This week’s post examines how digital media has created a limitless platform for online sharing, while also influencing the way humans communicate and connect with one another. Read on to learn more about this ever-growing platform.
Why Participate?
“The computer and now the phone have brought essentially and almost infinite number of things we could be doing at any free moment.”
-Clay Shirky, New York University, Interactive Telecommunications Program
In this video, American writer and consultant Clay Shirky talks about the space given to people to have the opportunity to share their thoughts and stories that would have previously been more difficult before these technological developments. The video highlights that sites have transformed for everyday people to work collaboratively and create social connections with the help of digital media. Jenkins explains that with efforts from many people, they can all come together to contribute to something greater than anyone could have anticipated.
Transmedia
Henry Jenkins, American scholar and educator, discusses transmedia, which is the storytelling or the sharing of information through complex media outlets. Jenkins explains that no longer is it only large companies contributing to the media, but average citizens are the ones with the larger influence. People are becoming innovative and experimenting with the content that they are releasing, as well as responding to other content in ways that have never been seen before. The advancements in media have made the impossible possible, making information that otherwise may not have been known viral.
Transmedia and the Future of Storytelling
In the TED Talk hosted by Australian transmedia consultant Dave Boivin, it is explained that storytelling is evolving due to transmedia. Instead of a story being fed to society, society is the one providing the stories and information. People are not sitting back, but are now becoming active participants in the media.
Each one of these videos explores the possibilities that the rise of digital media creates for people regarding storytelling. For many years, the delivery of news and information was one-sided. The messenger of information was larger corporations and people of authority. With the development of digital media, people are able to become active participants in the story and information that is out in the world for others to consume, rather than simply being receivers of the messages. All three of these videos discuss how digital media is shaping communication, but each one has a different focus. Clay Shirky, in “Motivation to Participate,” focuses on the shift from inactive to active participation in the audience. He centers his conversation on why people choose to engage in digital conversation and storytelling. Henry Jenkins, in “Transmedia,” focuses greatly on how everyday people were able to become effective contributors. Jenkins discusses the history of storytelling and how it is ever evolving. In Dave Boivin’s TED Talk, “Transmedia and the Future of Storytelling,” the main topic is that transmedia will continue to change the way that information is delivered and how stories are told. Boivin highlights that there are many channels and outlets for people to output content, rather than just one platform, and as time goes on, the number of these spaces will continue to grow, giving people more and more opportunities to participate. Shirky, Jenkins, and Boivin discuss the never-ending evolution of transmedia and the increasing opportunity for society to join with fresh and unique perspectives. Once these perspectives are combined, it becomes evident that transmedia is, and will continue to, shape communication.
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