Thingy: A new blogger in town!

So I was talking to somebody over the week and it is true that we Gen Y are the babies who experienced a shift of paradigm. From a traditional platform to a modern avenue - the Internet. The Internet has opened so many doors and innovated changes for the better. Through these 13 weeks of classes, we all should know this very well. 


The Internet to me is one of the biggest innovations ever. When you think of it, as the developer of the Internet, where did he even start?! Like the camera, the Internet is hands down one of the most beautiful creation yet. It will continue to amaze us and behold, we now have objects who blogs!


Julian Bleecker's 'Why Things Matter?' sheds a light on these thingies. It is a tricky concept to understand I must say but maybe with these videos, you'd understand the idea of Blogjects (objects that blog).






















No, I'm not kidding you about Blogjects. These objects already exists and in the future, billions more Blogjects will surface in our homes. The social web now isn't solely for us humans only but it is becoming the "Internet of Things". These thingies joins and exchanges ideas through the web. They will become like human bloggers (you and I) by starting, maintaining and being smart in conversations. The relevant topics blogged by Blogjects will contribute to human's decision making.


Their characteristics includes

• Being able to track and trace where they have been
• Having embedded histories of their encounters and experiences
• Having an assertive voice within the social web

Which brings us to the point of why things matter? It is twofold, 1) For cohabitation - Space and Place; 2) For co-participation.

Cohabitation - Space and Place

Of these two points, I do agree with them pertinent to why Blogjects matters. Now in terms of space and place, it's really true how Bleecker has put it. Our things can now upload, download, disseminate and stream meaningful stuff. And all of these translates into being informative.

It is important to pay attention to these things because with an array of information, surely it will affect the physical world. These Blogjects will actually take up the space in various places in reality - a CCTV in a shopping mall, a body sensor in our pockets, a temperature device in our homes. If we're talking about CCTV being placed everywhere, it possesses a threat of privacy where we will feel uncomfortable with the rise of Blogjects. 

Food for thought, wouldn't this function be an absolute thrill for Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks team? Where information can be achieved with these devices plugged into our surroundings?

Co-participation -

The Internet is ubiquitous and this applies to Blogjects too. As long as there's a network connection, these things will be exchanging information and participating in the media and content. They will be our Personal Assistant if I may put it. They will be participating in our daily routine to give us information, a different point of view, help and convenience. 

This does get a lot of work done in a systematic order as our Blogjects has worked together to schedule out the most on time schedule for us. A very good function as we're all living in a fast paced era and especially the fact that it not only benefit us but others as well.

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In my opinion, there are the good and bad of Blogjects. The good thing is, we will benefit a lot from them. One thing is we will be able to know about important elements around us - the creatures under the sea, the animals on the brink of extinction in Amazon, the ferry being 15 minutes behind schedule. With devices and sensor embedded in various places, we will get these information as the objects will blog to us about the latest happenings. Information drives the world on.

Also, Blogjects can save lives! Now imagine this, if you were 80 years old, fragile and accident prone, specific medical related Blogjects will be useful. If you've fallen down in the bathroom and you've passed out, the Blogjects will automatically notifies an ambulance or someone about it. This does not necessarily applies only to the senior citizens but to everyone else as well, depending on the issue and the situation.

The bad thing is, I will see these Blogjects as an intrusion. Don't get me wrong, to have Blogjects waking you up, turning the hot water on the shower for you, automatically brewing your coffee and more really does makes life easier for us. Everything's on the go, but if this is how the future really rolls, then I believe certain people would not be comfortable to having objects in our house talking. It will seem odd and creepy at first. It's like we're being scrutinized and watched at so these Blogjects can speculate what to do for us.

Other than that it will be the usual on how human will be lazy and will be overly dependent on these devices and also the cost of having Blogjects in our homes would be another matter to ponder as well. I guess innovation will seem strange at the beginning, but once everyone accepts it, it'll eventually become a norm. Question, with Blogjects rising to the top, will it completely takes us over? If so, Houston, we've got a problem!

