Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture offers a look into our rapidly shifting social experience at the hands of technology. Jenkins is very distinct about his definition of convergence; dismissed is the concept of the oft-talked about "Black Box," a convergence of our popular gadgets and appliances into one general tool that serves as our television, computer, entertainment systems, communication devices, among countless other things. Instead, Jenkins ushers in a look at the "cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content" (3). What Jenkins argues is that we are in the midst of a dramatic change in our cultural landscape. In order to emphasize his observations, Jenkins offers several case studies. A foray into the world of Survivor spoiling offers a glimpse into knowledge communities, and the power of collective intelligence that occurs when people – especially in an online environment – "harness their individual expertise toward shared goals and objectives" (26) including discovery and exposition. The other side of this startlingly hyperinvolved set of consumers is the large entertainment and media groups who deliberately set out to create media that encourage active engagement and participation from its consumers. Jenkins focuses extensively on the top-down model of corporate entities engaging consumers and the simultaneous bottom-up grassroots engagement bred by communal interest in order to paint a picture of convergence in our cultural and entertainment sphere. One case study that effectively defines and describes much of what Jenkins means by convergence culture is that of The Matrix and its transmedia-based franchise. Diving into the world that the Wachowski brothers manufactured, Jenkins reveals a vast network of "interconnections between the various Matrix texts" (116) that all work together to deliver a larger narrative than can be consumed in any one medium. This example, as well as the example of Harry Potter, or Star Wars, synthesizes Jenkins' observation about the direction our culture is taking, citing a push from the top to extend the impact a specific franchise might have on consumers, as well as a decided effort by consumers to take in as much information on as many platforms as possible – or necessary – to satisfy complex consumption habits. The culmination of Jenkins' examination of culture occurs when Jenkins delivers an overview of the political landscape and the role convergence culture will have on its development in the future. Citing most notably the Internet rise of Howard Dean and his television-based downfall in 2004, Jenkins almost prophetically details the possibilities for our increasingly digital culture to raise participation and foster a more active, aware, and apt body of citizens with the power to one day take control of the political process the way it has of its entertainment as new and old media converge.
Of all the implications Jenkins generates with his examination of convergence culture, the implications of literacy are most important. Jenkins delivers a mode of literacy that is multifaceted; literacy is no longer limited to the ability to read, but limited only by the content developers' imaginations and their expectations of the consumer. When a few corporations dominated television broadcasting, the model was simple: executives delivered content and consumers watched — minimal literacy was required. But now, not only are we expected to engage products on a fundamentally deeper level, we are engaging them on levels that may be unfamiliar to us. American Idol expects us to not only listen to singers, but to judge them critically — an often-undeveloped literacy. Survivor generated robust knowledge communities, soliciting a far deeper engagement to a franchise than most are used to. Films like Star Wars, The Matrix, and the Harry Potter series ask consumers to not only watch a movie, but to read a book, play a game, engage with others online, and dissect alternate incarnations of characters in different media, all often at the same time. This heightened expectation of consumers complicates basic literacy. Literacy often determines the ability of an individual or group to engage in a particular discourse: without the expected competency in a particular arena, one cannot be expected to engage productively. This is especially important when we take into consideration the ideas expressed in Jenkins' afterword. He muses on the potential for our political engagement, suggesting a participatory political culture not unlike the one we see with our entertainment. For those who can develop the necessary components of participatory culture's literacy, this is an extremely positive, hopeful notion that will guarantee increased engagement. But for those who have been left behind already in what Jenkins calls the participation gap, civic engagement could become even more difficult, further alienating them from public discourse. Participatory culture is as of yet trivial, overrunning popular culture, but not the fundamental basis of society. If we are going to move towards a predominantly participatory society altogether as Jenkins suggests, we need to be sure that it does not come at the expense of others' engagement.
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