"Ow My GOD!!!...i need to get back home early, or no ill miss the match which is in an hour time!!!". Well this are the usual dialogue's you can hear few years back. The people then was very sure that we cant do two works at one. However i would like to sincerely welcome ya'll to step in to a new type of world which two works are possible to be done simultaneously. Well actually im talking about the new in thing, which is the convergence of media. Convergence is the process where several media channels come together to exists and operate in synergy or rather in harmony.
Technology has come a very long way actually. New inventions seems to be unstoppable. However the trend seems to be changing lately. Altough the creation of new invention is expanding, at the same time there is another expanding trend which is the art of converging or combining technologies. Henry Jenkins' Worship at the altar of convergence - A new paradigm for understanding media change becomes the reading for this week on the topic of convergence. The main issues that convergence actually touch on is about technological, industrial, cultural and social changes.Everyone seems to look at things differently at different parts of the world. Thus when different element tend to interfere, new innovation is born. People will try to as much as then can to come out with new innovative product and ideas. Convergence occurs during that period. Human tend to come out with great ides in making life easier by combining tools especially in terms of information delivery and reception.
Example of convergence that we can see in our everyday life is like the convergence of TV and computer (internet tv), newspaper and internet & computer and cellphones. As different tools are used to do many different activities, convergence of all this is made to make things to be more simpler to do or faster. for example now newspaper is made easy to access and also free with the availability of online news website. besides that with the arrival of smart phone many activities such as booking air tickets, checking mails or even getting quick information which once a point of time made possible if you only have a computer.
However this new innovation also has its setback. Everyone knows that although an invention is modified, but the original is still considered to have the real quality of the invention. As such when a media is converged, the ability for it to perform its task to the fullest is decreased. For example although the newspaper is made possible online but how many of us could actually get accessed to it and is it user friendly to everyone. Another situation is the use of smartphone. Altought it could be used to do many stuff like to check your mails , but the usage of internet in a smart phone is somewhat could only be used for very minor things and cant be used as well as being used in a computer.
Ina a nutshell, convergence has brought in the new ways of information handling which is more easier and faster. However you may not expect the technology to be as good as it would be in its original state. However you may not know weather this might not be the end and the true potential of convergence is yet to be discovered.
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ReplyDeleteHullo there, Kiru. The world now mirrors a sphere of never-ending transformation, day by day, if it's not a new app from an old media, it'll be a new gadget with much more functions. Isn't that how it rolls nowadays?
ReplyDeleteI agree on your points of limitations when it comes to innovation. It's true when you mentioned that even with the convergence of different subjects, the end result would never beat the original piece. Take newspaper or a book, I prefer reading the actual hard copy of a book rather than the ebook version. Having to grasp something solid like the book in the hands, seems much more comfortable. Don't you think so?
But convergence does contribute to convenience and portability. We can check or purchase things with just our finger tips. To see the world and the media being aggregated to such a state today is pretty remarkable. Who would have thought touch screen would exist 10 years ago? I didn't.
Let's just see how far technology advancement will go now shall we? :)
Hey Kiru
ReplyDeleteThe trend today is very much to have everything packed into something. We hate to carry so many things therefore, innovation has given us convergence of different media.
Nothing beats the original? That's debatable, as innovation keeps improving is only a matter of time we will fully be using tablets to read our ebooks and newspapers, smartphones will replace our laptops and desktops and possibly our heavy DSLR.
Definitely the comings of all in one is really beneficial towards us in getting things done faster. However it also poses a threats to the future generation if everything is all in one which really could distort the individual characteristics of each gadget. It could be bad in a way which in order to educate a future generation child, a 5 in 1 gadget is shown to the child and then explaining one by one the functionality of the product, but doing so wont give the child the chance to actually hold the camera itself or hold the laptop it self or hold the phone just by it individual self which could really look somehow bad in education sense as these child wasn't given the chance to do the things we have been through.
ReplyDelete" In a nutshell, convergence has brought in the new ways of information handling which is more easier and faster. However you may not expect the technology to be as good as it would be in its original state." I guess we will just have to wait and see, huh?
ReplyDeleteOne thing about convergence is how it is constantly updating and changing. I believe one has to bring about changes and improvement for the media world to benefit. If it doesn't work out, there are many other ways. We cannot simply rest on our laurels. Improvement is almost in sync with the word convergence, the coming and forming together of new information and methods to do something.