Collective intelligence and the creation of a culture of participation
By Marjohara Tucay
It was December 23, 2010. For some time, no one has sent me text messages, maybe because the vacation gave leeway for people to be online all day (why would you text people who were free to chat all day anyway?). But at 7PM that day, the then UP Faculty Regent Judy Taguiwalo texted me, “QCRTC orders PGH Director Rolando Enrique Domingo to step down from office. Dr. Jose Gonzales to re-assume position as head of the national hospital.”
The PGH directorship issue was one that I have closely monitored since it began last year. Basically, the Board of Regents, the highest policy-making body of UP, elected a new PGH director last year. The results turned out to be 6-5, in favor of Dr. Jose Gonzales. But as the PGH director position is one of the most coveted posts for doctors in the country, controversy after controversy in the election process piled up, with the end result of the BOR voting for another PGH director – a highly irregular move since Dr. Gonzales is in position already.
The breaking news was one of great consequence for PGH and the UP community. But dear God, it’s vacation and the university paper – the Philippine Collegian has already released its last issue. But thank God for online presence. As news editor of the Collegian, I managed the Facebook and Twitter pages of the university publication. I immediately typed in the news flash and shared it with the world.
Even if I was at home, I still needed to ask for comments from Dr. Gonzales and outgoing PGH Dir. Domingo. I texted both doctors, but only Dr. Domingo replied and I quickly posted it on the Collegian Facebook page.
Now, such sharing information in Facebook and in Twitter (for fan pages can be linked to each other so that you will post stuff only once) is already a typical occurrence. The thrill started about two hours after the text message. As I was perpetually online, a former editor-in-chief of the Collegian, Jerrie Abella, who is now a writer for gmanews.tv, asked me for contacts of the doctors concerned since he needed to interview. He had a 10PM deadline. I gave the contacts to him happily.
Later on, Jerrie chatted with me in Facebook again, saying that he called Dr. Domingo but he said that he was not available for interview because he was in a movie house at that time. So Jerrie asked if he could use Dr. Domingo’s statement in our fan page instead. Of course I agreed. Gmanews is a mainstream medium and more people read it than our thousand-strong fans in Facebook and followers in Twitter.
The said incident, for me, is an example of convergence, though a newer type than the one usually defined in textbooks. Traditionally, convergence is defined as the amalgamation of different media platforms or as Encyclopedia Britannica briefly puts it, “a phenomenon involving the interlocking of computing and information technology companies, telecommunications networks, and content providers from the publishing worlds of newspapers, magazines, music, radio, television, films, and entertainment software.” Traditionally, such moves are fuelled by the monopolizing nature of big media conglomerates, which produce films, books and shows all in one trademark.
However, many cybertheorists critiqued such view of convergence. Henry Jenkins, in his seminal book Convergence Culture defined convergence as "...the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want." (Jenkins, 2006). He emphasized that convergence is more than the emergence of new digital technologies. He explained:
“I will argue here against the idea that convergence should be understood primarily as a technological process bringing together multiple media functions within the same devices. Instead, convergence represents a cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content." (Jenkins, 2006).
Indeed, with this view of convergence, what are amalgamated is the consumer and the producer, as consumers become producers and vice versa. Convergence does not occur through mere equipment, but in the consciousness of individuals through their social interactions with each other.
In this process, consumption has become what cybertheorist Pierre Levi calls a “collective process,” in which collective intelligence is formed and shared.
Let me end this with Jenkin’s quote, "None of us can know everything; each of us knows something; and we can put the pieces together if we pool our resources and combine our skills." And that’s what my little anecdote shows.
Sources:
Jenkins, Henry (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
Poster, Mark (2006). Information Please: Culture and Politics in the Age of Digital Machines. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
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