Media Convergence Notes

Media Convergence

Learning Outcomes

• Identify examples of convergence in contemporary life.

• Name the five types of convergence identified by Henry Jenkins.

• Recognize how convergence is affecting culture and society.

Media Convergence Definitions

• Media convergence focuses on:

  • Technological convergence

  • Functional convergence

  • Competitive/complementary convergence

  • Strategic/industry convergence

• Example: A cell phone that takes pictures and video exemplifies the convergence of digital photography, digital video, and cellular telephone technologies.

Types of Convergence

Convergence is the integration of computing, telecommunications, and media in a digital environment.

• Three main types:

  • Technological Convergence

  • Economic Convergence

  • Cultural Convergence

Advantages of Media Convergence

• Instant availability of news and moment-based content.

• Content producers can target specific audiences with customized content.

• Audience integration on a global level, with audiences becoming creators (e.g., memes, social media posts).

• Broadening limitations of traditional media by blending it with new media for instant, up-to-date international content.

• More economical digital marketing.

Importance of Media Convergence

• Blends content, communication technologies, and computer networks.

• Leads to the transformation of industries, services, and work practices.

• Gives rise to new forms of content.

• Transforms communication, news reporting, and journalism.

• Leads to cross-media, enabling content access through portable devices.

• Creates new media forms like news portals, podcasts, news feeds, blogs, websites, and mobile applications.

• Provides online access to archives and user commentary.

Disadvantages of Media Convergence

• Difficulty in assessing consumer responses across diverse platforms.

• Increased competition for consumer attention.

• Information overload for audiences.

• Challenges for older generations and disabled individuals in learning digital skills.

• High reliance on technology and internet access, creating issues for areas lacking these.

• Vulnerability to cyber-attacks and malfunctioning.

Effects of Media Convergence on Society

• Benefits small and large businesses.

• Provides rapid accessibility of information and content.

• Improves communication, globalizing society.

• Can lead to unhealthy device addiction.

Technological Convergence

• Definition: Bringing previously unrelated technologies together, often in a single device.

• Smartphones are a prime example, combining telephones, wristwatches, digital cameras, and GPS navigators.

• Technological convergence is often synonymous with innovation.

• Leads to easier access to technology at a lower cost, known as the consumerization of IT.

• Businesses can connect more easily with customers and learn about their buying habits.

• Retailers can track customer locations in stores and send targeted coupons.

Economic Convergence

• Definition: Economies of different countries becoming more similar to each other.

• Exists when two or more economies tend to reach a similar level of development and wealth.

• Low- and middle-income economies may grow faster than high-income countries.

• Example: GDP increased by an average rate of $2.7\%$ per year in the 1990s and $2.3\%$ per year from 2000 to 2008 in high-income countries.

• Minimum skills and infrastructure are needed for robotics and AI in developing countries.

Cultural Convergence

• Definition: When two or more cultures influence each other and become similar with increased contact.

• Impacts art, customs, ideologies, and sometimes languages.

• Cultures change and adapt with frequent exposure to other cultures.

• Rate of convergence increases with higher instances of contact, ease of communication/transportation, and participation in the same organizations.

Henry Jenkins' Five Types of Convergence

• Economic Convergence

• Organic Convergence

• Cultural Convergence

• Global Convergence

• Technological Convergence

Economic Convergence (Jenkins)

• Occurs when a company controls several products or services within the same industry.

• Example: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation's interests across book publishing, newspapers, sports, broadcast & cable television, film, and the internet.

Organic Convergence (Jenkins)

• Happens when someone is multitasking across different media (e.g., watching TV online, texting, and listening to music).

Cultural Convergence (Jenkins)

• Stories flowing across several kinds of media platforms (e.g., novels becoming TV series).

• Participatory culture: Media consumers annotate, comment on, remix, and influence culture.

• Example: YouTube allows users to communicate globally and shape cultural trends.

Global Convergence (Jenkins)

• Geographically distant cultures influencing one another despite physical separation.

• Examples:

  • Nigeria’s cinema industry (Nollywood) takes cues from India’s Bollywood, which is inspired by Hollywood.

  • American horror movies remaking Japanese hits.

• Potential downside: Cultural imperialism, where dominant cultures influence developing countries through media.

Technological Convergence (Jenkins)

• Merging technologies, such as watching TV shows online or playing video games on mobile phones.

• Transforming different kinds of media into digital content expands the potential relationships between them.

How Convergence Culture Impacts Society

• Combines old and new media to create something new.

• Changes how people view items and events by diversifying them.

• Impacts the way people view videos and films, shifting from theaters to phones/computers.

• Influences film accessibility via mobile phones.

How Convergence Affects Society

• Media convergence transforms industries, services, and work practices, enabling new content forms.

• Breaks down established media industry and content silos.

• Uncouples content from particular devices, presenting policy and regulatory challenges.