October 2009 Convergence Newsletter

In the developed world, surrounded by cell phones, broadband Internet and video on demand, there is a fairly widespread set of frames by which people approach “convergence.”

In other parts of the world, however, the term can take on a far different meaning. It can be, as Paul Bowers explains, as simple as a cell phone hanging from a tree in a village. For us with our wi-fi, that would be primitive. For the villages of West Africa that Bowers visited with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, it is high technology.

And while there is no problem finding a cell phone on today’s college campuses, where having one seems to be the birthright of every student and where the devices themselves are becoming media centers. Convergence is upon us, and colleges are adapting with new programs and majors. Elmer Ploetz, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, shows how a new program approaches the challenges.

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October 2009: Convergence in Africa: A phone on a mango tree

Paul Bowers, a journalism student at USC and winner of winner of a two-week trip to Africa with New York Times writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof, discusses the challenges facing world-wide convergence.

Not only does Bowers examine the obvious problems of lack of widespread broadband Internet access, but also the more telling problem of basic communication on the continent. While convergence may seem to be rapid publication and new digital mediums to Westerners, simple communication via telephone is as far as many Africans get.

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October 2009: 'More, Better' May Not Be Better, But It's Reality

SUNY Fredonia Professor Elmer Ploetz takes a look at the changes that have been made throughout journalism to accommodate more of a focus on convergence.

Ploetz speaks from first-hand experience as State University of New York, Fredonia has started from scratch with their convergence program and has made adaptability the cornerstone of their curriculum. Undeterred, he illuminates that problems that many other universities are having in emphasising convergence within the traditional journalism school dichotomy.

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Convergence and Society conference coverage

Doug is at the "Convergence and Society" conference in Reno this week. He is doing some live blogging on it at his blog, Common Sense Jounalism. Here is a list of his posts that is being updated.

• News orgs still don't get it
• Slide shows, who is doing them and why
• Radio's conundrum
• Michigan as ground zero
• Newspapers in Second Life
• All things Canadian
• Thursday quick hits
  

The Twitter hashtag for the conference is #cconf09
We also hope to have excerpts from these papers in upcoming newsletters.

Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter