Jenkins Article Response

a) The principle from Henry Jenkins' "The Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape" that best describes my capstone project is the fifth one: networked. The timelines in my project allow for many-to-many communication since anyone can share their events and stories with anyone else. There will be a large community that will allow for participation from everyone. Users can create networks with people from all around the world, making new connections and friends that would not have been realized before.

The principle that fits my project the least is the third one: everyday. While I think my project is important, I don't think it is something that will end up being used everyday simply because events important enough to post usually don't happen every single day. I will have to find a way to make my project easy enough to use so that people will be encouraged to use it as often as they have a story to tell. To accomplish this I could make it easy to create an event and to edit it at a later time. The events will have to be fluid so that pictures, text, video, and tags can be added and deleted at any time.

Two principles that I would like to break are seven: generational, and eight: unequal. It will be a challenge since I know that most of the older generation is not as into computers and would be less likely to participate in my project. Also, a lot of people will not be able to use this project if they don't have a computer or don't know how to use one. I'm hoping that I can make the project easy enough to use that it will encourage participators of all ages and types.

b) I like Jenkins' definition of new media because it is very practical and current. He discusses the problems and advantages of new media in society and the effects it has on people now. Just like the culture is changing, so is new media and the definition of it. Jenkins lays out some good principles that describe this change. However I think that new media projects should break some of these principles since not all of them are always a good thing. We should see how we can make new media more accessable to older generations and equal to everyone. Technology is increasing at such a rapid rate that we don't have time to observe the effects that it has on society. Perhaps we should take a step back and look at the big picture to predict where this will bring us in the future.