Professor Henry Jenkins on Culture, Technology, and Platform Independence

Technological advancements are creating a shift in cultures because individuals now expect modern media solutions to provide platform agnosticism, the opportunity for engagement with their chosen communities, and tools to support their individual creation of any form of media content.  Prolific author and USC Professor, Henry Jenkins (n.d.), explains culture as being a convergence where “consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content” (Jenkins, 2006), so the shift is both within them and through their social interactions.  Rather than passive cultures where individuals were spectators of those in different roles, the new culture is participatory through these interactions and their engagement, which is supported by the tools being used (2006, pg. 3).  In his 2009 video about Convergence Culture, Professor Jenkins talked about benefits two of the expectations of modern media are bringing and how this new convergence culture serves them.

Explaining that opportunities for engagement with chosen communities lead to collective intelligence where groups as a whole can “put together knowledge in a more complex way than an individual member is capable of doing” (Jenkins, 2009), Jenkins extols the benefits of platform agnosticism.  He explains this as the foundation of the convergence culture world where “every story, every sound, brand, image, relationship plays itself out across the maximum number of media channels” (2009).  Cultures are being shaped as much by individuals as corporations because everyone has access to the tools necessary to participate on the available media channels (2009).  This platform agnosticism also supports transmedia projects where each platform contributes what it does best so that “each story or experience is spread across a variety of media platforms.  Not in a way that is redundant, but in a way that is complementary” (2009).

Technology will continue to advance and cultures will continue to shift, each creating demands on the other and each providing opportunities for the other to advance.  This has been a continuous cycle since the beginning of man.  With each advancement and shift, expectations are forever transformed.  The components will change, serving to add to the excitement about the potential of where the shifts can occur.  Each advancement creates new possibilities; each shift creates new opportunities.  In my next post, I will discuss how culture and technology shape each other and how mass media tools are expected to be part of their interaction. 

Professor Henry Jenkins talking about Convergence culture, 

transmedia projects, and collective intelligence.

References

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. 
    Retrieved August 26, 2015, from Masaryk University Information System:
    http://is.muni.cz/el/1423/jaro2012/ZUR286/um/22759680/Jenkins__
    Henry_-_Convergence_Culture.pdf

Jenkins, H. (2009, September 21). Henry jenkins. Retrieved August 26, 2015, 
    from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibJaqXVaOaI

Jenkins, H. (n.d.). Who the &%&# is henry jenkins? Retrieved August 26, 2015, 
    from Henry Jenkins: http://henryjenkins.org/aboutmehtml