The nine areas where Jenkins suggests the relationships between consumers and producers are transforming are as follows:
1 Revising audience measurement
Rethinking the usefulness of the ‘impression’ in an age of transmedia branding, the American television industry is increasingly targeting consumers who have a prolonged relationship and active engagement with media content and who show a willingness to track down that content
across the cable spectrum and across a range of other media platforms. This next generation audience research focusses attention on what consumers do with media content, seeing each subsequent interaction as valuable because it reinforces their relationship to the series and, potentially, its sponsors. Each shift in audience measurement, as Ien Ang (1991) and Eileen Meehan (1990) note, among others, results in shifts in cultural power, with some groups gaining greater influence and others being marginalized. Will fan communities be the new beneficiaries of audience measurement?
2 Regulating media content
Many parents complain that the media floodgates have opened into their
living rooms and that they are no longer able to exercise meaningful choices
about what media should enter their homes. Historically, media producers
sought to appeal to the broadest possible population; self-regulation sought
to ensure that all the content produced was appropriate for every member
of the family; ideological struggles occurred whenever there was an attempt
to broaden the possible themes that could be included within mainstream
entertainment. There is now a push away from consensus-style media and
towards greater narrowcasting. In this context, consumers are expected to
play a much more active role in determining what content is appropriate
for their families. Ironically, perhaps the biggest success story in niche media
production has been the emergence of an alternative sphere of popular
culture reflecting the tastes and ideologies of cultural conservatives, the very
groups who are also working to impose those ideological norms onto mainstream
media through governmental regulation of media content (see Hendershott, 2004). Will the tension between narrowcasting and regulation
result in more or less media diversity?
3 Redesigning the digital economy
Most believe that the commercializing of cyberspace has significantly
undercut the web’s prevailing gift economy. There will still be a great deal
of free content produced by amateurs and academics, but more and more
content will come with a price tag. The choice of how we pay for web
content can have enormous cultural implications. Many feel that a shift
towards a subscription-based model will result in greater media concentration
and the construction of higher barriers of entry to the cultural
marketplace, since most consumers will buy only a limited number of
subscriptions and are more apt to buy them from companies that can
promise them the broadest range of possible content. A micropayment
system would allow media producers (recording artists, independent game
designers, web comics artists, authors) to sell their content directly to the
consumers, cutting out many layers of middle folk, adjusting prices for the
lowered costs of production and distribution in the digital environment.
Although long predicted, a viable micropayment system has yet to emerge,
although there are new signs of life in this area. Which economic and
cultural model will dominate in the web environment in the coming decade?
4 Restricting media ownership
In the summer of 2003, following heated debates that cut across traditional
ideological divisions, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
lifted many of the existing restrictions on US media ownership. The debate
pitted those who believed that technological change had resulted in an
explosion of media options against those who saw the present moment
primarily in terms of media concentration. Many fear that the FCC rulings
will pave the way for even more consolidation within the media industries.
Even if they don’t, the battlelines drawn between – and within – the two
factions may shape future policy debates over the coming decade. One
significant consequence of the debate has been a heightened grassroots
awareness of the issue of media ownership. Will public dissatisfaction with
corporate media be a driving political issue in the coming years?
5 Rethinking media aesthetics
P. David Marshall (2002) describes the emergence of ‘the new intertextual
commodity’, as franchises expand across media channels in response to the
opportunities represented by media convergence. His focus is primarily on
the economic implications of these shifts, but we should also monitor theiraesthetic implications. In the old system, a work that was successful in one
medium might be adapted into other media or used to brand a series of
related but more or less redundant commodities. More recent media franchises,
such as The Blair Witch Project, Pokemon or The Matrix, have
experimented with a more integrated structure whereby each media manifestation
makes a distinct but interrelated contribution to the unfolding of
a narrative universe. While each individual work must be sufficiently selfcontained
to satisfy the interests of a first time consumer, the interplay
between many such works can create an unprecedented degree of complexity
and generate a depth of engagement that will satisfy the most committed
viewer. Will transmedia storytelling enrich popular culture or make it
more formulaic?
