Jenkins writes a clear, well-written explanation of his theory of "convergence." The term convergence refers to how media content becomes part of multiple media platforms. This establishes a relationships between multiple media industries, each looking to attract audiences. As new media technologies allow content to circulate around the world and across different media channels. the consumer's active participation becomes more important than ever.
Convergence is often thought of as the technologies which bring together multiple media function in a single device - an iPhone, for example, allows you to send texts, emails, read news papers, listen to music - and make and receive phone calls. Jenkins, however, asks us to think about the term "convergence" in a new way. That is, a cultural shift in which consumers "seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content" (3). The viewer, or consumer, plays an active and key role in the new media system of convergence.
Jenkins' ideas on convergence act in relationship to Daniel Bell's writing on the post-industrial society. Bell talks about "communal society," which "by its very nature multiplies the definition of rights - the rights of children, of students, of the poor, of minorities - and transforms them into claims of the community" (99). In Jenkin's culture of convergence, we see individuals and grassroots organizations raising their voices - creating YouTube video, blogging, writing stories, etc and forming a "collective intelligence." Bell's description of groups (many of which are directly described in Jenkins' work - children, students, etc) coming together to participate in the public discourse is seen in Jenkin's term "participatory culture." The struggle to have one's voice heard in a post-industrial society, and the dynamics between minorities/grassroots group and organizations that have traditionally held power is described in both sources, and in turn lends legitimacy to Jenkins' claims.
Jenkins' ideas on convergence act in relationship to Daniel Bell's writing on the post-industrial society. Bell talks about "communal society," which "by its very nature multiplies the definition of rights - the rights of children, of students, of the poor, of minorities - and transforms them into claims of the community" (99). In Jenkin's culture of convergence, we see individuals and grassroots organizations raising their voices - creating YouTube video, blogging, writing stories, etc and forming a "collective intelligence." Bell's description of groups (many of which are directly described in Jenkins' work - children, students, etc) coming together to participate in the public discourse is seen in Jenkin's term "participatory culture." The struggle to have one's voice heard in a post-industrial society, and the dynamics between minorities/grassroots group and organizations that have traditionally held power is described in both sources, and in turn lends legitimacy to Jenkins' claims.
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