Henry Jenkins Convergence Culture

"Welcome to convergence culture, where old and new media collide" (H Jenkins 2006 p.3).

Convergence culture is explained by Jenkins as a "flow of content across multiple media platforms", he also tells us that his book is about the relationship between three concepts - convergence media, participatory culture and collective intelligence.

Jenkins argues that the days when devices were created for solely for one purpose are long gone. He uses many examples throughout his introduction to reinforce his case e.g. he talks about how cell phones are not simply devices that can make phone calls any more. They allow the consumer to surf the internet, download/listen to music, stream live music events and use cameras for photo and video purposes. In fact the simple purpose of making a phone call seems to be the least focused on attribute on the device. He reinforced this claim with his own experience of when he went to stores looking for a cell phone that just made phone calls and was told they don't make them like that anymore. This is what Jenkins called a "Cultural Shift".

In his book Jenkins speculates that the way consumers are utilizing media it will end up that all media artefacts will one day be rolled into one black box he calls this "The Black Box Fallacy". Jenkins believes that we already live in a society where devices are already so close to being everything in one. Although he does state that old media will never die, just the way in which we access it and enjoy it through the technological mediums will change.

"Delivery technologies become obsolete and get replaced; media, on the other hand, evolve." (H Jenkins 2006 p.19).

The fact Jenkins emphasizes during this introduction is that convergence is coming and there is nothing anyone can do about it, so we will have to get accustomed to it.


References:

Henry Jenkins (2006) Where Old and New Media Collide, Introduction "Worship at the Altar of Convergence" p.1-25

Image: http://kelger.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/technological-convergence.html

A Convergence Culture in a Technological Expanding World

My first thoughts on Convergence Culture were simplistic to say the least, the basis being old media combining with new media to create an all new beast altogether. However, Henry Jenkins opened my eyes to a different view entirely. Jenkins talks about old and new media being linked through different mediums, ocassionally helped along by human interference.

In the theory of new media not clashing with old media, we could look at a recent news story that broke  in 2011 via social networking site Twitter. The story I talk of is that of Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs' super-injunction on his alleged affair (The Telegraph, 2012). In this instance the new media helped old media progress around otherwise blocked channels to produce a story that they wanted to tell.

Jenkins states that, 'old media will never die... What dies are simply the tools we use to access media content.' (Jenkins, 2006) For an example of this we can look at how we have received music over the years, vinyl, cassette tape, mini disc, cd, mp3, and so on. These tools have advanced to something that we can receive now that has no physical prescence.

Jankins also mentions 'The Black Box Fallacy', which is a theory that a 'black box' could control all mediums that we need. Many of us hae these 'black boxes', just think of your laptop, it contains your music, videos, internet, news and more.


It could be said that Jenkins believes that there will never be an 'Ultimate Black Box' and there may never be, although we are getting very close to it.

Take the soon to be released next generation of gaming consoles, the Xbox One boasts of being your entire media centre for your home. It includes a blu-ray drive, along with applications for television, music, live events, internet, social networking, phone calls, video calls, forums and much more. The iPhone 5 also has applications for everything that I've previously mentioned, although it has a smaller screen.
Our technology is evolving rapidly, although I believe that old media will always have a part in our culture as this is truely a convergence culture.




REFERENCES

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

The Telegraph (2012) Ryan Giggs: Timeline of Injunction Debate [Online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9095887/Ryan-Giggs-timeline-of-injunction-debate.html (Accessed: 7 June 2013)

Convergence Culture

[1]My initial understanding of 'Convergence Culture' is where Old Media and New Media cross paths. Jenkins describes it as the "flow of content across multiple media forms". He also mentions that the media audiences will go 'almost anywhere in search of the media experiences they want'. An example of this would be when we hear of an interesting news broadcast on the television, then reach for our pockets for our mobile phones to check what other information about the story is available on the likes of Twitter and Facebook. 

    This brings me onto my next topic where Jenkins mentions the 'cultural shift' from the original purpose of a device like a mobile phone to its uses now in 2013. In the book Jenkins explains this through a nice and easy to understand metaphor in which he explains it as "an electric equivalent of a Swiss army nice", meaning we no longer use our mobile 'phones' as just phones. They can be used for an abundance of different purposes. Jenkins explains his frustration about this in his book, where single functioning phone are no longer manufactured, he mentions how he was laughed at and told the "nobody wants them". This is a great example in the 'cultural shift' from a decade ago.

