New Media Definitions, Part 2: Henry Jenkins

(for anyone reading that isn't in NMD498, this is part of an assignment where we read portions of "definitions" of new media, and then decide whether our project fits these definitions, and then if we agree with the definitions.)

A. On Henry Jenkins’ definition of new media, I think my capstone is a little lacking. I feel that my capstone best fulfills his definitions in convergence. I plan to hit as many new and old media outlets as I possibly can in developing a promotional plan for the museum’s media room, as well as for the museum itself. All of the different areas of media will come together, so that there should be no way that people can “escape” knowing about my project. Otherwise, I think my capstone is lacking on just about every single one of his new media traits. Perhaps the most glaring omission is in innovation… simply put, my capstone isn’t really innovating anything. It’s innovative in the sense that the small-town museum will be getting a great deal of media content, the likes of which they will have never had before, but it isn’t breaking any new ground in the field at large. Perhaps my project needs something more innovative, even if in a small-town way, to make it more new media and more acceptable as a capstone. I may have to dig deep into my stash of ideas inside my brain to try to come up with something dramatically new and different to add in.

B. On the whole, I think that Jenkins’ traits are fairly accurate as to the current trends of New Media. However, the “unequal” trait seems to contradict somewhat with the trend towards communities that I have noticed in new media. Throughout the past year, especially, everything new media has a community attached to it. Everyone has to have a social networking component attached to whatever they’re trying to do. While in many ways the world of the Internet, if not new media as a whole, is unequal, there is now a great push for people to join into more and more communities. The nature of these communities, to me, is that anyone can join into them and not be at any kind of disadvantage. While there are people who may have thousands of pictures and “friends” on Facebook, all it takes is a simple click for you to either become their friend, or they to ask to become yours. It seems to me that the idea of inequality is beginning to fall by the wayside.