To date, I have not own any Blogjects yet. But it intrigues and excites me to see what's in store in the future. I think Blogjects are relatively cool and interesting which will bring the world to a whole new shift. Anticipating Blogjects!

Who's the Champ! - A classic battle between Google and Apple

An Apple Fan Boy picks Android over Apple! Why!

They say that people are exposed to about a 100 or more ads per day. But now, if you scrutinize carefully your surroundings, you and probably everyone else are exposed to countless smartphones from every corner. Smartphones is here and will be sticking around for a long time as an alternative to PCs and Desktops. Mobile computing is the trend, fad, culture of everyone.

The two well known big players from the Silicon Valley in terms of the IT world has got to be Google and Apple. Week 12's reading by Daniel Roth talks about Google's Open Source Android OS will free the wireless Web. 

So we're talking about operating systems. Android follows the philosophy of being a free, open source of mobile platform. Which means any coder and handset maker could do their magic and would earn revenue by selling support for the system. Going absolute wireless globally and openly with "the spirit of Linux and the reach of Windows". This was where Larry Page of Google took up Andy Rubin's deal of the Android.

Apple came out with their new baby - the iPhone. But what was Android's comeback? Well, Open Handset Alliance would sum it all. It is a consortium (association of companies, governments, organizations etc) to build a wireless interface based open source Linux software. 

Apple's mindset was the opposite of Google/Android. Google is the social butterfly that would continue to grow from a seed into something bigger and better; while Apple is more reserved, locked and protected. Some of the fruits of labor from Google:

A video demonstration by Android developers.

Top 10 cool free apps!

The best part is, because of their open source rule book, these apps will continue to grow and grow! They want to make browsing with a mobile a fun experience for users with Google search as the main anchor, of course. A rather smart tactic you would say as we see the rise of smartphones rocketing out of the buildings with 324 millions of units in 2011!

My two cents is that if I were to buy a smartphone, I think I will go Android. Why? Simple, it's not enclosed. And because it's practical. iPhone is a cool and admirable gadget but with Android, their golden philosophy of open source makes it easier for everyone. Bear in mind that Android today has about 190 million Android devices in use, 250% year on year revenue growth in mobiles and also with an estimation of 520,000 apps. 

Now what does that mean to you?

Apple 

• Closed devices
• Walled garden of apps - Apps Store
• Complete control over platform, content and user. 

'iPhone: Apple reinvents the phone', no doubt this tagline does makes sense. Apple has brought mobile phones and innovations to a whole new level. It strives with a huge profit margin with one hardware manufacture (Apple) with one OS. With such stringent codes albeit it providing much comfort and fun, it does presents a certain restrictions and irritation. But, I have to admit, it's hands down tempting.

Google

• Open and free platform - Linux
• Open garden of apps - Android Market
• No control over platform, content and user
• 300,000 activations per day
• 861.5% yearly growth in Android Market
• 615% yearly growth in global market share

Whereas Google gives away Android for free for independent app markets. They don't reel in big profit margin like Apple but rather they rely on long tail concept. 'Don't be evil - Flow of information is key.' It's all about the network effect, connectivity. And we're are indeed living in the era of knowledge workers and material, information is still gold. And Google's moving into that direction. Also, there's not one day we don't use the Google search engine, so that as well pretty much solids my point! 

There's no doubt that both Apple and Google are smart companies that will continue to grow (in different directions). It's merely up to your prerogative and preference on which is your cup of tea. For me, looking into the long run and the value of information, Google wins for me. 

An Apple a day or Google-fying into the future? 

What's your pick, guys?

Facebook & Twitter labeled as 'Revolution'

Now, previously we've talked about Facebook and Twitter as a source of free flow of information, a platform for building relationships, an avenue of work and leisure and whatnot. Today, Facebook and Twitter are being categorized with another function altogether - a revolutionary hotspot.

Now, let's understand what this term means:

An overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed. - Dictionary.com

According to Evgeny Morozov's 'Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go', I feel in some ways it is written in such a way that provokes cynicism and anger. I do have to give the man some credits for being to able to defend his stand that revolutions happened due to these social platforms.

