Case study in convergence
I searched the web for convergence related articles and found a site called http://www.mediacenter.org/. Access the convergence tracking database (http://www.mediacenter.org/convergencetracker/) to see who has converged and if it's successful.I clicked on a few of the converged sites and found many have not been updated since 2004. I don't think the information is not factual, but it does not provide accurate insight into how successful its convergence is currently. Perhaps one of us could follow-up and prepare as our final story.
Professor James Gentry of the University of Kansas http://www.journalism.ku.edu/ and Senior Fellow at The Media Center has prepared 3 case studies on the convergence phenomenon, click here http://www.mediacenter.org/convergencetracker/ to read them. I point out that these case studies were published April 2003 therefore some of the information and/or processes may have changed.
Seems as though convergence has worked for these conglomerates, but problems have occurred. "Lawrence Journal-World" was challenged to make sure all newspaper and television staff received story ideas, updates and coverage plans. At the time this case study was prepared, the implementation of new software was in the works to make this process much smoother.
One of the most important things that I think we could take away from these studies is the keys to making the partnership work. In this section, Gentry detailed what and how communication should occur, necessary training among print, media and online staff, unselfishness—not being concerned with who broke the news first and the buy-in—recognizing all staff as contributors.
Trinay Blake
posted by Mark H. @ 11/14/2006 07:14:00 PM
1 Comments:
Trinay, you are right to wonder about the definitions of convergence. It has been an unpopular word since it means so many different things to so many people. Some define convergence as what USA TODAY is doing -- physically converging newsroom operations. Others see it as what AOL Time Warner tried to do (when it was called that) -- converging cultures and media businesses. Still others look to mojos (mobile journalists) and backpack journalists as the "converged" reporters of of the future -- in other words, one person doing multiple tasks. I've taught an online course on this topic for three years and the definitions keep changing. BUT this remains a constant: The industry is converging all the information- gathering tasks and information distribution under one roof, and that is why you guys all are so smart to be taking this IJ program.
Amy
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