How does digital media effect and change the lives and societies of the twenty-first century? Henry Jenkins argues that that effects of digital media are, overall, positive and if embraced will bring about good and necessary changes. Tim Jordan argues the effects are vast complicated changes that require scrupulous investigation before such claims can be made.
In his introduction to Information Politics: Liberation and Exploitation in the Digital Society, British Professor Tim Jordan clearly discusses how digital media and it’s platforms generate, as he names it, political forces of antagonism. He concludes simultaneous complete use of this information is necessary to mitigate these political forces and ensure a positive future for media. The introduction begins with explanations of the key terms that will be used in the book’s coming chapters. He leaves the reader with a hard-earned understanding of what he means by the politics of information, political antagonism of information, exploitation, liberation, within the context of digital media. Coupled with a twenty-first-century introduction to thinkers such as Nietzsche, Deleuze and Derrida, Jordan’s solid understanding of the field create a very strong framework for further discourse.
The introduction of Participatory Culture in a Networked Era American Professor Henry Jenkins and Co.(Mizuko Ito and danah boyd) offer informative insights and explanations of the participatory culture within the digital youth, the fanboy/gamergirl, and the content they generate. They take a collaborative approach that fails to detail important media effects that Jordan discusses thoroughly. Even still, Jenkins and Co. believe participatory culture is a step forward in the march for a more diverse and democratic media. It is an oversimplified and quixotic belief, but unlike Jordan, Jenkins and Co.’s argument is commercially viable and spreadable.
Jordan has a more complex argument. Before Jenkins’ optimistic future of the media can be realized a standard of complete and simultaneous use of information must be achieved. This has yet to be achieved. Jenkins’ explanation of the effects of digital media do not analyze the positive and the complex. It cherry picks empirical evidence and anecdotes and uses them as evidence to strengthen the argument for positive participatory culture. For example, in 2015 Jenkins failed to comment on the media story prompted to question then President Obama’s nationality that formed before Participatory Culture in a Networked Era was written. Perpetuated by media-savvy alit-rightist such as Steve Bannon and Donald Trump, this conspiracy affected US politics at the highest level. Yet, in their introduction, Jenkins and Co.do not touch upon this subject. Both anime fans and white supremacists know how to use the media to build stronger communities, both are participatory in their culture. They use their media to help grow their communities, so why not analyze both? This one-sided discussion limits our understanding of participatory cultures role in society. That is why this debate requires a high-level investigation on both sides.
But, the media landscape is shifting like an earthquake, so let us also shake up the analysis of this landscape with a strong theoretical investigation of the next media phenomenon. If we use Jordan’s framework of media analysis but include more ideas of thinkers such as Walter Benjamin some interesting conclusions can be made. Benjamin formulated his arguments while experiencing Media’s effect in the rise of neoliberal politics, nationalism, populism, and racism in Europe. We see many of these same phenomena in our time, especially in the US. Therefore, I think Benjamin is relevant in understanding the effects of digital media on our society. If we a spot media phenomenon that bears a similarity to that of Benjamin and input Jordan’s ideas on the politics of information we could better understand effects of digital media on the lives and societies of the twenty-first century.
References:
Jenkins, H., Ito, M., boyd, d. (2016). Participatory Culture in a Networked Era. London: Polity Press. (chapter 1)
Jordan. T. (2015). Information Politics. Liberation and Exploitation in the Digital Society. London: Pluto Press, pp. 1-25.