Times and Tides: New Media Convergence

As I walked out onto the southernmost sandbar on the tip of Plum Islandwhich is at the far edge of the Parker River Wildlife Refuge, and may as well be the far end of the worldI was mesmerized by patterns in the surf. The peninsula stands at the point of convergence of the Parker River and the Atlantic Ocean and plays host, twice daily, to a remarkable shift in the nature of the waters. As the low ebb passes and the moon swells the Atlantic tide, the hungry ocean seeks the low-lying sand bar. Concurrently, with gravity and pressure insisting that the river maintain its course, fresh water spills onto the same bar from the others side. In a complicated dance, a beautiful cross-hatched series of interlacing waves zip and unzip to and from each other while the sand lies silent. The effect is a nearly geometric, salty-fresh plaid of white crested peaks and touch of green troughs that order the inevitable blend of differing yet complimentary sources. Closing down summer thoughts and turning that space to considerations of new media and media convergence has formed a hybrid definition in my mind. As endless news sources continue to pool and flow into the vast sea of information, media convergencewhich phrase truly blends the news flow from all sources and in all media formatsand the resulting new media, can be likened to the effect of the tides blending with freshwaters. I visualize many news sources of varying stability and strength pouring like streamlets into the flow of fresh information. As this volume increases, it passes through well worn beds of editorial influence and is filtered and redirected, but inevitably (lightning fast in some cases) is offered to the vast retrievable information sea. At this junction, the waves of opinion and belief crash and steadily push to consider this flow and to find a place for it on the complete human

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consciousness. The result is a constant immersion in information of which some rises up to capture large notice and the rest simply makes its way to the public outlets. Any interference or attempt to stem this flow would be futile, yet individual sources routinely flood and dry up as events demand. We stand on the brink and watch. The marvelous advantage of these media is their ability to channel small and simple things along with earth-shattering reports to the human mind for consumption and consideration. There will always be an appetite for the convergent media, and the system of sources that built it will continue to replenish it as time rolls forward. In many ways, it is the natural evolution of the protection of free speech inherent to the United States constitution that drives this phenomenon. Standing on the peninsular point, the beauty of the flows can be so alluring that one may lose their balance. Seeking stable, solid ground while amid such churning forces requires stepping back and assessing the motions from a safer, more distant vantage. Similarly, too much source material can overwhelm ones ability to completely forge opinion and leave thoughts incomplete and confused. A drawback to the constant stream of finer and finer bits of newsgathering is the limitations all experience when there is too much varying information and not enough time to categorize and process it all. Enter the infinite potential of the future. As we carefully position ourselves to observe the tumult of media convergence, the influence of technology will soon insist that we filter (and thus categorize and profile) our preferences. The press of data carries enough to fill all vessels and we will be forced to select the sources we find valuable based upon our morals, ethics, interest, and preferences. This rising tide will force some to higher ground while others will dive right into the swirling tide. The resulting interplay between humans and inert information will become more

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and more influential in the way we shape the world in which we live, thus dealing a significantly influential role to the sheer volume and diversity of data and source.