International Communication Association (ICA)
National Telemedia Council
John W. Kluge Center, U.S. Library of Congress
Uppsala University
International Communication Association (ICA)
Popular Culture Association
Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS)
Choice (ACRL)
Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities; Co‑Founder and Co‑Director, Comparative Media Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Henry Jenkins is Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education at the University of Southern California, where he explores participatory culture, participatory learning, and participatory politics and leads the Civic Paths research group. He joined USC in 2009 after two decades at MIT, where he co‑founded and co‑directed the Comparative Media Studies program and helped shape national conversations on new media literacies and educational/innovative gaming. He holds a BA (Georgia State University), an MA (University of Iowa), and a PhD in Communication Arts (University of Wisconsin–Madison). Jenkins is widely known for theorizing convergence culture, transmedia storytelling, and spreadable media, and for books such as Convergence Culture, Spreadable Media, By Any Media Necessary, Comics and Stuff, and Textual Poachers. citeturn15view1turn14search3turn3search6turn2search13
A theory describing how media production, distribution, and consumption converge across platforms, where grassroots and corporate media collide and users participate in world‑building and meaning‑making (e.g., transmedia storytelling). Highlights shifting power between producers and audiences in culture, business, politics, and education.
A design and communication strategy in which integral elements of a narrative unfold across multiple media platforms, each contributing uniquely to a coherent storyworld and harnessing collective intelligence of audiences.
A framework positioning audiences as active participants who produce, remix, and circulate content, learning social and civic skills through communities of practice (e.g., fandoms). Extends into participatory learning and participatory politics.
A perspective that centers user agency in circulating media—contrasting ‘virality’ and ‘stickiness’ with ‘spreadability’—to explain how people create value and meaning as content moves through formal and informal networks.
New York University Press • Book
Develops the “civic imagination” framework through more than thirty global cases showing how activists draw on popular culture—from Beyoncé to Bollywood, comic books to VR—to conceptualize alternatives, see themselves as civic agents, and mobilize collective participation for social change. Winner of the 2021 Ray and Pat Browne Edited Collection Award. citeturn22view1
New York University Press • Book
Argues that contemporary comics and graphic novels—now rebranded from disposable pulp to respected literature—offer a rich lens on material culture. Through close readings and more than 100 color illustrations, the book shows how comics depict and curate the ‘stuff’ that shapes identity, memory, and meaning. citeturn24view0
New York University Press • Book
Presents case studies of youth‑driven civic engagement that mobilize popular culture and networked communication—social platforms, spreadable videos, memes—to pursue political change. Introduces the “civic imagination” as a lens for understanding how young people envision alternatives and pathways for action within participatory culture. citeturn22view0
Polity Press • Book
A dialogic treatment by Jenkins, Ito, and boyd of how digital, networked, and mobile technologies have diversified and mainstreamed participatory culture. Emphasizes social and cultural contexts of participation, advocating an ethos of doing‑it‑together alongside doing‑it‑yourself, and reflecting on implications for learning and civic life. citeturn23search6
New York University Press • Book
Examines how and why media content circulates across networks through the active agency of audiences. Contrasts “viral” metaphors with a framework of spreadability, focusing on audience engagement, participatory culture, and tensions organizations face when adapting to distributed circulation. Updated with an afterword on changes in audience participation and political reporting, it analyzes examples from activism, film, music, television, advertising, and social media worldwide. citeturn18view0
Routledge • Book
The anniversary edition of a foundational text on fandom and participatory culture. It examines how fans appropriate, transform, and circulate media texts, includes a reflective interview on developments since 1992, and a classroom guide. Topics include fan criticism, fan fiction, gender and genre, and vidding. citeturn21view0
New York University Press • Book
Collects seminal writings that helped establish fan studies and the analysis of participatory culture. Traces how media consumers act as active, creative, socially connected participants; charts the growth of web‑based participation, blogs, and public policy debates around participation and intellectual property. citeturn20view0
New York University Press • Book
A classic study mapping the intersection of old and new media, where grassroots and corporate media collide and producer/consumer power interacts in unpredictable ways. Through cases such as Survivor spoilers, Harry Potter fandom, and The Matrix transmedia storytelling, the book argues that struggles over convergence are redefining American popular culture, business, politics, and education. Winner of the SCMS Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award; Choice Outstanding Academic Title. citeturn19view0
IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE) • Conference
Introduces Environmental Detectives, a participatory, location‑based simulation for handhelds in which student teams investigate a fictional environmental contamination by integrating virtual readings, interviews, and spatial data with real‑world movement. The paper outlines the use scenario and early design considerations for building an authorable platform capable of producing a family of similar AR simulations.
IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE) • Conference
Describes a proof‑of‑concept participatory simulation that uses handheld computers to create location‑aware augmented reality investigations. The system leverages portability, social interactivity, context sensitivity, connectivity, and individuality to blend real‑world data collection and virtual overlays. A use scenario illustrates teams of students performing environmental forensics by gathering geolocated data, interviewing virtual characters, and synthesizing evidence under time constraints.
IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE) • Conference
Describes a participatory, location‑aware simulation in which handheld devices overlay a virtual contamination scenario onto a real watershed. By exploiting mobility, social interactivity, context sensitivity, and connectivity, the platform supports collaborative inquiry, data collection, and just‑in‑time scaffolding for scientific investigation.
MIT Press • Book
An influential edited volume examining how assumptions about gender, games, and technology shape design, development, and marketing, and how the 1990s ‘girls’ games’ movement challenged stereotypes. Contributors span scholars, industry leaders, and girl gamers; chapters analyze titles and propose tactics to expand beyond the toy‑aisle gender binary. citeturn25search0