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SXSW Day 1: Convergence and Transformation: A Whole New Creative World

March 11, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

The experts agree — say the words “Digital Convergence” and people’s eyes glaze over. Clearly, the Medialoper elevator pitch needs some retooling.

David Pescovitz, of Boing Boing, lead the panel off by noting that he doesn’t really know what digital convergence is. On further reflection he’s pretty sure there is no such thing as convergence, but only divergence. When technologies converge they tend to produce sub-standard products – like the all-in-one uber-pda’s that don’t do any one thing particularly well.

Happily, David-Michel Davies jumped in to make the point we’ve been harping on for a while now — there’s a difference between digital convergence and convergent media.

From our perspective digital convergence is about technology, while convergent media is about content. Davies noted the danger is that media companies seem to be fighting to make the internet more like traditional media, instead of adapting traditional media to be more like the internet.

Some more random notes in no particular order (since that’s what semi-live blogging is all about):

  • Old media = no participation. New media = everyone participating and collaborating.
  • Convergence will ultimately come down to user experience – the ability of users to easily collaborate, interact, and remix.
  • Napkins can be used for good or evil.

Quote of the day (so far):

They used to say, “on the internet no one knows you’re a dog”. Today, everyone is branding themselves as a special breed of dog.

Yes, these notes are somewhat incomplete, but I’m recovering from my first celebrity sighting of the day – DA Pennebaker.

Filed Under: Services Tagged With: Convergence, SXSW, SXSWi

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