Participatory Culture

Participatory Culture = a culture in which private persons (the public) do not act as consumers only, but also as contributors or producers (prosumers)

• Theory by American scholar Henry Jenkins in 2006
• Recent advances in technologies (mostly personal computers and the Internet) have enabled private persons to create and publish such media, usually through the Internet = Convergence - e.g. uploading images via a mobile phone to a social networking site 

1. With relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement
2. With strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others
3. With some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices
4. Where members believe that their contributions matter
5. Where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have created)

Participatory culture Wikipedia = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_culture

The Long Tail Theory

Chris Anderson's website = http://www.longtail.com/about.html

The Long Tail theory was published in an article in 'Wired' magazine by the editor and theorist Chris Anderson in 2004, who then went on to publish a book on this theory in 2006. The Long Tail theory outlines how media has changed due to the internet, resulting in a huge number of niches now being available, additionally to the mainstream hits. Niche products being sold via the internet results in less shelf space being used, therefore saving money.