Media Convergence

Media convergence is the act of all the different types of media converging, or combining into one big stream of information. May this be through smartphones or different technologies and industries, media convergence is happening faster than we can keep up and if we choose not to continue focusing on creating new and interesting content the world will just leave us in its trail of bored users. Jenkins describes the five process of convergence as Technological Convergence, Economic Convergence, Social or organic Convergence and Global Convergence. Cultural convergence represents the new forms of entertainment and creativity fostered through the different types of platforms that they can be accessed on, this differs from technological convergence as with cultural convergence it relates directly to the content that is produced but in order to produce said content, it means the required technology would be required. One example of this is Snapchat and having pictures that don’t last forever. An example of social or organic convergence would be using multiple media technologies at the same time without realising. One example could be listening to music on Spotify whilst texting your friends on your phone but also using a laptop and scrolling through Facebook at the same time.

One memorable experience that I- have through media convergence and using mobile internet on my phone is when I was walking to somewhere and I was fully lost, so I spoke to Siri asking for directions and it took me back home because that’s where it thought I was trying to go (it wasn’t), i find this memorable because we claim to have come so far with these new technologies but at the end of the day they simply don’t work.