upcybernomads: Catching News on my Ipad

Since the start of the semester I haven’t been really able to regularly watch television. Over the course of the Christmas break, I mostly caught up on my current affairs by watching news, flipping through all the different news channels, local and international; CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera, and ANC. I caught this commercial of CNN announcing that a CNN application was already available for Ipad. My initial reaction was “Wow” to the effort of CNN to keep up with all the latest technological innovations, and CNN is so cool to be available in an Ipad.

Actually that very act CNN was doing, is a single great illustration of convergence that’s happening all around us. Henry Jenkins describes convergence as “the flow of content across multiple platforms.” He described the idea that convergence is like a collision of old media and new media. It’s true. CNN nowadays, and even other news channels are not limited to reaching audience through television, but is now available through many breakthrough mediums. CNN has its own online radio, its own website, several Facebook accounts and three Twitter accounts for CNN newsbreaks, International news, and other CNN news classifications. It also has its official blogsites and podcasts. You can also make your own profile online where CNN can send you e-mail news alerts and newsletters. CNN is also available on your mobile phone, Itunes, Ipod, Iphone, and Ipad. Now that’s convergence! (You can check out all the sites mentioned by clicking on the links below.)

The act of CNN making itself available through all these technology, as well as trying to reach its audience through a variety of forms, is its process of establishing convergence as a news channel or network. As Jenkins put it, every consumer gets “courted” through these multiple mediums. If I have to explain convergence in one statement I’d say my most favorite description of Jenkins about it. Hardware are diverging, content are converging. That’s exactly what’s happening to CNN. News is made available in different forms, but it’s still same old reliable news. And this rise in convergence is made possible through digitization.

Convergence is not all about technology though. Jenkins said convergence is not merely about content being present in different technologies. Convergence comes with a participatory culture of consumers. He said consumers are “encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content.” CNN does promote its audience to consume their news in different platforms. I would always see CNN promoting its Facebook and Twitter accounts on screen and their anchors announcing how to follow CNN on those networks. CNN makes sure all its mediums work together for the consumer and the consumer is assured that he is getting the best options to get information from CNN.

So with convergence as an already occurring process that’s happening and revolutionizing media today, what implications could it bring? If you think of the extremes, convergence may go too far and mess with quality, and serious information like news may be spread too thinly over different platforms, and may even become too entertaining. There may also be confusion with different information available in different mediums, and may be too confusing and cluttered for consumers to handle. Sometimes I do feel this. When I search for news I wish there would only be one reliable source, instead of numerous different ones. Also with all the additional charges from different applications in different platforms, convergence is bound to focus on moneymaking by big media institutions thus only widening their hold over different kinds of media. Many implications may arise, maybe some we still don’t know by now.

For me though, I think it’s a win-win situation both for producers and consumers. I think it’s even close to being ideal. Media institutions get to expand their reach, make their content more closer to their audiences, and more fun and interactive, plus it gets them to produce their content in a variety of forms, and more importantly, they gain huge profit from it. Consumers on the other hand, are provided with more options, more convenience, and can now be active consumers by giving feedback, views, and opinions. Consumers also gain more freedom to view, choose, and assess information they want to take in because with convergence, news is “decentralized and easily available” according to Jenkins. I think convergence is a good thing, and hopefully we can do more amazing and especially useful things out of the process.

To end, here’s a video that gives different illustrations of convergence. I saw it posted on Facebook. :)