The concept of convergence and its pitfalls

Abstract

In the new media vocabulary, “convergence” has become an extremely popular concept. In this article we analyze both its technical and cultural significance. In particular, this last dimension is associated with the work of Henry Jenkins. Investigating its origins, popularity and fundamentally its ideological implications, we make clear how it translates a series of cybercultural utopias while legitimizing the asymmetries of power between producers and consumers of culture.