Participatory Cultures

Participatory culture is a culture in which the public produces or creates some type of published media. I believe that, in North America, most people are involved in a participatory culture, especially in younger generations. With the huge success and popularity of websites like Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia, it is incredibly easy to publish or create your own information and post it on the Internet. I would also assume that, of those people who are involved in a participatory culture, most of them do not even consciously realize that they are creating and publishing content on the Internet – it is just a part of their life and a means of communicating with others.

Until I really started to think about participatory culture in order to write this blog post, I didn’t fully realize how much content I create and publish online. With every Facebook message, or blog post, or online consumer review, or photo I post on the Internet, I am involved in a participatory culture. I am publishing some type of media online. I am involved in the online world where anyone and everyone can publish virtually anything they can create.

By writing this blog, I am involved in a participatory culture. Although I am fairly sure that the only people who read this blog are my instructor, teaching assistant and possibly a couple other students from my class, I am still publishing content that can be accessed by anyone who has Internet access. I am participating in the culture of blogging, the culture of speaking your mind and writing whatever you want about anything you can think of. I am free to speak my mind, discuss my ideas and publish any information I can come up with. I am creating a type of media, a discussion of topics relevant to my Mass Communication class.

I am involved in other participatory cultures as well. I often shop online, for many different items, and I often write consumer reviews on the companies’ websites so that other consumers can get a feel for the products. I really like reading consumer reviews before I make a purchase because it helps me decide what to buy. When I write my own consumer reviews, I am participating in online discussion groups that revolve around the topic of the product(s) being discussed. This participatory culture is somewhat similar to blogging in that I am expressing my thoughts and opinions in an open, online forum, but it differs in that I am expected to discuss a specific topic – the product(s) at hand.

Another - and perhaps the most significant - participatory culture in my life is social networking. To be more specific, I am talking about Facebook. Like most people my age, I am constantly logging into Facebook, changing my status, messaging my friends, posting messages in different groups, and uploading pictures and videos. This is all one big act of participatory culture. With every message, video and photograph that I post on Facebook, I am conveying information to the public. I am participating in the culture of social network, and interacting with both my friends and complete strangers who use Facebook.

When you really think about participatory cultures, you realize that they exist almost everywhere on the Internet. Even by reading a blog post, surfing through discussion groups or watching videos on YouTube, I am involved in participatory cultures. I may not be posting anything myself, but I am involved by being the audience. When it comes to the Internet, participatory cultures exist at almost every turn. It is just so easy for us to be involved in participatory cultures, and I think it is almost a routine event for people in our society, especially the younger generations, to do so.