Let's summarize the 3 main points of Morozov: 1) A spontaneous uprising because of Facebook, 2) Facebook helps to spread democracy & 3) Unbalanced view of the protest leaders (Wael Ghonim to be specific).


To be precise, what I've gotten from the author is that these social platforms are the cause of revolutions and it's not because it's coincidental, but rather it does contribute to the main purpose of revolutions. In his words, "emphasizing the liberating role of the tools and downplaying the role of human agency". Also, he claims that democracy and the intention of revolution started off by these social media as well. It is through Facebook and Twitter that he claims gathered an army of lobbyists for protests. Finally, he felt that leaders of such protests are the ones who are exaggerating the technology role to the public pertinent to the uprisings around the world.

What's your take?


Well, these are some of the people's view:

New technologies are not the cause of the recent revolutions. Of course, they are, as you say, tools. But 20 years ago an uprising like Egypt's could have been quarantined and quashed by the regime in days, and the rulers would have been free to dictate the story to the press after the event. As Mubarak found, this is impossible to do when you have thousands of phones, cameras and laptops on the ground beaming every detail to the wider world. - OZKT29B

Mass communication tools will of course facilitate any kind of movement, be it pro- or anti-establishment. - R042

If revolutions are based on Facebook or Twitter then I doubt many will succeed. What they do provide is instant communication: they are the pamphlets of their time. Certainly without the printing press and pamphleteers, I doubt revolutions would have been possible in the past. But what revolutions need most is people power, oh and as Libya is demonstrating, gun power. - Ray Noble

Now these are just some about the point of views of others whom I agree on. To say that these social functions are to be blamed for all the protests and rallies in the world - Arab Spring for instance - is not entirely true. Here's what I think, the social tools are merely social + tools. A communicative channel and outsource of the people. A place where people go, not to create a ruckus of revolutionary ideas, but a place where people gather as one and express themselves out. And with that and that only.


Think of it this way, the message and the medium are two different things. The message is conjured by a group of brave, bold individuals which then plan out their moves and then spread out to people who are affected by a particular issue and wish to voice out. The message is spread out through these social platforms. That's why I reflect that Facebook and Twitter is not the main cause of revolutions but it is the communication role of a revolution protest. (I still feel that 'revolution' is such a heavy word.)

As we've learnt in Week 9's reading that if one is not into politics, then he would still not be into politics despite it being brought online as a trend. So when it comes to revolutions, I feel that if only you're interested and would like to take some action, then you'll join the herd. But if you're disinterested, then you'll just walk away. This goes to the point that revolutions are successful because of the man power, the united citizens. And again, to stress the point that Facebook and Twitter are just the communication channels.


Do I make sense? I hope I really do because this is quite a tricky but simple issue. 

Put it in another way, remember when Mr. Faizal asked us, "What do you think? Do you think Bersih 2.0 would happen if there's no Facebook or Twitter?" Well, not sure if this was his exact words but somewhere along the lines, I suppose. I remember clearly answering, "Of course, they do play a role. The rally would still go on without Facebook or Twitter, only that it will be in a smaller scale." Small scale VS Big scale. The talks is all about the amount of awareness among people. It's about whether an idea was well spread among the mass public.


I feel as if am going round and round in circles! Yikes! To recap, Facebook and Twitter, IMHO, is merely a communicative tool. 


I feel so spirited typing this out! Hope my points were clear enough! 


What do you think? Are Facebook and Twitter the culprits? Share a feedback! (;   

To transparency. To truth. To hacking.

Touching on the topic hacking always reminds me of Steig Larsson's saga - Millennium trilogy - where Lisbeth Salander, the main character, is an extreme genius hacker which slips into the laptops of prominent political figures to determine truth. 


She's looks like a teenage punk, weak and vulnerable; truth is, she is nowhere near that at all. She's smart, she's dangerous and she can any info she wants at all. What's worse, she's got an international network of anonymous hackers who does the same thing too. And a terrific journalist, Blomkvist to top it off.


