inspired by "convergence culture" (henry jenkins)

The second book on the course syllabus was Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins. At the beginning of the term, when I flipped through it at the bookstore, I was pleased to see familiar names right in the table of contents: Survivor, American Idol, The Matrix, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. In each chapter, Jenkins discusses the consumers' shift towards an active, participatory culture while referencing examples of successful media franchises.


(I think maybe the cover should be an iPhone... or at least a newer iPod).

Anyways, I'm a devoted Harry Potter fan, so I quickly flipped to Chapter 5: Why Heather Can Write: Media Literacy and the Harry Potter Wars. This was an interesting chapter to read; as I said, I'm moderately fanatical about Harry Potter, but also, I worked as the Children's Program Coordinator at a library a few summers ago where I saw some of these issues first hand (and I have an interest in these media-related things... I guess I'm in the right program).

Jenkins discusses two main Potter conflicts, which both limit children's ability to fully engage and participate in the imaginary world created by JK Rowling. First, there was the struggle of (mostly religiously affiliated) people to have the books banned from libraries and bookstores. Second, even though JKR herself has always been a supporter, Warner Bros. claimed that fanfiction and other content (art, podcasts etc.) was unauthorized and infringing on the studio's intellectual property. These conflicts are both driven by the tension between corporations and consumers, or the top-down corporate force attempting to control consumer participation and the bottom-up force of creative consumers.

"Corporations imagine participation as something they can start and stop,
channel and reroute, commodify and market. The prohibitionists are trying to
shut down unauthorized participation; the collaborationists are trying to win
grassroots creators over to their side. Consumers, on the other side, are
asserting a right to participate in the culture, on their own terms, when and
where they wish." p 169

Jenkins shares the story of 13-year-old Heather Lawver, creator of The Daily Prophet (http://www.dprophet.com/), a web-based fictional newspaper about Hogwarts. I checked out the site and it's seems to be inactive now, but to be honest, I'm not that surprised by the accomplishments of this girl and the success of her idea.

Throughout my teens, I frequented Harry Potter forums and was active in the online community. Because of the anonymity the internet provides, it was always hard to tell how old people were by only their writing. You could guess by the quality of their writing or the content they wrote about, but really, Heather is proof that young people can write well.

A girl at this age "leading a worldwide staff of student writers with no supervision to publish a school newspaper that only existed in their imaginations" is an amazing example of the benefits of actively engaging in the world of Harry Potter or anything people are passionate about. With internet access and some free time, she was able to create an clear contribution to HP fandom and share some excellent ideas for ways other fans can actively participate. Also, she was able to expand her knowledge and build on her writing and other related skills.

On this particular fan site, people can construct a fictional identity, which is incorporated into 'news stories'. The creative back stories for each character often hint at potential narratives, and subsequently, these character profiles can fuel fan fiction. In our participatory culture, people begin "composing stories on their own as a spontaneous response to popular culture" (p 178).

Although the movie studio was concerned about their intellectual rights being infringed upon, I think fanfiction serves the positive function of adding to the transmedia story. The international community of fans creating fanfiction, web sites, fan art, music and podcasts should not be seen as a threat to profits; these people are already super fans and likely own all the books and DVDs already. Instead, the online Harry Potter community allows fans to interact and contribute a piece of the story. Especially while fans waited for the next book, these fan sites were important to hype up the books/movies and they gave a place for fans to gather, discuss, and generally maintain their interest in the series.

Many fanfiction sites have a system for beta readers to edit or provide notes; this gives people the opportunity to grow their writing skills and others the chance to share their knowledge by mentoring newbies.This kind of learning can only happen by choice, and the opportunities for this kind of interaction with other fans seems to only be increasing. With the internet, there is the opportunity for niche groups to interact as well as produce and share their own work. Today, people want to do more than just passively watch a tv show or read a book.

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In addition to Harry Potter, I'm also part of the growing fan base for HBO's series, True Blood. Not only is it a great show, it's marketed very well.

Before the premiere, they lauched a viral marketing campaign via an alternate reality game at Blood Copy (Archive). There was a prequel comic distributed to ComicCon 2008 attendees. Also, extra videos and commercials are made available online on the HBO website, Facebook, and myspace. There is a website for the fictional enemy group to vampires, the Christian Fellowship of the Sun with videos and discussion about fictional issues and news from the perspective of this Christian group who believes vampires are too dangerous to be integrated with humans. The youtube channel is amazing. There are over a hundred videos with fictional commercials, news stories, political propaganda and celebrity stories (even sex tapes!). Check out the vampire rights amendment campaign video below:

True Blood is taking world building to a new level. The story is told through various media formats and the success of their approach is undeniable.

i don't want a pile of songles, but i do want the remix

In Chapter 8, after going on about all the problems with new technology and the Internet, Lanier finally offers some of his proposed solutions. I appreciate the new focus on ways things can change for the better, but I have some comments on two of his ideas: telegigging and songles.

