Convergence Culture

"convergence culture, where old and new media collide... the flow of content across multiple media platforms". (Jenkins, 2008 pg 2)

Henry Jenkins give us a in depth insight into how convergence culture surrounds us every day. Each media platform we use is a combination of old and new media. Companies such as Apple have taken old media such as a personal music player and combining it with a new media mobile phone which allows us to access many different platforms within one device.  Therefore, the boundary between new and old media is beginning to become a small fading line. 

However, Jenkins believes "convergence represents a cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content" (Jenkins, 2008 pg 3) Jenkins persuades the reader to believe that we, the consumers of media platforms have a influence on convergence culture. In my opinion, I agree with Jenkins. Today the consumers have such a high demand for more actions to be performed on one device. Producers therefore try to satisfy our demand. We have realised the power we have to create basically, what we want. Through this power, we have pushed the shifts of old media to new. We can now access any content across the internet through our new media. This relationship between the consumer and producer has been named by Jenkins as 'participatory culture'. 

Jenkins speaks of 'delivery technologies'. In my opinion I feel participatory culture has an immediate effect upon delivery technologies.  Jenkins explains, "old media never die... what dies are simply the tools we use to access media content" (Jenkins, 2008 pg 13). Take music for a example, it is the medium. The old media cassettes are the delivery technologies. As the years have passed, we have seen new media delivery technologies from the cassette to CD's which are slowly going to be replaced. In reality though, all media content will not be able to flow through one single black box. Devices have become so in depth that it has lost the ability to serve its original function.

We are surround by convergence culture. It changes relationships, it alters our thoughts and our ability to process media.

Bibliography

Books
Henry, J (2008) Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide. New York University Press: London