6 Redefining intellectual property rights
In the new media environment, it is debatable whether governmental
censorship or corporate control over intellectual property rights poses the
greatest threat to the right of the public to participate in their culture. Take
the case of Harry Potter. In public schools across the US, the J.K. Rowling
books have been attacked by religious conservatives who want them pulled
from libraries or removed from classrooms because they allegedly promote
paganism. The publishing industry has joined forces with librarians,
teachers and civil libertarians to stave off these attacks on children’s rights
to read. At the same time, Warner Brothers has been aggressively asserting
its rights over the Harry Potter franchise to shut down fan websites. One
case centered around the right of children to read the Harry Potter books;
the other, their right to write about them. Can these two rights be so easily
separated in an era of read-write culture? Will the general public preserve
and expand its right to participate or will corporate restrictions on intellectual
property use gradually erode away the concept of free expression?
7 Renegotiating relations between producers and consumers
So far, the recording industry has responded to the emergence of peer-topeer
technologies through legal action and name-calling rather than
developing new business plans or reconceiving consumer relations. In the
games industry, on the other hand, the major successes have come within
franchises that have courted feedback from consumers during the product
development process, endorsed grassroots appropriation of their content
and technology and that have showcased the best user-generated content.
Game companies have seen the value of constructing, rather than shutting
down, fan communities around their products and building long-term
relationships with their consumers. Which model will prevail?
8 Remapping globalization
Much academic writing on globalization has centered on the flow of
western media products into global markets, falling back on old models of
cultural imperialism. Yet globalization also involves the flow of goods,
workers, money and media content from east to west. The Mario Brothers
are recognized by more American kids than Mickey Mouse – even if many
of them don’t yet realize that Nintendo is a Japanese-based game company.
As they grow older, they certainly recognize Asian origins as a marker of
cultural distinction. Much as teens in the developing world use American
popular culture to express generational differences, western youth is asserting
its identity through its consumption of Japanese anime and manga,
Bollywood films and bhangra and Hong Kong action movies. A new pop
cosmopolitanism is being promoted by corporate interests both in Asia and
in the West, but it is also being promoted by grassroots interests, including
both fan and immigrant communities, who are asserting greater control
over the flow of media content across national borders. What will be the
long-term economic and cultural impact of these trends?
9 Re-engaging citizens
Asian American activists use the web to quickly launch a nationwide protest
against Abercrombie & Fitch when it releases a line of T-shirts featuring
exaggerated Asian stereotypes (for example, ‘Two Wongs Make a White’).
Hoping to increase its visibility in American culture, APA First Weekend
has created a massive mailing list designed to buoy opening grosses for films
with Asian or Asian American content. Adbusters produces mock commercials
that use Madison Avenue conventions to challenge consumerism and
corporate greed. Conservative talk show hosts direct their ire against The
Dixie Chicks after one of the performers made negative comments about
George W. Bush, resulting in a dramatic decline in their revenues and then
a rebound as buying a Dixie Chicks album became a litmus test for antiwar
sentiment. Media celebrities, such as World Wrestling Federation superstar
Jesse Ventura or action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger, are emerging as
important political figures. In such an environment, it is no surprise that
activism draws models from fan culture or that popular culture becomes
the venue through which key social and political issues get debated. What
models of democracy will take roots in a culture where the lines between
consumption and citizenship are blurring?
Media and cultural scholars have important contributions to make in
each of these spaces. There is an enormous demand right now for public
intellectuals who can help the public, policy makers and industry alike
understand the stakes in these power struggles. In order to play that role,
we will need visibility to address large and diverse publics, credibility to getour ideas heard in the corridors of power, accessibility to ensure that our
perspectives are clearly understood and widely embraced and pragmatism
to develop solutions that acknowledge the legitimate interest of all stakeholders.
To play that role, we need to shed some of our own intellectual
and ideological blinders, to avoid kneejerk or monolithic formulations and
to imagine new possible relations with corporate and governmental interests.
This route may not lead to radical transformations of the economic
and political system, as Miller correctly notes, but we may score some
important local and tactical victories in the struggle for political freedom
and cultural diversity.
...................................................................................
