|
The idea being that no one in a community can know everything but everyone knows something and together the community knows a lot. 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. 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. 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 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. 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.
However, Jenkins says that when creators have their hands in developing the other mediums, like video games, interactive Web creations and such, the stories are more likely to gain a following and develop further. He begins the chapter by explaining the power of marketing brands via multiple "transactions," instead of using traditionally isolated mediums. One of my favorite quotes regards media literacy, which states, "Just as we would not traditionally assume that someone is literate if they can read but not write, we should not assume that someone possesses media literacy if they can consume but not express themselves" (p.176). Jenkins explains most of these "discussions" throughout Convergence Culture within the context of specific pop-culture and political examples. Besides explaining some of the campaigns and movements against its content by conservative groups, Jenkins explores whether schools are doing a well enough job in educating students in media, and whether or not they are using media to teach.
This method allows for advertisers, like Coca Cola, to be more than intellectual property; they are emotional capital. Jenkins says that using tools like Photoshop, fans and activists are more able to manipulate images to make a political statement, most evident in the aftermath of the Florida recount. By focusing on a few major examples of how the media is shifting from isolated experiences into transmedia storytelling, Jenkins explains the relationship between convergence, participatory culture, and collective intelligence, illustrating how the "new media" is "impacting relationships between media audiences, producers and content" (p.12). All in all, Jenkin's Convergence Culture is absolutely worth the read. Jenkins also succeeds in sticking to his points, while not deviating far from the original intent, often repeating examples of converging media, participatory culture, and collective intelligence within each chapter. Throughout the text, Jenkins makes countless allusions to these central points, allowing the reader to deeply relate and care about the effect media is having on our culture.Jenkins brings up several great points about how our culture currently views the media. Using one young girl who created her own website around the Harry Potter series as an example of the power of the online forum, Jenkins analyzes the power of collaboration in teaching and using the Web to allow for a fuller experience from which one can learn.
And in such a participant-oriented show that allows viewers to text in their votes, fans become more involved with the brand and may even become "brand advocates" (p.73). Jenkins closes the book by restating, "The power of the grassroots media is that it diversifies; the power of the broadcast media is that it amplifies. Here, he explains the difference between participation and interactivity. As he explains how the transmedia story flows across different media forums, he illustrates how each medium brings a "distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole" (p.98). Jenkins writes, "In a participatory culture, the entire community takes on some responsibility for helping newbies find their way," in contrast to a classroom where only a teacher is the guide. The first of which begins in his first chapter, Spoiling Survivor, where he outlines the impact of a communal reception of the TV show "Survivor." By looking at one of the most democratic uses of the Internet (message boards), Jenkins analyzes Survivor fans' interactions with "spoilers" of the show, calling it "collective intelligence in practice" (p.28). To reach the new consumer, traditional media must also be present on different forums. His key point in the chapter was that while not all users will choose to "go deep" with the material, creators must allow the option.Jenkins then explains the success of the Star Wars franchise and how users have become co-creators, or participants, in the stories via the Web and the onset of the digital age.
This way, the story may stretch far beyond the original plot, and the user creates it, and Jenkins explains that the convergence of media has allowed for such occurrences. In his discussion, Jenkins cites Howard Dean's (and later, John Kerry's) use of the Web to raise funds, and that his early Internet success was a "tipping point" for how we view media. So, while the creators decide interactivity, and users may interact with what is given, participation allows users to become creators of the story. That's why we should be concerned with the flow between the two (p.268). Jenkins explains, "Participation within such communities does not simply reaffirm their brand affiliation but also empowers these groups to assert their own demands on the company" (p.80).In his third chapter, Jenkins looks at how the Matrix franchise uses several platforms to reach its multifaceted fan base, and considers it "entertainment for the age of media convergence, integrating multiple texts to create a narrative so large that it cannot be contained within a single medium" (p.96).
Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins gives an in-depth and critical look at how the World Wide Web has transformed traditional media to be more amalgamate, multi-level, and less isolated, allowing for a more participatory culture, and illustrating the power of collective intelligence. Beyond the traditional forms such as television, gaming, or literature, I was also interested to see what interactive companies are doing that may not fit in those categories, like virtual reality or web applications that find trends in the social collective, getting away form simple message boards or surveys. Jenkins does a good job explaining many of the complicated jargon that might be foreign to those who have not used certain mediums or are not involved with the example literature he uses. 142, "Marketers have turned our children into walking, talking billboards who wear logos on their T-shirts, sew patches on their backpacks, plaster stickers on their lockers, hang posters on their walls, but they must not, under penalty of law, post them on their home pages.
He writes, "The experience should not be contained within a single media platform, but should extend across as many media as possible" (p.69). This is one point that illustrates the vast misunderstanding and divide conglomerate media has with the grassroots campaigns the web endorses. Jenkins wrote Convergence Culture in a way that allows readers to walk away with a good understanding of his topics, no matter what their digital literacy. Jenkins explores two schools of thought on this issue: prohibitionists, who are usually characterized by traditional media, that try to limit all creation outside the originators, and collaborationists, who are usually led by "new media" and digital groups, that allow grassroots intermediaries to help promote the franchised.