Okay, I probably should stop my narration about the books, but through the books, hacking showed me a whole new light, it's not necessarily the bad guys (hackers) versus the good guys, but nowadays, it's the good guys (hackers) versus the bad guys. Similarly, the books sort of reflects to the case of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Hence, this week's reflection would be on Raffi Khatchadourian's 'No Secrets: Julian Assange's mission for total transparency'.

"WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices." - http://wikileaks.org/

With that said, who really is the mastermind behind WikiLeaks? The answer, is the tall mysterious Australian man, Julian Paul Assange. His mop of silvery white hair does remind me of Anderson Cooper, right? Point is, Julian and his team has shaken the world with their discovery on truth. On hard, raw truth of prominent parties, figures and organizations. Truth we didn't know but needed to.


Freedom of Information Act is no longer to be taken lightly when WikiLeaks, with bravado stood up and broadcast and expose to the world on dark evil things done behind everyone's back by the big boys. Of course I'm talking about the infamous case, 'Collateral Murder'. Take a look at the documentary done by WikiLeaks in publishing the truth about what happened in Iraq.





What do you think?
I think if it wasn't for this, I would be kept in the dark from things that I should know, from the things the society should know. If criminals were put to court and then pleaded guilty to jail, why shouldn't others as well who has done something wrong? Despite any statuses, what is wrong is wrong. There ought to be no secrets, the conclusion is just. 

WikiLeaks receives about 30 submission a day and only posts the ones that is the most credible in its raw and unedited state. Imagine this, 30 submissions a day, from all over the world. This goes to say that, 'Collateral Murder' is merely the beginning, there are still a lot of behind the scenes that we're not aware of. 
Hacking. Hacking was the only tool that made all of these possible. So have you changed your judgement towards hacking? Hacking doesn't necessarily means damaging or taking control of someone's computer and the information. Hacking can be just going into the system, extracting valuable information and then going back out without harming anything. At times these good hackers might just leave you a house visit gift by upgrading your system. 
What do you guys think of WikiLeaks? Is it a breach of privacy? Think about the private and confidential information, is it really ethical to expose them? But think again, if these information are clouded with dark intentions and selfish purposes that concerns people, will it be more ethical to expose them? Which one is the real sin?
Well, we certainly do know what Julian Assange's pick is. But what about yours?  Do you know what's behind the real scenes?
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My take is that what really concerns the benefit and welfare of people really should be taken into account for. Why let someone who has done wrong remain in the shadows and continue to exploit more and more? If a criminal gets caught for an offense, why must it be different for other wrong doers as well, albeit any status and class? An eye for an eye.
Alas, if these pricks aren't caught, ah well, Karma will do its work and come back and do its magic. (:

Cereal not with milk, but with Twitter

Isn't this all too familiar? Gadgets have sort of become our newspaper in a way. In the sense that we normally flip the newspaper to get breaking news first thing in the morning, accompanied by our waffles and hot coffee. But instead, what we can see now is people swiping over their iPads and smartphones at breakfast. Yes, we do read the newspaper with our gadgets but since convergence has made everything possible, we multi-task as well. And that's where you get massive Tweets.

Now, I don't know much about the culture of Tweeting b/c I don't have a personal Twitter account. Like the author of the reading this week, Steven Johnson, I was skeptical and doubtful of this 140-character innovation. Despite many talented figures - Yasmin Ahmad - having an account, my impression was that this wasn't a necessity. But 'How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live' proved me otherwise. I mean really, how can one be so detailed yet summarized in a 140-character space? Hats off to you awesome Twitterers.

Some of the key points!

Ambient awareness 

You get a quick peak at people's daily life through Tweets without even asking!

A jury-rigged system

Twitter has created an improvisation. It's no longer what Twitter is doing to us, but what we Twitterzens are doing to it.

The Open Conversation

Hop right into the bandwagon by inserting the oh-so-famous hashtag #. There's a bunch of popular hastags like:

Here's where a larger pool of audience join in together to contribute to a bigger picture of an issue! The more the merrier! The more opinion and feedbacks we get, the more solid a discussion is. Through Twitter, with the collective hastags, a private exchange is now open for anyone and everyone. All these Tweets will come together to build a bridge of pebbles.

