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After Convergence: YouTube and Remix Culture

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International Handbook of Internet Research

Abstract

The term “convergence” has been used to describe the media developments following digitalization. In this article, Fagerjord argues that while convergence was a suitable term to describe the first developments, it is no longer fitting. Convergence levelled out the differences between media, allowing for the developments we now see, and for which Fagerjord proposes the term “remix”. Using YouTube as an example, he outlines how genre developments may be seen as remixes of earlier genres, how remixing has become a widespread creative practice, and how online media also remix power relations between media owners and their audience.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Oxford English Dictionary has recorded the first use of convergence in this sense in 1978, while Stuart Brand reports that Negroponte used it in 1973 (Brand, 1988).

  2. 2.

    I have argued this point further in an earlier essay (Fagerjord, 2002).

  3. 3.

    I am here using ‘medium’ in the sense of ‘mass medium’, common in media studies. Within art history, e.g., ‘medium’ has more the meaning of ‘material’.

  4. 4.

    The idea of absolute truth is difficult to defend from the attacks of philosophy and poststructuralism, and much of media studies is devoted to demonstrating that news are just one account of many possible of a truth that may never be reachable. I will still argue, however, that what we regard as news is only possible if we believe them to be reasonably true—even for media professors who know that at the end of the day, they may not.

  5. 5.

    See (Fetveit, 2002)

  6. 6.

    The cartoon is by Peter Steiner, and ran in The New Yorker 5 July, 1993.

  7. 7.

    <http://gothamist.com>, <http://creativecommons.org>, <http://webkit.org>

  8. 8.

    At the time of writing, no one has done a statistical analysis of what Youtube’s videos are about. I hope future research will give us an overview of what this cornocupia of moving images actually is full of.

  9. 9.

    Selection and compositing also has obvious similarities with “mashups”, web services that combine services from other websites, such as Google Maps or Amazon book titles with other information. See Musser and O’Reilly (2007) for a discussion of mashups.

  10. 10.

    For example, see <http://youtube.com/watch?v=J1bm2GpoFfg> or <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy_8THVO-1w>

  11. 11.

    See, for example, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9BTDH2uYuk> or <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HApH_HiyK7E>

  12. 12.

    For a further discussion of templates see (Fagerjord, 2005).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. førsteamanuensis, Dr. Art., Institutt for Medier og Kommunikasjon, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Anders Fagerjord

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  1. Anders Fagerjord
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Correspondence to Anders Fagerjord .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Political Science, Virginia Tech, Major Williams Hall 531, Blacksburg, 24061, USA

    Jeremy Hunsinger

  2. Peachtree St. NE., 620, Atlanta, 30308, USA

    Lisbeth Klastrup

  3. Fac. Media, Society & Culture, Curtin University, Kent St., Bentley, 6102, Australia

    Matthew Allen

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Fagerjord, A. (2009). After Convergence: YouTube and Remix Culture. In: Hunsinger, J., Klastrup, L., Allen, M. (eds) International Handbook of Internet Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9789-8_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9789-8_11

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