Digital Convergence

Digital Convergence and New Media webpage: http://www.freewebs.com/mioir/keis8digitalconvergence.htm Ian Miles MIoIR MBS University of Manchester Ian.Miles@mbs.ac.uk

This seminar

What is digital convergence?

Who does this affect?

How does it affect media, IT industries, other sectors…

Convergence

We often hear about computer/ telecommunications “convergence” - or is it collision??

Held by many to be a defining feature of new IT , e.g. Kobiyashi “IT=C&C” … and related to common underlying technologies (microprocessors, digitalisation)

But more industries and activities “converge” than just data processing and communication

Things we do with bits of information

We often hear about computer/telecommunications “convergence” - or is it collision??

Held by many to be a defining feature of new IT , e.g. Kobiyashi IT=C&C.

But more industries and activities “converge” than just data processing and communication

Storage Presentation Communication and Reproduction are pervasive Production Retrieval Actuation Transformation Interpretation

Digital Convergence

Distinct industries have dealt with hardware, software, telecommunications, broadcasting, print, recorded music, images, other media

Digitalisation

Text

Photography

Moving Images

Sound

Instruments

Doc.Processing

Digital cameras

“””” , DVDs etc.

Digital Recording

Digital display, measurement

(analogue, photochemistry) (analogue, phonography etc) (analogue, electromechanical) (analogue, printing) New storage devices and displays – ebooks, CDs, MP3/4 players, etc; Web publishing

Digital Convergence

Distinct industries have dealt with hardware, software, telecommunications, broadcasting, print and other media

They have varying assets, capabilities and types of content - and regulatory and IP systems

But now they have increasingly shared underlying technologies (microelectronics, optronics, software)

All types of data and information potentially captured, processed, communicated, stored, displayed digitally via new IT

A Three-Dimensional Media Universe Moving over Space - Telecommunications Storing over Time, Reproducing- Published Media (Broadcast Media) Transforming, Processing - Computation 1 to 1 1 to many Information CONTENT INTERACTION CHANNELS PROCESSING COMMUNICATION

A Growing Market Space… Increasing size of markets

… Within which the offerings of established industries expand == == === =Increasing = == proliferation of = == === = products

The Expanding Media Universe Communications Computation Content Time The three “trumpet” shapes represent telecommunications, computer, and broadcast & print media fields. Over time the product space to which they contribute, and its market size, expands, and the three fields overlap increasingly.

Early Industrial Society INFORMATION GOODS & SERVICES COMPUTATION (TELE) COMMUNICATIONS Paper-based communication : Stationery, Post. C19th - telephone, telegraph Mechanical information processing : very limited till C20th - punch cards, calculators Paper-based information products - books, newspapers, etc + live consultation & entertainment + mechanical recorded media (gramophone etc) All (but telecomms) based on PHYSICAL TRANSPORT

The mid-1950s BROADCAST + PUBLISHED MEDIA COMPUTERS Telephone Telegraph TV (mainly monochrome)AM radio, LP records, valve amplifiers Very few, very large, valve-based electronic computers; Keyboard calculators TELECOMMUNICATIONS PHYSICAL TRANSPORT plus increasing electronic delivery (telecomms, TV, radio, etc.)

The mid-1970s BROADCAST + PUBLISHED MEDIA COMPUTERS Telephone Telegraph Telex TV (colour) AM and FM transistor radio, LP records, transistor amplifiers Numerous mainframe computers Pocket calculators TELECOMMUNICATIONS Increasing role for electronic delivery, but little integration of media

Telephone Answering Machines, Mobile phones, Pagers Business Fax Machines Videorecorders, audio CDs, cable and satellite TV, Teletext Numerous Personal computers Home computers and videogames Electronic wristwatches Electronic mail Bulletin boards Videotex Online databases for business & science Recorded information services BROADCAST + PUBLISHED MEDIA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPUTERS Some integration of media, emergence of optical media, increasing digitalisation The Mid/late-1980s

Turn of the Century Digital mobile phones, Widespread use of Fax, pagers Videorecorders, audio CDs, digital recording cable and satellite TV Numerous PCs, laptops. notebooks, pocket organisers, etc. Numerous home computers and videogames Electronic mail, SMS Mobile data comms CD-ROM publishing Cable telephony Audiotext Internet World Wide Web COMPUTERS TELECOMMUNICATIONS BROADCAST + PUBLISHED MEDIA Increasing integration of media, use of optical media, digitalisation

Digital mobile communications in wide use - pervasive communications Digital Broadcast TV digital videorecording High definition TV Pervasive computers, in many types of device (e.g. Personal Digital Assistants, smartphones) Internet telephone VoI, Internet videotelephony Internet TV Video on Demand Interactive TV WiFi, Next generation of Internet & WWW, Web2.0, Video telephones and conferences DVD-R+, interactive video Now  2010? COMPUTERS BROADCAST + PUBLISHED MEDIA TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Successful products/applications/triggers

Design paradigms/platforms

User implementation

Emergence and take-off of markets, market structures

Product spaces

Capabilities and industrial structure

Governance of content (news, porn, gambling) and property rights ( intellectual property)

Other governance issues (crime, security…)

Uncertainties

Regulators

UK system change

OFTEL (Telecommunications Act, 1984, on “deregulation”) + Cable Authority + ITC ….

OFCOM (Communications act, 2003)

1990 2003 spectrum Radiotelecommunications Agency Broadcasting Standards Commission But not print media – Press Complaints Commission etc. 1991 networks Oftel 1984 1996?

Jong-Seok Kim: mobile phone companies 2 nd generation, digital services – earlier 1990s generation was analogue 2.5 generation 3rd generation 128k – 2m /sec 64k /sec 14.4k/sec

Convergence