Convergence (Multimedia)

What isn't multimedia is probably a better question. But hey, if you don't know the implications of the word MULTI-MEDIA then I'd tell you. It is a mix of more than a single type of media, for example radio (sound), newspaper (text & static images) and television (moving images).

What enabled all these media to merge in single platform? It would be Da Intarwebs (the Internet for those of you who cannot l33t speak). At first glance, multimedia computing tried to use optical disks which were able to store large amounts of data (at that time) and were mobile and able to be mass produced and probably serve as a form of entertainment.

But now, multimedia has gotten really serious. What do I mean? Ever since the internet allowed news companies to go online, it has fundamentally changed the way people with an internet connection seek out news. For the moment, it seems that people watch television for a primary source of information, then go to the internet to do secondary confirmation. Simply put, people use the internet to either seek out the latest information on the piece of news they just received from their television sets OR to confirm that what they are seeing on television isn't a hoax.

BUT that's just for the current, older and less net savvy generation. For future generations where the internet is something children grow up and spend copious amounts of time with, then the impact of convergence of the media would fully come to bear. Newspapers if they still exist will disappear in their conventional forms. "Television" would be viewed through the internet on internet enabled television, visual projection devices such as monitors or even designer eyewear. The radio would be accessed digitally through an internet connection and the airwaves would be dominated by internet bandwidth instead of a radio broadcast.

Everything will move digital, because it is cheaper. If I only had to pay an internet access fee to get a free telephone line, free television, free radio, free library and free consultation for almost any topic known to man, then why must I continue to pay more to have continued access to the same material I can access online?

From the common person's point of view, it just doesn't make sense for me to waste my money which I can then spend on other things I find more important. If the prices of computers are coming down, cheaper than a television and the definition of a monitor that's 1/10 a price of a television has 2x or more the resolution sharpness of a TV, I no longer see the reasons for television or any other media to continue to exist. Computers and the internet have used "multimedia" to the highest effect and this convergence of media would only continue to happen as we move towards the 22nd century.

Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
今日の馬鹿，明日わ天才