(click on my title above to see Henry Jenkins speak)
"Old media are not being displaced. Rather, their functions and status are shifted by the introduction of new technology" (Jenkins, 2006, p. 14). Being a vinyl album user, I can attest that this statement is so true. Oh, the freedom of carrying all your music with you wherever you go on an IPod! I can't see that happening with a jukebox or turn table. I found the Black Box Fallacy intriguing. Even though Jenkins alludes to the fact that he has more and more black boxes in his living room, I can see the do all and end all black box evolving in technology; actually it seems it is already on the way with the IPhone. Those who own one can do almost anything including but not limited to filing an insurance claim, taking a picture or two, text messaging, checking on the time for a movie to start in Bangladesh, seeing the temperature anywhere they desire, sending and receiving emails as well as answering forwarded phone messages from the office. It seems if there is an "app," it can be done on the IPhone. One step closer to the black box and doing away with it as a fallacy.
Jenkins (2006) also mentions that "convergence refers to a process, not an endpoint" (p.16). We do in fact live in a convergence culture and that culture changes moment by moment; therefore, we are in the process of convergence, but I don't see it ending (unless, of course, the world does). Jenkins (2006) effectively introduces the reader to lovemarks, transmedia storytelling, participating culture, the politics of participation, cultural changes occurring in the era of convergence and collective intelligence, making democracy more participatory, and finally illustrating the shift in our thinking required in relation to media and technology - as well as the use of that media and technology.
I didn't always agree with Jenkins (2006); however, I totally agreed that we are "in an era of prolonged transition" because ever since I touched a computer mouse some 18 to 20 years ago, technology and media have rapidly transitioned and convergence has played a continuing role in our sorting through current and future media options long before the publication of Jenkins' book (p.24).
Citations
AtGoogleTalks. (2007, December 10) Authors at Google
presents Henry Jenkins [screen shot].
Retrieved August 4, 2009, from http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=FbU6BWHkDYw
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture:
Where old and new media collide. New York: New
York University Press.
It does all seem to come down to perspective on the problems and solutions offered. We do seem to be very much in the era of "future shock" where change is nearly a daily occurrence, versus the lives of our grandparents... well, my grandparents who have been gone for over twenty-years saw a lot of change from the early automobiles to TV, but it does seem to have been a slower less personal process for them. But the changes in media and media usage are profound and very large scale.
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