Henry Jenkins

For the Yorkshireman, see Henry Jenkins (supercentenarian).

Henry Jenkins
Born	June 4, 1958 (1958-06-04) Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Education	MA, Communication Studies; Ph.D., Communication Arts
Alma mater	University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Occupation	University Professor
Years active	1992-
Employer	University of Southern California
Known for	Theories of "world-making" and "media convergence"
Title	Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts

Henry Jenkins III (born June 4, 1958 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American media scholar and currently a Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, a joint professorship at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Previously, he was the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities and Co-Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies program with William Uricchio. He is also author of several books, including Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture and What Made Pistachio Nuts?: Early Sound Comedy and the Vaudeville Aesthetic.

Personal life and education

Jenkins did his undergraduate work at Georgia State University, where he majored in Political Science and Journalism. He earned his MA in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa and his PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He and his wife Cynthia Jenkins were housemasters of the Senior House dorm at MIT before their relocation to the University of Southern California in July 2009. They have one son, Henry Jenkins IV.^{[citation needed]}

Research fields

Jenkins' research explores the boundary between text and reader, the growth of fan cultures and world-making, "the process of designing a fictional universe that will sustain franchise development, one that is sufficiently detailed to enable many different stories to emerge but coherent enough so that each story feels like it fits with the others".

More recently, Jenkins' research has focused on how individuals in contemporary culture themselves tap into and combine numerous different media sources. He suggests that media convergence be understood as a cultural process, rather than a technological end-point. Jenkins discussed media convergence in his 2006 book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide and the founding of the Convergence Culture Consortium research group at the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT.

Jenkins' research also includes the field of video game critical studies. In his article, "Complete freedom of Movement": Video Games as "Gendered Play Spaces," he discusses the cultural geography of video game spaces. More importantly, he investigates as to what draws boys to video games and whether girls should feel the same attraction. Inspired by such cultural critics as Gilbert Seldes who believed that Cinema was unfairly victimized during his time for being a rising new medium.

He has also written extensively about the effects of interactivity, particularly computer games, and "games for learning", and in this capacity was called to testify before Congress in 1999. This work ultimately led to the founding of the Education Arcade group, also at the MIT Comparative Media Studies program.^{[citation needed]}

Recognition

He was featured in both Electronic Gaming Monthly and Game Informer magazines, where he was asked about the effects of violence in video games. He offered a very different perspective from Jack Thompson's.

On May 12, 2009, a socially networked artwork called Will Henry Jenkins Hear About It? was underway. It features bottles in the sea with the message "Will Henry Jenkins hear about it?" and posting the same message through different social networks to see if Henry Jenkins will come across the message.

Works

• Jenkins, Henry (1992). What Made Pistachio Nuts?: Early Sound Comedy and the Vaudeville Aesthetic. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 416. ISBN 0231078552. 
• Jenkins, Henry (1992). Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture. Studies in culture and communication. New York: Routledge. p. 343. ISBN 0415905710. 
• Jenkins, Henry (1995). Classical Hollywood Comedy. AFI film readers. New York: Routledge. p. 430. ISBN 0415906393. 
• Jenkins, Henry (1998). From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. p. 360. ISBN 0262032589. 
• Jenkins, Henry (1998). The Children's Culture Reader. New York: New York University Press. p. 532. ISBN 0814742319. 
• Jenkins, Henry (2002). Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture. Duke University Press. p. 748. ISBN 0822327376. 
• Jenkins, Henry (2003). Rethinking Media Change: The Aesthetics of Transition. Media in transition. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. p. 404. ISBN 0262201461. 
• Jenkins, Henry (ed. with David Thorburn) (2003). Democracy and New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. p. 385. ISBN 0262101017. 
• Jenkins, Henry (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press. p. 308. ISBN 0814742815. 
• Jenkins, Henry (2006). Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: New York University Press. p. 279. ISBN 081474284X. 
• Jenkins, Henry (2007). The Wow Climax: Tracing the Emotional Impact of Popular Culture. New York: New York University Press. p. 285. ISBN 0814742823. 
• 2006 White Paper Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century.

See also

• Critical theory
• Media influence
• Digitality
• New media
• Digital art
• Transmedia storytelling
• Participatory culture

External links

• Official website and blog
• Comparative Media Studies, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Foreword to the Italian Edition of Convergence Culture (English translation)
• Henry Jenkins Playlist Appearance on WMBR's Dinnertime Sampler radio show January 15, 2003
• Henry Jenkins Complete Freedom of Movement: Video Games as Gendered Play Spaces
• MacArthur Foundation profile
• Henry Jenkins Frontline interview on schools and technology
• Discussions at WGBH Studios, from the web-only interview series WGBH One Guest
  • Video games as art
  • Participatory media
  • Citizen journalism