To Converge or to Diverge - That is the Question....

Recently there has been a lot of hype in the media world (ten words in and we're already talking about media - that'll help prove my point) about the Divergent film series based off of Veronica Roth's bestselling book series. The entirety of the first film talks about it means to be "divergent", which means to be different from everything else. And while the concept of being unique and different is such a hit with young adult readers these days, we have become anything but divergent. To use the antonym (and word we discussed in class) we have become entirely convergent, going in the exact opposite direction of being "different".

Being the opposite of divergent, convergent means to come together over one united purpose or goal. Essentially this concept is, theoretically, a good one, meaning it causes people to come together over something they believe in. The book and film series Divergent makes the concept of being different than what everyone else wants or believes in as a good thing, but because of the way the media (there's reference #2) has so quickly overtaken our lives, we are more convergent than ever.

In Henry Jenkins' book "Convergence Culture" he argues that the "circulation of media content -- across different media systems, competing media economies, and national borders -- depends heavily on consumer's active participation." And he's completely correct. The importance of the media (there's reference #6; there were three in the quote) and its power comes from the fact that we give it that power and importance - we as the consumers can't do without it. We actively participate in convergence, perhaps without even knowing what it actually means. As Jenkins said, we use media (there's #7) in multiple ways, whether it's through television, computers, tablets, phones, or anything else there might be, and yet it all comes together through these different devices. You can find the same story you saw on the Channel 5 News online, be it through what's "trending" on Facebook, or through the links on your MSN homepage. The media (#8) in all its different forms has come to be an active part of our society, and as Jenkins said, multiple other societies, as it is an international concept. We are the active participants in the rise of the media culture (#9) and whether we're aware of it or not, we will continue to do so. Regardless of if we want to be divergent and different from everyone else, it's nearly impossible to do so nowadays without being attached to some sort of media (#10), whether it's the TV, internet, or otherwise. Without knowing it, we are encouraging and actively making up the population of a convergent society. And as long as we do, we will never be quite as "divergent" as we'd like to think we are.

P.S. Notice the counting of the word media in this post - I kept count to further show the impact and inevitability of media in today's world - it would literally be impossible for me to keep up this blog without it, just as it would be impossible for you to read this without it. Just food for thought.

Remember, you're unique... just like everyone else;
- Robyn

Megan Reardon: Creator Extraordinaire

Among the list of potential interviews, the easiest way I thought to pick one was to browse through each and read the pull-out quotes, and see which ones appealed to me. The quotes are obviously somewhat out of context when you're just reading them as they're pulled out, and not in the full quote itself, but I thought it would at least give me an idea of which blogger I'd either most relate to, or enjoy writing about most, From Megan Reardon's interview, three of her quotes jumped out at me when I read through the interview. Namely, the quote "People are much kinder and weirder than we allow ourselves to be in public." I consider myself to be a little weird, so I really liked the honesty of it. Part of what I think is good about blogging is the ability to be so honest. Also, when Reardon admitted "Honestly, I cannot pretend to know what I'm doing" I related to it. Her saying that was in relation to her photography skills, but the pull-out quote itself, out of context, described exactly how I feel about this whole blog thing - I guess I'm just going to learn as I go along, which is what she seems to have done with photography. 

I also really appreciated that Megan was a crafter and a creator - her desire to expand her horizons from simply knitting to both photography and blogging is wonderful, and also inspiring in its own way, because it's something all creators should want to do - grow in the ways that they create, so that they are able to do so in as many ways as is possible. I'm a big writer, given that English is my major, but blogging is a very different kind of writing, so for me this is out of my comfort zone. I imagine it must be even more so for Megan, given that her original outlet of creativity was knitting, not writing. But, her reasoning for starting a blog isn't necessarily for immense popularity, or even for a following. Rather, she said quite simply "I really just needed a place to keep notes on things I was making." And blogging itself is making something, it's furthering a person's creativity, in a much different way than anything else, even regular creative writing. I think I was drawn to Megan's interview because I do relate so strongly to her, in that she was unsure about how to begin a process such as a blog, but it is a welcome challenge - just another great show of creativity.

Stay Crafty, San Diego;
- Ro(by)n Burgundy