With so many books and articles on the power of social media let’s spare a thought for ‘old media’. Interpersonal communication in its traditional form has changed forever, courtesy of the world wide web. However, virtual communications still remain intrinsically connected to the notion of human exchange: the grass roots of interpersonal skills. In ‘Convergence Culture,’ Jenkins reconsiders the thinking on the digital revolution and argues the case for more hybrid forms of communication.

Henry Jenkins is founder and director of MIT’s comparative media studies program. In this book he uses practical examples alongside an intellectually rigorous argument to suggest that new media will not replace old media, rather that each will ‘participate’ with the other. Ideas spawned in human environments and through interpersonal communications will be realised in virtual spaces – and vice-versa, hence the convergence and collision of the book’s title. Participatory culture will enable the co-creation and sharing of content between socially derived spheres of interest. This is a fascinating and current book for our time as we rethink the relationship between the richness of human connections through interpersonal skills and the reach enabled by online media.

Author:

Henry Jenkins

Pages:

368

Publisher:

NYU Press

Date:

September 2008

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