Convergence Culture: Rise of the Consumer (Jenkins: Convergence Culture)

Memes and other viral content are a product of media and other digital discourses. These are from new forms of consumptions, where individuals can now actively contribute. Referred to as a "collective intelligence," coined by French cybertheorist Pierre Lévy, (Jenkins, 2008, p.4) "consumption has become a collective process"; (Jenkins, 2008, p.3) for which this has become the ideal example. From a conceptual stance, media forms such as Youtube and Facebook act as a form of empowerment to the individual. As no specialist skills are needed to obtain partial authorship of cyberspace, there is now what Jenkins refers to as a 'participatory culture' in which there's an 'added incentive for us to talk among ourselves about the media we consume.' (Jenkins, 2008, p.3)

Emergent practice has now given access to an online mass media to publish their own work; contrasting to the public becoming a consumer. It has become a democratic process available for publishing; where immediate need for literacy or specialist skill are almost redundant. Progressively, user content has begun to shape new modes of consumption and production. For example, Twitter did not introduce the functionality of the 'hashtag', instead adapting this from user content. Presented within the text, a console was involved in a clever comparison to the well-known 'Trojan horse.' (Jenkins, 2008, p.8) The 'Trojan horse' being a historical ploy presented to an intended audience, however they were unaware of its content. A fundamental contrast from this adaptation could potentially highlight that technology, although contains content that is often advertised to create substantial public awareness, primarily relies on it's take on distribution; how it is adapted by the audience itself. Jenkins' rather unique take on this suggests that convergence culture is being 'smuggled' into our homes. (Jenkins, 2008, p.8) Although 'they had the technology to bring out convergence' they would still rely on an audience to indulge in it; 'they hadn't figured out why anyone would want it.' (Jenkins, 2008, p.8)

Bibliography:
Jenkins, Henry (2008) 'Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide', New York University Press