So many questions, so many answers...

Alright, so obviously through reading both the Jenkins' and the Boyd article, my world has definately been rocked by this whole internet culture and revoltuion that i am completely apart of. To begin this, i'll answer the first question: I think i most identify with the form of participatory culture that involves relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement for obvious reasons. I mean really, i feel like most of us are involved in facebook and what is facebook other than a form of artistic expression of oneself? In terms of the economic implications of these skills, i think they're endless. In today's society, especially with the increasing use of the internet and web marketing and advertising, i feel like the possibility of making money using these skills is infinate. In that sense, these skills hold a huge power both politically and economically. Because of this, and really according to Jenkins', I'm a media creator in terms of whatever I do on the internet, on facebook, on youtube, or anywhere really on the internet, anywhere where people can view what i've written, done, seen, or commented on. I see this being a massive part of my life, especially because of my interest in internet marketing, as well as internet advertising.

In terms of Boyd's article, she really hammers home the idea and the picture that myspace is a gateway for people to express themselves and that the complexity of being and speaking in public scares people away from doing it in person, so myspace/facebook/friendster are becoming more and more prevalent in being a way for people to express themselves or even speak in public. This is a total form of communication, and it's interesting because alot of the participants in these websites may not necessarily know what they're doing. This leads us to Boyd reffering to people "writing themselves into being". This phenomenon can really be described or shown by people like Perez Hilton, and HotForWords. Obviously these people have "written themselves into celebrities", but i feel like in the future we can begin to develop our own personalities on these webpages. However, the problem behind all of this is that i feel like people can be creating alternative realities, and losing touch with themselves in the real world as opposed to the digital world, much like Second Life.

I'm not sure if i agree with Boyd's argument that youth cultures are against adult publics. I'm not sure if this is correct, but there is definately a sense of freedom in these sites, as really there seemingly are no rules or guidelines to what can or cannot be put on. In this case, it can most definately be a rebellious gateway. However, being involved in all of these things, I really don't view it that way at all, nor did i view them in that way at all when i started using Myspace, Facebook, and even Youtube. I was more... expressing myself. I guess that's against the adult public? But really, who is to say what is or isn't right for people? The FCC? I'm not sure if they have the right to say what i can do...