Week1 Reading-Chapter 1

Chapter One of the book Convergence Culture is titled "Spoiling Survivor". Within this chapter, a terminology was introduced to me called "spoiling". Spoiling is where consumers gather information collaboratively to find out the answer/results to the unknown, hence kind of "spoiling" the ending of a reality show. The entire "spoiling" process began with the East Coast and West Coast time differences, TV shows would come on at different times but, before the internet evolved everyone had that "first-time" experience when watching the show. However, now due to "Collective Intelligences" viewers that overcome with the reality show outcomes, such as Survivor, become so involved with the show they try to find out the outcome of the competition before the show has even completed its season. The author of Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins, state "no one watches television alone anymore.

A prime example of the truth behind Jenkins' theory is how my friends and I watch one of our favorite reality shows "Real Housewives of Atlanta". We don't just watch the show alone but we interactively watch the show through collaboration online (facebook), through text messaging, and sometimes even watch parties. Some of the women in our watch party group are so wrapped up in the show that research information online trying to find out what is happening next and what is happening in the lives of each person on the show. This example is very similar to what Jenkins is referring to in this chapter.

However, with "Spoiling Survivor" there are a group of individuals that go as far as using the satellite tracking to find out the location of the show in order to keep track of the happenings before the show even airs.

I have included at picture at one of our "Collaborative Viewing Parties"

We have evolved from an era that used to just "tune next week" to an interactive community that wants to know more.