Cyber social networking is helping to fuel the current Iranian protest against recent election results. But with Iran’s government trying to stem the opposition’s mobilization by actively removing opposition Web sites and attempting to slow down social networking portals such as Facebook and Twitter, the world is being deprived of information concerning this major political movement. Iranian censorship of the Internet is not unique. The Chinese government tried to shut down dissidents’ online use at the time of Tiananmen. Other nations face such roadblocks to cyber information. This issue of The Convergence Newsletter offers two articles examining problems of Internet access in Ethiopia. We also present a study focusing on India’s use of media, examining how and where convergence in that country takes place.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
June 2009: Commentary from the Wrong Side of the Digital Divide
Fulbright Scholar Alice Klement provides a view from what she calls the “wrong side of the digital divide.” Her article offers insight into Ethiopia’s technology shortfalls, which she says interfere in the advancement of media convergence and are compounded by governmental censorship of Web sites.
June 2009: The "Imprisoned" Internet of AAU
June 2009: Meeting Media Needs: What You Learn When You Ask Your Students Questions
Dr. John Cokley of the University of Queensland presents quantitative findings from a 2008 convergence journalism workshop in Delhi, India. Participating journalists from across India provide insight into media consumer needs and just how those needs are being met.
June 2009: Conferences and Training
Read the conference and training schedule of the June 2009 issue here.
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
May-June 2009 Issue Now Available
This May-June issue of The Convergence Newsletter looks at how convergence is serving some local communities.
Leading off is an interview with Mike Orren, founder and president of Pegasus News, a Dallas-Fort Worth online publication founded in 2005. Pegasus offers people the opportunity to localize their news, and, if they desire, to be unfettered citizen journalists, reporting the news as they see it. Orren tells The Convergence Newsletter that to be a successful online news source you need to offer your reader more than just news.
Doug Fisher of the University of South Carolina, and executive editor of TCN, says you can save the money you'd spend on some of those "secrets of social media" training sessions. He explains some simple truths he has learned from creating Hartsville Today, a three-year-old experiment in online community news and social networking.
Finally we bring you Douglas Starr, a former Associated Press journalist and now a media professor at Texas A&M, who stresses the importance a free press plays in today’s society. Starr encourages readers to seek out all forms of media and apply it daily in making informed social decisions. He says a free press serves communities and aids all in becoming better citizens.
Monday, June 15, 2009
May-June 2009: Community Companions: Pegasus News and Dallas-Fort Worth
Mike Orren is the founder and president of Pegasus News, a Dallas-Fort Worth online news site. The Convergence Newsletter interviewed Orren and discussed with him how Pegasus News is incorporating citizen journalism in the coverage of both local and regional news.
Click here to read the full article.
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May-June 2009: Building Community Online
A lot has been learned from Hartsville Today, created by the University of South Carolina journalism school more than three years ago in partnership with a twice-weekly newspaper and with a New Voices grant from J-Lab. The site now has about 1,600 registered members in a market area of about 20,000, and far more people in the area visit the site regularly, based on our IP address logs. University of South Carolina Professor Doug Fisher discusses ways in which newspapers can utilize digital media to interact and reach out to readers.
Click here to read the full article.
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May-June 2009: The Future of the U.S. and Newspapers
The United States is in jeopardy. Many newspapers have gone out of business and the rest are in deplorable condition. If the news media shut down, the United States will no longer boast government of the people, by the people, for the people. The government will be in charge because there will be no free criticism of the government, no uncensored report on what the government is doing. Douglas Perret Starr argues there are three things that must be done to save newspapers.
Click here to read the full article.
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May-June 2009: Conferences and Training
Read the conference and training schedule of the May-June issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
April 2009 Issue Now Available
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2009: Reinventing a Journalism Career in the Digital Age
Wendy Parker joined 15,000 others among the ranks of former newspaper workers last year, but rather than lament her situation, Parker has embraced the change. Optimistic and encouraging, her story can serve as a model for those looking for life after newspapers.
April 2009: Modeling Demographic Predictors of Content Creation
Sharing some research initially presented at last fall's Convergence Conference at USC, Bartosz Wodynski and Jessica Smith of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill discuss research that helps us understand and anticipate who are the most likely groups to create and share content online.
April 2009: Be Careful what You Wish For in 2009
Times are certainly tough for newspapers, but that doesn't mean editors and publishers can't adapt to the changing landscape and meet today's challenges head on. That's the message offered by Tom Griscom, editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press in Tennessee.
