Spreading the Word about Spreadable Media

Recently seen online in response to Spreadable Media:

• In explaining why co-author Sam Ford was a fellow “PR News Social Media MVP” icon award winner, APCO Worldwide Executive Director Evan Kraus writes, “Download Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture from Amazon and you’ll know why.”
• From the Victoria and Albert Museum Digital Team’s Away Day recap (by Lizzy Bullock) comes a mention of Spreadable Media as recommended reading.
• University of Southern California Annenberg Program on Online Communities student Lauren Wheeler-Woodburn summarizes her main takeaways from Spreadable Media on her APOC blog.
• In Amazon reviews, Jonathan Groves writes that the book is an “excellent compilation of case studies and thinking” that combines “approaches from economics, marketing, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and mass communication to help us understand why messages spread.” Pedro Demo from Brazil writes, “Well documented in empirical cases and media releases, this book reveals great research talent, critical balance, very good theorizing insight, and future vision.” And Marc Raymond, while questioning whether the contemporary examples in the book can remain relevant over time, writes that it is “an excellent book for teaching media studies to students.”
• New Goodreads reviews are in for the book. Jacqueline Vickery writes, “I suspect this book will change the ways media scholars talk about and conceptualize a lot of media phenomenon and practices…and thus it is an important contemporary read.” Eliana calls it “a must read for media studies.” Rimantas writes that the book is important to “everyone interested in the future of media (and to everyone who wants to justify themselves a bit for using torrents.” Peggy Otto says, “Anyone teaching composition should read this book.” And Jenny Thompson writes that, despite the challenges with reading an academic book authored by three people, “Spreadable Media was quite good…All three (authors) are clearly experts in media studies, and the work was meticulously researched.”

Reaction to Spridbar Media

Since Spreadable Media‘s recent Swedish release, we’ve been excited to see various authors from different realms pick up concepts from the book and project. We highlight a few of those reactions below:

• Cultural journalist and author Jan Gradvall recently wrote about the Swedish-language release of Spridbar Media in his column for Dagens Industri, connecting the book’s themes with the April 2014 debut of Mad Men’s new season. Roughly translated, Gradvall calls the book “very interesting” and highlights the book’s historical message about our desire to share media. “We have for decades cut out and posted articles to each other. The articles that my father sent me…is a kind of analog retweet.”
• Peter Alsbjers, in his  blog focused on the future of public libraries, has written about his excitement about Spreadable Media on multiple occasions, from news of the book’s Swedish publication to his first glances at the book  Says Alsbjers, “It sounds like the authors believe the readers of this blog!”
• Also, another Swedish blogger writing about the library space, Nils Grönlund  recently reflects on his reading of the first part of Spreadable Media, reacting in particular to the book’s consideration of economic logic versus the concept of the “gift economy” and the importance of transparency and disclosure in online communication.
• PR and corporate communication professional Frederick Pallin calls Spreadable Media “a great book.” In his May 2014 post, he reacts to the book’s introductory case study of Susan Boyle in some detail.
• Blogger Michael Drakenberg references Spreadable Media to provide a core understanding of what “social media” and “participatory culture” are/mean.

Making the List

We’ve been excited to see Spreadable Media on a range of lists over the past several months. Check out the resources below for a range of interesting books and projects in a range of fields:

• Docsity lists Spreadable Media among its “7 Must-Read Books about Education.”
• In June, Francisco Javier Pérez-Latre at C4E Books (in Spain) named Spreadable Media one of his “4 Books for Summer 2014.” Last year, Pérez-Latre wrote that Spreadable Media is a “valuable book” whose point they summarize as (translated): “Put people back at the center of the communication…” a message they say should not be forgotten in an era of Big Data, SEO, and search engines.
• Drawing on Tiziano Bonini’s review of Spreadable Media, Michael Bauwens of the P2P Foundation named it his “Book of the Day” on July 24, 2014.
• On her TransmediaKids.com site, children’s content creator Cynthia Jabar includesSpreadable Media among her recommended books and blogs on “transmedia storytelling.”
• Flagler College’s Proctor Library features Spreadable Media as part of its “Communication & Mass Media” Research Guides.
• Marco Derksen of Upstream in the Netherlands includes Spreadable Media on his “What Books Do You Take on Vacation?” for Marketingfacts.
• Bryan Hudson of Vision Communications includes Spreadable Media in his recommended readings for “New Media for Ministry: Tools, Technologies, & Techniques You Can Use Today.”
• Marc Shelkin and Júlia Caldas of The Social Shop in the UK has included the book on their Must-Read Social Media Books list.
• Alysa Hornick’s Whedenology: An Academic Whedon Studies Bibliography lists Henry Jenkins’ online essay on Joss Whedon for Spreadable Media among its resources. See the full bibliography here.