The Super-Fresh Web

In class, we have learnt that the super-fresh web operates on being the first in line, scalable and have a short feedback loop. How Twitter is these is that it always gives us the fresh and valuable of a slice of life or a big event. Need assistance of an example?

Those who were confined at home (by our parents) glued themselves to Twitter to get the lives updates of the Bersih 2.0 Rally. The current progression, the acid attacks and the people involved information were received in mere seconds.

It's true that Twitter is a super-fresh web because it possess a short feedback loops, meaning to say that I wouldn't need to wait for weeks for a reply like the snail mail method. In fact, when there's new Tweets or a reply, a notification will appear. You can already see the trace of this element in FB and even from before, in Friendster and MySpace.

Need anything that's urban and relevant? Head on to Twitter then! With just a search box, what you search is what you get. In fact sooner or later, every major channel of communication will be Twitterfied! Why?

• News & Opinions

I like to think that with Twitter, comes your own personalized newspaper. See, you only follow the people that you want to, it's your own account, you're entitled to who you would want to follow. Naturally, we'd follow the accounts of people whom share the similar interests or we follow celebrities or politicians that we worships. Meaning to say, we get what we only like. Hence, a customized newspaper that would go just nice with your bagels.

Searching

We've already understand that Twitter provides valuable extended field of information - attachments of link, articles, pictures etc. If we are in need of any information regarding the Harry Potter casts' lives after the finale, we can just head on over to Emma Watson's Twitter to get a sneak preview. Because we are already an avid fan of Harry Potter and we follow the characters' Tweets, getting information pertinent to Harry Potter would be easier!

Advertising

Yes, you saw that right. Twitter is linked to Advertising is because firstly, take a look at all the big shot companies, they all have a Twitter or Facebook account. Why? Because it's a trend, it's people's daily bible. In doing so, there would be a new language of interaction between the company and the customers when early discount or limited edition products are offered to those followers and also it provides a hip and engaging banter between the two.

End-User Innovation

Why is it labelled as an innovation? It's because a new medium of communication has arrived in the form of Tweeting. Everyone Tweets an island and these islands would cross section with even more islands from around the world, differing in social classes and backgrounds. 

End-users have been creative enough to try to figure a way beyond the 140-characters. There's roadblocks but there's also a way around it. Twitterzens modify the tool and out comes blessed innovations that allow us to search, to #, to advertise and so on! This innovation is such due to the fact Twitterzens know how to modify Twitter and adapt it into their own daily life.

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How is Twitter related to citizen journalism is that Twitter provides a platform for collective intelligence and participatory culture. From my understanding, when you follow several common interest Twitterzens, you get a wider prospect of information. You get to see different views and thinking, and then to come to your own decision. 

That being, you too become a citizen journalist when you take the information, do some research and then share it along to YOUR own followers. Collective intelligence then continues. We also use this modern media platform to publish news unfiltered to be enjoyed by mass audience. We participate to contribute to the collectivism of information in networks.

It's just you, me, everyone, Twitter. And also, yes, our cereals.

Tweeting an island yet? Maybe I should start doing so.


But one thing always keeps me wondering, will all the mass irrelevant and nonsense Tweets cause useless information avalanche? Or simply, is this just another mind-your-own-business-these-are-my-Tweets case?

See you on the flipside! - The Long Tail Phenomena

This week's reading will be one of my favourites, Chris Anderson's The Long Tail. I thought it was a really well packed reading touching upon the power of long tail as opposed to the physical states like bookshops and record stores. Just when you thought, Kinokuniya is earning the big bucks, but rather, Amazon is the hot shot player here. Why? Digital VS. Physical. Mass VS. Niche. This is the long tail.


Are you ready?


The long tail is the 21st century of misses!