1 Revising audience measurement
Rethinking the usefulness of the ‘impression’ in an age of transmedia branding, the American television industry is increasingly targeting consumers who have a prolonged relationship and active engagement with media content and who show a willingness to track down that content
across the cable spectrum and across a range of other media platforms. This next generation audience research focusses attention on what consumers do with media content, seeing each subsequent interaction as valuable because it reinforces their relationship to the series and, potentially, its sponsors. Each shift in audience measurement, as Ien Ang (1991) and Eileen Meehan (1990) note, among others, results in shifts in cultural power, with some groups gaining greater influence and others being marginalized. Will fan communities be the new beneficiaries of audience measurement?
2 Regulating media content
Many parents complain that the media floodgates have opened into their
living rooms and that they are no longer able to exercise meaningful choices
about what media should enter their homes. Historically, media producers
sought to appeal to the broadest possible population; self-regulation sought
to ensure that all the content produced was appropriate for every member
of the family; ideological struggles occurred whenever there was an attempt
to broaden the possible themes that could be included within mainstream
entertainment. There is now a push away from consensus-style media and
towards greater narrowcasting. In this context, consumers are expected to
play a much more active role in determining what content is appropriate
for their families. Ironically, perhaps the biggest success story in niche media
production has been the emergence of an alternative sphere of popular
culture reflecting the tastes and ideologies of cultural conservatives, the very
groups who are also working to impose those ideological norms onto mainstream
media through governmental regulation of media content (see Hendershott, 2004). Will the tension between narrowcasting and regulation
result in more or less media diversity?
3 Redesigning the digital economy
Most believe that the commercializing of cyberspace has significantly
undercut the web’s prevailing gift economy. There will still be a great deal
of free content produced by amateurs and academics, but more and more
content will come with a price tag. The choice of how we pay for web
content can have enormous cultural implications. Many feel that a shift
towards a subscription-based model will result in greater media concentration
and the construction of higher barriers of entry to the cultural
marketplace, since most consumers will buy only a limited number of
subscriptions and are more apt to buy them from companies that can
promise them the broadest range of possible content. A micropayment
system would allow media producers (recording artists, independent game
designers, web comics artists, authors) to sell their content directly to the
consumers, cutting out many layers of middle folk, adjusting prices for the
lowered costs of production and distribution in the digital environment.
Although long predicted, a viable micropayment system has yet to emerge,
although there are new signs of life in this area. Which economic and
cultural model will dominate in the web environment in the coming decade?
4 Restricting media ownership
In the summer of 2003, following heated debates that cut across traditional
ideological divisions, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
lifted many of the existing restrictions on US media ownership. The debate
pitted those who believed that technological change had resulted in an
explosion of media options against those who saw the present moment
primarily in terms of media concentration. Many fear that the FCC rulings
will pave the way for even more consolidation within the media industries.
Even if they don’t, the battlelines drawn between – and within – the two
factions may shape future policy debates over the coming decade. One
significant consequence of the debate has been a heightened grassroots
awareness of the issue of media ownership. Will public dissatisfaction with
corporate media be a driving political issue in the coming years?
5 Rethinking media aesthetics
P. David Marshall (2002) describes the emergence of ‘the new intertextual
commodity’, as franchises expand across media channels in response to the
opportunities represented by media convergence. His focus is primarily on
the economic implications of these shifts, but we should also monitor theiraesthetic implications. In the old system, a work that was successful in one
medium might be adapted into other media or used to brand a series of
related but more or less redundant commodities. More recent media franchises,
such as The Blair Witch Project, Pokemon or The Matrix, have
experimented with a more integrated structure whereby each media manifestation
makes a distinct but interrelated contribution to the unfolding of
a narrative universe. While each individual work must be sufficiently selfcontained
to satisfy the interests of a first time consumer, the interplay
between many such works can create an unprecedented degree of complexity
and generate a depth of engagement that will satisfy the most committed
viewer. Will transmedia storytelling enrich popular culture or make it
more formulaic?
