A summary of Henry Jenkins's Convergence Culture & tying convergence to social media and the

In the book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins discusses the relationship between media convergence, participatory culture, and collective intelligence. He begins the book by welcoming the reader to the convergence culture, “where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways” (p.2). In other words, he refers to convergence culture as the process by which traditional media and new media merge together allowing for the flow of content between different media, where the media industry revamps its networks for innovation and cooperation, and provides media audiences the ability to increase their experience with the media content. Convergence culture indicates a revolution in media production, distribution, and consumption.

In the introductory chapter, Jenkins describes the term convergence in utmost detail. He argues that convergence is used to define the technological, industrial, cultural, and social changes that is occurring. By technological, he refers to the ability of media content to circulate globally across media systems. He argues that this ability “depends heavily on consumer’s active participation”, causing the cultural shift of changing the role of the consumer to “seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content” instead of passively consuming it (p.3). In terms of the industrial change that convergence causes, Jenkins argues that media producers and consumers are “participants who interact with each other” in creating media content, thus redefining the notion of participatory culture (p.3). To discuss the social changes that occur through convergence, Jenkins examines collective intelligence. He describes that “convergence occurs within the brains of the individual consumers and through their social interactions with others” (p.3). This means that consumers are motivated to talk about the media content and their experiences, sharing their information and consuming other’s information. They are working collectively to create meaning.

Furthermore, Jenkins explores the “Black Box Fallacy” which

argues that “all media content is going to flow through a single black box into our living rooms”. This refers to the black boxes that have become apparent in our lives as (such as the DVD player, sound system, digital recorders, etc.) and have begun to converge together (such as the smartphone which incorporates many black boxes). However, Jenkins takes an opposing position to the fallacy because it “reduces media change to technological change” instead of also considering the cultural elements which lead to the use of more devices instead of fewer devices (p.14). He begins his argument by stating that there are two elements to media: the media content that makes up the cultural system and the delivery technologies (the medium) that allows for the media experience. With time, the delivery technologies tend to change but the media content

persists and adjusts itself to new mediums. Thus, he argues that “cinema did not kill theatre and television did not kill radio”, instead each pre-existing medium was “forced to coexist with the emerging media” (p.14). As technological advancements continue to develop new media, more media will be made available for consumers to use therefore “there will be no single black box that controls the flow of media into our homes” (p.16). This explanation also indicates that convergence is a continuous “process, not an endpoint” (p.16).

In the next five chapters, Jenkins goes through different examples of how convergence has had an effect on the media producers creating the media content, the media devices distributing the content, and the audiences consuming the media content. In chapter 1, Jenkins focuses on the hit reality TV show Survivor and the effects it has had on its fans. Since the show places a group of strangers in an isolated place to face the struggles of life without daily resources and forces them to compete in challenges to receive rewards and immunity from elimination, it keeps the audience on their toes anticipating the next move. Therefore, the show sparked a huge online community pooling their knowledge together to gain and figure out information about the show and its contestants before it official reveal in the show. Jenkins refers to this kind of spoiling as “collective intelligence in practice” (p.28). Chapter 2 elaborates on the success of American Idol as a show made for audience participation by examining the concept of affective economics. According to Jenkins, affective economics encourages fans to exert “greater influence over programming decisions” causing media producers to reflect their tastes and interests in

the media content (p. 62). Chapter 3 analyses the way media producers direct consumers from one media to another media, increasing the audiences experience with the media content. Most specifically, Jenkins focuses on The Matrix franchise and its use of convergence for transmedia story telling. The producers increased the audience’s experience by expanding the story to Web comics, computer and online games, and short movies.Moreover, chapter 4 looks at how convergence provided fans with the opportunities to “participate in the production and distribution of cultural goods on their own terms” (p.133). With emphasis on the Star Wars franchise, Jenkins explores the legal battles that the media industry is facing with their fans’ amateur reproduction of the copyright material. In chapter 5, Jenkins continues to study the politics of participatory culture. Using the Harry Potter series, he explores “the Potter wars” as the conflict between Warner Bros. and fans engaging in fan appropriation of the studio’s intellectual property. In this chapter, he also explores the importance of media education.

