ABIGAIL'S PART ESSAY PART OF THE ASSIGNMENT COMPLETED:

I recently finished the first part of the essay, and I am now waiting for the others to finish theirs. My part of the essay was to explan what media convergence is, and I gave some examples.
A book which helped me with my part of the essay, and some of the others in the group was a book by Henry Jenkins.

This book helped me a lot throughout my research and understanding of what media convergence really is, and made me aware of how media convergence works, and how media convergence is not a recent thing, but has been happening for many years.

The following is my part of the essay. I got the smallest part of the essay to write, as I am going to be editing the essay together, aswell as editing the audio.

MEDIA CONVERGENCE: What is it? Abigail Weston.

Media Convergence is the development of different types of media forming together to make one bigger and better media experience. Different types of merging media include: television programmes being shown via the internet, such as the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and 4OD. Newspapers are now available to be read on the internet on official websites or blogs, and books are available to be downloaded and read on digital tablets, such as the Kindle, and the iPad. Buying music on CD’s is swiftly becoming a thing of the past, with more and more people choosing to download their music online, as they find it more accessible and quicker to do so.

Convergence was described by Henry Jenkins as a “word that describes technological, industrial, cultural, and social changes, in the ways in which the media circulates within our culture.” H.Jenkins also stated that media convergence could be referred to as a situation whereby numerous media organisations coexist together, and where media content is able to flow fluidly across them. He believes that the Convergence of media is an on-going process between different media systems. These systems include news, television, radio, the internet and social networking websites.

(JENKINS, H , 2006. Convergence Culture: Where old and new Media Collide. 1st ed. 282: New York University Press..)

By Abigail Weston

MEDIA CONVERGENCE: Real Life Angry Birds?

I found a really interesting story after Yuwei mentioned 'real life' Angry Birds in one of our lectures.This article talks about a 12 year old boy who loved the very popular game 'Angry Birds' that much that he decided to try and create a real life version of the game in his Fathers field.

The picture below is of the young boy who has created his own real life version of the game. This is an example of media convergence, as the game which is made for iPhone and Android phones has been turned into a real life physical game for the Angry Birds Fanatic. It could also be described as 'Hyper Reality' as the boy loved the game on his iPod, that he wanted to be able to love it in real life aswell.

(http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3895910/Lads-real-life-Angry-Birds.html)

(http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/video/virals/3895433/Schoolboys-real-life-Angry-Birds.html)

The link above takes you to a video about the young boy and his quest to make his real life version of the game.

By Abigail Weston

MEDIA CONVERGENCE: The impact on the Mass Media:

MEDIA CONVERGENCE: The impact on the Mass Media:
During my research, I have found that normal, ordinary people are able to download music, share videos and pictures online, without any formal or any professional training or help.

A perfect example which our group have discussed in meetings is the accessability and ease of the BBC iPlayer.
As the iPlayer is apart of the BBC, no public advertisement is used, a part from on BBC channels, wesbites and radio channels.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017cqyb/Young_Apprentice_Series_2_The_Over_50s_Market/)


The BBC iPlayer has a way of advertising for free.
When you are watching the programme online, underneath the video playing are some options which are circled in the picture above.

You are able to favourite the video, directly link it, download it to play at a later date or watch it in HD.
Another option is to 'Share' the video. This is basically free advertisement for the BBC, as it allows the viewers to share the video on online social networking websites, to get a larger viewing audience online.

Being able to share and download videos online is a perfect example of media convergence and the impact on mass media. More and more people are beginning to use the iPlayer and if everyone who watches online shares with their friends on social networking sites, the more popular online television will become.

By Abigail Weston

MEDIA CONVERGENCE: The impact on the Mass Media:

The impact of media convergence has been, and still is pretty huge toward mass media..
One way is through the improvement of digital technology, the cost, and quality and quantity of media outlets..

Our group found a very interesting article on the BBC website.

This article states universities should prioritise Digital Technologies, as soon digital industries will soon be worth £1.9 TRILLION.
Digital industries including in the estimated price include
social networking sites including Facebook, and Twitter.


(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11214894)







Another impact of Media Convergence is the quality and quantity of media outlets.
These outlets include:

• Print Newspapers

(Picture taken on Abigail's Blackberry of The Sun Newspaper 15/11/2011)

• Broadcast News: Television and Radio.

(Picture taken on Abigail's Blackberry of SKY GUIDE - NEWS)

• Internet: Online newspapers, blogs and Twitter 'news' feeds.

The Guardian Newspaper online wesbite:

(http://www.theguardian.co.uk)




The Guardian's twitter page, who have well over 240,000 followers who get every single news update that they provide during the day.
(Below)

(http://twitter.com/guardiannews)

By Abigail Weston

(please click the images to make them appear larger)

Has Media Convergence changed our culture?

Our modern day culture has changed with media convergence; it has changed how we live our lives from how we watch TV with the On Demand services. Our culture has affected how we listen to radio with quality equipment to make it sound better.

                                      

                         
 There’s also the introduction of podcasts and being able to listen to the show again after its been broadcast.  Movies have been a major part of our life’s, with them being broadcast on TV and being able to buy them in the store we have changed from just watching them in the cinemas once and never watching them again. Again the introduction of technology into the production of DVDS has lowered costs and made them widely available, the downside being film companies are more open to counterfeiting and home copying. 




Thomas Bates

MEDIA CONVERGENCE: What is it?

Media Convergence is media coming together on a mass scale.
EXAMPLE:


(http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Jan/Week3/15524295.jpg)

This picture is a perfect example of Media Convergence.
A person using a mobile phone, on the internet, and reading Sky News.

The convergence here is using the internet on a mobile phone, and instead of reading news from a newspaper, you are able, because of improved technology, to read news updates on the go on your phone.

By Abigail Weston.