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Convergence Culture
javathut writes "Perhaps an alternate title for this book could have been "understanding your audience." For any Sony PS3 execs out there wondering why their technological masterpiece is being ridiculed by customers months before it's even released, or what the long-term repercussions of their DRM policies will be, Convergence Culture is a must read. Drawing upon case examples of how a variety of user communities adopt digital technologies, sometimes in ways completely opposite from what the designers intended, Jenkins offers numerous insights on how technology and media professionals can forge better relationships with their customers." Read the rest of Ravi's review.
Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
author
Henry Jenkins
pages
336
publisher
New York University Press
rating
10
reviewer
Ravi Purushotma
ISBN
0814742815
summary
Convergence Culture offers numerous insights on how technology and media professionals can forge better relationships with their customers
In one example, he follows the progression of the Harry Potter franchise after Warner Brothers purchased the film rights. In the interest of protecting their trademark, the studio sent out cease-and-desist letters to an online network of pre/teen [largely] girls who had been writing and sharing stories about Harry Potter as a way of learning to improve their writing skills. Rather than desisting, they coordinated a global protest that became a major P.R. headache for Warner Brothers -- who ultimately had to back down. This is likened to the confused message LucasFilms sent its customers when its movie division attempted to litigate control of the Star Wars storyline away from fans, while at the same LucasArts was trying to encourage players of Star Wars Gallaxies to explore and expand the Star Wars universe.
By themselves, the case studies are perhaps not that dissimilar from the many other accounts of industry execs completely botching their community relations. However, as the director of the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT, Jenkins adds some insightful perspectives on thinking about technology and the structuring of new-media companies in response to internet communities. Contrasting the typical response of U.S. companies to technologies like filesharing, he looks at the attitudes of Japanese anime and manga producers -- outlining how their more open attitudes could have influenced the current popularity of Japanese-origin franchises within the United States. Similarly, he looks at the corporate structure behind the Matrix franchise (in particular the Enter The Matrix video game), demonstrating how elements of The Matrix design process could serve as a model for other industries.
The book also contains a second thread running through it looking at 'collective intelligence.' Basically, this can be thought of as a sort of Wisdom of Crowds view of what happens when customers become so tightly networked with one another that they can overpower media producers. One chapter looks at the tv series Survivor and how online spoiler teams shared satellite data, local knowledge and social networks to determine the show's conclusion before it aired. Rather than simply fighting efforts such as these as was done with Survivor, Jenkins outlines examples of how collective intelligence communities could be harnessed to advance products or causes. Using the extensive accomplishments of the 600,000 players in the popular Alternate Reality Game I Love Bees as a model for what is ultimately possible, he outlines how viral marketing, politics and other domains are changing in response to the increasing collaborative abilities of networked fans.
Having previously taken classes with Professor Jenkins, I had long been looking forward to the release of this book. Reading it, I was glad to find the same clear focus on real-world examples and practical applications that was emphasized in his classes. Overall, it reads far more similar to titles like Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You or Howard Rheingold's Smart Mobs than anything you'd expect from an academic professor.
As the subtitle "where old and new media collide" suggests, the book contains a pretty even split between traditional broadcast/cinematic media and web/video game/mobile media. Anyone interested only in a single media form probably won't find this book that different from any others on their topic. Rather, most of the more unique insights come from Jenkins's understanding of how these different media forms interact to re-enforce one another, and the ways in which consumers navigate between multiple media forms and online channels.
While most of the theories put forth in the book will likely remain relevant for years to come, a few of the case studies are already showing their age. For example, the Star Wars Gallaxies discussion appears to be written before the recent shakeup at Sony Online. This means readers will need to go beyond the book to remain fully up-to-date with some of the examples.
Overall, any reader should find Convergence Culture an extensively researched book using a conversational writing style that makes it truly engaging to read and clearly accessible. However, those in charge of managing community relations, online presence or designing media to cross multiple platforms would likely benefit from it the most.
Disclaimer Notice: The review author is a former MIT student who took classes taught by Henry Jenkins on this topic."
You can purchase Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
In one example, he follows the progression of the Harry Potter franchise after Warner Brothers purchased the film rights. In the interest of protecting their trademark, the studio sent out cease-and-desist letters to an online network of pre/teen [largely] girls who had been writing and sharing stories about Harry Potter as a way of learning to improve their writing skills. Rather than desisting, they coordinated a global protest that became a major P.R. headache for Warner Brothers -- who ultimately had to back down. This is likened to the confused message LucasFilms sent its customers when its movie division attempted to litigate control of the Star Wars storyline away from fans, while at the same LucasArts was trying to encourage players of Star Wars Gallaxies to explore and expand the Star Wars universe.
By themselves, the case studies are perhaps not that dissimilar from the many other accounts of industry execs completely botching their community relations. However, as the director of the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT, Jenkins adds some insightful perspectives on thinking about technology and the structuring of new-media companies in response to internet communities. Contrasting the typical response of U.S. companies to technologies like filesharing, he looks at the attitudes of Japanese anime and manga producers -- outlining how their more open attitudes could have influenced the current popularity of Japanese-origin franchises within the United States. Similarly, he looks at the corporate structure behind the Matrix franchise (in particular the Enter The Matrix video game), demonstrating how elements of The Matrix design process could serve as a model for other industries.
