Before reading these articles I really did not know much about media convergence or what it meant to both the consumers and conglomerates and what kind of effect it has on both parties. I found everyone’s comments to be very interesting, both Stephanie and mcgip talked about how much of the images that we use to portray or identities are mass-produced images. I found this very interested because I had not really thought about it that way before that many of the things we enjoy and use to represent our “identity” are actually formed by the media and are constantly changing. And if we use these ideas from the media to represent ourselves does that actually define who we are, what we enjoy or the things we believe in? I agree with mcgip that perhaps more restrictions will encourage creativity because it will make it more difficult for individuals to define themselves based on media images and force them to become more creative with presenting representations of themselves different forms. It will reinforce how individuals presented themselves and their ideas before media became so huge and overpowering and perhaps give people the opportunity to have more of a voice.
I agree with as09em that media convergence is probably more beneficial from a producer’s perspective because it will create more of an opportunity for conglomerates to reap financial benefits from individuals who wish to use media and images and provides growth. From a consumer perspective it may seem to be negative now because we have become so used to using media for everything we do, but perhaps in the future it can be a positive thing as we will be able to produce our individuality based more on creativity than media images. I believe that the restrictions will probably not stop everyone from using media images but there will be a decrease in usage. This will not stop the use of copyright because companies are aware that no matter what they will still have users and audiences since it has become such a huge part of out society. After reading these comments and the articles I have began to ask myself if any of these media forms really represent us as individuals or if we have just been trained and influenced to believe that they do. Has individual creativity been taken away or have we just forgotten how to use it?
Global Warming 