We Are the Future: Convergence

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The future of convergence, I think is up to what society wants it to be, and what people continue to mass produce and provide for our society to consume and create. That will obviously continue to evolve, because everyone wants to be part of the media and even more when it's popular mainstream media. It's in the hands of the people for convergence to continue, however, whether its for better or for worse, also depends on our society, and what they make of it in the past, present, and future. It's important to know the history of convergence and things in the past that have gotten it to where its at now. It shows us what we might want to change or want to continue on doing later on. It's important in the present, obviously because its what we're living in the moment, and things always change every single second of our lives so its always good to be consistent with what's going on. Lastly, it's important in the future, because no one knows what the future of convergence holds and what is at stake. We don't know what the future of convergence will look like because everyday is a fresh start. For example, tomorrow is a new start for the future of convergence. In other words, the past and present of convergence defines the future of convergence so we better do something that benefits, teaches, and betters us for it to have decent outcomes. We are convergence.

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 Technology and storytelling go hand in hand. People use technology to tell a story and people tell stories using technology. It might sound like the exact same thing, but its not, at least not to me. On one hand, people promote and sell technological devices through storytelling. Advertisers use the narrative form of storytelling, to catch people's attention and in a way relate to them. They can use different kinds of storytelling, whether it may be one person's story or a million people's story. On the other hand, people tell their stories using technology. One would think, it would benefit one or the other, but in reality it benefits both. Now, using technology and storytelling is beneficial for advertisers. However, I think it is more beneficial to the person that is trying to sell the technological device because all they need is one great storyline that tells a story that connects with the audience to get the product selling. I wrote this, thinking a lot more literal, logical, and straight to the point. Moreover, the intersection between technology and storytelling work because like we saw for the promotion of Jay-Z's decoded book, a whole lot of storytelling went into it. The advertisers actually had to use a journalistic kind of storytelling idea and skill to capture the publics attention. In this case, they were trying to sell his book not a technological device, but they used a great amount of technology to promote this product. Using technology and storytelling together work perfectly to promote and sell something.

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We can approach the future of convergence by blending our past and our current experiences. In addition, we can even blend the past experiences of others by taking the good, plus what we learned and mix it with our own experiences today. I think that's how we should look at it, although not in such a literal way, we don't necessarily want to "copy" but instead emulate what we have learned from others. I think this will help people create better things and relate to other people. For instance, Deboard did mention in the Society of the Spectacle, that we idealize and put other things on a certain platform because we think that will make it more valuable. However, I think we need to stop looking and putting things on a higher platform just because the rest of society does. We shouldn't always tag along. On the other hand, in chapter Clay Shirky's Everyone is a Media Outlet Mass Mass Amateurization, he talked about having a voice and free speech. Its kind of like citizen journalism and how we have to have our own voice, I think this is very important within our society because it's something that many people are lacking. "Economic logic, allowing anyone to create anything and make it available to anyone that creates new material, allows no professional to filter it," said Shirky. I think this benefits our society if we use our voices for the better. The fact that citizen journalism is so dominant now and that our voices could be heard really helps put ourselves out there without professional barriers. There is no filtering, however, if not used correctly this can backfire and used in other ways that without an authority can get out of hands.

I also think that games will become a huge part of the future of convergence as its doing so right now. For example, there are now schools that are focusing on teaching children in a different manner and not the traditional way. They use technology and video games to help challenge students to think outside if the box. I think this is good if its done the right way and in their case it is because kids are viewing life differently they are seeing things in a whole new perspective. They are the inventors and will be the prosperous in the future if everything is done right and in a intelligent way. People live off their technological devices so its obvious that it will stay in the future, but by teaching these children another way of learning that will help see things in another light will actually help them understand convergence in another idea. An idea they can be apart of. We can expect them to be our future and to teach us the future of convergence if we don't use our experiences into good use.

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We should prepare by being intelligent consumers and creative producers. We have to think outside of the box like so many people that invent and create things do. I think the way challenging video games teach kids will better their mindset and expand their ideas, because they will be exposed to more. Jane McGonigal stated that, "Gaming can make a better world" I think that this is correct and creative, but I also think if it's done in the ways that she's explained it will, but if not it can make our children lazy. Kids might take it as a joke or find it too "fun" but nonetheless its up to teachers to teach it in the correct manner so its actually put to good use, and so it can benefit our future and the kids.

Jenkins mentioned a quote, by Nicholas Negroponte's Being Digital that, "The combined forces of technology and human nature will ultimately take a stronger hand in plurality than any laws Congress can invent." (pg. 5) This a quote that our society has to take more into consideration, we need to believe more in ourselves and what we can create. Our opinions and ideas count too, and the fact that he said that it may be stronger than any Congress Law when combined with technology really should make us think. We should think about our future, because if we don't nobody else will and we will be trap. We need to continue creating the future of convergence the same way creative minds like Hashem Bajwa has done and take his work as an example for the future of convergence.


Bibliography/Citations:

Debord, Guy, The Society of the Spectacle, 1967

Shirky Clay, Everyone is a Media Outlet

McGonigal, Jane:  Gaming Can Make a Better World

Class video on Video Game Teaching in School

Jenkins, Henry, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, 2007

Bajwa, Hashem, Droga5