Today's Activity

One of the things image-based protocol was designed to show was the various ways multiple “modes” of communication (aural, visual, oral) are implicated in the writing process. Jenkins also points to the multiple mediums of communication that people now have at their disposal to make meaning, different kinds of manipulated images, blogs, podcasts, TV, viral internet videos, multimedia, etc. Computing technologies have made these media inexpensive to use.

This assignment is designed to make you think about how meaning changes as you move across different mediums of communication. Your groups are to take one of the main points from the Jenkins’ book and render it from writing  into a visual image. Here is an example of a politically charged Photoshop image that circulated in the wake of Katrina:

You can use the program Photoshop to make a collage, or otherwise manipulated image. You can pilfer and plunder images from the web and use them for educational purposes, but don’t post them on your blogs because there may be copyright issues. These will be pretty rudimentary, but they will also be fodder for discussion.

Some of the points you might consider that Jenkins discusses in various manifestations:

--Few of us know how to live in a world of convergence

--Students working from their bedrooms can influence the mediascape

--Corporations have tightened their grip on traditional mass media

--The Internet can provide a voice to those who are not in line with mass media, and this is good

--The Internet can provide a voice to those who are not in line with mass media, and this is bad

--Pop culture moves across multiple media in new ways because of the internet

--Everyday citizens now need to think about the legal dynamics of media production

--Grassroots media campaigns can influence politics

--Established institutions are trying to exploit the communicative practices of fan communities to leverage power