Week 3 Rewrite (Participatory Culture)

Participatory culture is something that is growing throughout the Media, and can be clearly seen and understood through interactions between TV companies and their audiences. Participatory culture is an aspect of what Jenkins calls convergence culture; “Where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways” (Jenkins 2). Participatory culture stems from the media producer and the media consumer interacting in ways we have never seen before. 
A clear example of Participatory culture can be seen in how audiences reacted to LOST, a popular show that lasted six seasons. Lost was full of mystery and different questions were asked in each episode. In an attempt to answer these questions many people created websites and blogs dedicated to LOST. People wrote about what happened in previous episodes as well as creating stories for what would happen in the next episode. Some of these stories continue today despite LOST having finished the series.
Participatory Culture has grown even more since LOST, and it will probably continue to grow. It will be interesting to see how the relationships between producers and consumers continue to change. It is important to remember, as consumers, that we have the power to chose what we consume.