6 Redefining intellectual property rights
In the new media environment, it is debatable whether governmental
censorship or corporate control over intellectual property rights poses the
greatest threat to the right of the public to participate in their culture. Take
the case of Harry Potter. In public schools across the US, the J.K. Rowling
books have been attacked by religious conservatives who want them pulled
from libraries or removed from classrooms because they allegedly promote
paganism. The publishing industry has joined forces with librarians,
teachers and civil libertarians to stave off these attacks on children’s rights
to read. At the same time, Warner Brothers has been aggressively asserting
its rights over the Harry Potter franchise to shut down fan websites. One
case centered around the right of children to read the Harry Potter books;
the other, their right to write about them. Can these two rights be so easily
separated in an era of read-write culture? Will the general public preserve
and expand its right to participate or will corporate restrictions on intellectual
property use gradually erode away the concept of free expression?
7 Renegotiating relations between producers and consumers
So far, the recording industry has responded to the emergence of peer-topeer
technologies through legal action and name-calling rather than
developing new business plans or reconceiving consumer relations. In the
games industry, on the other hand, the major successes have come within
franchises that have courted feedback from consumers during the product
development process, endorsed grassroots appropriation of their content
and technology and that have showcased the best user-generated content.
Game companies have seen the value of constructing, rather than shutting
down, fan communities around their products and building long-term
relationships with their consumers. Which model will prevail?
8 Remapping globalization
Much academic writing on globalization has centered on the flow of
western media products into global markets, falling back on old models of
cultural imperialism. Yet globalization also involves the flow of goods,
workers, money and media content from east to west. The Mario Brothers
are recognized by more American kids than Mickey Mouse – even if many
of them don’t yet realize that Nintendo is a Japanese-based game company.
As they grow older, they certainly recognize Asian origins as a marker of
cultural distinction. Much as teens in the developing world use American
popular culture to express generational differences, western youth is asserting
its identity through its consumption of Japanese anime and manga,
Bollywood films and bhangra and Hong Kong action movies. A new pop
cosmopolitanism is being promoted by corporate interests both in Asia and
in the West, but it is also being promoted by grassroots interests, including
both fan and immigrant communities, who are asserting greater control
over the flow of media content across national borders. What will be the
long-term economic and cultural impact of these trends?
9 Re-engaging citizens
Asian American activists use the web to quickly launch a nationwide protest
against Abercrombie & Fitch when it releases a line of T-shirts featuring
exaggerated Asian stereotypes (for example, ‘Two Wongs Make a White’).
Hoping to increase its visibility in American culture, APA First Weekend
has created a massive mailing list designed to buoy opening grosses for films
with Asian or Asian American content. Adbusters produces mock commercials
that use Madison Avenue conventions to challenge consumerism and
corporate greed. Conservative talk show hosts direct their ire against The
Dixie Chicks after one of the performers made negative comments about
George W. Bush, resulting in a dramatic decline in their revenues and then
a rebound as buying a Dixie Chicks album became a litmus test for antiwar
sentiment. Media celebrities, such as World Wrestling Federation superstar
Jesse Ventura or action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger, are emerging as
important political figures. In such an environment, it is no surprise that
activism draws models from fan culture or that popular culture becomes
the venue through which key social and political issues get debated. What
models of democracy will take roots in a culture where the lines between
consumption and citizenship are blurring?
Media and cultural scholars have important contributions to make in
each of these spaces. There is an enormous demand right now for public
intellectuals who can help the public, policy makers and industry alike
understand the stakes in these power struggles. In order to play that role,
we will need visibility to address large and diverse publics, credibility to getour ideas heard in the corridors of power, accessibility to ensure that our
perspectives are clearly understood and widely embraced and pragmatism
to develop solutions that acknowledge the legitimate interest of all stakeholders.
To play that role, we need to shed some of our own intellectual
and ideological blinders, to avoid kneejerk or monolithic formulations and
to imagine new possible relations with corporate and governmental interests.
This route may not lead to radical transformations of the economic
and political system, as Miller correctly notes, but we may score some
important local and tactical victories in the struggle for political freedom
and cultural diversity.
...................................................................................
All the above are very valid points. Regard point 6 Redefining intellectual property rights - I tend to think that over time the general public will preserve and expand its right to participate and corporate restrictions on intellectual property will gradually adapt with the concept of free expression and a read/write culture.