As "canned content becomes a harder product to sell," Lanier suggests a new age alternative to a live stage show - and another opportunity for artists to make money - telegigging. While new technology, such as filesharing and video streaming, threatens the existence of CDs, I'm not sure telegigging would be that successful. First, we don't currently have the technology to allow artists to perform a live show at another location and instantly project a holographic image in your home. Obviously, it would be cool. However, as a money-making concept, there are a number of problems.

People would have to be convinced to buy the necessary equipment (holographic projectors? I don't know) and it probably would be too expensive for the masses to buy. Then, how much would it be for a telegig? Yeah, artists would save money on travel, but would they pass the savings onto the fans? Also, could I order a telegig and then have a big party (sharing the performance for free, or even more interesting, who would stop me from charging for people to view the holographic performance?) Or, what about if I recorded the unique, interactive content of the performance and shared it online?

There are so many ways for this to spin out of the desired simple cash interaction. I'm very skeptical that this could all be done for a reasonable price. I don't doubt the awesomeness of the idea, I just realistically don't think it's the new way musicians will earn a living.

There has been a lot of financial success with concert films, such as Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert. I think this business model differs in that you still go somewhere to view the performance (like you would for a live concert), but with a concert film it's cheap and available in small towns (or with the DVD, in your home). The main thing is that it's cheap and accessible. I don't think telegigging would be either of those things.

Something much cooler than Miley that telegigging reminds me of: Gorillaz (a virtual band of fictional, animated characters) had their first live performance in 2005 at the MTV Awards in Lisbon, and this was the "world's first 3D hologram performance." They planned to have a full 3D holographic tour, but it was cancelled because it would have been so expensive and logistically challenging.

Gorillaz Live at the MTV Awards from Musion Systems on Vimeo.

The Gorillaz also performed with Madonna at the 2006 Grammys. They took a step further with holographic technology. For the first three minutes, it's a variation of the MTV performance, but at 3:08, Madonna rises to the stage. The live audience and TV viewers didn't realize that the Madonna on stage from 3:08 - 3:50 is, in fact, a hologram! Madonna really performs live on stage just after the four minute mark. I watched the video a few times, and it's pretty cool to see Madonna walking in between the animated Gorillaz (at 3:41 she walks in front and at 3:45 she walks behind!). I was wondering how they did this, then I did some more reading and found out about the Madonna hologram.

My point is that the idea of a holographic performance is cool, but I'm not sure it's a money maker. The technology will be there some day soon... I just don't think it'll be cheap enough to market to the masses so musicians can make some money.

Lanier's second idea, songles, seems a little bit ridiculous. I mean, to be fair, I don't think I fully understand how it would work, but the idea of having/buying/collecting/organizing more things is a deal breaker for me. I like that all my music is on my laptop or my iPod, and I don't have to carry around a pile of CDs. I really don't think I'd like having my music in physical objects. How would the music be portable? How can I organize songs and create playlists? I understand the attempt to create "artificial scarcity," but I think that maybe digital music on computers and other devices has locked in. I don't want to turn back to collecting more things.

As I pack up to move for the term now, I realize I already have enough things to organize. I don't want a pile of songles.

Speaking of songles...

In Chapter 9 Lanier says,

"Popular music created in the industrialized world in the decade from the later 1990s to the late 2000s doesn't have a distinct style--that is, one that would provide an identity from the young people who grew up with it. The process of the reinvention of life through music appears to have stopped."

I have a few problems with this. Maybe I'm just defensive about my identity.

While I agree that there wasn't one distinct musical sound (as there was in other decades), it's only because the Internet suddenly presented this generation with so much choice. I'd argue that there is a unifying musical style: remix, mashup, sampling, covering. With music software and digitilized music readily available, this generation was the first with the opportunity to remix. People growing up with YouTube were able to build an identity through their creativity and ability to mix sounds, artists and genres. People can create their own music videos or cover their favourite artists. It's all part of a new participatory culture.

While much of it is amateur and a lot of it is crap, some people are doing some pretty amazing things (or if it's not amazing, at least their tapping into this trend and profitting).

Mashup artist, DJ Earworm, creates an annual "United State of Pop" song made up of the top 25 songs on the Billboard charts. Check out 2009 song below.

Another mashup artist is Girl Talk, who produces remixes by mashing up short, unauthorized samples to create new songs. According to New York Times Magazine, his music is a "lawsuit waiting to happen." Girl Talk has gained popularity by touring with his laptop (and is making enough money to quit his day job as a biomedical engineer), and he always gives his audience a party. He's pushing boundaries in other ways, touching on issues our media class has talked about before. For example, Girl Talk believes copyright laws stifle creativity, and as a result of his sampling, his songs are not available on iTunes because of the extensive copyright issues. He has four albums that were all released online by Illegal Art and available for download on a pay-what-you-want basis. Check out a fan-made video for one of his mashups.