. Social media fits into the category of connectivity as it is based online, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube all have communication and interaction that is based online.

It is quite clear how social media platforms such as Facebook are apart of participatory media cultures. As discussed by Raessens (2005), the principles involved in defining games as participatory media cultures can be linked to other forms of media, such as Facebook. The multimediality of Facebook such as the photos, videos and general layout of the webpages can be linked back to games such as Grand Theft Auto that use the multimedia of stationary and moving images as well as sounds to bring the game to life. Facebook can be seen as a virtual world in which individuals have control of what is seen by others, much like gamers have the ability to roam virtual worlds. Interaction is a major component of social media; the communication between peers is the central element to the ‘social’ aspect of the media culture. Online games heavily feature interaction between others online and the connectivity over the Internet allows for this to occur. Overall it can be seen that social media is another aspect of participatory media cultures.

Reference:

Raessens, J 2005, 'Computer games as participatory media culture' in Raessen, J & Goldstein, J, Handbook of computer game studies, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 373-388.

Noor Al-Deen, H, Hendricks, J 2011, Social Media: Usage and Impact, Lexington Books, United Kingdom

Karmali, L, ‘GTA 5 Currently Holds Seven Guinness World Records’, retrieved 9/10/13,  http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/10/09/gta-5-currently-holds-seven-guinness-world-records

Healy, J 2011, Social Impacts of Digital Media, Spinney Press, N.S.W

Hollywoodisation

Globalisation is evident in many aspects, especially in film and television. American films made in Hollywood and films produced in Asia are crossing paths. Hollywood has been operating since around 1910 ( Klein, C 2004 pg. 361) but since the 1980’s it has been globalizing and striking a relationship with Asian markets (Klein, C 2004 pg. 361). ‘Hollywoodisation’ is the concept that Asian film industries are adopting many aspects from American film culture and integrating them into their own. It could be argued that a reason this is occurring is the pure domination of Hollywood films across the globe.

 There are different forms of non-western entertainment sources that have been Hollywoodised, the hit song ‘Gangnam Style’ by Korean artist Psy was a worldwide hit. Anime is a form of Japanese cartoon and is an example of how Asian entertainment can be Hollywoodised, the television show ‘Pokemon’ was huge around 10 years ago in Australia and the subsequent Gameboy games were also incredibly popular.

American film companies such as Miramax, highlight how Hollywoodisation works, they modify the movies by “dubbing them, editing them, altering dialogue, changing titles and creating new soundtracks” (Klein, C 2004, pg. 371-372). This shows how American companies feel the need to alter films to adapt to differing audiences.

Reference:
Klein, Christina 2004, ‘Martial arts and globalisation of US and Asian film industries’, Comparative America Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 360-384.

Specular Economy

The ‘specular economy’, is something that can define how people are becoming more conscious of how they appear and how they present themselves as well as how others perceive them (Marshall 2010 pg. 498). This phenomenon is now evident through social networking sites and across other various forms of interactive media via the Internet. 

Facebook is a great example of how the ‘specular economy’ works due to the fact that people upload photos of themselves onto Facebook for everyone to see. A social networking site such as Facebook “means that we are inhabiting spaces where we are not only on display but we think about our mediated construction of ourselves sometimes continuously” (Marshall 2010 pg. 499). For the most part, they will be good photo’s, much time and care would have gone into selecting the photo’s that represent you in the best manner. 

The idea of the ‘specular economy’ can also be used against someone. Uploading photos of people who don’t look good such as wearing hideous clothing or pulling a face can impact that individuals ‘specular economy’ as they will be worried as to how others perceive them. 

           source: http://www.thisblogrules.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/The-Car-Picture-Meme.png

My Facebook account has some shocking photo’s of me, but I keep them there, partly due to the fact that I may be judged for removing them knowing that they are bad photo’s. People have an identity on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the things you say and the photo’s you upload say something about you, and the ‘specular economy’ suggests that people are conscious of this and therefore select what material is uploaded as they worry about what others may perceive of them.

Reference:

Marshall, D 2010, The Specular Economy, Symposium: Celebrity Around The World.

Participatory media cultures

Computer games are a huge part of entertainment in today’s society, there are millions of people across the world who play online games, they have a virtual world to run around in and control their own avatar. There are also games such as Grand Theft Auto, a game in which players are able to explore massive gameplay maps and complete missions or just roam around.

 Games are apart of digital media and there are some aspects that must be considered when discussing computer games as a digital media. These include, multimediality, virtuality, interactivity and connectivity (Raessen 2005 pg. 374). A game such as Grand Theft Auto emerges itself into all of these categories. 

These categories can also be applied to non gaming forms of digital media such as Facebook. For some, Facebook can be a virtual world, the amount of time some people spend on it is worrying, the fact that they can communicate via the internet with their friends therefore means they forgo actually seeing them. Facebook allows you to interact with many people, some you don’t ever see anymore, or even those people who you have actually never met. It is easy to gain an insight into someone’s life just by looking at their Facebook profile. ‘Liking’ a photo or a status of some kid you used to go to school with is the norm, apparently its also a way of letting someone know you think they’re attractive. Hearing my sister shriek with excitement when a boy ‘likes’ her photo is an example of this, but thanks to the interactive world of Facebook I can then see who this boy is. 

                                   source: http://isatv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Facebook-Stalker3.jpeg

Reference: 

Raessens, J 2005, ‘Computer games as participatory media culture’, Handbook of computer game studies 2005, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 373-388

Blogging in the workplace

Blogs are in the public sphere, they are intended for people to read, essentially the reason people blog is to say whatever is on their mind in a forum that anyone can access. The fact that anyone can access the blog is not always a positive aspect of blogging though, especially if what is on your mind is not a positive thing about an individual or your workplace. “Blogging platforms have become forums for employees to either individually or collectively vent frustrations at corporate culture initiatives” (Richards and Kosmala 2013 pg. 67). These blog posts are out in the open, all someone has to do is Google your name to find your blog. Imagine a potential employer checking the internet for some background information on you and find blog posts of you slagging off your workplace, it wouldn’t look all that flash going in for an interview, if you get one that is. 

Ellis and Richards (2009) (cited in Richards and Kosmala 2013 pg. 69) “found employees to be attracted to blogging about work because these online forums offers a form of voice other than that provided by trade unions.” In a place in which people can vent about their work frustrations, employees can also gain support from others. Ellis and Richards (2009) (cited in Richards and Kosmala 2013 pg. 69) “found evidence of support networks being formed between work bloggers and the use of such forums to reflect on their work experiences over time.” 

                                              source: http://www.poormojo.org/hate/I%20hate%20my%20job.jpg

There is a website that goes by the name of workrant.com in which it’s tagline is, “Stressed at work, thinking ‘I hate my job’, ‘I hate my boss,’ or ‘I hate my co-workers,’ You need a work rant! Rant away all your work rage, anonymously, and ease the frustration.” (Workrant.com.) A word of warning, there is some explicit language on this website but quite a good read. It just highlights how people use blogs and forums to express their frustration at their workplace. It is obviously a big issue that many people deal with.



Reference:
Richards, J., and Kosmala, K., 2013 ‘In the end, you can only slag people off for so long’: employee cynicism through work blogging’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 68 – 77.

www.workrant.com