Response to ‘Us Now’ Documentary & Week Four Reading

The documentary Us Now shows the quick paced progression and positive outcomes of participatory culture, particularly on the internet and how this can benefit democracy. Director Ivo Gormley demonstrates the ease at which individuals can contribute their ideas in a way that is enjoyable and benefits others. This documentary explores ‘new’ forums and sites such as couchsurfing.org and in this sense the film is dated. Since it’s released in 2009, there have been significant changes to these systems with the introduction of new and improved sites and social media platforms that enhance participatory culture.

The much more recent week 4 reading ‘Social media as participatory culture’ by Christian Fuchs from Social media : A critical introduction critiques Henry Jenkins’ views on participatory culture. Fuchs’ explores the negative aspects of online participation such as exploitation of labor, breaching of confidentiality and highly illegal groups that form through the platforms most of which Jenkins neglects to mention in his understanding.

The documentary highlights the idea that a lot of internet users have certain areas of expertise that they take pleasure in sharing and the rest of the online community can gain from their advice. This method of imparting knowledge is based on reputation and trust and if a huge number of people contribute their thoughts on a certain topic there is a type of quality control that takes place. This concept of participation, of individuals assisting one another gives the online community a sense of empowerment as there are fewer costs involved in developing large scale platforms that were once restricted to wealthy corporations and governments.

This concept of participation challenges government structures and corporate bodies that resemble the broadcasting system in the way that one idea is shared to many, where as now there are many ideas being shared with many people and it is easy to get involved. The systems developed by the users are structured bottom up as opposed to the hierarchical framework employed by traditional institutions. This collaboration has increased dramatically now that the participation barriers have been lowered.

Large companies are also being faced with the challenge of dealing with the transparent nature of the web, they are forced to be honest with their consumers because their mistakes will be revealed if they choose to keep secrets. Those that are open minded about these shifts in business and consumer relationships and adapt their models accordingly benefit the greatest.

Political dynamics are also shifting as the current broadcast model is inappropriate for the development of policy. There is no denying the need for the government resources that support this type of participation, but it opens up the concept of individuals contributing to the way in which decisions are made through online participation. This concept is explored by Fuchs throughout the reading in the way he describes users as having the ability to contribute to the way in which they are governed.

Large corporations are described as exploiting users’ work, even if the users are promoting products in ways they enjoy through social media channels. Fuchs also critises the way Jenkins links together online fan culture as a starting point for political causes, when most of the time users are merely rationalising their time spent idolising popular culture.