Convergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide
- Author: Henry Jenkins
- Publisher: New York University Press
- Released: 01 August 2006
- Pages: 260 on page
- Genre: Internet, Nonfiction
- ISBN: 0814742815 (Amazon)
Description
Probably the best explanation of convergence I've ever come across. I'm still reading this one but definitely worth picking up.
Highlights
A process called "convergence of modes" is blurring the lines between media, even between point-point communications, such as the post, telephone and telegraph, and mass communications, such as the press, radio, and television. A single physical means--be it wires, cables or airwaves--may carry services that in the past were provided in separate ways. Conversely, a services that was provided in the past by any one medium--be it broadcasting, the press, or telephony--can now be provided in several different physical ways. So the one-to-one relationship that used to exist between a medium and its use is eroding.
— p. 10
Freedom is fostered when the means of communication are dispersed, decentralized, and easily available, as are printing presses or microcomputers. Central control is more likely when the means of communication are concentrated, monopolized, and scarce, as are great networks.
— p. 11
Convergence does not mean ultimate stability or unity. It operates as a constant force for unification but always in dynamic tension with change.... There is no immutable law of growing convergence; the process of change is more complicated than that.
— p. 11
Yet, history teaches us that old media never die--and they don't even necessarily fade away. What dies are simply the tools we use to access media content--the 8-track, the Beta tape. These are what media scholars call delivery technologies.... Delivery technologies become obsolete and get replaced; media, on the other hand, evolve. Recorded sound is the medium. CDs, MP3 files, and 8-track cassettes are delivery technologies.
— p. 13
The movie and game are designed together, the game deepens and expands the fiction but does not simply repeat material from the film.
The expanding range of media options, what McCracken calls the "economics of plenitude," will push companies to open more space for grassroots participation and affiliation... McCracken argues that those companies that loosen their copyright control will attract the most active and committed consumers, and those who ruthlessly set limits will find themselves with a dwindling share of the media marketplace.
— p. 158