Convergence Culture

Henry Jenkins is Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education at the University of Southern California. He is the author or coauthor of twenty books including Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture, and By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism.

• Acknowledgments Introduction: "Worship at the Altar of Convergence": A New Paradigm for Understanding Media Change 1 Spoiling Survivor: The Anatomy of a Knowledge Community 2 Buying into American Idol: How We are Being Sold on Reality TV 3 Searching for the Origami Unicorn: The Matrix and Transmedia Storytelling 4 Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars? Grassroots Creativity Meets the Media Industry 5 Why Heather Can Write: Media Literacy and the Potter Wars 6 Photoshop for Democracy: The New Relationship between Politics and Popular CultureConclusion: Democratizing Television?The Politics of ParticipationNotes Glossary Index About the Author

"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 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) "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 "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, creator of SimCity and The Sims "One of those rare works that is closer to an operating system than a traditional book: it'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 todays popular culture but thankfully, a book this fun to read doesn't need a mandate." - Steven Johnson, author of the national bestseller, Everything Bad Is Good For You "For any Sony PS3 execs out there wondering why their technological masterpiece is being ridiculed by customers before its 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) "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 is an astute observer of media culture and his insights are spot-on." (The Los Angeles Times) "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)