Volume 22

No. 1  September/October 2006

Media Is Everywhere! Welcome to the Age of Convergence

Robyn Fizz

Henry Jenkins has his finger on the pulse of something big. In his new book, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York University Press), he maps the cultural shifts being unleashed by online media. Blogs and video sharing sites, text messaging and meetups, 3D worlds and role-playing games – there are countless ways for individuals to tune in and participate, often joining communities of like-minded people.

These "communal" channels don’t make mass media obsolete; they provide avenues for consumers to share their enthusiasm for favorite shows or movies. While corporate media encourage fans to "feel the love" for their entertainment properties, this relationship is an uneasy one. It’s one thing for consumers to watch a movie, then buy the soundtrack and the products placed in it; quite another for them to post home-made video spin-offs on the Web.

A Public Intervention
Jenkins is uniquely positioned to serve as guide through this uncertain terrain, where old and new media paradigms collide. As Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, professor, media scholar, author, blogger, housemaster, and avid gamer and fan, he is fully engaged in this culture of convergence.

We are seeing enormous experimentation into the potential intersections between commercial and grassroots culture and about the power of living within a networked society. At the same time, the media industries are struggling to keep up with these changes, issuing contradictory responses out of different divisions within the same companies. Convergence Culture was designed as a public intervention into this situation, trying to help both consumers and producers understand the changes which are occurring in their relationship.

Through riveting case studies of consumer interactions with major media franchises – Survivor, American Idol, The Matrix, Star Wars, and Harry Potter – Jenkins examines this tumble of media trends, and speculates on where we might be headed.

What’s Converging?
In the twentieth century, mass media played a dominant role in controlling the flow of information and shaping popular culture. These media are now concentrated in the hands of a few mega-corporations. Time Warner, for example, owns film companies, Internet services, TV networks, cable systems, and publishing houses. If one of its media properties can capture popular interest across several of these channels, it’s a big win for the corporation. That’s one type of media convergence.

Another type of convergence is driven by consumers. Using readily available software and the Web, the average Joe or Josephine can now produce and distribute content widely. You no longer need a printing press to get your message out or a studio to make a video. As fans use media to participate more fully in fictional worlds (such as Star Wars) or work together to solve a puzzle (such as figuring out in advance Survivor’s "final four"), they cease to be passive spectators. They become members of online communities, where they can share their knowledge and creativity and get meaningful feedback.

Jenkins notes that these empowered consumers display the "migratory behavior of audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want." This restlessness also encourages a culture of convergence.

Transmedia Tales and Intelligence
Today’s corporations and consumers are both invested in stories that move across media. Consider The Matrix. As Jenkins points out, this cult phenomenon was not just a film trilogy. It was a calculated exercise in transmedia storytelling. The studio and the films’ directors, the Wachowski brothers, worked with other companies and artists to create a narrative that would span several media. Two Matrix-based computer games held keys to clues planted in the films. The Animatrix, a series of animated shorts posted on the Web, provided back story. Artists and writers created Matrix-inspired comics.

Meanwhile, fans worked to make sense of it all by plugging into Internet discussion lists. This pooling of observations and expertise is an example of what cybertheorist Pierre Lévy calls collective intelligence: the ability of virtual communities to leverage the knowledge of their members.

The Daily Prophet and Civic Media
Fan participation represents both a value and a threat to the media giants. This is keenly depicted in Jenkins’ chapter on Heather Lawver, a precocious young teen. Inspired by her love of Harry Potter, Lawver launched The Daily Prophet, a web-based "newspaper" for Hogwarts, the fictional school at the heart of the series. Lawver leads a global staff of student reporters. These contributors create fictional identities – inspired by the world of Harry Potter – which get woven into "news stories" published on the site. The intention is to foster a love of learning and creativity.

Other sites also encourage fans to write stories based on Harry Potter. These "fan fiction" sites have been so successful that Warner Brothers, who owns the film rights to Harry Potter, threatened legal action. In response, Lawver joined with others to coordinate media outreach against the studio. Warner Brothers reconsidered, and agreed to develop a more collaborative policy with fans.

Through the power of online media and community, Lawver made Warner Brothers rethink its stance on intellectual property. But with the boundaries blurred between media producers and consumers, no one yet knows what the new rules of participation will be.

Jenkins notes that fans have begun to adapt the media skills they learned in pursuit of entertainment to the political sphere. He believes we’ve entered an apprenticeship stage of civic media, one in which engaged citizens are speaking out, reframing debates, and using communal media to transform ideas into action.

Convergence Lives!
For a frequent fix of convergence news, visit Confessions of an Aca/Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins.

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