We have been under the perception that mainstream hits are the best sellers but actually what's surprising is that alternatives are bigger hits! Why? The thing is, we really have been exposed to brain-dead summer blockbusters and manufactured pop. The movies we catch at the cinemas and the music we rocked on through the radio needs local audience that would actually watch or listen to them. Finding large local audience isn't an easy task, everyone's got a life that doesn't revolve movies or the radio and so on.


Hence, what can be published or broadcasted is not colossal. Rather, online services carry more inventory than the traditional, physical retailers. This is b/c a niche audience can be found online when everyone is fragmented and scattered throughout the world! The real big deal comes from the niche fare found online. This demand is called the long tail.


Physical VS. Digital


Examples of companies in the physical and digital (long tail) world:


Physical -

Digital -

The 80-20 Rule


Most people would say that just about 20% of top 10,000 titles will sell at least once a month in online media stores. We also all think only 20% of major works will be hits where only 10% will be profitable. The correct answer for the first section that people got wrong is that, wait for it, 99% of every 10,000 titles are in demand! People would pay their cents and dollars for titles that aren't carried physically, like the jukebox!


Why?

• Hit-driven mindset

We always think that something will only make money if they are hits in the market. But what we didn't know was that the "misses" actually make money as well through services like Amazon, Netflix and Rhapsody. More "misses" = Profit = New market. Now, popularity no longer has a monopoly on profitability.

• Poor taste

We always assume that things that aren't in MPH or Speedy are "misses", we think they are products that people wouldn't pay their money for. We think that these 80% of work surely wouldn't be able to last long in the shelves. Our assumptions are wrong. The 80% does bring in the cold hard cash as well, b/c somewhere in different locations, there's bound to be audience. When there's audience, there's interests, there's your demand. The biggest money is in the smallest sales.

As we can see, long tail is giving an impact to revenues from all walks of life - music, movies, books etc. There's an obvious shift as long tail is slowing flooding to all segments, will companies that runs physically be in jeopardy? Fear not! There are new rules for the new entertainment company!

• Rule #1 - Make everything available!

Embrace niches. Aggregate dispersed audiences. Just like you and me, we have different interests. Multiply you and me to a billions and trillions of people around the world! You'll get a range of anime to documentaries to country and folk to German trance to Dota and so on. Remember, where there's audience, there's the opportunity. The trick is to just release everything. Do not think of evaluating the market or conducting a pilot test. Just release everything online. Think about it, you're saving more costs if you release than to evaluate.

• Rule #2 - Cut the price in half. Then lower it.

Yes, you've heard that right! From a business monger's point of view, 99 cents would be too little! But for the audience, 99 cents is too much! Customers are the King, haven't we heard this before? So how do we go about it? By right b/c everything is digitalized, production costs shouldn't exist now shouldn't it? W/ production costs out of the picture, the cost for a song online should be about 79 cents.  

It's crucial to price our items to digital costs, and not physical ones so customers feel worthy of their purchase.  What would drive customers further to purchase the song would be the fact that when they buy the whole album at one shot, they avoid illegal and virus-prone files. Also, they do not need to go through the hardship to collecting track by track of an album. These are called the psychological value of convenience!

• Rule #3 - Help me find it!

This is where you provide means for audience to dig in deeper into resources! Remember the "If you like Britney, you'll love..." example? How it works is that, Rhapsody has a feature that offers a magic box of similar artists and feels like Britney - Pink, No Doubt and The Selectors. You get the hits and the alternatives. Mainstream and grassroot! This would be a great expansion of the audiences' interest and a good way to breach your revenue!

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So what do you think of long tail now? Impressive isn't it! To think that Kinokuniya is the best bookstore in the world but when long tail comes into the picture, things start to change. The hot shots in various business lose their footing. One can only maintain and increase their revenue and pool of audience is by the 3 golden rules! Making everything available, cutting down the price and  providing resources might just make you the advantage player in your field!

Up until now, I've always thought only about the competition of stores physically. I've never knew that there's another sphere beyond that. It's the tug of war between digital and physical. There's now the obvious difference between push and pull. What we have to consider is that everyone is moving towards Cyberspace. That means the way we buy things will be different in mere years to come. Will it be a good thing? What do you think on this?

