Development: Group Meeting

After gathering together all of the information we had each sourced over the last week, we realised that it was too difficult for each of us to research an individual section of the essay. Therefore we decided to change our plan by researching every section we need to cover in the essay, as this way we would all have knowledge of each area to share and it would also be much quicker.

Sams Development

Whilst researching the term 'Media Convergence' I found that there is no single definition or even a similar description for it. I feel this is because the phrase 'Media Convergence' covers such a wide range of topics such as technological, organisational and industrial, so therefore there cannot be a single explanation.

I researched many books such as:

• Ambivalence Towards Convergence Digitalization and Media Change
• Understanding Media Convergence
• Convergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide
• Media Policy: Convergence, Concentration and Commerce
• Media Society, Industries, Images and Audiences

But the most simple yet effective definition I could find was in this book :

• Understanding Media Convergence the State of Field

'(Jim Carroll's off-quoted explanation of why it's like teenage sex)

• No one knows what it is but thinks that it must be great.
• Everyone thinks that everyone else is doing it.
• Those who say they are doing it are probably lying.
• The few who are doing it aren't doing it well.
• Once they start doing it, they realize that it's going to take them a long time to do it right.
• They'll also soon start realizing that there is no "right" way to do it.

(Poynterextra, 2002)'

Grant. E, A. Wilkinson. S.J, (2009), Understanding Media Convergence the State of Field, Oxford University Press.


This is another simple definition I found, it explains both media convergence and multi-platforms in one simple phrase:

'By media convergence, I mean the flow of content accross multiple media platforms'

Jenkins. H, (2006), Convergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press.

Development: Group Meeting

Today we met as a group and discussed how we are going to address each section of this assignment (the essay, short film, presentation and this Blog). We have decided to firstly prioritise the essay as we feel that it will be easier to pursue the other projects once we have gained all the information we need for the written essay (from books and theories to video clips and blogs).

We also drew up an essay structure and put together all of our ideas about media convergence and the opportunities/challenges to both industry and society.

For next week we are each researching media convergence and one aspect of the essay; such as challenges to society or opportunities to creative industries.

Introduction to our Blog

Our group consists of Sam McMahon, Hannah Cummins, John English and Cobi Elliott.

As a group we are going to explore Media Convergence, and its opportunities and challenges to creative industries and to society as a whole. We are going to answer this question through writing a 3000 word essay, producing a short film explaining the developments of media convergence and creating a digital presentation. All of our developments such as theories we have learnt, videos we have explored and analysed, meetings we have had as a group as well as knowledge we have gained as individuals, will all be compiled in this Blog.