From SXSWi: An Introduction to Convergence in Media and Technology
Posted by Brett Tackaberry on March 13th, 2006
The following is an introduction to media and technology convergence. This is intended to pique interest, provide a brief overview of where it is coming from, where it is and where it is going.
Multiplicity of data
The information explosion/revolution is generating more and more data and content. We see this in mobile devices capturing our environment and simultaneously tagging with context, position and time; events posted, tagged, attended, and followed-up-upon; websites, books, photos, music - content - tagged and shared; blogging, rss, etc.; and, so on. Steve’s post on Personal Knowledge Management lists various tools that allow us to create, capture and digest the information and data that is available to us now.
Ubiquity
Anywhere, everywhere and anytime - the essence of converging technology. What do I want to know right here and right now. Access your resources, publish your story where you are and when you are. Postion and time context is more relevant than is considered. It all comes down to usage of computing systems becoming behavioural and ingrained in our everyday life - technology becoming utility.
Enabling remixing
For content creators and application developers: integrate and be integrated. Share how to really be productive with your work and make designers and ultimately evangelists out of your audience. Allow your data to be remixed and recombined. Promote recombination. This all ends in the ability to slice the data to match your personality and thus to really specialize and essentially diverge from the convergence.
Wrap-up
Convergence is a movement towards ubiquitous computing. It means transparent and unobtrusive computing and usage of seemingly smart systems. See below for suggested exploration and check back for updates.
