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Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide Hardcover – August 1, 2006

by Henry Jenkins (Author)

3.9 21 ratings

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Winner of the 2007 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award
2007 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

A classic study on the dynamic between an individual and different media channels

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 Hogwarts 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.

Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

NYU Press
Publication date

August 1, 2006
Dimensions

6.34 x 1 x 9.16 inches
ISBN-10

0814742815
ISBN-13

978-0814742815
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Henry Jenkins, founder and director of MIT's comparative media studies program, debunks outdated ideas of the digital revolution in this remarkable book, proving that new media will not simply replace old media, but rather will learn to interact with it in a complex relationship he calls "convergence culture." The book's goal is to explain how convergence is currently impacting the relationship among media audiences, producers and content, a far from easy undertaking. As Jenkins says, "there will be no magical black box that puts everything in order again." Jenkins takes pains to prove that the notion of convergence culture is not primarily a technological revolution; through a number of well-chosen examples, Jenkins shows that it is more a cultural shift, dependent on the active participation of the consumers working in a social dynamic. He references recent media franchises like Survivor, The Matrix, and American Idol to show how the new participatory culture of consumers can be utilized for popular success and increased exposure. Jenkins' insights are gripping and his prose is surprisingly entertaining and lucid for a book that is, at its core, intellectually rigorous. Though wordy at times, Jenkins' impressive ability to break down complex concepts into readable prose makes this study vital and engaging.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"The standard convergence narrative of recent years presents media concentration as a threat both to the diversity of communication channels and to individuals' opportunities to engage in public discourse. A respected and well-established media scholar, Jenkins here counters such pessimistic perspectives on the brave new media world with theoretical and evidentiary attestations to the growing power of individuals and grassroots groups to affect the larger media landscape." ― Choice

"I thought I knew twenty-first century pop media until I read Henry Jenkins. The fresh research and radical insights in Convergence Culture deserve a wide and thoughtful readership. Bring on the monolithic block of eyeballs." -- Bruce Sterling, author, blogger, visionary

"Jenkins offers crucial insight into an unexpected and unforeseen future. Unlike most predictions about how New Media will shape the world in which we live, the reality is turning out far stranger and more interesting than we might have imagined. The social implications of this change could be staggering." -- Will Wright, creator of SimCity and The Sims

"One of those rare works that is closer to an operating system than a traditional book: it's a platform that people will be building on for years to come. What's more, the book happens to be a briskly entertaining read―as startling, inventive, and witty as the culture it documents. It should be mandatory reading for anyone trying to make sense of todays popular culture but thankfully, a book this fun to read doesn’t need a mandate." -- Steven Johnson, author of the national bestseller, Everything Bad Is Good For You

"For any Sony PS3 execs out there wondering why their technological masterpiece is being ridiculed by customers before its even released . . . Convergence Culture is a must read . . . Jenkins offers numerous insights on how technology and media professionals can forge better relationships with their customers." ― Slashdot

"Remarkable . . . Jenkins insights are gripping and his prose is surprisingly entertaining and lucid for a book that is, at its core, intellectually rigorous . . . Jenkins impressive ability to break down complex concepts into readable prose makes this study vital and engaging." ― Publishers Weekly

"Jenkins is an astute observer of media culture and his insights are spot-on." ― The Los Angeles Times

"Jenkins tries to bring clarity to cultural changes that are melting and morphing into new shapes on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly basis. Convergence Culture provides a view that looks at the restless ocean and tracks the currents rather than just looking at the individual rocks on the beach." ― The McClatchy Newspapers

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ NYU Press (August 1, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0814742815
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0814742815
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.34 x 1 x 9.16 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,538,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #174 in Dissociative Disorders
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- #2,500 in Communication Reference (Books)

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3.9 21 ratings

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Henry Jenkins

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Henry Jenkins is Associate Professor of Literature and Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Rapha Ram

Henry Jenkins is the man

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2019

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Written by one of the most prestigious names on digital communication research, this book has given a north for media executives worldwide. He wrote down lots of thoughts that were restricted to the halls of MIT and let the world be aware of them; beyond that, Henry encouraged everybody to discuss it.

The book is easy to understand and has various practical examples that will definitely hold the reader's attention from beginning to end.

As a side note, I was lucky enough to get Henry's autograph on my copy of this book after one of his lectures. :)

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2014

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Dr. Jenkins has achieved something special with this text--he's synthesized a few generations of technological achievement, humanities computing practices, and popular culture into an accessible, insightful treatise on the power of emerging media. While focusing on contemporary examples, Jenkins never loses sight of the historical perspective. It's a watershed text for those interested in looking at how the full flower of our communication efforts has come into bloom in recent years, and how that condition is impacting content creators, activists, fans, and citizens...

