Henry Jenkins

The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence

Responding to the contradictory nature of our current moment of media change, this article will sketch a theory of media convergence that allows us to identify major sites of tension and transition shaping the media environment for the coming decade. Media convergence is more than simply a technological shift. Convergence alters the relationship between existing technologies, industries, markets, genres and audiences.

Environmental Detectives: PDAs as a window into a virtual simulated world

The use of computer simulations is changing the nature of scientific investigation and providing us unique insights into the way that the world works. As simulation moves from the desktop to more ubiquitous portable devices (such as PDAs), we can draw upon the unique affordances of these devices-portability, social interactivity, context sensitivity, connectivity, and individuality. The purpose of this research project is to develop and examine a new simulation platform that is designed from the ground up for handhelds to create augmented reality simulations (i.e. simulations that bridge virtual and real worlds). This paper describes environmental detectives, one such augmented reality simulation that is currently being developed at MIT. In the upcoming months, we develop and test this concept as well as produce a suite of authoring tools that students and teachers can use to design their own augmented reality simulations.

Star Trek rerun, reread, rewritten: Fan writing as textual poaching

This essay rejects media‐fostered stereotypes of Star Trek fans as cultural dupes, social misfits, or mindless consumers, perceiving them, in Michel de Certeaus term, as “poachers” of textual meanings who appropriate popular texts and reread them in a fashion that serves different interests. Specifically, the essay considers women who write fiction based in the Star Trek universe. First, it outlines how these fans force the primary text to accommodate alternate interests. Second, it considers the issue of literary property in light of the moral economy of the fan community that shapes the range of permissible retellings of the program materials.

Entering the education arcade

Responding to social, economic, and technological trends which make games the most powerful medium for reaching young learners, The Education Arcade project, based in the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, seeks to prototype games that teach, develop curricular materials which support existing commercial titles, and help prepare teachers to use games in the classroom. This article reports on the first three prototypes that are producing -- Supercharged! (electromagnetism), Environmental Detectives (environmental science) and Revolution (American History).

Theorizing participatory intensities A conversation about participation and politics

This conversation started in Prague, the Czech Republic, during a panel moderated by Irena Reifová at the symposium ‘On Empowered and Impassioned Audiences in the Age of Media Convergence’. The event was organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. The text contains a series of discussions. First, there is a conversation about the nature of the participatory democratic utopia and participatory culture and how groups take (or do not take) advantage of the affordances of new and emerging media. It also emphasizes the political nature and potential of popular culture and touches upon its connection to institutionalized politics. Three other key areas are mentioned: the role of different cultures of leadership, the significance of organizations in structuring participatory processes, and the need to enhance civic learning, providing more support for participatory cultures. This is combined with an interlocking discussion about the definition of participation and how it is tied up with power. It covers the differences between participation and interaction, engagement, interpretation, production, curation, and circulation. Finally, there is an underlying strand of discussion about the role of academia, focusing on the relationship between critical theory and cultural studies, the need to deconstruct our own frameworks and the question of which language to use to communicate academic research to the public.

Transmedia Storytelling and Entertainment: An annotated syllabus

This article describes my experiences teaching a course on Transmedia Entertainment and Storytelling at the University of Southern California, a course which sought to bridge across multiple media and methodologies, to integrate the perspectives of industry insiders, and to encourage students to apply what they learn to the challenge of “pitching” a media franchise to a panel of creative practioners. The essay both shares the syllabus as a resource for other teachers and reflects on the challenges of teaching such cutting edge content. [Electronic Arts game designer] Neil Young talks about ‘additive comprehension.’ He cites the example of the directors cut of Blade Runner, where adding a small segment showing Deckard discovering an origami unicorn invited viewers to question whether Deckard might be a replicant: ‘That changes your whole perception of the film, your perception of the ending … The challenge for us, especially with the Lord of the Rings is how do we deliver that one piece of information that makes you look at the films differently?’     Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006)

Rethinking ‘Rethinking Convergence/Culture’

Responding to the September 2011 special issue on ‘Rethinking Convergence Culture’, this essay seeks to identify ways that the authors thinking about convergence and participatory culture have shifted over time, often in ways that are closely aligned with the issues contributors. Throughout the essay, the author addresses the links between cultural and political participation, the challenges in using new media in support of democratic change, the ways that institutional power structures continue to exert strong influence on our culture despite or perhaps because of significant expansion of who has access to the means of cultural production and distribution and the challenges and opportunities for doing cultural theory in an era of neo-liberal capitalism.

Steel Chair to the Head: The Pleasure and Pain of Professional Wrestling

The antagonists—oiled, shaved, pierced, and tattooed; the glaring lights; the pounding music; the shouting crowd: professional wrestling is at once spectacle, sport, and business. Steel Chair to the Head provides a multifaceted look at the popular phenomenon of pro wrestling. The contributors combine critical rigor with a deep appreciation of wrestling as a unique cultural form, the latest in a long line of popular performance genres. They examine wrestling as it happens in the ring, is experienced in the stands, is portrayed on television, and is discussed in online chat rooms. In the process, they reveal wrestling as an expression of the contradictions and struggles that shape American culture. The essayists include scholars in anthropology, psychology, film studies, communication studies, and sociology, one of whom used to wrestle professionally. Classic studies of wrestling by Roland Barthes, Carlos Monsivais, Sharon Mazer, and Henry Jenkins appear alongside original essays. Whether exploring how pro wrestling inflects race, masculinity, and ideas of reality and authenticity; how female fans express their enthusiasm for male wrestlers; or how lucha libre provides insights into Mexican social and political life, Steel Chair to the Head gives due respect to pro wrestling by treating it with the same thorough attention usually reserved for more conventional forms of cultural expression. Contributors. Roland Barthes, Douglas L. Battema, Susan Clerc, Laurence de Garis, Henry Jenkins III, Henry Jenkins IV, Heather Levi, Sharon Mazer, Carlos Monsivais, Lucia Rahilly, Catherine Salmon, Nicholas Sammond, Phillip Serrat, Philip Sewell

“Cultural Acupuncture”: Fan Activism and the Harry Potter Alliance

Written two decades apart, these statements by Fiske and Slack illustrate shifts in how fan activity connects the popular imagination and real-world politics. Both claim that fandom’s “sense of solidarity… [and] shared resistance” empowers individuals to make decisive steps towards collective action. Fiske sees fandom as an informal set of everyday practices and personal identities, while Slack describes organisations with institutional ties to NGOs. In Fiske’s view, participants’ fantasies shape how they see themselves and the world, while Slack describes a conscious rhetorical strategy mapping fictional content worlds onto

“x logic”: Repositioning Nintendo in children's lives

Marsha Kinder, Playing With Power in Movies, Television and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Eugene F. Provenzo Jr., Video Kids: Making Sense of Nintendo. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991.