International Reviews of Spreadable Media

As Spreadable Media is picked up across international borders and/or is translated into new languages, we’re particularly excited to see various international reactions to ideas from the book. Below, we highlight recent reviews the book has received from academics and journalists outside the U.S.:

• Kirsten Mogensen reviews Spreadable Media for the Society of Media Researchers in Denmark’s MedieKultur, calling the book “a treasure chest full of ideas for scholars, practitioners, and university teachers” that “demonstrates the valuable insight that can be gained when professionals and academics co-create.”
• Ksenia Prasolova, associate professor at Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University’s Institute of Humanities, writes a very thorough review of Spreadable Media for Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian, and Central European New Media, Vol. 10. Prasolova calls the book a “comprehensive, well-informed and amply-referenced study of today’s spreadable media environment, its logics and practices” that “give(s) the floor to others, and let(s) a myriad other voices be heard.”
• Manuel Garin reviewed Spreadable Media for the 37th issue of the Spanish-language film studies journal Secuencias in 2013. Roughly translated, he writes that Spreadable Media‘s “multiple, contrasting points of view in a true grayscale makes the book a great tool for bringing the world of the college to business and vice versa.”
• In his April 2014 review of Spreadable Media’s new Swedish-language release for the newspaper GP, Mattias Hagberg contrasts the book’s message that “we now have the chance to create a truly democratic society” with Robert Samuels’ work on automodernity, which Hagberg sums up paints us as “technology subjects.” Hagberg concludes that both accounts of our culture can be right simultaneously—that there’s enormous potential but also potential dangers lurking in new forms of sharing and in the technologies that shape it. He sums up that new technologies have the potential to both promote and undermine “conversation, transparency and democracy.” Hagberg also reflects on the degree to which his very article has the potential for spreadability. (Since we’re sharing it here, we suppose it did…)
• While decrying that the book’s tone is “part-illumination and part-inspiration in that energetic, enthusiastic, entrepreneurial ‘Silicon Valley’ way” and framing the authors as “evangelical preachers” (a declaration we’d guess wasn’t intended as full compliment), Damien Spry’s 2014 review of Spreadable Media for Media International Australia  says the book “offers a rich account of concepts and case studies that scholars and professional communicators should appreciate” on key themes of entertainment media “and the fans that blur the boundaries between producer and audience.” Spry credits the book’s core ideas on spreadability and also points toward the U.S.-centric nature of its consideration of transnational media flows and a range of other questions about the spread of power and surveillance—and cultural and socio-political contingencies and structures on spreadability—that remain to be explored in depth.
• Kay Glans’ March 2014 review of Spreadable Media in the Swedish journal Respons examines the Swedish-language debut of the book vis-a-vis Hartmut Rosa’s Acceleration, Modernity and Identity. Gloss reacts strongly against Spreadable Media, questioning a world where audiences are encouraged to constantly be reacting without thinking, where amateurs are put on equal footing with professionals, where people are “willing to accept inequality because they’ve got a sense of empowerment,” and where the quality of content is not taken into consideration, Writes Gloss (roughly translated), “Anyone who reads and slowly melts well-informed journalism without feeling the need to immediately comment…is broadcast culture without grassroots participation…The participatory culture they praise is usually about soap operas, television series with supernatural elements, wrestling…Rather a problem for democracy that people spend way too much time on peripheral nonsense rather than to inform themselves about and engage in key issues.”

More Reviews Are In

Several outlets have recently published reviews of Spreadable Media. Find out what they say here:

• Louisa Stein organized a roundtable discussion about Spreadable Media, which appeared comprised the “reviews” section of the Spring 2014 volume of Cinema Journal. The discussion includes co-author Henry Jenkins and Sam Ford; contributors Xiaochang Li and Sharon Ross; and Kristina Busse, Melissa Click, and Paul Booth.
• Amy Lea Clemons’ review of Spreadable Media for The Journal of Popular Culture finds that the physical book proves a great resource that will be “easily accessible to general reading audiences,” while the enhanced books provides a range of research that will prove particularly useful for academics. She summarizes, “This text, along with the ‘enhanced’ essays, could serve as an excellent core text for an introductory course on new media or as a supplemental text for more advanced courses on contemporary media studies scholarship.”
• Ian Grant’s review of Spreadable Media for The International Journal of Advertising calls the book “the rarest of titles…an unfolding story pulled together effectively by the concluding manifesto” which “distil(s) down a vast array of ideas and provide(s) a critical commentary on what it all means.”
• Shayne Pepper’s review of Spreadable Media for the June 2014 edition of CHOICE sums it up as “highly recommended” for all readers, calling the book “a worthy and exciting follow-up to” Jenkins’ Convergence Culture that “will interest a broad audience.”
• University of North Carolina-Greensboro Department of Communication Studies Professor Roy Schwartzman reviews five books on digital culture, including Spreadable Media, in “Digital Culture as Emancipator, Oppressor, and Distractor” for the inaugural issue of North American Social Science Review from Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky. He positions the book  alongside various contemporaries, writing that the book “suggest(s) a negotiation between commodification and gifting” and “endorses reframing media audiences as active contributors.”
• Michael B. Munnik reviews Spreadable Media for H-Net’s JHistory, writing that the book has “the curious prestige of providing a book-length object lesson of the value of curation in participatory culture.” Munnik highlights what he finds valuable in the book, as well as his frustrations with questions of methodology and questions of “importance” with cultural studies.
• Kirby Prickett reviews the book for WP Engine, concluding that Spreadable Media “will appeal to people who are interested in the big picture—those who seek to understand the social and cultural context of today’s media environment, including in a transnational context.”
• Miami University doctoral candidate in rhetoric and composition Dustin Edwards reviews Spreadable Media at his blog, Annotate This, calling it a “timely and fundamentally rhetorical book” which is “extremely practical” and which “appeals to a diverse audiences” In particular, Edwards looks at takeaways for those interested in rhetoric.

