PPT from a graduate course summarizes key points in the first half of Henry Jenkins's seminal book, Convergence Culture.

1. Convergence Culture
Part 1
MMC 6612
Sept. 3, 2008

2. Three Concepts
 Media convergence
 ―… the one-to-one relationship that used to exist
between a medium and its use is eroding‖ (Ithiel
de Sola Pool)
 Participatory culture
 Collective intelligence (Pierre Lévy)

3. What is a medium?
 Two levels (Gitelman):
 A medium is ―a technology that enables
communication‖
 A medium is a set of cultural practices or
protocols
 Over time, a medium’s content and audience
and use might all change
 ―Recorded sound is the medium. CDs, MP3
files, and 8-track cassettes are delivery
technologies‖

4. Cultural Logic of Convergence
 Two trends
 Consumers as producers: Lower costs for
production and distribution; more channels; more
sharing
 Increased concentration of ownership of media
properties, especially entertainment media
 Convergence is both top-down (corporate)
and bottom-up (consumer)

5. Diffusion of Innovations
 A key concept in ―new media‖ research
 The idea of early adopters comes from
―diffusion theory‖
 Book: Diffusion of Innovations, by Everett M.
Rogers (5th ed., 2003)
 People in the case studies in Jenkins’s book:
They are early adopters

6. Five types of “adopters”
Diffusion of Innovations, Rogers

7. The “S” curve of diffusion
Diffusion of Innovations, Rogers

8. Case 1: Survivor Spoilers
 An example of ―collective intelligence‖
 Mutual production and exchange of
knowledge
 The group is more powerful than any individual
 Is this experience a training ground for
political efficacy?
 Pierre Lévy: The networked space is a
new way of living

9. Pierre Lévy: 4 Social Spaces
 “Earth”: The open spaces of wandering
nomads
 “Territory”: Humans plant crops and claim
land
 “Commodity”: Most recently, we have lived
in the industrialized spaces, built with capital
 “Knowledge”: The new space, which is
created by the pervasive digital network

10. Learning from ChillOne
 How do we know what we know? Why do we
believe it to be true?
 In contesting the reliability of ChillOne’s
information, the members of the group were
deliberating (should we believe it? Based on
what?)
 People processing information: In the
end, knowledge is produced

11. Collective intelligence
 In past expert groups, having and hoarding
the knowledge was the source of power
 In a collective intelligence, the activities of
gathering new information and processing it
into knowledge and sharing it – this is the
whole point of the group
 Participating is what makes it fun
 ChillOne hoarded knowledge, spoiled the
fun

12. Case 2: American Idol
 “Affective economics”: A reaction (by
marketers) to the increased control viewers
and consumers now have
 Groups that have economic value (buying
power) become commodified — their
interests become products
 Marketers cultivate an emotional
attachment to the show and its characters
(to deliberately create fans)

14.  The difference between the old Star Trek and the
many generations of Power Rangers: A marketing
strategy
 ―Expression‖: Time spent and viewer loyalty;
also, the willingness to share with other viewers

15. Coca-Cola:
An entertainment company
 Embed the sponsors in the content
(American Idol); encourage ongoing
relationships with the product in multiple
media and formats
 Example / video
 This is not new (example 2)
 Difference between then and now:
Engagement, participation

16. Case 3: ―Transmedia Storytelling‖

17. “Small pieces loosely joined”
 A collection of stories, or story fragments
 Non-redundant connected pieces in multiple
media (e.g., the movies, the game)
 Jenkins calls these ―multiple texts‖
 A work of sufficient complexity to generate
its own community; a ―cultural attractor‖
 The segments or separate texts must be
self-contained, able to stand alone
 The deeper you go, the more you discover

18. ―Get It,‖ by Peter Bagge

19. With the Web …
―… the interior structure of documents has changed,
not just the way they are connected to one another.
The Web has blown documents apart.‖
Preface, Small Pieces Loosely Joined, by Dave Weinberger (2002)

20. The Web …
―… treats tightly bound volumes like a collection of ideas
— none longer than can fit on a single screen —
that the reader can consult in the order she or he wants,
regardless of the author’s intentions.‖
Preface, Small Pieces Loosely Joined, by Dave Weinberger (2002)

21. The Web …
―… makes links beyond the document’s covers
an integral part of every document.
What once was literally a tightly bound entity
has been ripped into pieces and thrown into the air.‖
Preface, Small Pieces Loosely Joined, by Dave Weinberger (2002)

22. ―A completely furnished world‖
 Made up of icons, symbols, that can be
re-imagined by the audience (like a cult
film, or an ancient legend)
 Comics, anime, and a video game expand
the world of the Matrix
 Driving force: Strong economic motives
 This world is perfect for slow
motion, rewind, replay and pause

23. Why do stories matter?
 Every culture constructs myths and legends
to help it understand itself
 To preserve and extend the culture
 Stories enforce society’s
norms, morals, customs
 Our mythic figures teach us right and wrong

24. The unicorn in Blade Runner
 The author constructs a
symbol that speaks
volumes by itself
 The unicorn explains
nothing — it only raises
more questions
 Like the ―secrets‖ in
Survivor (or in Lost), it
generates controversy and
conversation

25. “Additive Comprehension”
 Is all this too much for the casual
consumer?
 Should an entertainment, a fiction, require
one of Lévy’s knowledge communities to
figure it out?
 Does the example of Survivor spoilers
apply? Is a new form of collaborative
entertainment something more people will
enjoy?

26. Jenkins:
―This transmedia impulse
is at the heart
of what I am calling
convergence culture.‖

27. Convergence Culture
Part 1
Presentation by Mindy McAdams
University of Florida
2008