Ambivalence Towards Convergence

One of my thesis-articles, "Converging forms of communication?", is one of the contributions in a newly published anthology: Ambivalence Towards Convergence. Digitalization and Media Change, edited by Tanja Storsul and Dagny Stuedahl.

Concepts of convergence and converging processes have triggered considerable attention and activities in media research during recent years. This has been an inspiring context for the discussions and analyses presented in this book.

The book elucidates a variety of understandings related to the concept of convergence, and at the same time reflects on the analytical advantage of the concept. The contributions discuss the impact of media digitalization and the degree to which the prospects of convergence have been realized. The studies range from investigations of institutional and regulatory change within media and cultural institutions, to analyses of communicative genres and social practices related to digital media.

For table of contents and ordering the book, visit Nordicom.

citizens in danger

Last week BBC encouraged people inside Burma to share their stories: Accounts from inside Burma. At the very bottom of the web page, the following message has been written: "At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws." Appropriate of course, considering Burmese people risk jail and abuse for telling the world what has been going on. It's "citizen journalism" at its most interesting and perhaps cruel, mass media actors taking advantage of the upsurge of amateur quasi-reporters in conflict-areas. With the possibility of air-time on BBC and CNN, people will probably be more willing to take chances. It must represent a rather delicate dilemma for the media industry, and I don't know whether a warning such as the one above solves it.