Chapter 6 takes on a different approach by describing the way politics is affected by convergence culture. Jenkins elaborates on a range of different ways that popular culture was mobilized to “encourage voter awareness and participation in the 2004 [American] presidential election” (p.234). In the concluding chapter, Jenkins emphasizes that “convergence encourages participation and collective intelligence” in different forms (p.246). And ends the book by re-welcoming the reader to convergence culture and explaining that “consumers will be more powerful within convergence culture but only if they recognize and use that power as both consumers and citizens, as full participants in our culture” (p.260).

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. Despite it being published in 12 years ago in 2006, I found it to be insightful and explanatory to what is going on today. I believe that Jenkins’s description of convergence culture is ever so prominent, and that his elaboration on the concepts of participatory culture and collective intelligence were clear, concise and have become very relevant to current media consumption practices. While reading the book, I could not help but to agree with his stance that the convergence culture is the future and that it is already here. It makes absolute sense.

Jenkins provided many examples of media convergence in his book. However, I will provide a current example to prove that convergence culture is the future that Jenkins elaborated on 12 years ago. Today, the Marvel franchise prospers greatly from convergence expanding its content through multiple media technologies reaching audiences across the world. The content that is spread globally is both top-down corporate media, and bottom-up participatory media produced and distributed by fans. As Jenkins explained, by having multiple media platforms disseminating the media content, it provides new audiences with different points of entry to the franchise. My point of entry into the Marvel franchise started with the movies, however my best friend entered when he was much younger through the television cartoons that aired, then through the comics and by the time the movies launched he was already a big fan. Now, he follows Marvel news on www.cinemablend.com, www.comicbookmovie.com, and from YouTube videos. Although he does not participate in online discussions, he has friends that do.

Furthermore, the years following the publication of Convergence Culture, the Internet gained more momentum giving rise to digital media. According to Gross (2009), Internet-based media has “made multi-directional, audience-generated communication a reality, giving citizens the opportunity to join the party as producers rather than merely consumers” (p.67). In other worlds, no longer is the media industry the sole producer of media content, instead consumers are able to create content and participate in media distribution by a greater extent. To Manuel Castells (2013), the Internet and its technologies “empowered consumers to produce and distribute their own content” inciting a fight for power with the media industry (p.97). At the time that Jenkins wrote his book, blogging and online forums were popular, however the Internet democratized media even further with the spurt of social media, like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and YouTube, which furthered the social and cultural changes to the production, consumption, and distribution of media. Social media increased audience participation by allowing them to express their thoughts, ideas, and beliefs through comments and likes, and to create and share content.

Check out this YouTube video as an example of participatory culture!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OguhAYbjrs

Moreover, social media made GIFs and Memes a popular choice for expressing oneself online. Many GIFs and Memes derive from television shows, movies, and cartoons thus expanding the consumer’s experience with the media content. For such reasons, social media adds to the convergence culture.

This is an example of a Marvel GIF.

Putting aside the cultural, social and industrial aspects of convergence culture, we have the technological element that makes it all possible. It allows media content to be dispersed globally. Castells (2013) describes the circulation of media content as part of the network society. However, he explains that not everyone is included in the global networks, but everyone is affected by the processes that take place within it. He further explains that societies are deeply fragmented by the logic of inclusion and exclusion from such networks. So, instead of digital media and Internet-based technologies bridging societies together, it is separating it into those included in the network and those excluded from the network. He states that the network is actively searching for and incorporating valuable additions everywhere, while “bypassing or excluding those territories, activities, and people that have little or no value for the performance of the tasks assigned to the network” (p.26). Consequently, the societies or people that do not provide a value to the goals of the network society will not be part of it, feeling the burden of exclusion. In other words, there is a growing digital divide that is growing due to the exclusion from the network society. The digital divide emphasizes on the disparity between those who are digitally literate and have Internet access, and those who do not. In his book, Jenkins did not elaborate on the consequences of the digital divide on convergence culture because he believes that “a medium is more than a technology” and that the digital divide only looks at the technological aspect. (p.258). Instead, he emphasizes on the importance of addressing the participation gap that emerges from the digital divide through media education. This way, “young people can come to think of themselves as cultural producers and participants and not simply as consumers” (p.259). However, to be part of convergence culture, both access to the Internet and literacy of Internet-based media is necessary for participation.

If you're looking for more information on convergence culture, I suggest checking out Henry Jenkins's blog on the topic itself.

References:

Castells, M. (2013). Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gross, L. (2009). My media studies: cultivation to participation. Television and New Media, (10)1, pp. 66-68.

Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture. Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.