W2 – The Meanings and Implications of Convergence
- ‘The term convergence originally comes from the world of science and mathematics’
- It was then used, possibly for the first time, in 1983 by Ithiel de Sola Pool in connection with communications technologies.
- In the 90’s TV stations and newspapers started cross promoting each other, with some being owned by the one parent company.
Convergence in media technology
Content Creation – Although stored digitally, not fully accessible due to format restrictions
Content Distribution – Based on 2001 figures in the US before the explosion of broadband, mentions that the net is not used anywhere near as much as the TV
Content Consumption – Besides for the PC, people aren’t using other digital terminals to access information
Convergence
Ownership - A conglomorate owning multiple content or distribution channels
Tactics – Sharing resources and cross-promoting a TV station and newspaper, whether owned by one company or not. This brought in issues of bias/fair reporting and different ideology in reporting news.
Structure - Mainly remained the same, the newspaper people did their job, etc, some new positions made to oversee, or to specialise in multimedia
Information Gathering - The backpack journalist gathering the news in all different formats
Presentation (Storytelling) - Can now have unlimited space (columns) and time (minutes), immediate publishing, communication (blogging/feedback), multi-format, interactive (user decides what/when to view/read/listen)
Implications – Journalists not wanting change, new job requirements
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