Convergence Culture

Convergence, defined in Henry Jenkins introductory chapter as "the flow of content across multiple media platforms" is becoming a part of our everyday lives. Instead of using an mp3 player for music, a camera for pictures and a camcorder for video, we have it all wrapped into one in the Smartphones that are on the market. This is possibly one of the reasons there are more and more interactive experiences with media. For example instead of just watching the TV show X Factor, you can now download an app which allows you to vote along with the judges during the auditions, making you feel like part of the show. However, taking Henry Jenkins example of American Idol, he states that "fans fear that their participation is marginal" (Jenkins, 2006, p.20). It could be the illusion of control and participation that entices an audience to watch. 
Although, in other forms of media, viewers do have more control. In Summer 2013, Microsoft revealed it's new console-the Xbox One. The console allows people to be watching a movie on Netflix, but also be on Skype talking to a friend; or watching TV and be notified that a multiplayer game is happening. Microsoft found a way to broaden it's audience by taking advantage of the culture we live in today. In a way, it epitomises Jenkins' "black box" (Jenkins, 2006, p.8), even though the book was written years before the Xbox One was even announced. However there was a lot of negative feedback from consumers about the console-stating that it wasn't made for gamers anymore. The pre-order sales figures up to 24th August 2013 show what the audience think; the PS4, Xbox's biggest rival, has 600,000 pre-orders where the Xbox One, even with all of it's applications and features, has only 350,000. This caused Xbox to backtrack in a lot of the features, making it more accessible for gamers to play. The audience clearly did not want to accept or wasn't ready for the change and Jenkins reiterates this in the introductory chapter of Convergence Culture;
"You can scarcely blame consumers for not knowing how to speak this new language...when so little previous effort has been made to educate them about convergence thinking". (Jenkins, 2006, p.8)
Media culture is changing rapidly, and society needs to catch up. 

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References
Jenkins, Henry (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press.

Xbox One and Playstation 4 Pre-order sales figures accessed 12:50 09/10/13-http://www.vgchartz.com/article/251266/ps4-vs-xbox-one-pre-order-totals-to-august-24th-2013/

X Factor App http://xfactor.itv.com/2013/app/

Playstation 4 Information- accessed 20:18 09/10/13-
http://uk.playstation.com/ps4/

Xbox One Information- accessed 20:20 09/10/13-
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/meet-xbox-one?xr=shellnav

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

Convergence Culture

Convergence culture is the combination of old and new media to produce something that we can interact with in more than one way. Over the years we have seen convergence culture processing different media forms of old and due to the shift in media culture.

"Media convergence is an on-going process, occurring at various intersections of media technologies, industries, content and audiences". 

Traditional media such as books have been transformed and almost over took by kindles. This has also been the case with other media forms. For example vinyl records were taken over by cassettes which were taken over by CD's which have now become obsolete in light of digital formats such as the MP3.

"We are entering an era where media will be everywhere, and we will use all kinds of media in relation to one another..."

Smart phones are a hybrid; they meet their purpose plus contain many other media forms of devices. In the smart phone we have adopted touch screen technologies, voice recognition and sensors to access old media in a digital format. For example; cameras, video, MP3, internet and gaming. The evolution of what phones can do and what they will be able to do in the future is part of a culture that we have no control over and is constantly evolving. The convergence of many media technologies plus the fierce competition between technology giants allows one media device to perform many different tasks.

"Consumers are learning to use different media technologies to bring the flow of media more fully under their control and to interact with other consumers".

Consumers are interacting more with technology culture becoming natural to us. With everything at the touch of a button it could be said that technology does not discriminate. Consumers of any age and gender can access alternative media outlets with ease. The growing consumption of media has an effect on our everyday lives.

• Henry Jenkins, 2008, Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide, New York University Press

A Case for Convergence

Jenkins makes a very strong argument in favor of media convergence for his introductory chapter (Jenkins, 2008). He does this by making the process itself clear, ensuring there are no misunderstands regarding the process of media convergence and the fact that no one media appliance can incite it, "(...) however sophisticated they may become." (Jenkins, 2008, p3). The reason for which being that as a process, "Convergence occurs within the brain of individual consumers."  (Jenkins, 2008, p3). Jenkins makes it explicitly clear he believes convergence is a natural process, powered by the demands of the consumers rather than the whims of the producers.

Jenkins goes on to further debunk any ideas of a fully fledged digital revolution forcing old to new media in a short time frame, he directly quotes Gilder, "The computer industry is converging with the television industry in the same sense that the automobile converged with the horse." (Gilder, 1994, p189). However, as Jenkins (p6) mentions all motion behind any revolution burst with the dot-com bubble.

The burst had shown that unless you had a very solid business plan such as Amazon or eBay, simply being digital, or labeling yourself as such on the stocks was not enough. To further debunk the idea, Jenkins cites the work of historian, Lisa Gitelman. Gitelman argues that there are two components to media, the delivery system and the protocols. Protocol can be carried across multiple delivery systems as they are improved over the years. As is so aptly quoted by Jenkins (p14), "Printed words did not kill spoken words. Cinema did not kill theater. Television did not kill radio." (Gitelman).

This is demonstrably clear, delivery systems are simply becoming more specialized. For example, you simply cannot watch a television in the car. You can however definitely listen to radio, thus the medium lives on as a niche that is only consumed within a specific context such as driving a car. The same can be said for the television, which is going to be the preferred delivery system of choice within the context of your living room. By considering real word examples, the idea of a complete displacement of old media seems erroneous as long as situations which restrict modes of consumption, or are unfavorable to new modes exist.

References

1. Jenkins, H., 2008. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide Revised, New York University Press.
2.  Gilder, G., 1994. Life after Television: The Coming Transformation of Media and American Life (New York: W. W. Norton)
3. Gitelman, L., Introduction: Media as Historical Subjects