Shaping Convergence Media

Abstract

A key feature of convergence of media and information technologies is their ability to provide enhanced user control features that potentially provide a wider range of domestication possibilities. Although popular representations of personalised media (such as 'The Daily Me' electronic newspaper) typically portray user control in basic terms, such as filtering based on user-defined media topics, recent experience with convergence media indicates that users have additional expectations. For example, users expect to control their media consumption through not only filtering, but also time-shifting, archiving, and reformulating content, as well as resisting control limitations such as those imposed by digital rights management systems and aggressive advertising. There is a considerable tension between user domestication and producer design imperatives in terms of user control in convergence media.