Tuesday 2 September 2014

Convergence

You will discuss media convergence, a phenomenon involving the interconnection of information and communications technologies, computer networks, and media content.


  • Key words. Social media. Rheingold.
Technologically rich societies have entered the digital age, and media industries are grappling with
new opportunities - and threats - afforded by what is called "convergence". Media people tend to get very excited about convergence, because it holds so much promise. The melding together of different media, incorporating new personalized services is both impressive and overwhelming. 

The adoption of high-performance computers, shift to digital platforms, and creation of high-speed computer networks have brought us new ways of doing things. Old barriers of time and space are practically eliminated. You can view, hear, or read virtually anything, anywhere, anytime. The old definitions that provided separation between Radio, TV, Cable, Newspapers, and Film have gone(or are going)forever. The 1990's brought ownership convergence, creating media conglomerates like Disney, Viacom, and Sony. From the consumer view, the Internet has recently changed our favorite delivery systems - Newspapers now provide video, TV offers interactive chat, and radio has web-cams. 

With 3G telephony, mass media companies can include consumer technologies such as mobile phones and videogames. We've blurred the lines between info-tainment, promo-tainment, and edu-tainment, and now it's hard to separate intrapersonal, interpersonal, and mass communication. These changes represent a seismic shift in the way we view communication, and are typically referred to as “Convergence”.




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