ABSTRACT

What is convergent media and how does it differ from other separate and distinct media? As this section goes on to detail, the convergence of previously separate cultural and media forms and practices has created a new working environment for the production of media, the common feature of which is networked computing. Computers and the screen interface constitute the space of convergence of previously separate forms of the production and consumption of media-based communication. Convergence is a consequence of the digital tools used for media production in which software combines the manipulation of the moving with the still, the graphic with the photographic, the typographic with the filmic, the visual with the sonic. Having said this not all media is produced in the convergent environment and, imagined as a continuous line, there is a high-end of applications, in major feature film production for example, where dedicated software and computers are used to manipulate and render large files and a low-end where digital processes interface with analogue systems. Each point on this continuum entails the use of specific software, requiring specific skills while at the same time there is a generic set of skills and familiarity with software use.