Week 7 Blog Post

Interactivity and Social Media

iii.In the reading this week, Joost Raessens examines the participatory media cultures of computer games with attention to the concepts of multimediality, virtuality, interactivity, connectivity. With regards to (at least) one of these concepts give an account of a non-game participatory media culture that you are familiar with (social media, mobile phone, blogs, etc). Remember to draw on further research on these concepts to expand your analysis.

In Raessen’s article ‘Participation’, three domains of participation are explored in relation to the cultural production of computer games and their participatory media cultures. Raessens examines the participatory media cultures of computer games with attention to the concepts of multimediality, virtuality, interactivity and connectivity. A non-game participatory media culture that I am personally familiar with is using my mobile phone.

Mobile phones allow interactivity between you and the entire world. On a ‘smartphone’, such as an iPhone or Samsung, you can interact with your family and friends across the world, as well as access the internet and interact with anyone. The opportunities are endless! I use IMessage to connect with my family and friends via text message and can speak with them at any time of the day regardless of where I am. I also use Facebook to connect with friends from highschool and family and friends who live overseas. If I want to talk to someone who is overseas, I am able to quickly open the Skype application and I can see their face and hear their voice with one click of a button, regardless of their location. I also use Intagram and can follow what my friends are up to and I can share with others what I am doing in my everyday life. This has created a kind of immediate interactivity, as I have constant access to my mobile phone as which allows me to connect with my family and friends at any time.

I recently had a friend travel around Europe for 2 months, and without social media, we would have never spoken. We were able to speak everyday via Skype and Facebook chat and I was able to see their happenings via Instagram, which made me feel as if I was a part of their journey. Without social media, I would not be able to interact with as many people as I do and enjoy using my iPhone to interact with my friends and family every day.