Henri Jenkins refers often to Pierre Levy's notion of collective intelligence, as a kind of meta theory for understanding the changes wrought by media convergence. Rejecting technological or economic determinism, Levy sees contemporary society as caught in a transitional moment, the outcome of which is still unknown. He speaks of the emergence of new a knowledge space, or "cosmopedia", as citizens realize the potentials of the new media environment.

Levy speaks of the cosmopedia's ability to break down geographic constraints on communication and "of the declining loyalty of individuals to organized groups, and the diminished power of nation-states to command exclusive loyalty of their citizens". For Jenkins online fan communities might well be some of the most fully realized versions of Levy's cosmopedia. As expansive self-organizing groups focussed around the collective production, debate, and circulation of meanings, interpretations, and fantasies in response to around artifacts of contemporary culture, Jenkins says "fan communities have long defined their membership through affinities in response to various artifacts of contemporary popular culture. fandoms were virtual communities, "imagined" and "imagining" communities, long before he introduction of networked computers." Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Media Consumers in a Digital Age, p 136-7