Technological Convergence in Various Mediums In the current era, which can be referred to as the Digital Age, the use of technology in our lives for every little purpose has become inevitable. Considering that, in almost every aspect of modern day communication, technology has become an integral part for the world to communicate. The advancements in the fields of digital communications in the past century have witnessed everyone around the globe to have come closer to each other, quickly and effectively. Since the time when the telephone was first invented, communications technology has progressed drastically and has come down a very long way.
Technological Convergence in Various Mediums
In the current era, which can be referred to as the Digital Age, the use of technology in our lives for every little purpose has become inevitable. Considering that, in almost every aspect of modern day communication, technology has become an integral part for the world to communicate. The advancements in the fields of digital communications in the past century have witnessed everyone around the globe to have come closer to each other, quickly and effectively. Since the time when the telephone was first invented, communications technology has progressed drastically and has come down a very long way.
Today, we live in a convergent world where there is continuous reforming of all methods of communication and information to adapt to the enduring demand of technologies. The use of gadgets and gizmos like cellular phones, laptops and wireless internet is very common and every day more and more advancements are being witnessed that tend to bring together the different communicative tasks we perform in a single final product. For example, the functions of voice communication and internet access previously performed separately through wired telephone sets and computers respectively, are now available together in cellular phones. This concept is known as technological convergence.
Simply put, technological convergence can be understood as merging of technologies in a more effective, easier and simpler form. Looking at technological convergence, it plays a very important role in the society from economic, development and social perspectives (Wild, 2006). It results in huge cost reductions, saving of resources, making lower-cost, innovative and effective products and services available to individuals.
The mobile phone can be regarded as one of the major examples of technology convergence. Mobile Phones today also provide the facility of incorporated digital cameras, mp3 players, voice recorders and other devices in addition to the traditional call-making capabilities. Another example of convergence technologies include Wifi, which functions not only as a gaming console but also as a web-browser and a social networking tool.
In the developmental sense, technology convergence impacts everyday lives and helps bridge the digital divide. To achieve this, every now and then, latest technologies are being introduced into the global market. The success of these technologies depends upon the fact that whether they are wholly capable of fulfilling the purpose they were built for and/or do they bring with them new features or benefits that make them revolutionary and entitle them to be regarded as the leading edge technologies of the time, rather than bleeding edge technologies.
Whilst referring to the same technology, the difference between the two terms i.e. 'leading edge' and 'bleeding edge' despite seemingly minor, is rather immense in nature.
Bleeding edge technology can be explained as the technology that is instantly acquired after its release, ignoring the facts that it is costly or might carry risks with it. It is often synonymous with cutting-edge technology but it involves more instability, unreliability of software and a higher degree of risk which results from limited support, compatibility issues and other problems that were not identified by the inventors at the development stage.
An example of bleeding edge technology would be the new smart phones that are considered as a "must-have" for adults and teenagers alike. There is a definite downside to early adoption of such gadgets that includes fewer applications, compatibility problems, little or no support and other issues that a consumer may encounter. Apple's IPhones 4 turned out to be bleeding edge technology for many users as they faced antenna issues as there was a loss of signal every now and then along with other operating system hiccoughs (Mark Hachman, 2010). Although the matter was address within months of the release (Daniel Ionescu, 2010), it did cause annoyance and suffering to the early adopters of the product. However, early adoption may also result in rewards in terms of establishment of a comparative advantage in otherwise highly competitive markets.
A large portion of the bleeding edge technology makes it into the mainstream to be re-christened as leading edge technology once all the glitches and hiccoughs are sorted out and the consumers are certain of its stability and performance. Leading edge technology is that technology which provides highly. A popular example is the Internet, which was considered as bleeding edge technology when it was initially released in 1969 as a network that'd serve as a communication tool to provide easier access to information for the use of universities and other educational institutions. Since then, it has evolved into a globalized network that caters to all types of audiences around the world (Turner, 2005).
Not only restricted to the exchange of academic information, the Internet is an example of a successful technological convergence where medium of the television, radio and newspaper converge to provide news and entertainment through one medium; the internet. The ease of access to the internet allows people around the globe to easily read the news, watch videos and listen to & download music (usually for free as 95% of the music downloaded is not paid for) (IFPI: 95% of Music Downloads are Pirated, 2009) through a single channel of media. Newspaper circulation in USA was down by 7 million in the last 25 years but in the last 5 years, readers of online newspapers have gone up by 5 million. The online video-sharing website, Youtube gets over 3 billion views per day [7]. The transition of the internet from bleeding edge to leading edge has been rapid and revolutionary.
On the other hand, sometimes technological convergence is not as beneficial as troublesome. It usually incurs in the initial models that the converged devices are often less functional and reliable than their components. For instance, a DVD may be more compatible and efficient on a traditional DVD player than on a gaming console such as Sony's PS3. It is noticed that as the number of functions incorporated in a device escalate, the ability to serve original purpose it was meant to drops. Rheingold states that technological convergence has two sides which respectively may lead to the "improvement of life and liberty in some way and (could) degrade it in others."
Studies show that the users of the latest convergence technologies such as Smart phones and iPad are usually teenagers and young adults. It is noticed in these particular segments of population; social factors play a huge role. They tend to go for the newest gadget on the shelf, either in order to be on top of the social pyramid or simply just to keep up with the crowd. Hence, increased amounts of purchases of bleeding edge technologies that create functionality problems later on. This study pertains to the U.S.A.
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