Convergence Culture: A Review

Convergence Culture: A Review

Living in an increasingly technology based society, we are forced to cope with convergence. Storytellers use it to satisfy our creative desires, advertisers use it to keep our wandering minds focused, and product designers use it to make their products more practical. Henry Jenkins explores these topics along with many more in his book “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide”. Everything in Jenkins’ book is well researched and very informative, albeit very wordy and rather dull. Jenkins’ book is broken into 6 overly lengthy chapters, along with an even more drawn out Introduction, Conclusion, and Afterward. All nine sections discuss different aspects of convergence in media, as well as convergence’s importance in general.

The first two chapters in Jenkins’ book tackle convergence in television shows. The first chapter was a discussion of an online group of Survivor fans that enjoyed “spoiling” different aspects of their favorite show, as well as their reaction to an unknown player who seemed to spoil more then anyone wanted. The second chapter was dedicated to another reality show, American Idol. Jenkins mainly discussed how the internet/television convergence affects the popularity and functionality of the show.

In the third and fourth chapters, Jenkins’ shifts his focus of convergence into storytelling, and more specifically movies. A whole chapter was devoted to the Matrix, and how its trans-media venue was accepted my moviegoers. The matrix was made up of the films, the cartoons, and the comic books. The next chapter was my personal favorite, Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Grassroots Creativity Meets the Media Industry. This chapter discussed how current technology helps encourage creativity and how amateurs have a greater median to share their art.

Chapter 5 discussed what media literacy is and why it is important in our day and age. In order to be media literate, one needs to be able to express their ideas in a form that is not necessarily textually based.

The final chapter is more politically driven, showing how internet/political convergence affects politics in general. This showed how political cartoons, parodies, and photoshoped photos have an affect on elections and people’s view on politicians.

Despite having the bad habit of rambling, Convergence Culture is a powerful textual collection of thoughts based on media convergence and how it affects our lives.

Media Literacy

Media Literacy

I know that I am young. Twenty-one years on this planet doesn’t quite make me an old-timer, yet sometimes I feel that I have witnessed many great changes. I remember the times when we would buy a band’s new tape, not CD. I remember playing video games where the game is an oversized plastic cartridge. I remember when we watched movies at home in a VCR player. I’ve witnessed in my twenty-one years some great changes in media formats, and with these changes I have been fortunate enough to stay literate with these new technologies. Most of these transitions occurred many years ago, yet I feel like I have to constantly stay on my toes as to not be left behind (or considered “illiterate”) in the fast paced digital age of today. In order to survive and thrive in this world, you must be media literate.

In my research of what exactly media literacy is, I came across an article solely devoted to helping people understand what Media literacy is. According to David Considine, who wrote the article, media literacy can be defined as “The Ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in a variety of formats including print and non-print.” The last part of this definition explains how important media literacy is to present culture. “Print and non-print,” refers to every form of media/communication possible. This simple phrase encompasses writing, audio, visual, etc. as important communication medians.

It has become an everyday requirement to work hand and hand with technology. Even if someone is far from being media literate, they are forced to cope with our fast paced technology based culture.

Works Cited:

“An Introduction to Media Literacy: the what, whym and how-tos”. By David Considine. Fall 1995 issue of Telemedium, The Journal of Media Literacy, Volume 41, Number 2.

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York, UP. 2008.

“The Past, Present, and Future of Media Literacy Education”. By Renee Hobbs and Amy Jensen. 2009. Journal of Media Literacy Education.

GlassJaw: a Band, an Inspiration, and a Community

Since we have been exploring the impact that convergence has on all types of media, I chose to explore an online community of a music band. I decided to do this for two reasons, the first being that music is perhaps the most important part of my life (other then my wife of course…I couldn’t resist bringing that up J), and the second reason being that this aspect of converged media has been untouched by myself in this course. I am a member of many fan websites for my favorite bands, yet one of the online communities is far more interesting then the others. The band is called GlassJaw, from New York. They started playing in the late 1990’s and peaked in popularity in the underground hardcore scene around 2001 or 2002. Shortly after they released their second studio record, they disbanded in 2004. This indefinite hiatus left thousands of fans baffled and wanting more. This is about the time when I discovered GlassJaw.net.

GlassJaw.net is the unofficial fan community where fans of GlassJaw, and fans of the original members’ new side projects, can share GlassJaw related news and media. The website has designated portions for news, pictures, videos, links to GJ related auctions, and of course the forum. The forum is the most interesting part of the website. While the rest of the site has rules about uploading pictures, videos, etc… the forum is the most regulated and strict part of the website. Upon entering the forum, there are two threads with the rules. Over the years that I have been involved with this website, I’ve seen people break these rules, and I’ve seen IP addresses blocked. These rules are very simple, don’t post faulty information, don’t spam, and don’t start a new thread asking about he band’s highly anticipated third album’s release date. This last rule might seem odd for people who aren’t fans of the band. The group announced in late 2006 that they were in fact recording a new record and that it would be released “soon”. Since that day in December of 2006, the forums have blown up speculating on possible release dates and the mystery encompassing the new album. The forum’s moderators have designated a specific thread for this information, instead of allowing hundreds of these threads to pop up daily.

Like a real life community, this website has leaders (the site’s administrators), rules and guidelines, “politicians” (the people who have gained popularity and respect by posting on the forums over a long period of time), and of course the common people (everyone who visits the site leisurely). So as long as you play by the rules, GlassJaw.net is a valuable source of information, and a functioning online community.