To Build a Better World

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121774910

Professor HENRY JENKINS (School of Communication, University of Southern California): Well, participatory culture in a nutshell is the application of folk culture practices to the content of mass culture.

CHAPLIN: In other words, 100 years ago, culture was produced by everyday people: square dancing, playing the piano, quilting, telling folk tales.

Prof. JENKINS: The 20th century mass media crowded an awful lot of it out.

CHAPLIN: Sing-alongs, why bother? There were hits to listen to on the radio. Forget a game of charades, now there was television to watch.

Prof. JENKINS: We commercialize, we can modify it, the contents of our culture. So, we created a world where some - a few people produce culture, the majority of us is consumed it.

(Soundbite of music)

CHAPLIN: That was the 20th century. Now you can play a game like LittleBigPlanet, where you run obstacle courses in a charming world of mechanical objects and toys come to life with a twist - that you design your own levels. You upload them from other people and then download theirs for yourself. You can fill the screen with pink squishy polka dots or black rubber slides. One player built in an elaborate computer made of levers and pulleys.