Introduction
In the past fifteen years the rapid increase in widely accessible hardware, software and digital communication (epitomised by, but not limited to, the internet) has led to substantial changes in the way cultural meaning and media are conceived, created, produced and distributed. One of the most significant and widely discussed changes has not just been the way digital media is produced, but who has access to the tools of creation. While the day to day ability to offer news, cultural criticism and political commentary used to be the almost exclusive realm of professional journalists, personal publishing tools such as weblogs have opened the door for millions of ‘amateur’ writers to share their voices and opinions. While the production of broadcast quality audio or video was once the exclusive realm of production companies with huge budgets, the expansion of digital technologies and their relative affordability has opened the door for non-professionals to create films and music which are of a comparable standard to those produced by their industry counterparts. As such, the twentieth century may be characterised by the expansion and domination of ‘big media’, but by contrast the twenty-first century is being hailed by many commentators as the digitally-facilitated era of participatory culture. According to enthusiasts, digital technology and communication are allowing cultural production to once enter the hands of average individuals as part of their everyday lives.
However, as more and more people participate in the creation, manipulation and distribution of new media forms and cultural production, a range of serious issues have emerged. The most public battles have been fought over the right to distribute, copy and remix digital music in the face of mp3 audio compression. Less public but equally intense debates have emerged regarding the realm of journalism and authority. If anyone can create a weblog (or blog), what authority should blogs have when compared to traditional print or television news? What responsibility do bloggers have to their (potential) readership? What credibility does a communally authored online encyclopaedia have? As these few questions begin to show, the emerging trends and rhetoric surrounding the ideas and practice of participatory culture have opened new realms of debate, as well as re-igniting existing arguments.
In this unit, you will critically explore these emerging debates, utilising communications theory, exploring social and cultural trends in digital culture, and evaluating the ideas and practice of participatory culture. In order to fully analyse the specificities of some of these new media forms, your assessment with include the participation in a group blog, and the production of a researched podcast (a syndicated video documentary, available both as a videoblog and as a video podcast).
Aims
This unit aims to expand and develop your critical understanding of current social and cultural trends in the production, development, use, distribution and influence of new media forms. It is expected that you will build upon the communications theory examined in past units and broaden those perspectives in relation to the ideas and practice of participatory culture. Further, students are expected to enhance their practical skills in digital media by participating in collective authorship of participatory media forms (most notably through the unit weblogs) and individual authorship (most notably through the production of a video blog and/or podcast).
The unit is designed to enhance your existing skills in research, textual analysis, collaborative learning and digital media production.
iGeneration Website
This unit has a dedicated website external to WebCT – though there will be links available via WebCT (this is a work-in-progress and we are still determining the most effective management system, so please be patient).
The url for the iGeneration website is:
http://cacofonix.arts.uwa.edu.au [1]
The site runs the Drupal content management system (http://www.drupal.org [2]) that will enable a host of collaborative blogging and media-posting features. Students will be introduced to Drupal and the technical processes required for posting video, pictorial and written content. The site will adapt as individual projects develop and new features will roll out over the course of the semester.
Unit Outcomes
At the successful completion of “iGeneration: Digital Communication and Participatory Culture,” students will be able to:
• Identify and critically analyse key issues and debates emerging from recent social and cultural trends in the digital communication and interactive media
• Demonstrate a practical knowledge of participatory cultural forms
• Identify and evaluate the requirements of digital audio recording, editing and distribution
• Plan, produce and create a videoblog/podcast
• Research a topic by collecting, analysing and interpreting data.
• Formulate, express and defend an argument.
• Express research findings and ideas coherently and logically in oral, textual and recorded digital formats.
• Engage in constructive and critical dialogue (in oral and electronically mediated forms) with peers and other course participants.
Assessment
The unit has four assessment components. All contribute to the project: your achievement in the project will be enabled by the work you do on the proposal, seminar presentation, and critical analysis, as well as the work you do on the project itself.
Assessment Structure:
- Assessment Item Detail Value
1 Project Proposal
10%
2 Digital Project (videoblog)
60%
3 Critical analysis
10%
4 Seminar Presentation
20%
Total 100%