The technologies underlying all communications media are converting to digital, even where the form of the product is unchanged (e.g. where printed newspapers are produced using digital technology and single keystroke operation). Potentially more transformative is the development of new kinds of digital communications systems allowing one-to-one (interpersonal), one-to-many (broadcast) and many-to-many (e.g. chatrooms on the Internet) communications within a single network. Many argue this is a process of convergence, in which the old media are converging to form a single communications paradigm, eventually the switched broadband network (often called the 'Information Superhighway').
This convergence can be argued at different levels:
o technologies, where everything converges on digital
o products, where existing products fuse (e.g. the PC and TV)
o industries and dissemination, where telecoms or software companies
become media companies
o economies and societies, which converge towards a market paradigm
Whilst we might agree that communications and media technologies are
converging, the claims for products, industries and societies are problematic.
In this seminar we will examine the concept of 'convergence' in its various
dimensions and discuss whether it captures the reality of how media are
developing.
Core Reading:
o Cawson, Alan. 'Are the new media industries converging? Some observations
on the transition from analogue to digital', available online only at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/ssfd2/converge.htm
o 'Convergence', article from Jones Telecommunications and Multimedia
Encyclopedia, available online only at http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/converge.html
o Covell, Andy. Digital Convergence: How the Merging of Computers,
Communications and Multimedia is Transforming Our Lives, Newport, RI: Aegis,
2000 - a useful introduction to some of the converging technologies.
You can find additional material and chapter 1 of the book at http://www.digital-convergence.com/welcome.htm
o Jenkins, Henry. 'Digital Renaissance: Convergence? I Diverge',
Technology Review, June 2001, online at http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/jenkins0601.asp
o Also look at Moshi Machine and E-Studio for potential examples of
convergence in action: http://www.moshimachine.com
http://www.estudio.com
Supplementary Readings
o Aston, R. and Schwarz, J. (eds) Multimedia: Gateway to the Next Millennium,
Boston: AP Professional, 1994
o Baldwin, T.F. McVoy, D.S. and Steinfield, C. Convergence: Integrating
Media, Information and Communication, Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1996
o Garnham, N 'Constraints on Multimedia Convergence', in W.H. Dutton,
ed., Information and Communication Technologies: Visions and Realities,
Oxford: OUP, 1996
o Hulley, Bill 'Digital convergence is a crock', Computer-Mediated
Communication Magazine / Volume 1, Number 4 / August 1, 1994 / Page 8 online
at http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1994/aug/converge.html
o Owen, Bruce M. The Internet Challenge to Television, Cambridge,
Mass: Harvard University Press, 1999
o Punie, Yves (ed) 2002. Multimedia in the Digital Age: MUDIA Work Package 1: The Wider Context for Media Innovation. http://www.mudia.org/results/4_2_final.pdf
o The Economist, Going Digital: How New Technology is Changing Our
Lives, London: Economist/Profile Books, 1996
o Winston, Brian. Media, Technology and Society: A History from the
Telegraph to the Internet, London: Routledge, 1998
o Yoffie, D. ed., Competing in the Age of Digital Convergence, Boston:
Harvard Business School Press, 1997
A good website on convergence is at http://www.tecsoc.org/convergence/convergence.htm
Additional bibliography on convergence: http://dcc.syr.edu/biblio.htm
Notes from the seminar:
What is the most important aspect of convergence?
Publication Details
Page Created By: Kate O'Riordan
Email: k.s.o-riordan@sussex.ac.uk
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