Participatory culture

Cultural production made through social interactions of different communities and groups Participatory culture, an opposing concept to consumer culture, is a culture in which consumers act as contributors or producers (prosumers). The term is most often applied to the production or creation of some type of published media. Modern technological advancements (mostly personal computers and the Internet) have enabled private persons to create and publish media, usually through the Internet. Since technology enables new forms of expression and engagement in public discourse, participatory culture supports individual creation and informal relationships that pair novices with experts. This new culture, as it relates to the Internet, has been described as Web 2.0. In participatory culture, "young people creatively respond to a plethora of electronic signals and cultural commodities in ways that surprise their makers, finding meanings and identities never meant to be there and defying simple nostrums that bewail the manipulation or passivity of 'consumers'." The increasing availability of the Internet increasingly enables people to work collaboratively, generate and disseminate news, ideas,