Week 2's Readings
Topic: Participatory Culture & Power The second module for the ENGL 307 primarily deals with the concept of a "virtual community", as well as the many activities that comprise it. Attention was particularly drawn to the hierarchy of the actions being performed by individuals in online communities, with the illustration above (Rheingold, 2014, pg.120) functioning as a visualization of that concept. As the chart explains, actions like reading and commenting on something has very little power or engagement behind them (aka. instances of "collective intelligence"), while actions such as collaborating, moderating, and leading an online group have far more power and engagement behind them (aka. instances of "collaborative intelligence"). Those on the lower end of the curve (commonly known as "lurkers") are highly common, in contrast to those on the higher end of the curve, who make up a notoriously minor part of the internet, resulting in power/e...