“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”- Charles Darwin
As wise Charles Darwin has stated nothing in this world can survive completely on its own without conforming to changes or convergence. Today we are surrounded by technology that are ever evolving, take for example the cassette tapes they were useful once but now they have become items of vintage collection, today the cassette tapes has been replaced by the likes of CDs, but the CD themselves maybe the thing of the past thanks to mp3 file formats, mp3 players and illegal downloads. It has dawn on us that everything is moving into a more cybernetic age soon where technology will pretty much replace many conventional and traditional media. Our newspapers used to only come in the form of hard copy papers filled with news and ads now we have got news portal that updates more frequently then newspaper and are more briefer to read. It is stated by Jenkins in his article The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence, he stated that media convergence is more than a technical shift.
When talk about technological shift, is just like evolution of writing, from cave paintings, to written scrolls and papyrus, to writing on paper and now typing on computer. How even the simplest form of communication has evolve from the usual face to face interaction, to telephone conversation to text messaging. We are in an age where technology can be utilize in just about any way. For instance, before the internet ads were limited to just tv ads, radio ads, billboards and print ads, but with the introduction to internet advertiser see it as a place filled with potential and have fully utilize the space available on the internet.
Creative Industries
What is duty of a creative person in the creative industry? Obviously is to find the best way to connect and communicate with the audience. Today, it seems that consumer seems to be able to voice out their opinions even more now and as the saying goes "customer is king" thus, we should comply to what they so desire in their product. Problem is, is it possible to jam every possible thing imaginable into a certain spot? Take for example the Iphone, it was the most wanted product by many mainly because it can do so much, s o much that a normal cell phone would explode from all its content. But the question is, is more always better? What happen to the minimalist approach? And even if technology do provide the ability to jamed packed a certain gadget with just about everything would it actually make it any better?
Media Conglomerates
The big guns always calls the shots, huge corporation today are keeping their competitor to a minimal by buying over them. By doing so, they get bigger and bigger and would be virtually impossible to compete with. By taking full advantage of media convergence they pretty much gobble up all other medias to minimize their competitor. This is a real concern for small businesses who is trying to survive in this harsh dog eat dog world. As the saying goes the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer.
Consumer
Jenkins also stated that media convergence impact the way we consume media, which is true we are greatly influenced by killing two birds with one stone aka multi-tasking. I have seen it with my own eyes many friends of my on social network complaining they can't concentrate on assignment due to Facebook yet at the same time it through Facebook that we get updates about our assignment on how to overcome the assignment. Its rhetorical actually whether to say multi-tasking is a good thing or a bad thing but many employers however find multi-tasking a very important skills they wished that all their employees would have.
Thus, media convergence has been around for quite some time now and is paving the way of how we see traditional media today. Traditional media today focus more on getting involve with the audience as audience wants to be heard too. And that is what media industries seem to be doing nowadays, giving what the audience want by listening.
Hi Ivan!
ReplyDeleteI like how you bring in traditional media in the convergence culture. I personally agree that traditional media today also realizes the potential of the interactive media in drawing more attention to the public. No matter how traditional they are, these media still need to figure out a way to ensure that the information they provide can reach to the right audiences; thus, the need for convergence & interactivity. Agreed with what you stated - "They want to be heard too". I mean, who don't want to be heard after so much effort they had put into their work?
Besides, I also personally feel that reaching out to the public is one very important responsibility of the media industry. No matter what house rules you have in the certain media house, it is still inapplicable if your "rules" are unable to fulfill your responsibility, which is to reach out to the public. Is convergence necessary, I personally that yes is the answer. But it's also necessary to control the level of convergence each media house is involved in in order to avoid losing their essence as an important information provider.