View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.
Henry Jenkins at Authors@Google (video)
”This book rocks for anyone with concerns about the immediate and future direction of media, culture, and omnipresence ”
—Business 2 Business
Winner of the 2007 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award
”The standard convergence narrative of recent years presents media concentration as a threat both to the diversity of communication channels and to individuals’ opportunities to engage in public discourse. A respected and well-established media scholar, Jenkins (MIT) here counters such pessimistic perspectives on the brave new media world with theoretical and evidentiary attestations to the growing power of individuals and grassroots groups to affect the larger media landscape.”
—Choice
”Jenkins is an astute observer of media culture and his insights are spot-on. . . . He intends his book to be a powerful tool both now and in the future. . . . This is a book to be praised. It raises many issues.”
—Los Angeles Times
”Remarkable. . . . Jenkins' insights are gripping and his prose is surprisingly entertaining and lucid for a book that is, at its core, intellectually rigorous. . . . Jenkins' impressive ability to break down complex concepts into readable prose makes this study vital and engaging.”
—Publishers Weekly
”Jenkins tries to bring clarity to cultural changes that are melting and morphing into new shapes on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly basis. Convergence Culture provides a view that looks at the restless ocean and tracks the currents rather than just looking at the individual rocks on the beach.”
—The McClatchy Newspapers
”I thought I knew twenty-first century pop media until I read Henry Jenkins. The fresh research and radical insights in Convergence Culture deserve a wide and thoughtful readership. Bring on the ‘monolithic block of eyeballs!’ ”
—Bruce Sterling, author, blogger, visionary
”Henry Jenkins offers crucial insight into an unexpected and unforeseen future. Unlike most predictions about how New Media will shape the world in which we live, the reality is turning out far stranger and more interesting than we might have imagined. The social implications of this change could be staggering.”
—Will Wright, designer of SimCity and The Sims
”One of those rare works that is closer to an operating system than a traditional book: itÂ’s a platform that people will be building on for years to come. What's more, the book happens to be a briskly entertaining read—as startling, inventive, and witty as the culture it documents. It should be mandatory reading for anyone trying to make sense of todayÂ’s popular culture—but thankfully, a book this fun to read doesnÂ’t need a mandate.”
—Steven Johnson, author of the national bestseller, Everything Bad Is Good For You
”Henry Jenkins is the 21st century McLuhan I've been waiting for. With all the fuzzy generalities, moral panics, and gloomy pronouncements from industry spokesmen and social critics, Jenkins' clearly communicated and nuanced analysis is sorely needed. The world McLuhan foretold back in the age of 'electric media' has become immensely more complicated in today's many-to-many, converged, remixed and mashed-up, digital, mobile, always-on media environment. If you are a parent, a student, an educator, a creator or consumer of popular culture, an entrepreneur, or a media industry executive, you need to understand convergence culture. And you will only after reading Henry Jenkins.”
—Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
”For any Sony PS3 execs out there wondering why their technological masterpiece is being ridiculed by customers before it’s even released . . . Convergence Culture is a must read...Jenkins offers numerous insights on how technology and media professionals can forge better relationships with their customers.”
—Slashdot
”I simply could not put this book down! Henry Jenkins provides a fascinating account of how new media intersects old media and engages the imagination of fans in more and more powerful ways. Educators, media specialists, policy makers and parents will find Convergence Culture both lively and enlightening.”
—John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist, Xerox Corp & director of Xerox PARC
”Henry Jenkins is the Director of MIT's Comparative Media Studies Program. Or, in other words, he's a genius. He's one of those rare people you meet and are instantly jealous of, wishing you could somehow transplant their amazing wealth of knowledge into your own noggin. I was privileged to have made his acquaintance when he interviewed me for his fabulous new book, Convergence Culture...Go read it, you just might learn something.”
—The Heather Show
”The book is a short, smart, buttery read on a hot topic, and it is sure to draw both popular and academic interest.”
—Water Cooler Games
”Convergence Culture, is for anyone who is curious about future trends at the intersection of technology and humanity. Jenkins tries to bring clarity to cultural changes that are melting and morphing into new shapes on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly basis. Convergence Culture provides a view that looks at the restless ocean and tracks the currents rather than just looking at the individual rocks on the beach.”
—Ledger-Enquirer
Convergence Culture maps a new territory: where old and new media intersect, where grassroots and corporate media collide, where the power of the media producer and the power of the consumer interact in unpredictable ways.
Henry Jenkins, one of AmericaÂ’s most respected media analysts, delves beneath the new media hype to uncover the important cultural transformations that are taking place as media converge. He takes us into the secret world of Survivor Spoilers, where avid internet users pool their knowledge to unearth the showÂ’s secrets before they are revealed on the air. He introduces us to young Harry Potter fans who are writing their own Hogwarts tales while executives at Warner Brothers struggle for control of their franchise. He shows us how The Matrix has pushed transmedia storytelling to new levels, creating a fictional world where consumers track down bits of the story across multiple media channels.Jenkins argues that struggles over convergence will redefine the face of American popular culture. Industry leaders see opportunities to direct content across many channels to increase revenue and broaden markets. At the same time, consumers envision a liberated public sphere, free of network controls, in a decentralized media environment. Sometimes corporate and grassroots efforts reinforce each other, creating closer, more rewarding relations between media producers and consumers. Sometimes these two forces are at war.
Jenkins provides a riveting introduction to the world where every story gets told and every brand gets sold across multiple media platforms. He explains the cultural shift that is occurring as consumers fight for control across disparate channels, changing the way we do business, elect our leaders, and educate our children.
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