Convergent Media Resource Center

When scholars and journalism professionals gathered in Columbia, South Carolina back in November 2002 to develop a clear definition of convergence, participants noted that the number of definitions of convergence equaled the number of speakers trying to define it (Quinn & Quinn-Allan, 2005). This web site is dedicated to providing resources to both researchers and journalists to help them make sense of the convergence revolution both in media research and media practice.

The Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications graduate faculty members have defined convergence as “the study of message content, message effect and simultaneous message delivery through multiple media as those variables change, interact and change one another.”  From a research perspective, then, we see convergence from the perspective of the producer and consumer of media messages as well as its influence on society.  Convergence is the interaction of multiple media; the interaction between traditional media and new media; the use of the media among of directed to various ethnic groups; the use of media across multiple nations, languages and/or cultures; and the social, political and economic effects of convergent media.

At Texas Tech, convergence is not simply a buzzword, but a principle that guides our thinking at both the undergraduate and graduate level. In our classrooms at Texas Tech we think of convergence not in terms of ownership patterns or even the technology itself, but what is the best way that news organizations can work together to tell a story across multiple platforms:  print, broadcast and online. The focus, then, is not on the platforms per se, but how reporters can employ print, broadcast and online to most effectively tell a story to the public.

We invite you to explore the meaning of convergence during our annual conference in Lubbock, Texas.  We hope you find both the conference and the information on this web site helpful.  We would certainly welcome any constructive suggestions on how to make this web site more helpful.  Please contact me, Tom Johnson, at t.johnson@ttu.edu, with any suggestions.

Reference

Quinn, Stephen and Quinn-Allen, Deidre. 2005, November/December. The World-wide Spread of Journalism Convergence. Paper presented to the Journalism Education Conference, Griffith University.