In the book Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life by Graham Meikle, the author givesĀ a brief account on the evolution of media and it’s convergence into this sort of entity that’s constantly improving. A great example of this combination of content, computing and communication is shown through the iTunes application. In the beginning it was used only for music but over time it has added media ranging from films to books and TV programs. Although we do not think about it, the innovation of various technologies resulting in the convergence of media is influenced significantly by how end users receives and interacts with the technology. For example the SMS text that is so popular today took off because of how the younger generation received it.
But with new technologies comes a need for regulation. This theory is seen in the introduction of the DVD. Although it was very good at the beginning for film studios, it quickly became difficult because users began to exploit this digital media by copying and sharing resulting in the rise of copyright regulators and hardware manufactures taking steps to prevent these exploitation of their property. Of course over time users will get around this minor roadblock because of differing ideas of intellectual property and the basic need to share. So in the end there is this constant cycle within content, computing and communication controlled not only by government policies and corporate interests, but also by end user interactions.