The book also contains a second thread running through it looking at 'collective intelligence.' Basically, this can be thought of as a sort of Wisdom of Crowds view of what happens when customers become so tightly networked with one another that they can overpower media producers. One chapter looks at the tv series Survivor and how online spoiler teams shared satellite data, local knowledge and social networks to determine the show's conclusion before it aired. Rather than simply fighting efforts such as these as was done with Survivor, Jenkins outlines examples of how collective intelligence communities could be harnessed to advance products or causes. Using the extensive accomplishments of the 600,000 players in the popular Alternate Reality Game I Love Bees as a model for what is ultimately possible, he outlines how viral marketing, politics and other domains are changing in response to the increasing collaborative abilities of networked fans.
Having previously taken classes with Professor Jenkins, I had long been looking forward to the release of this book. Reading it, I was glad to find the same clear focus on real-world examples and practical applications that was emphasized in his classes. Overall, it reads far more similar to titles like Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You or Howard Rheingold's Smart Mobs than anything you'd expect from an academic professor.
As the subtitle "where old and new media collide" suggests, the book contains a pretty even split between traditional broadcast/cinematic media and web/video game/mobile media. Anyone interested only in a single media form probably won't find this book that different from any others on their topic. Rather, most of the more unique insights come from Jenkins's understanding of how these different media forms interact to re-enforce one another, and the ways in which consumers navigate between multiple media forms and online channels.
While most of the theories put forth in the book will likely remain relevant for years to come, a few of the case studies are already showing their age. For example, the Star Wars Gallaxies discussion appears to be written before the recent shakeup at Sony Online. This means readers will need to go beyond the book to remain fully up-to-date with some of the examples.
Overall, any reader should find Convergence Culture an extensively researched book using a conversational writing style that makes it truly engaging to read and clearly accessible. However, those in charge of managing community relations, online presence or designing media to cross multiple platforms would likely benefit from it the most.
Disclaimer Notice: The review author is a former MIT student who took classes taught by Henry Jenkins on this topic."
You can purchase Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Simple:
It's common sense.
Where's my book deal?
Developers: We can use your help.
The PDA itself is a convergence item combining calendar, e-mail, calculator, clock, etc.
A laptop is a covergence item combining screen, CPU, mouse, etc.
The iMac is similar.
Your house is a combination of technologies. Who would've thought they could put the bathroom inside the house?!
Convergence happens all around you, you're just not looking.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
Convergence happens where it works, not where it's forced -- More and more consumers are dissatisfied with cellphone/mp3-player/organizer/blender/hairdryer/e tc. combinations because they really don't do those things all that well in many cases and in many cases, they don't do ANYthing well. The PSP is a good example -- people didn't adopt it as a movie and game platform because it wasn't especially good at either. Contrast that with video iPods -- I've certainly seen them used for videos on commuter trains/subways, etc. They've been adopted because they work -- movies/video are just as easy to use as music -- the purpose that the player was originally designed for. Now, that having been said, the video iPod is still short of what it could be and that's evidenced by the number of people who own them and don't use them for video purposes.
.pdf form while I'm on the train, on my laptop.
Now, another excellent example of a convergence item is a laptop. I use my laptop as a desktop machine and as a portable. I use it in place of a radio or cd player (or iPod) at work and have much of my music collection on it. I use it as a portable DVD player on long business trips, in flight and on layovers. Mix in skype or even IM and I've got my realtime interpersonal communications, when I've got myself an internet connection (which is more and more ubiquitous these days in most hotels and coffee shops, etc.). I no longer subscribe to the local paper because I read it online. I frequently download episodes of shows that I don't get at home to watch when I have the time (for the record, all of my media consumption is legal). I no longer print many journal articles or technical reference documents that I would read as I can read them in
If that's not an example of a convergence device in the making, I don't know what is...
Now, you can claim it's "just an enhancement..." but you're missing the point if you do -- this is an example of how convergence happens, almost organically, because people use what works and ignore that which doesn't work fairly quickly...
I believe you've missed the point. It's not the justification (improve writing style or having fun) that matters. It's that a company is needlessly alientating their audience by sending cease-and-desist letters to these girls. That's the real point. Whether the company is within their legal rights is another completely irrelevant point.
Tharkban (It is a signature after all)
if you want to know how the PSP issue will shake out, turn to history. before the PSP there was the iopener (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOpener) the company made the iopener for $300-$400 and sold it for $99 requiring 3 years commitment to dialup internet access from netpliance's preferred partners. enthusiasts discovered that the machine could be hacked into a real PC, and so people began buying htem in drives and canceling the internet service. suffering losses, the company tried many things to curb modding, and ultimately stopped selling the devices. the moral of the story: don't take a loss on the hardware in hopes of making your money back on over priced software. people aren't stupid, if they figure out you are using cool PC parts, they will turn your device into a cool PC. case in point: my chip modded original xbox that plays videos and music off of my file server, plays emulators for atari, nintendo 64, and mame, and even plays the occasional xbox game rented from the video store. i purchased two actual xbox games, used ones, from EB. instead, turn a modest profit on the hardware, sell the software at reasonable prices, and embrace the mod community full force because they will give you a ton of R&D for free. once the community had given direction for the device, sell professionally made and "certified" mod kits for a decent profit.
sarcasm:
-noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.