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digital convergence

• entertainment
• convergence
• commercial impact

Life is becoming digital for some time now,  [Digital]. We are surrounding ourselves with gadgets and we are consuming immense amounts of information, that is increasingly being delivered to us via the Internet. We play games, and we still watch (too much) television.

Some of us watch televion on our PCs, and may be even looking forward to watch television on their mobile phone. For others, the PC is still a programmable machine. Being able to program it might earn you a living. Understanding multimedia, however, might even provide you with a better living.

In this chapter, we study what trends may currently be observed in the delivery of multimedia information, and we explore what impact the digital revolution may have from a commercial perspective.

questions

1. digital convergence

• Sketch the developments in multimedia.

  What do you expect to be the commercial impact of multimedia in the (near) future?

• Explain what is meant by digital convergence.
• Which kinds of (digital) convergence do we have?
• Discuss the relation between the medium and the message.

• Give a brief sketch of the development of digital entertainment.
• Characterize: HDTV, SDTV, ITV.
• Discuss convergence with respect to platforms.
• Discuss convergence with respect to delivery.

draft version 1 (16/5/2003)