Chapter 1 Vocabs

Types of convergence:

1. Industry convergence
2. Device convergence
3. Content convergence

Example:

Media forms and media businesses coming together, as when America Online (AOL internet services) bought Time Warner (publishing and cable television); the term is sometimes used to describe technical convergence, as when various modes of entertainment, such as music, movies, and magazines, are all available on one internet-connected device.

Example: People born after the 1980s. In developed countries, the likely list of new media technologies—networked personal computers and mobile phones—are now so common in our workplaces, our homes, and the many everyday interactions we have with one another that they have stopped being “new” in any meaningful sense of the term.

Example: Algorithms are like “if, then” recipes for computer-generated content—they allow platforms (e.g., Instagram) to optimize their content in a certain way (e.g., if a user mostly interacts with travel posts, travel content will be prioritized in their home feed).

Once an algorithm is discovered, humans often try to “game the system” by creating new content or adapting existing content in ways that interact with the algorithm and generate the most results (e.g., more likes, clicks, or retweets).

Those who run their sites with algorithms (YouTube, Instagram, Amazon, Google) then adapt their algorithms in a spiral of moves and countermoves. Some of the ways this has played out in online media have both vexed and disturbed our cultural and legal systems in recent years.

Example: (Figure 1.1 on textbook)

Explanation: We can regularly see new media undertakings that reconceive or remediate existing media forms.

Example: Hypertext allows for the linking of information, where links from one information source provide simple point-and-click access to related information available from other sources.

The value of hypertext became even more apparent with the development not only of web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer, but also of directories and search engines such as Yahoo!, Alta Vista, and Google.

Example: Sites like YouTube make the circulation of amateur video much easier.

In early 2000, the first vlog (video blog) was posted. Adam Kontras uploaded a video of him smuggling a dog into a hotel and posted the video on his personal blog. Similar vlogs could be seen on personal blogs, MySpace, Vimeo, and YouTube.

Example: Twitter is the best known of these, but this would also include the posting of short status updates to a Facebook wall.

Both services encourage the user to create, maintain, and build a social network. While they could also be used to leave messages for the general public, those actively using them soon acquire friends (Facebook) or followers (Facebook and Twitter) to share pithy remarks about life, the universe, and lunch ideas.

Detailed definition:

The gap between those who have access to the internet and those who do not; the term is sometimes expanded to include gaps related to speed of access as well as capabilities to use the services (e.g. when it is not in your native language)

Examples:

• The rise of multinational corporations

• International production, trade, and financial systems

• International communications flows

• Global movements of people and the increasingly multicultural nature of societies

• Developments in international law

• Global social movements (e.g., environmental activism)

• The development of international governmental organizations, regional trading blocs, and international non-governmental organizations

• Global conflicts, such as the widespread war on terror after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

Example: Amazon.com—who can deliver these goods to people who want them.

The term was coined by Chris Anderson of Wired magazine to illustrate the power of online access to the enormous number of books (and other items) that wouldn’t merit stocking in a bricks-and-mortar store.

Example in text:

There is also a long tail of languages, with sites like Wikipedia supporting hundreds of languages and showing over 50 million articles in more than 300 languages.

Example: The development of the web gave a renewed focus to the nature of the interface, or the “front page” from which users accessed websites, typically through a web browser and search engine.

The quality of interface design draws attention to the nature of human–computer interaction, which is fundamentally a consequence of technical design and the computer programming aspects of the interface.