New Media Literacy - Henry Jenkins

According to Dr. Jenkins, convergence culture is the intersection of two types of media oriented cultures: the commercial culture (selling a product, idea, or information), and the amateur culture. Amateur culture is a grass roots media phenomena in which people form "knowlege communities", identify things they care about, and let others know about it though social networking. Not surprisingly, teenagers are the biggest producers of content in this type of culture. (Think about how many kids have put videos of themselves and/or friends on You Tube). This has good and bad implications for Education. Kids want to spend most of their free time (and time at school),social networking, texting,etc. Some have abused this type of communication through cyberbullying, threats, etc. So schools have established rules that limit student access in order to control negative behavior. These steps block certain sites or activities so that students cannot gain access. They may limit the amount of time students can use the internet while at school. I find these steps appropriate. But there is also a great opportunity for students and teachers to use "good" content in the learning process. For example, teachers can let their students watch an "amateur" video on why bullying is bad. Overall, I think that student school access to websites, social networks, etc, is profitable when monitored closely by teachers and administrators, when it is limited to academic activities, and tied directly to learning. It is also necessary to teach students how to identify good/bad information so that they can make good judgments about what they view now and in the future.