Media convergence

Imag: multimedia
Text, image, audio and video are increasingly merging to form a multimedia and interactive offering.
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Media convergence

An increasingly multimedia world

In the modern media age, the once rigid boundaries between traditional media channels are gradually being broken down against the onslaught of media convergence. Films, literature, radio and television broadcasts are no longer consumed in their traditional original media, but rather as parts of a tailor-made data package. Where once a whole arsenal of different additional devices was required, multifunctional mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones are now able to store and play virtually the entire collection of personal music, literature and films, in addition to telephony, surfing, recording videos and sending messages.

With the rapid expansion of Internet usage, the habits and expectations of media consumers are also changing. Pure text formats are interspersed with photo galleries and audiovisual interviews, and an interactive and individual access dynamic is being facilitated thanks to linking structures. Online media libraries, video portals and on-demand offerings are making media sales increasingly independent from media reception. Moreover, a news mix can be created using social networks, which is fed directly from the user's personal environment. In the easy-to-access publication sphere that is the Internet, users are no longer merely the recipients of media information, but also its producers.