SXSWi panel summary: convergence and transformation

Saturday 11:30-12:30 Convergence and Transformation
The term "convergence" implies a number of concepts, including the merging of technology, data, people, and socializing. Panelist John Tolva pointed out that technology convergence can be over-simplified to a scenario where "you put all your stuff on one box," but in fact convergence should cover larger concepts of interoperability; I believe his specific term was a "recombinant design philosophy."

David-Michel Davies volunteered the perspective of convergent media, or the "netization of traditional media." This aspect of convergence is particularly pervasive, since it doesn't even require the Internet (see: digital video). Traditional media is consistently trying to exert their influence (and paradigm) on the net, much as the RIAA and MPAA going to great lengths to preserve a known content model in the face of digital creation and distribution. Davies would prefer to make traditional media more like the Net.

Jon Lebkowsky addressed data convergence, particularly how the explosion of tagging is an effort to filter and interact with the increasing "internetization" of information. While even the most tech-savvy adults might have difficulty dealing with the overload, Davies urged the audience to "just deal with it." In other words, tune out when you're disinterested, tune in to things that generate interest.

My tangential take on this philosophy is that adults have grown up in a paradigm where information is precious. Searching and finding is still novel enough that many of us still prefer to embrace knowledge as something that is internalized rather than something that is pursued externally upon demand. To be effective in a convergent information economy requires embracing a paradigm where information is disposable and can be missed.

Products and services must take convergence into consideration, essentially building in hooks so that end-users can become designers themselves. Google Maps is not just a product unto itself, but it is a filter for information that can be used and leveraged in numerous ways far beyond its original intent. David Pescovitz furthered this point by saying that "Consumer" is such a wrong word to apply to end-users. "Customer" is better, but ultimately convergence dictates that many should be perceived as "Collaborators."

If everyone is a collaborator, and convergence has transformed the speed that information and ideas get identified, transformed, and assimilated, where does that leave independent culture and identity? In a spin-cycle culture, the true counter-culture comes from those who to some degree ignore the information overload, or act in spite of it. This can actually promote more real enthusiasm because counter-culture for its own sake quickly becomes unsustainable. When everyone has the directions to hipsterville, only the iconoclasts will find new and interesting ways to get there. This focus should help individuals stop evaluating convergence in perjorative terms (i.e. that change is good or bad), but rather in terms of the standards that make new developments most useful.

links discussed:
shadows
upcoming.org