Digitization and Media Convergence
1. Introduction to Digitization and Media Convergence
Introductory definitions of “digitization” and “media convergence”. A discussion of the impact of these two processes on the world of mass media. This discussion will include how digitization and the development of the internet have changed the journalism industry in terms of the way in which news is gathered and disseminated. An examination of the theory of technological determinism and how it is relevant to understanding the changes to journalism over the past two decades. An examination of how digitization and media convergence have impacted the form and functions of libraries and archives. This section of the essay will look at the digitization of a variety of media that was once only available in print or analogue form. The impact of this on the accessibility and preservation of these materials will be examined, as will the implications for the people who rely on these materials for research and educational purposes. The section will also consider the impact of changing systems of media storage and preservation, and how it may affect the long-term availability of cultural knowledge and information. A discussion of the economic implications of digitization and media convergence. This will include an examination of the changing patterns of ownership and control within the media industries, particularly in terms of inter-media mergers and the concentrated ownership of multinational media conglomerates. The essay will also examine the causal relationship between digitization and media convergence on one hand, and the recent trend of media globalization on the other, taking into consideration the acceleration of cross-border transfer of information and culture from electronic and digital sources. This discussion will also consider how recent changes to media industries have affected the nature of the work and regulation of media industry professionals. A broad consideration of the positive and negative effects of digitization and media convergence on society as a whole. This will include exploration of changes to the public sphere and the quality of democratic discourse, alterations to patterns of consumption and leisure, changing cultural and subcultural forms, the global spread of information, and recent reviews on the ‘digital divide’.
2. Impact of Digitization on Media Industry
Digital technology has changed the ways in which the media industry is structured. The era of the late 1990s put pressure on traditional media industries to adapt to the competitive strategies of startup companies in the new media and internet services. This led to a wave of mergers and acquisitions between media companies with very different industry cultures, creating a new multimedia entertainment and media oligopoly. Digitization has also opened up the market to a new wave of media industry entrepreneurs, who do not necessarily conform to the traditional industry structure and who now have access to global markets for the design and production of new media products.
In the last decade, digitization has had a profound impact on the media. The proliferation of digital media and the convergence of information technologies have changed the ways in which the media industry is structured, how media products are constructed, and the ways in which they are disseminated. Digitization has also changed the ways in which the news cycle and media ecology operate and have facilitated increasingly personalized and interactive forms of media consumption.
3. Media Convergence and its Effects
In recent years, we have seen the effects of media convergence on society. This is a topic that has recently become an increasingly popular subject among media scholars. It is widely agreed upon that the recent advancements in technology related to the internet have helped cause the changes within numerous media systems. The changes that those media systems are undergoing are a result of the few corporations who own the technologies that bring the internet to consumers. This new age of technology is taking the internet up and above traditional forms of media. Media convergence is more than simply a shift of technology. At a more societal level, it has resulted in changes to the flow of information and altering patterns of social interaction. An apparent trend in the news business today is the destruction of old media, such as printed newspapers, and a shift to the internet and digital forms of information. This speaks volumes to how society is obtaining and sharing its information today, with the internet being a clear focal point. In the case of news, media convergence will look to satisfy consumers by making news easier and more convenient to access. Digital newspapers can update immediately with new information, thus keeping current events fresh in the minds of readers. It also eliminates the cost for paper and printing, something that will become decreasingly viable as consumers become more attached to their digital information. The way media convergence has impacted changing the flow of information will continue to be studied as old media is forced out of existence and history becomes defined by digital information. Conversation and language in society have long been impacted by the changes media goes through, and it is an important aspect of how media convergence is affecting changes in information flow. There is a great amount of history in changes to the forms of language within media systems, especially in the case of advertising. Print-based media, such as newspapers, had used lengthy literary styles to grab the attention of readers and define the meaning behind products. Language was morphed considerably into shorter forms with the emergence of TV and radio, as brief, catchy, and affirmative words were used to try to sell a product in the short time it had consumer attention. Audio-visual language has again morphed into a form even shorter than before with the heavy usage of advertisements on the internet. The use of pop-up visual and audio ads has become hard to avoid on some webpages, making them often as frequent and annoying as the junk mail people used to receive in letterboxes. This can sometimes have a negative effect, but it is an adaptive change of language to suit a more effective way of trying to sell a product to society, and it is guaranteed that future changes in advertising media will seek a more positive connection between the consumer and the product seen.
4. Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Era
Failure to model the digital environment may raise compatibility issues and unsuccessful implementation. In fact, it is suggested that some of the systems to be represented may not correspond to real system due to entrenched habits and a culture of doxy, according to Engleman simulations will provide an environment to change this. Choice of simulation and modeling requires rich and manipulatable representations of data and systems. This is where the challenge lies for the current state of textual data and qualitative-based methods.
Engleman suggests that whether real or simulated, an organizational environment can be understood as a complex adaptive system of heterogeneous agents of various kinds interacting with one another and their environment according to simple rules. The resulting network of interaction exhibits patterns emergence and evolving structures that are often far from the original intentions of the agents and difficult to understand. This being the archetype, the primary goal of any project is to improve the conditions under which the system behaves, yet there may be significant and unforeseen consequences from changes to the system.
Digital environments are complex, and organizations can only begin to understand their ramifications by forming conceptual models to test them. According to Van de Ven and Engleman at the 20th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, a shift is required from understanding cause and effect to understanding the implications of complex actor interrelations.
In today’s modified environment, a main issue for organizations and establishments is the preformulation and organization of a strategy to handle the digital environments for it. To efficiently manage resources in the research, development, and actualization of technology demands a richer understanding of the background and surrounds of the technology and its influences. A failure to do so could result in problematic implications. Organizations should have a conscious awareness of the digital environments they are trying to construe and capture. The failure to understand the digital environment is likely to result in underachievement, and an incapacity to learn may lead to lost opportunities.
5. Future Trends in Digitization and Media Convergence
The move toward a fully digital and converged media world is complex and difficult to predict. This is due in part to the rapid changes in technology, which are driven by a combination of customer demand and the increasing capabilities of manufacturers. Nevertheless, it is clear that the trends identified above are likely to continue and to gain momentum over the coming years. In many ways, these trends simply represent increasing capacity and availability in the methods media content can be created, delivered, and used. As digital technologies continue to improve, so do the opportunities for using them in increasingly diverse ways. An example of this is the increasing use of mobile phones not just as a medium through which to access audio-visual content but also as a recording device for user-generated content. Furthermore, the more ways in which consumers are able to create media content themselves, the more options there are to integrate it with existing media technologies. Thus, as the capacity to create and deliver media through digital technologies continues to expand, so too will the opportunities to pool these resources toward a single goal. An example of this is new forms of digital advertising, which to date have not been fully realized, taking advantage of the capabilities for complex data collection and user behavior analysis made possible through digital technologies. Whether or not these trends represent a true convergence of media forms in the sense that we understand it today remains to be seen. However, it is likely that the concepts behind them will continue to push the boundaries of what we currently understand as media convergence.
