The Power and Consequences of Media Convergence
The technological revolution of the 2000s to the present has allowed for the expansion of the modern-day system of communication and feedback, yet targets the inadequacies of traditional media. In particular, print journalism has experienced a sharp decline in marketability and utility because of its restricted breadth of reach. The apex of the digital age has shown the versatility of online media, with users being able to download and watch their favorite television programs online while also allowing advertisers free reign on promoting their products and services through video format (Fan, 144). This heightened accessibility has allowed the consumer to bypass traditional media barriers and interact directly with the content that is provided.
Figure 1. Platform convergence across various media.
Since it is only limited to the one-way communication path dictated by the author, print journalism relies on media convergence—the integration of one platform to another as means of adapting to technological advances—to effectively reach an audience that has now been normalized to digital content production. The product of convergence has not only been users flocking to read news online, but also responding back to the content that they are given: writing comments on articles of interest, publishing user-generated blog posts, creating communities with people across the world who share the same interests (Thompson, 141). Digital convergence has also seeped into the education sector, with teachers now implementing a multi-media system of learning that involves digital presentations and online assignments in order to adapt with the changing landscape (Barone, 292).
However, digital convergence has also come with its own unique set of problems, and ones that have no clear solutions thus far. For instance, platform convergence has made a renowned impact on the new generation of millennials, who are conditioned to finding the material that they want in the easiest, most inexpensive way possible. This is has led to tech-savvy youth using their knowledge about online systems to streamline content and services directly to them without having to pay for it; the most common example being illegal downloading of copywritten music (The Reading Teacher). In addition, the production of digital media has grown more complex as interdisciplinary teamwork requires a collection of workers in different fields (i.e. production, design, marketing, financing, etc.) to work cohesively on one project. This differs from traditional media businesses in that there is an added element of content marketing and convergence analysis that must be understood by all in order to successfully promote and sell a product or service to a technologically-nuanced consumer (Steinheider, 315).
Works Cited (MLA Format):
- Fan, Ming, Kumar Subodha, and Whinston Andrew B. “Selling or Advertising: Strategies for Providing Digital Media Online.” Journal of Management Information Systems3 (2007): 143-66. Web.
- Thompson, Mark. “Digital Media and the Future of Quality Broadcasting.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society2 (2009): 140-46. Web.
- Barone, D., & Wright, T. (2008). Literacy Instruction with Digital and Media Technologies. The Reading Teacher,62(4), 292-303. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27699693
- “Majority of Youth Understand Copyright but Continue to Download Illegally.” The Reading Teacher 1 (2004). Web.
- Steinheider, Brigitte, and Legrady George. “Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Digital Media Arts: A Psychological Perspective on the Production Process.” Leonardo4 (2004): 315-21. Web.