One person found this helpful

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jamaral

Interesting perspectives for media professionals, even publishing

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2011

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Convergence Culture offers some very interesting perspectives and case studies for everyone, but especially for media professionals. There are even valuable lessons here to extrapolate for the book publishing industry, although Jenkins doesn't focus much on the book world. He does discuss Harry Potter, but mostly in the context of fan fiction.

Jenkins discussion of transmedia storytelling is fascinating, and fits together very well with Frank Rose's discussion in The Art of Immersion. The discussion of transmedia storytelling combines Jenkins' three concepts of media convergence, participating culture, and collective intelligence, because it requires consumers to move across multiple media and collaboration with a fan community to fully experience a story. As mentioned above, he uses the example of the Matrix movies to illustrate this point. Traditionally, all the information viewers needed to fully understand a movie were contained in the movie itself and presented in a mostly linear way that was easy to grasp, but movies like The Matrix provide open ended clues and loose strands that can't be fully understood without collaborating with other fans through online communities and by taking part in other extensions of the story in different mediums such as comics and video games. In some cases, these extensions may provide more background or a deeper understanding of the movie, or they might be completely new tangents unexplored in the movie. It will be interesting to see if this mode of story telling continues to gain traction.

Overall I enjoyed reading Convergence Culture, especially having also previously read The Art of Immersion. I do think Jenkins was trying to fit too much into the book, and at times the organization was a bit clunky. Each chapter focused on a particular TV show or movie as an example, so there was a chapter that discussed Survivor and the concepts of fan paticipation and "spoiling," the process by which fans share information that hasn't been aired yet about popular TV shows online. There was also a chapter on American Idol and advertising and fan participation. I think it may have been a better idea to organize the book around these ideas and provide more examples as opposed to organizing the book by show or movie. By far my favorite chapter was the one that focused on transmedia storytelling and The Matrix. By comparison, the last chapter on politics and popular culture and the afterword on the ramifications of YouTube on politics, while interesting and important, seemed out of place.

Perhaps my biggest gripe was how dated the book seemed. Despite being published in 2008 (the paperback was published in 2008, the hardcover in 2006), some of the examples given and, for instance, the lengthy explanation on what a blog is, made the book feel very dated, which goes to show how rapid the media landscape is changing. I would definitely recommend reading this book either before or after The Art of Immersion for a more well-rounded view.

4 people found this helpful

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Brandi

Not a New Book

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2017

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Paid for a new book and was disappointed when I opened up to the first chapter only to find markings on the pages

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Heather Lawver

The King of Culture

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2006

Henry Jenkins has a natural knack for taking any topic and making it instantly relatable and intensely gripping. I was privileged to have received a preview of part of this book before its publication, and I can honestly say that it's as entertaining as it is informative. Here he tackles completely new territory - the ever-evolving world of media and technology and how it impacts our society and the corporate world. This proverbial David & Goliath struggle for control of new media, the challenges of the inherent legalities, and the birth of new mediums; all of this complexity is laid out in the pages of 'Convergence Culture', and who better to guide us through this mish-mash landscape of new media than one of our foremost experts on media and popular culture?

Anyone interested in the Internet, media publication, fan rights, grassroots movements, blogs, and anything else that typically only your children or grandchildren can explain to you, would find this book not only informative, but riveting. I highly recommend it, and not just because I have a chapter almost all to myself (check out the chapter on Harry Potter and the infamous PotterWar - Alastair and I say Hello.) :)

Pick up a copy of Convergence Culture. You'll be glad you did.

17 people found this helpful

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J. Richard Stevens

A different take on convergence

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2006

I can't say enough good things about this book. Jekins critiques "traditional" convergence theory about converging media and argues that the instigator of convergence is the need for new patterns of consumption, not production. Each chapter addresses how fans of a particular program reorganize their media experiences to better participate in the discussion, analysis and, at times, production of future episodes or events.

Because he demonstrates through example, the text is approachable to the scholar and the layman alike. The subjects themselves make the read interesting, but Jenkins also brings his wisdom to bear at opportune moments. Highly reocmmmended for those who study media, culture or technology adoption.

24 people found this helpful

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Deborah Kozdras

Intersections: collisions and traffic flow

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2007

Jenkins is a genius. Not only does he provide a theoretically grounded book explaining cultural mass media...but he writes in a manner the masses can understand. Bravo! Convergence culture...the place of multiple media collisions and smooth traffic flow of participatory culture. This book is a must read for any scholar interested in understanding "new" literacies.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Eszter Szep

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2016

Verified Purchase

Jenkins has a very good style, and this book is super interesting.

Nickster

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 2, 2016

Verified Purchase

GREAT

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