Convergence Culture: A Book Review

Henry Jenkins writes a colorful view of media convergence with many different types of media represented, though he mainly focuses on the Internet and its powers over society. While traditional media still plays a major role in the everyday lives of people, the Internet is replacing it little by little, until traditional media becomes niche and Internet is the mainstream.

Jenkins uses contemporary examples to explain in depth what most media savvy people should already understand. While this helps him to engage a large amount of readers in the present, it makes the book very time-sensitive and later generations might not understand all the references. This is not a problem, though, as the information the book conveys is nearly as time-sensitive and prone to aging. His work is admirable in that he allows his examples to take over, contrary to filling his pages with boring information that would mean very little to the average contemporary reader. That said, he does overdo his examples at time, with over-explanations and over-analysis quite prevalent in some of the chapters, namely the one with Harry Potter.

The divisions and layout of the book are sub-par, with some margin passages taking up several pages that easily distract the reader. Some of the chapters feel too long for their own good, as it is easy to get the point of the chapter fairly quickly without having to read the whole thing. Organization wise, it might have helped to arrange the chapters in a way that conveyed an actual sense of organization, rather than a seemingly random order.

Convergence Culture is a great read, but likely will not stay relevant for too much longer. It's a one-shot book that takes a look into the media shifts through various fandoms, but it's a pretty good one. Definitely a great discussion book.