TED'S DIGITAL JUNGLE #13: NEW THESIS STATEMENT

Have been reading Henry Jenkins on Convergence Culture for the past few weeks, and feel like a kid in a long-lost candy store. As a documentary producer, I have been experiencing exciting developments during the first three decades of the digital revolution, but I have been unable to find a theoretical framework to make some sense of what is happening in my field. Now, thanks to Henry Jenkins, I have found an intriguing framework in what he calls CONVERGENCE CULTURE.

For me, Jenkins' major discovery is that the key feature of The Digital Revolution is not the Content, but all the new Delivery Systems. As a producer, I had been preoccupied with the possibilties of

Digital Production - and had overlooked the impact of the new delivery systems. Now that I have been back in the US for almost three years, I am beginning to understand the importance of the new delivery systems - I am teaching an entire generation which consumes all visual media in small formats like I-Pads and Mobile phones, and which rarely ever goes to a movie theatre. ( of course, now that I have access to a fabulous digital cinema at SUNY/FIT for my film courses, I have the honor of introducing classic films to my students the way they were intended to be shown!)

The original title for my dissertation was DIGITAL DOCUMENTARY: THE REVOLUTION THAT IS NOT BEING TELEVISED. After reading Henry Jenkins, I now have a  new working title: DIGITAL DOCUMENTARY: STUDIES IN CONVERGENCE CULTURE.

The subjects of the first three studies will be:

1. MONUC/MONUSCO VIDEO UNIT :  The Video Unit of the UN Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which I ran from 2007-2012, Needless to say, I have a lot of material, including my own MISSION END REPORT and the YouTube channel I created: www.YouTube.com/MONUCVIDEO 

2.DEMOCRACY NOW: Amy Goodman's news program on YouTube, and my personal favorite.

3.MANREPELLER: One of the leading fashion blogs in New York, MANREPELLER is leading the charge to democratize haute couture.

My Thesis Statement for Case Study #1:

STRICT VERTICAL CONTENT CONTROL IS ANTITHETICAL TO SUCCESSFUL CONVERGENCE CULTURE.

Stay tuned!!