An important concept I took away from the introduction of Henry Jenkins’ Convergence Culture is the paradigm shift in the media consumer- media producer relationship. As convergence culture has evolved, media producers have increasingly consolidated media content and platforms, while media consumers have also concentrated their power and efforts collectively as a group to “take media into their own hands” and participate and interact with it (Jenkins 17). Convergence is predicated on cooperation between media industries and media consumers, and Jenkins makes the claim that consumers are directing this process. Media companies do well at adapting to consumer’s technological needs, but when it comes to understanding the “protocols” of users, more specifically, the context of user environment, these same companies often struggle.
It’s worth arguing that media producers have struggled to adapt to the process of convergent culture more so than media consumers. Producers are wary to negotiate and interact with consumers because of the fine line between risk and reward. It is not enough for these producers to understand and accept that the pattern of consumption is always in flux, that consumers are constantly demanding new ways to participate with media. Only when producers accommodate this participation does the process of convergence culture truly work.
I suggested earlier that cooperation was the basic building block of convergence culture. In knowledge communities, too, cooperation must exist between its members. Information must be processed and debated as theory, and “people work together, put their heads together, in the absence of one person with inside info” (Jenkins 17). The author effectively takes a macro view of the collective intelligence – with the example of the Survivor “spoiler” website – by laying out the conditions on which the group functions as a whole.
It’s interesting to compare the negative reaction ChillOne received from the “spoiler” community with how consumers are upset or even offended when producers infringe on their participatory culture. He was seen as a rogue, someone who shortened the game of “spoiling”, and thus, his knowledge was discredited by many.
I agree with that you said about media producers struggling keep up with convergent culture more so than consumers. Going off of what you mentioned, it also takes time in concepting, designing, and creating an environment or product for consumers to interact with one another. Whereas consumers can just jump from one media to the next. Producers have a lot of work and risk factors on their hands.
ReplyDeleteI agree that producers have been struggling to find ways to use convergence culture to reach consumers, and so I'm wondering if there are ways that we can use Jenkins' observations to help our library client make new connections with their patrons? Can we apply what Jenkins is talking about to our projects?
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