Citizenship and consumption: convergence culture, transmedia narratives and the digital divide

Henry Jenkins’ recent publications on convergence have focused on the way that the active audience, equipped with the productive and distributive tools of digital technology might transform the waning public sphere in the USA, at the expense of effectively excluding discussion of the transnational and uneven practices of cultural convergence. However, in his work the stakes of convergence culture are clearly established: empowered consumers (potentially) have an active role in transforming – and democratizing – governments and corporations. This paper will examine what this emergent politicized form of consumption/production means in the context of the unevenness of global participation in the information economy. By focusing on the tactics of participation that are deployed in the global ‘South’ through a case study of the consumption of transmedia narratives in Venezuela this paper will demonstrate what is at stake in the shift to a media paradigm of convergence. Keywords ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: IE
• Authors: Thomas Apperley
• Keywords: Convergence Culture, Cultural Convergence, IE 2007, Internet Technology, Keywords Convergence Culture