FMS 110 – New Media notes

Module 3: Lecture 1 – Fandom, or the power of audience

In this lecture, we'll explore the role of the "fan" in shaping and experiencing media. In particular,
we'll look at an example from Star Trek and the ways the passion and persistence of dedicated
fans help make a very moderately successful TV show into a media juggernaut.
If you remember nothing else, remember this:

 Fans are not just consumers - they are makers, critics, passionate participants in the
media they focus on
 Rather than passive receivers of content, modern "fans" have a two-way conversation
and can shape the design, production, and meanings of new media
 In particular, fans' means of extending the stories and characters of media they are
passionate about (through remixing, fan fiction, criticism etc.) gives them great control
over their own experience as well as the broader forms of that media

Module 3: Lecture 2 – Participatory Cultures

This lecture focuses on the role of participatory cultures in shaping new media. In particular,
we'll preview Henry Jenkins's arguments that participatory culture is made up of several key
features, including:

 People do things to and with media (including "archive, annotate, appropriate, and
recirculate new media content);
 A Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethos drives these practices;
 "Horizontally" integrated media conglomerates promote the flow of consumers across
formats and platforms which requires active participation.

Module 3: Lecture 3 - Convergence

This component of the module connects our previous discussions of the converging histories,
ethics and ideologies, and technologies to Jenkins's observations on "convergence culture". FOr
Jenkins, it's not just the technologies that allow for the participatory cultures he explores, but the
beliefs, values, and practices that arise from and drive those convergences.
If you take nothing else from this module, remember that:

 Media flows across platforms and forms;

 Both large media conglomerates and individual and collective fans shape the media;
 "Audiences" (fans) migrate across platforms and practices, partly out of their own
interests and partly through the designed architectures of networked media.