Blog 6: Concluding Weinberger, Jenkins, & Lessig

Overall, the cycle of media in our global society has affected us and been affected by us at the same time, perpetually. Every action we take on dealing with media will influence the outcome, whether it benefits either or both parties (consumers, producers). As part of human nature, a balance to satisfy all human need is needed. This applies to how the media world works where both producers and consumers should be able to interact with one another and benefits from one another in mutual ways. In order to address the main points of it, Weinberger, Jenkins, & Lessig has come to reason how & why the cycle of media works in certain ways.

Weinberger:

He argues that the world is full of an infinite range of knowledge/data in which they are too spread out and unorganized, yet in order to generate a better/successful world, we ought to be able to obtain the information we need easily without going through confusions. He also uses the term *Essentialism* which is defined as idea that everything is defined by clear and knowledable traits (116). But there is a catch. He does not intend to have all those data completely organized because in fact, it won't happen! While certain data are being organized, we subconsciously eliminate the other routes of data that other people might look for. It is the same idea as tagging, where we tag things using one category, resulting in excluding other possibilities of categories to be found by users. People sometimes do not look for the explicit only, but also the implicit. In purpose of taking care of the messiness of data, metadata is strongly needed so things can be well-organized. Metadata is represented as smart leaves, which entail the direction towards a more general or specific leaf under the tree of knowledge/data.

Jenkins:

3 Main Points of his book: Media Convergence, Participatory Culture, & Collective Intelligence. Convergence media is understood as the flow of content across multiple media platforms including the changing behavior of media audiences who will search for different types of entertainment experience throughout media. The media convergence can be exemplified using a popular technology such as iPhone, where all features (games, phone, internet, camera) are mashed up into one technology. Media convergence is when all types of media come together to create a brand new, fresh media that will be accepted by society as the development of the old media. He explains the collective intelligence through the example of "spoilers" in a TV show, where people need to collaborate to dig on the truth that happened behind the scene, etc. People with different expertises may come up with a better idea on dealing with media. Understanding that media is strongly propped up by the foundation of marketing products through commercials and advertisement. Nowadays, the new media will always be dependent on the consumers need; however it does not mean consumers have all the rights to gain all the benefits. They ought to pay the producers sector for updating their products, making them fit the consumers need. This follows the idea of "User-generated Content", as a principle of Web 2.0. Participatory Culture is also important in setting up a mutual community in the world of digitial-technology where every individual is encouraged to participate in the Web avenue, so that the 'truth' can be achieved through collective collaborations from people. Construction of opinions and facts from majority of people who participate can be said to be more reliable than theirs of few experts only. Wikipedia would be a nice example.

Lessig:

Remix has been a crucial part in our community. Mixing a work with others' works is just becoming more common. It is a way to respect the past artists and their past works, while also to generate new stuff through the inclusion of new elements depending on the trend. The term 'Remix' usually affiliates with music in general. He claims that there are two groups that divide culture. RO (Read-Only) & RW (Read-Write). RO uses the system where ideas and contents are generated, disseminated to public to be consumed, without the need to revise. This tends to support the economic situation. However, to establish RW culture it requires "Hybrid Economy", which is the combination of both Commercial & Sharing Economy. Commercial Economy is the term for exchange that uses and is measured by money. Sharing Economy is the opposite; it rejects the use of money, instead it uses the friendship/relationship with others as measurement. Copyright laws are enacted to protect the right to own and label one's own works also gaining profits that the artists deserve; but mostly they are intended to keep the authenticity of the artists so that all profits can only be gained by the artists themselves, while consumers just need to enjoy their works. But throughout the years, people have got tired of the laws and begun to fight for their rights to make a change. Some started to copy using CD-burner, downloading songs online for free using Limewire etc, others use past songs to create a remix mash-up that sounds different or new, suiting the trend of new era. The best method to is yet to find, however it is apparent that the most beneficial way to benefit both parties (producers & consumers) is by continuing the laws yet not making them too strict or hands on.


All aspects of W, J, L are interconnected in a way that the world is filled with people that will never be satisfied with what they have. When their satisfaction is fulfilled, a utopia of digital world can be achieved (although this won't happen in a short period of time). People tend to want more, causing the demand to rise. Supply will have troubles dealing with the picky consumers who expect things to . Therefore, they need to negotiate with them in producing works or media that can benefit both. To help consumers find what they want, things have to be organized yet left miscellaneous, depending on the types of things (explicit, implicit). Collective intelligence will fully help the improvement of products through the participation of individuals who care about consumers need; while producers can incorporate their ideas into the products, making them better and more profitable. Read-Only and Read-Write culture play an important role on how producers and consumers can get what they want (more profits, more fitting features on products, etc). Copyright laws protects the artists/producers; but also reduce the satisfaction because they are refrained from using the works and improvise. Creativity sometimes can be found by taking on old stuffs, updating them, and generating a brand-new product/work that seem different yet original.


Understanding these ideas will help me in the making of final project because in order to make an interactive website, one is acquired to know and understand well how to organize materials to generate meaning, how the media work, and how the society respond to those media while inflicting couple changes that can be tolerated, and adaptable. It also becomes easier to establish a two-way interaction between media producers and consumers if we know the way to balance out the cycle of media where all parties can benefit from.