Han Rusman

This is a paper proposal, suggestions will be really appreciated!

Introduction

According to Henry Jenkins we’re moving to a participatory culture, and there is an intersection between popular culture and politics (Jenkins 2009a). Despite of the widely spread criticism, both politics and the entertainment industry try to use this participatory culture. We’ve seen the first results in the presidential Obama campaign (and later on in the fight around health care). Jenkins and Duncombe think because of the engaging factor it is even a solution to Putnam’s Bowling Alone. Like Putnam acknowledged in his newer work Better Together, social media seems to engage.

Read more »

A lot of journalists discussing Twitter seem to fall back on an old habit, criticize. I guess it is a journalistic-reflex, maybe even a purpose to criticize. But in case of Twitter it is regrettable the discussion didn’t moved forward. The role of journalism might start with a critical look, but it definitely shouldn’t end in criticism only.

It might be just a ‘journalistic echo’, but most criticized is the lack of meaning and purpose of Twitter. “I don’t care what people are doing right now”. In my opinion this is a high culture reflex and can placed next to ‘stupid morons watch garbage on their televisions.’ First it is a reflex because it seems to be smart to criticize. Secondly, most journalists didn’t even discovered Twitter well enough to tell what Twitter is, not to speak about thorough research at all.
Read more »