(3)
interesting book on a subject that affects everyone.
Due in part to his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006), Henry Jenkins is being touted as the Marshall McLuhan of the 21st Century. However, whether or that is a fair comparison is a matter better left to those who better understood The Medium is the Massage.
Media analyst Jenkins uses this book as a platform to examine what, exactly, is really happening to culture at large when new media and technologies appear. Jenkins grounds his analysis in a variety of specific (and likely well-know) cultural phenomenon from recent years. In a chapter entitled "Spoiling Survivor: The Anatomy of a Knowledge Community" Jenkins examines the online activity of predicting who will be on (and ultimately win) the TV reality game show of "Survivor." In addition to explaining what spoiling "Survivor" really means, and how one user ultimately spoiled the spoiling, as well as explaining how online communities in forums and message boards create a knowledge community of sorts around a common interest.
Knowledge communities are a recurring theme for Jenkins and, in fact, many books on Web 2.0 and media in the modern world. The idea being that no one in a community can know everything but everyone knows something and together the community knows a lot. Other subjects include negotiating online marketing and promotion as exhibited through Coca-Cola's relationship with "American Idol." Another big theme in Convergence Culture is how the digital divide (the gap between those who have computers and those who only have access to public computers or no access at all) and the participation gap (the separation between those who create online content and those who do not) impact online culture and society.
Convergence Culture provides detailed analysis of a phenomenon that everyone has witnessed and experienced but few people actually know about in a way they can articulate. Jenkins and his book provide people with the tools to examine and discuss how media and new technologies are impacting and indeed changing our lives in a variety of ways. At times the language gets a little technical, but if you have the time and the interest, this book won't disappoint.
(4)
Great look at the culture instead of the technology
Henry Jenkins, Director of the Contemporary Media Studies Program at MIT, attempts in his acclaimed 2006 book Convergence Culture to look beyond the hype surrounding new media and instead analyze the cultural transformations that occur when these new media meet the old. Arguing against the idea that convergence should be understood primarily as a technological process, he instead demonstrates that it represents a cultural shift as consumers are urged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content.
Rather than writing from an objective viewpoint, Jenkins instead describes what the media landscape looks like from the perspective of various localized people. He also is quick to dismiss the idea that in the future consumers will get all their media from one device, referring to this prognostication as the `black box fallacy.' Through his book, Jenkins explains how convergence is both a top-down corporate-driven process and a bottom-up consumer-driven process.
Throughout the six chapters making up the first edition of the book, Jenkins looks at a number of scenarios that highlight the way culture is shifting based on the intersection of new and old media. He describes in detail the fans of the television show Survivor who have banded together online to form communities that attempt to find out as many secrets about the show as is possible, using this example as a microcosm to explain how knowledge can be formed within a community that would be impossible to be formed by individuals working separately. He also discusses the ramifications that interactive audience-driven voting has had on the hit American Idol, and the potential backlash against its new brand of corporate sponsorship.
In the realm of movies, much attention is paid to the Wachowski Brothers' Matrix trilogy and the various other ways the universe was used by different media. Calling the practice `transmedia storytelling,' Jenkins explains how the unified universe across the multiple media gave viewers of the films an insight into the greater intended meaning and helped inform seeming gaps in knowledge that caused the later movies to be panned by critics. He then goes on to describe the way fans have created their own content in the Star Wars universe and the issues that have been raised. The explosion of fan fiction in the fictional world of the Harry Potter books is used as an example of the copyright problems both producers of fan content and owners of intellectual property face, while advocating such practices help young people learn ways of communicating and collaborating that are antithetical to the education they receive in schools.
Finally, Jenkins analyzes the way that politics is changing as traditional means for campaigning are being influenced and in some cases superceded by the new media options available online. Even with an afterward written seemingly towards the end of 2007, this is the weakest part of the book not because of anything Jenkins did or did not include, but due to the timeliness of issue. While analyzing the way Howard Dean was able to raise so much money in 2004 is worthwhile, without the discussion of how President Obama seized these ideas and raised millions upon millions of dollars causes the arguments to seem outdated.
Formatting errors abound in the book, with dozens of hyphens being placed in the middle of words for seemingly no reason. Often lines just skip down halfway through a sentence and at least once a block quote just ended, completely obscuring the point for which it was quoted. In all this is only mildly distracting, but it does tend to jar one out of Jenkins's narrative.
Timeliness is a problem with any book concerning technology, and can be seen in the other chapter as well, though not to as great a degree. As new media continues to explode and the changes to our culture become more and more drastic each day, Jenkins's book will become more and more obsolete. Yet his arguments are illuminating and his writing style is easy to read and able to be assimilated by scholarly audiences as easily as by educated laymen. For those interested not only in the types of new media that are currently emerging but also in the effects said media is having on our culture, Convergence Culture is a book you should read.
(4)
bringing convergence home
Convergence Culture dives into the union of old and new media. Using the in-depth, detailed case studies of Survivor, American Idol, Matrix, Star Wars and Harry Potter, Jenkins clears up the muddy waters of where old and new media are converging, and shaping our culture in the process.
Convergence Culture looks at both producer and consumer perspectives, making a case for the diminishing line in between. Discourse on rights management and user generated content explores emerging issues that dot the landscape of the new paradigm of entertainment, education and politics. Jenkins understands that the new is not replacing the old, but transforming it.
Convergence Culture is an organized account of this transformation and current state of the shift from old to new old to new new to don't even know what's next. There are many examples of the mixes and communities of fans and geeks that are creating their own content, using the new media tool set and a passion for the original, making their own or enhancing the old. This book does not pretend to know what the future brings in our quickly morphing cultural communication. Jenkins holds commercial producers accountable for their fear of fan generated content and cites issues of copyright infringement by those same fans in some cases, but he balances the need for a new model with copyright protection, understanding that the cultural communication is shifting, and the law needs to follow.
Jenkins is a fan of popular culture. With his inside knowledge of fanfic and desire to keep the story going, he understands that pop culture is pushing convergence forward. He uses pop culture to demystify convergence and relate the complex nature of a society changing major models of mass communication to all readers. These changes are happening on the political and educational fronts as well, but with less participation - due the nature of pop culture as low-risk and more enjoyable. Jenkins uses what he knows about pop culture to bring convergence home.
Product Description
Winner of the 2007 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award
Convergence Culture maps a new territory: where old and new media intersect, where grassroots and corporate media collide, where the power of the media producer and the power of the consumer interact in unpredictable ways.
Henry Jenkins, one of America s most respected media analysts, delves beneath the new media hype to uncover the important cultural transformations that are taking place as media converge. He takes us into the secret world of Survivor Spoilers, where avid internet users pool their knowledge to unearth the show s secrets before they are revealed on the air. He introduces us to young Harry Potter fans who are writing their own Hogwart's tales while executives at Warner Brothers struggle for control of their franchise. He shows us how The Matrix has pushed transmedia storytelling to new levels, creating a fictional world where consumers track down bits of the story across multiple media channels.
Jenkins argues that struggles over convergence will redefine the face of American popular culture. Industry leaders see opportunities to direct content across many channels to increase revenue and broaden markets. At the same time, consumers envision a liberated public sphere, free of network controls, in a decentralized media environment. Sometimes corporate and grassroots efforts reinforce each other, creating closer, more rewarding relations between media producers and consumers. Sometimes these two forces are at war.
Jenkins provides a riveting introduction to the world where every story gets told and every brand gets sold across multiple media platforms. He explains the cultural shift that is occurring as consumers fight for control across disparate channels, changing the way we do business, elect our leaders, and educate our children.