To long tail?

Cheers.

All hail the King: Convergence!

This week I'll be focusing on Henry Jenkins' Worship at the altar of convergence - A new paradigm for understanding media change. The 3 elements touched on are:


1) Media convergence 
2) Participatory culture
3) Collective intelligence

What media convergence this term really touches on are these simple 3 things. The flow of information across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between media industries and the migratory behaviour of media audiences who goes everywhere to seek for their entertainment experiences. Convergence talks about technological, industrial, cultural and social changes. Like a food chain, everything changes when an element is added into the routine. Convergence is that element.

That being said, participatory of audiences fuels the circulation of the content in the media. Consumers are encouraged to collect and filter the information they need from the scattered media content. With this, we also now see a shift from consumers to prosumers. Consumers who are no longer just the passive audience, but an active audience, providing feedback and action with the information gathered. This is one of the emerging culture convergence has to offer.

For the last point, 'Collective intelligence', an easier way to put it is:

None of us can know everything; each of us knows something; and we can put the pieces together if we pool out resources and combine our skills. 

The media power is when everyone inputs a collective power to develop more information for important purposes. Easier put, convergence must be backed up with the collective cooperation of users to generate collective intelligence.

• Convergence Talk

So with this new phenomena, everyone wants a piece of it. Talks and seminars were conducted for the purpose of convergence and what is depicted out of it were:


1) Convergence is coming and you had better be ready.
2) Convergence is harder than it sounds.
3) Everyone will survive if everyone works together.

We don't see it but everyday convergence is catching up. We see The Sims on computer CD 5 years ago but today from a CD, it has evolved to an online entertainment platform. Here we have, The Sims Social, the latest trend of Facebook games after Restaurant City and Farmville. This being, online apps lead to mobility as now smartphones are everyone's shadows!

Yes, convergence seems fun since it's hip, cool and urban. But, the pattern of convergence is really not that simple as it seems. An example, since everything is moving into the online sphere, even music, then how would artists and record labels generate their main revenue from the online platform? Will mainstream Shakira or grassroot Standing Egg get income through ringtones? Or advertising in MVs? What's the deal? An innovation with complexity, convergence is.

Convergence is rather new. What it needs is nurture and development from the people involved in convergence themselves. A solid team work is the key to build up and foundation an idea. Similarly like buildings, tournaments and projects, the active involvement and cooperation is what drives a small idea into bigger things, to victory. Convergence works the same way too.

• The Prophet of Convergence

This title goes to Ithiel de Sola Pool as he laid out the convergence of modes process. What it means is that one-to-one distribution is eroding, one-to-many is the trend. Now, one service can be multiplied to multiple platforms, engaging more people. 


It was also understood that convergence is supporting a participatory culture where freedom in the Cyberworld is more lenient. Where communication are dispersed, decentralized and easily available. However, we are in the stage of media transition. A turning point. There's still a handful of decisions, unintended consequences, mixed signals and interests. Most importantly, what lies ahead of convergence is unclear directions and unpredictable outcomes. Convergence is definitely more complicating to the eyes.

• The Black Box Fallacy

In mere future to come, what we can probably expect is Black Box Fallacy where all media content will go through only a single black box, ubiquitously. In my opinion, the black box actually do exists, with limited purposes - VCD players - which has or will be evolved into a single box with multiple features - smartphones. A device that does everything for us, the universal remote. 

The black box will not only represent a technological shift but also on the relationship on how the market and audiences utilize the black box. How the market and industry will be impacted. Generating media content will be altered, using the media will also be altered.


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This is only the beginning of convergence. It will continue to shift and change and modify. This prolonged transition and transformation is how the media operates. Problems of convergence wouldn't solved at lightning speed. What can we do is that to maintain a relationship with convergence and the users in this merging to ensure continuous information are generated. Hence, with this participatory culture in mind, industries have to really understand and use this culture to maintain their business. All in for mutual benefits? Are you ready for more convergence to come?


Buckle up, I'm ready.