April 2009: Book Announcement – Understanding Media Convergence: The State of the Field
Bringing together theoretical and research perspectives from a wide range of convergence researchers and commentators, Understanding Media Convergence: The State of the Field, edited by August E. Grant and Jeffrey S. Wilkinson, is now available from Oxford University Press.
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April 2009: USC Convergence Conference Goes West
The University of South Carolina’s annual Convergence and Society conference is moving west for the second time in eight years. This year’s conference will be hosted and co-sponsored by the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, Nov. 5-6.
Click here to read the rest of the announcement.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2009: Conferences and Training
Read the conference and training schedule of the April issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Thursday, February 26, 2009
February 2009 Issue Now Available
After a too-long hiatus (TCN executive editor Doug Fisher explains), The Convergence Newsletter returns for 2009 with more material culled from October's Convergence Conference at USC.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
February 2009: Goodbye Convergence, Hello 'Webvergence': The Decline of Broadcast-Print Partnerships in an Increasingly Online Media World
In the early days of convergence, the newsroom of the future was envisioned: all manner of media platforms – newspaper and television, mostly – sharing information, staff, and resources all under the same roof.
February 2009: The Root of ‘Empowerment’ is Power: An Examination of Political Engagement and the Web
What has been the political impact of the Internet in the United States? On the heels of a history-making presidential campaign, this is not just a fascinating but an important question.
February 2009: Taking the Future of Journalism into Our Own Hands
Over the years, much of the academic study in the area of journalism has consisted of investigations of and about journalists and journalism – yet, as Dr. John Cokley of Australia's University of Queensland points out, there has been precious little happening in studies for journalists and journalism.
February 2009: Conferences and Training
Read the conference and training schedule from February's issue here.
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Thursday, December 11, 2008
November 2008 Issue Now Available
If you couldn’t get to October’s Convergence and Society Conference at the University of South Carolina, we’re here for you. Our November issue begins our spotlight of some of the interesting presentations and discussions during the conference.
Be sure to check back with TCN, as we hope to bring more highlights from the conference in future issues.
Read the November issue of The Convergence Newsletter here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
November 2008: The Duality of 'The Participatory Web'
As the organizing force behind USC's annual Convergence Conference, Dr. Augie Grant has, as much as anyone, been witness to the broad changes that have taken place in the study and practice of convergence over the years.
In our November, Grant offers his reactions to this year's conference and lessons learned.
Read the full article here.
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November 2008: By-product Learning in the Communication Age - Instant Message Use and Political Learning in China
With the U.S. hosting a major election in November, politics were understandably top-of-mind among some of our conference presenters – but not just American politics. Jinghui Hou, a master’s student at Syracuse University, delved into how the Chinese are using instant messaging and social networking Web sites to fuel political learning.
Read the full article here.
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November 2008: MySpace/MyVote - Young voters, social networking and 2008
This issue's second look at politics turned its attention stateside, as Dr. Tim Brown and Jasmine Jones from the University of Central Florida explored how the roles of MySpace and other social networking Web sites were expanded during the 2008 elections.
Read the full article here.
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November 2008: Conferences and Paper Calls
Read the conference schedule from November's issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
November 2008: Job Annoucement - Elon University
The School of Communications at Elon University is searching for six new tenure-track assistant or associate professors, effective immediately.
Click here to read the full announcement.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Monday, November 3, 2008
October 2008 Issue Now Available
In April we took a special look at convergence internationally. As promised, we have revisited the topic, this time with perspectives from India and China, plus a how-to guide for keeping up with developments around the globe.
Read the October issue of The Convergence Newsletter here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2008: With Newspapers on a Roll, Convergence has yet to Happen in India
Sometimes the story isn't just about convergence that is taking place, but also about convergence that's not. Sunil Saxena explains that the Indian media have yet to experience major convergence, and why.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2008: Mobile by the Millions: Pocket-Sized Convergence Goes Big in China
Much of the discussion about convergence in the U.S. has fixated upon computers. But in some parts of the world, the big story is what's happening with mobile technology. China is one of those places. We sat down with USC's Dr. Ran Wei for an update.
Read the full interview here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2008: Keeping up with International Developments
You don't need to be in the thick of international convergence to know what's going on. TCN Executive Editor Doug Fisher tells us the best spots online for keeping up with global trends.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2008: Conferences and Paper Calls
Read the conference schedule from October's issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
