Brain Surge: The Human Element of Convergence Culture

Convergence occurs within the brains of individual consumers and through their social interactions with others. - Henry Jenkins

Whenever I thought of the topic of convergence culture, I assumed that it stood on a foundation of technology and digitalization. The whole idea of convergence was first introduced to me when I was a senior in college and the College of Journalism and Mass Communication at USC in Columbia. Faculty were abuzz about the next wave of media technology: convergence.

I didn't realize how far I'd drifted from that shore until I read the words of Henry Jenkins and his concepts of Convergence Culture. Technological times have changed and what was once the next wave has become commonplace. When I consider my education to date in the MAPC program and the limited exposure I've had with convergence, I can appreciate the writer's argument that convergence does not originate with technology, but with people. Technology is mindless and meaningless without the human interaction and interpretations that allows convergence to happen.

Jenkins writes: "Convergence does not occur through media appliances, however sophisticated they may become. Convergence occurs within the brains of individual consumers and through their social interactions with others." (3)

This transforms my foundationalist view of technology as being a static form of truth that can replicate the same results for different people. Instead, technology and convergence will only have meaning through the lens of the individual it is engaged with -- and that individual brings social and cultural perspectives that affect their overall experience.