Henry Jenkins chats participatory culture at SXSWi 2008

Before we go any further, I want you to take a second to click on the mindmap above.  Read it.  Love it.  Soak in the graphical sexiness and take a nice deep breath as you think about how bizarre your life would be if someone followed you around drawing every conversation you had.   

The mindmapping visual was created on the spot by Susan Bright at Henry Jenkins' and  Steven Johnson's opening remarks at SXSWi 2008.  It makes me very, very happy.  But I digress...

Henry Jenkins (MIT professor and one of the most articulate speakers ever) participated in an opening remark session with Steven Johnson (prolific author and founder of outside.in) discussing everything from collective intelligence to Harry Potter fan content creation to the plight of the 'pink collar worker'.

I have a few notes (read the full post), but honestly spent the majority of the discussion geeking out versus typing out.   It was super - you can read Henry's post on it or search Technorati for further details.

People don't do things in the end that are meaningless, even when lounging on couch drooling watching bad TV means something.

You must ask yourself:  How do I find out what is in technology that is meaningful to other people?  People are not stupid.  Just because we don't see the value or meaning behind a technology or movement doesn't mean that it isn't meaningful.  It just doesn't affect us personally.

The television show Lost - complexity of engagement is amazing.  Online and offline - first glimpse of kind of television we will be seeing more and more of.  New direction of what it is to engage in television viewing. 

Why do people so excel   'pink collar workers' - need a lot of training to enter, but the jobs only require a small sub-section of what they are capable of intellectually.  They grow their intelligence and creativity out of work, as their skills are so under-utilized.

How do we harness these skills to grow our society?  Harry Potter phenomena - does the reading excitement grow into other

13 and 14 year olds write full-length novels about Harry Potter - shared online, reviewed and through this interaction connected to young people internationally.  'My dad's rich and your dad's dead' - Harry Potter-centered rock bands.  Global network of young people connected online.  Harry Potter Alliance - growing pre-existing communities around Harry Potter to change the world (as Harry did in the books - was a transformative force in his world).

Kids don't need parents snooping over shoulders, rather need someone watching their backs.  Also important to differentiate different kinds of 'screen times'.  Vegging out in front of television is different than actually creating something.

Important to accept even young children's expertise - help grow them as thought leaders and appreciate what they have to offer to grow community.  No mechanism to support diversity within YouTube - most popular videos rise up according to popular feeling (white, male, mid-30s).

Very few examples of actual online addiction - mostly just depression and desire to hole up and engage in non-threatening and non-challenging activities.

The impact -- things we do in play affect how we change our world. Hunters' children play with bows, our children play with information to represent a force to change issues.