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March 21, 2007

Bruce Sterling vs Henry Jenkins at SXSW Interactive

Henry Jenkins was name checked by Bruce Sterling in his SXSW keynote. Jenkins has been a vocal proponent of fan generated content. Sterling distinguishes fan culture as a folk culture wherein there will no real "art". Jenkins will likely differ in his opinion. The differences -- at first blush -- seem to stem from Mr. Sterlings heritage of writerly craft and authorial imaginative innovation.

Prof. Jenkins has some comments on fan fiction as critical commentary online. This is the first time I have heard Mr. Sterling make a remark of this sort about differences between high and low art forms. I don't know how long it's been since anyone asked him to speak about the craft of writing. It's interesting to see/hear an artist's response to crowdsourcing of culture, and mass amateurism. It is a deeply conflicting and contradictory theme for any creative person working in the digital realm.

Sterling maintains several web presences: The Viridian Design Movement, Beyond The Beyond blog at Wired magazine online

Jenkins maintains a prolific, well written blog: Confessions of an Aca/Fan

Posted by SWEAT at March 21, 2007 08:49 AM