The Reviews Are In…

August Spreadable Media Updates

July Spreadable Media Updates

Late June/Early July Spreadable Media Updates

• Co-author Henry Jenkins provides TIME‘s Lily Rothman with preview remarks from a forthcoming Cinema Journal roundtable about the Spreadable Media, for this article on Kindle Worlds.
• Meanwhile, on his Kindle Chronicles podcast, Len Edgerly writes about how Kindle Worlds might impact the analysis of Spreadable Media and particularly its look at the relationship between fandoms and media properties.
• Roy Christopher talks with danah boyd and others about their Summer Reading List. Among danah’s top choices? Spreadable Media.
• Birgit Horvath-Muck also includes Spreadable Media among her “Non-Fiction Discoveries” at “The Book Garden.”
• Carlos Scolari writes a follow-up blog post considering more takeaways from Spreadable Media (in Spanish).
• Also, see this recent review of Spreadable Media (in Japanese).
• Tama Leaver’s latest research on “Angry Birds as a Social Network Market” draws on Spreadable Media.
• Agnès Jiyoung Yun at the Organic Media Lab writes (in Korean) about why Amazon is “social media,” both drawing on some concepts covered in Spreadable Media and also demonstrating how Amazon connected feedback from other customers into the purchase process.
• Dave Vineberg references Henry Jenkins and the “spreadable media” argument in a piece about the obsession with discovering new status symbols and its ties to commercial culture, in this piece on the Madame Pickwick art blog.
• Amazon customer reviewer Iain writes of Spreadable Media that, “for Media Studies teachers in  particular, this book will not disappoint.”
• Novelist Kate Pullinger also recently used Spreadable Media during her keynote at the Brave New World conference organized by the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) and Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) on Saturday, July 6.

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  Novelist Kate Pullinger presenting at Brave New World 2013. Photo by Jon Callow.

Spreadable Media June Update

• Author Sam Ford recently spoke on a panel for the American Association of University Presses annual conference for 2013 in Boston. His panel, entitled “Reaching the World,” focused on how university presses might rethink themselves in an era where cultural and global borders are more malleable than before and where the distribution of academic work is increasingly driven through circulation from among interested audiences.
• Authors Henry Jenkins and Sam Ford were recently interviewed for a piece by Sam’s Peppercomm colleague Steve Cody for the Arthur W. Page Society, about the purpose of Twitter and how the communications head at Twitter should best approach understanding how people use the platform.
• Author Joshua Green recently spoke in New York City as part of a panel called “Sketch & Draft: Bridging the Gap between Content and Design,” drawing on concepts from the Spreadable Media project as part of an event organized by Undercurrent (where Joshua works) and LoyalCX.
• Mark Anthony Neal (a fellow NYU Press author who recently released Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities) writes about the need to pay attention to how independent black artists like Jasiri X are designing critical works to be circulated by their audiences in today’s digital age, drawing on concepts from Spreadable Media.
• In a recent blog post, Mel Stanfill references Spreadable Media’s distinction between individual fans and fandoms, in relation to current conversations about how to understand Kindle Worlds vis-a-vis the fan fiction communities most frequently examined by traditional fan studies work.
• Carlos Scolari shares some of his initial thoughts on Spreadable Media (in Spanish) via his Hipermediaciones blog. Also, the Open University of Catalonia recently interviewed Scolari about his work on changing relations between the media industries and fans, where Scolari referenced Spreadable Media‘s work about tensions between producers and fans and on the notion of surplus audiences.
• Robin Honderich, a student in Curtain University’s Internet Studies program, created this great video illustrating some of the core concepts in the introduction of Spreadable Media.
• Portuguese scholars João Pedro da Costa from the Institute for Comparative Literature and Rui Raposo from the University of Aveiro have been doing a textual analysis on what makes band OK Go’s music sharable, drawing on Spreadable Media‘s framework pushing back against viral media metaphors.
• Josh Jarrett writes that Spreadable Media is “an extremely worthwhile and timely read into exactly what defines ‘spreadable’ material,” via his The Participating Resource blog.
• See this student post about the book by Sara Anderson at Georgetown University.