Week 1 Reading Part 1

Deep Throat at work in a game show! I can't believe I never heard about ChillOne. As addicted as I can become about TV shows (Heroes, Monday @ 8:00), I was never a Survivor fan. Probably just as well, I have no time.

A few comments about the reading...

When I speak with my mom about convergence (she's 78), she goes on about how media and news swarm around kids today. I think she has a rather clear picture. In Convergence Culture, author Henry Jenkins talks about Old Media branching out into new technologies. All they were really doing was diversifying their business interests. Old Media described what Jenkins calls "delivery methods" (Jenkins, 14) as being convergent, all blending together to one output - the customer. It is more accurately divergent, though - at east for a period of transition. I see that with my high school students. They see media as only iPods and Blackberries; they see newspapers and magazines (beyond the photos and gossip) as old-fashioned. Media has done a poor job of converging technology - maybe teachers have too!

Collective Intelligence is an excellent concept - I wish my students were collectively inetelligent. Of course, they try to be during tests:) Spoiling, especially on a national level, has become a prime example. Hard core fans of any show or movie or book spend inordinate amounts of time trying to uncover gossip and leaks. The advent of the Web allowed for easy communication linking these fans in ways they never could before - 24/7. Participants started showing off their powers of deduction and investigation by sharing their theories and their discoveries. Websites like Showhype are excellent sources for curious fans to uncover tidbits.

Spoiling has many of the characteristics of gaming - competition, common goals, uncovering the facts. It's all about uncovering what others have spent time covering. Jenkins describes how spoiling is incredibley popular with college students - as is gaming (Jenkins, 52). They like to use the competencies that they are good at and enjoy. Spoiling fits the bill; they recieve admiration and praise from those unable to uncover the details. I'm hooked; I read the discussion forums and spoiler sites for the media I follow - guilty!

ShowHype Logo© from http://showhype.com
Mark Felt photo from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/MarkFelt.jpg
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press.