Henry Jenkins: Convergence Culture

Henry Jenkins states in his book Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide that it "is about the relationship between three concepts-media convergence, participatory culture, and collective intelligence"(H.Jenkins 2006 Pg 2). Each of these three concepts are thoroughly looked over through his introduction to his book but there is one in particular that he seems to cling onto more and that is media convergence.

Media convergence is not old media getting thrown away and never seen again because we love the new media so much, in fact it is nothing of the sort. It is like the old media is staying and helping the new media develop, we are not losing the old media at all, we are just simply receiving it in different ways with new tools that are helping shape the ongoing media convergence. Jenkins describes convergence as "the flow of content across multiple media platforms"(H.Jenkins 2006 Pg 2) but then he goes on to state that "sooner or later, the argument goes, all media is going to flow through a single black box"(H.Jenkins 2006 Pg 14). So is that the case that we will end up consuming all our media through one black box? Gaming, news, TV, communication etc all rolled into one device? The closest devices to this black box theory are the newest mobile phones and upcoming games consoles. Mobile phones these days are being created to do everything and it seems like their main function in making and receiving calls is only a small added extra where as their ability to surf the internet and play games is more important and a stronger selling point.

The Media convergence is happening and it is all around us and if we do not accept it we will be left behind.

REFERENCES:
Convergence Culture: Where Old And New Media Collide, Jenkins H, 2006, New York University Press.