Jenkins encourages his readers to rethink the goals of media education, as he explains the power within convergence culture, as full participants.While Jenkins realizes that convergence cannot be fully understood at this point (or at least in 2006 when the book was written), his desire in writing the book was to inform the public on "discussions that are taking place" so they might have some input "into decisions that will dramatically change their relationship to media" (p.13). While I found it to be choppy at parts due to my disinterest in the specific topic, I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested at all in how our media is changing due to the onset of the Internet. Jenkins writes, "Interactivity refers to the ways that new technologies have been designed to be more responsive to consumer feedback.Participation, on the other hand, is shaped by the cultural and social protocols" (p.137). Here, he explains the idea that while not one person knows everything, everyone knows something and can bring some small bit of relevance to the discussion to, in this case, find a solution. This allows even those who are not directly involved in many of the digital issues to participate on some level, as it affects everyone who uses media.
He explains that because aspects of our everyday lives pass through various media, convergence has created a new type of media consumer who communicates on several platforms. He states the problems and prevalence of media concentration and cites Chris Anderson's idea of the Long Tail as a viable route to many of the conglomerate and economic problems we see today on the "free" web. However, this blurring of creation on the Web has caused both problems and new directions. I give it 5 stars out of 5. Somehow, once consumers choose when and where to display those images, their active participation in the circulation of brands suddenly becomes a moral outrage and a threat to the industry's economic well-being." Kudos to Jenkins for highlighting the importance of these issues. As the Internet blurs the lines that once separated specific mediums Jenkins writes, "Convergence represents a cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content" (p.3).
By allowing users to consume but not create is a robbery of users' freedom in some ways. As Jenkins also mentioned on p. He also mentions the fact that young people were being informed more by entertainment media like the Daily Show than traditional news organizations, showing an unprecedented convergence in media.In his conclusion, Jenkins again highlights the fact that society is still trying to decide the exact ethical codes and social contracts to follow in these trial-and-error times. While his focus on only a few major examples of convergence culture was well planned and effective, it would have been interesting to see what companies are taking chances on, that are working well. Instead of the television (a broad, "top-down" medium) reigning, the Internet (a niche-oriented, "bottom-up" medium) finally had become the dominant forum.
In addition, Jenkins evaluates how this type of "bottom-up" collaboration can be both helpful and detrimental to brands and franchises.Jenkins explores the grassroots culture of the Internet more in his second chapter where he discusses American Idol, a TV show made for audience participation. I'm not sure why, but the only medium he seems to have missed was any discussion about radio. Jenkins likens this dichotomy with the battle between folk culture (grassroots campaigns) and mass culture (commercialism), as he cites several examples of how specific Star Wars spoofs and recreations have faired with George Lucas and the commercial media in terms of copyright infringement.Moving beyond the television and silver screen, Jenkins then discusses the Harry Potter franchise in light of new media. He then explores the traditional idea of fair use, and wonders if the notion should be revisited in the digital age.In his final example of media convergence, Jenkins visits the political realm and focuses on the "changes in communications systems and cultural norms" of the media and the democratization of the Web (p.219) in relation to the 2004 presidential election. As this new media system develops, we are equal collaborators with conglomerates and the voice of many can change how our culture sees the media.One very small area I wished Jenkins would have mentioned more is an overview of what other media companies are doing that are innovative and experimental.
It was a little slow-going in the beginning, but it picked up as the discussions heated up, and it was very educational on the world of internet marketing and trends.
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. 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. 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. Formatting errors abound in the book, with dozens of hyphens being placed in the middle of words for seemingly no reason.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. Rather than writing from an objective viewpoint, Jenkins instead describes what the media landscape looks like from the perspective of various localized people. 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. 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. 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. 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.
There are already tons of positive comments about the book. The author repeatedly refers to Pierre Levy's use of "collective intelligence" and demonstrates how that concept of can be actualized in particular "knowledge communities". I agree with nearly all of them. It is a very inspiring book for all media and cultural studies students and for all others in related disciplines. The author goes beyond the hype of new media and provides very concrete and inspiring cases of how new media irreversibly enters our lives without romanticizing this entrance. Moreover, the author proves that scholarly ideas can be shared with non-scholarly readers through his writing style.
Convergence Culture dives into the union of old and new media. 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. This book does not pretend to know what the future brings in our quickly morphing cultural communication.
Discourse on rights management and user generated content explores emerging issues that dot the landscape of the new paradigm of entertainment, education and politics. With his inside knowledge of fanfic and desire to keep the story going, he understands that pop culture is pushing convergence forward. 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.
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. 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.
He uses pop culture to demystify convergence and relate the complex nature of a society changing major models of mass communication to all readers. Jenkins uses what he knows about pop culture to bring convergence home.
|