    

[2] The mobile phone network O2 carried out a survey on how we use our mobile phones in this New Media age. They found that our main function we use our mobiles for is browsing the web for 24 minutes per day, making phone calls is 5th popular at 13 minutes a day.

This survey shows that we prefer to use our mobile phones more for browsing the internet, social media, music and games more than a 'phone', which ironically is the name of the device. I believe that making calls will fall deeper down this list as New Media continues to develop.

References:
 [1]  Convergence Culture: Where Old and New  Media collide - H. Jenkins, 2006
 [2]  Statistics and Image available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2333261/We-spend-MORE-time-phones-partner.html
Image: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/121126031324-inv-12-old-vs-new-media-monster.jpg 


  

Convergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide

"Convergence does not mean ultimate stability or unity" (H Jenkins 2006 p.11). Then, what does Convergence culture mean?

Jenkins explained that convergence culture refers to the "flow of content across multiple media platforms" and argues against the idea of it being mainly understood as a "technological process" combing multiple media functions into one single device (ibid p.3)

Convergence, which Jenkins describes as a 'cultural shift' is when one device has many other features in addition to its original function. In the past, a device would have had one function and fairly little/no additional features, whereas now the devices evolved and carry out other tasks along side its original function. Jenkins uses a very good example in his novel to support his argument. It is undeniable that we have and are still witnessing the clear evolving and development of mobile phones. Year after year mobile phones are carrying out more tasks, you can almost do anything on your mobile phone, to the point we actually forget its original function. Jenkins requested a mobile phone with no additional features (camera, mp3 player etc) and was unable to obtain one as companies stopped producing them claiming "nobody wants them" (ibid p.5). This is an excellent example demonstrating clearly his argument about the cultural shift and the media convergence which we witness today. 

Jenkins also argues that the "old media never die" (ibid p.13) and what actually dies are the "tools that we use to access media content". What Jenkins means is that old media won't disappear, though it changes/evolves and is used in different methods, but still for the same reason, for example, obtaining news online is the same as the news we read on the newspaper, but how we access the media is the only difference. 

References:

Henry Jenkins (2006), Convergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide, Introduction: "Worship at the Altar of Convergence" pp.1-25

Images: 
1)
http://www.muymovil.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/evolition-of-mobilephoneEdit_thumb555.jpg
Accessed on the date of 08/10/2013

2)
 http://soulclassy.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/newspaper_business_internet_4118851.jpg
Accessed on the date of 08/10/2013 

Convergence Culture

Convergence is the act of old and new media colliding and intersecting with each other in ways which brings together different mediums of delivery into one device. In the past a mobile could only do one thing, call other mobiles. Mobiles now encompass many different forms of media including internet, gaming, video ect. Jenkins definition of convergence is much more complex than this. He uses the term to refer to the ever changing trends in the media world, its relationship with participatory culture and the idea of collective intelligence.

When people are asked to describe the current media landscape they often respond by making a list of the latest technology and tools. Jenkins believes we should focus more on emerging trends and cultural practices rather than focusing on the hardware which would facilitate this convergence. He states that because these practices cut across many different media platforms and cultural communities that they suggest something in the way we live in relation to present day media. He is suggesting that the way we participate or consume this media has an effect on our everyday lives.

"We are entering an era when media will be everywhere. Convergence isn't something that is going to happen one day...Ready or not, we are already living within a convergence culture." (Jenkins, 2008. p.16)

Jenkins is making the point that media convergence affects the way on which we consume media, for example a student doing coursework may have a word document open, browse the web, listen to music as well as a variety of other tasks all at the once.

New forms of media are being put out at an alarming rate, so fast that we barely have time to assess the cultural impact one piece of technology has on us before the next iteration is released. Marshall McLuhan (1969) echoes this thought suggesting that "Media are often put out before they are thought out" (Jenkins, 2006) Jenkins states that old media doesn't necessarily die, what dies is the tools we use to deliver these forms of media, the media itself evolves.

Bibliography

Jenkins, H., 2006. Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape. [Online]
Available at: http://henryjenkins.org/2006/11/eight_traits_of the_new_media.html[Accessed 7th October 2013].

Jenkins, H., 2008. Convergence Culture: Where Old And New Media Collide Revised. New York: NYU Press.

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.