Convergence and Culture

Henry Jenkins (2014) Rethinking ‘Rethinking Convergence/Culture’, Cultural Studies, 28:2, 267-297.

The article discusses a number of topics related to convergence and participating in culture and media culture, especially the ways it has shifted over time. He addresses numerous links between ‘culture and political participation’, as well as how new media forms are evolving and the challenges and opportunities that arise.

He suggests how media has moved away from only a consumption model, describing how a participatory culture has formed, where means of media production is now in the ‘hands of the masses themselves’. He does outline some concerns that networked communications, such as Facebook, would not necessarily result in a more progressive, inclusive and democratic culture.

He establishes that critics have a tendency to read all grassroots media, as resistant to dominant institutions, rather than acknowledging that citizens sometimes deploy a ‘bottom-up’ means to keep others down. Overall, it does not seem entirely relevant, but does touch upon some interesting points.

Convergence and Culture

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