The limits of convergence: October 03, 1999 issue of New Thinking

October 04, 1999 New Thinking:
The limits of convergence

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October 04, 1999

The limits of convergence

By Gerry McGovern

Did you hear about the new TarmaAquaAir from GM? It’s a car that turns into a boat that turns into a plane. You haven’t? Well, neither have I. Because while most of us use road, water and air transport, it just doesn’t make sense to create a multi-purpose transport vehicle.

Again and again I get asked about convergence. Principally, there is a constant question about how long it will take for the Internet and television to converge? My answer is that it will take about as long as it takes GM to launch the TarmaAquaAir.

What is television? What is the Internet? My answer is that it doesn’t matter what a television is or what the Internet is. What is important is what they do. What is important is what the ‘function’ of the tool is, not what the tool is itself. It’s like defining a hammer as something that hammers nails into wood, not a tool with a wooden handle and a metal head.

As the Digital Age matures, the construction and even name of the tool may change, but the original and primary function of television and the Internet will remain the same as long as people want to be entertained and people want to be informed/educated. Yes, there will be convergence at the edges but the basic functions of entertainment and education will remain separated.

Let’s think ahead for a moment. In five years many homes will be networked with digital systems. There will be a central server computer through which programming and information will enter the home. Most rooms will have a screen and keyboard/remote control device. (In fact, many of the functions may well be voice controlled.)

Some rooms, such as the sitting-room, will have very large screens placed on walls, others, such as the study, will have smaller screens placed on a desk.

When you ‘turn on the television’ in 2005 you will probably be relaxing in the sitting-room after a hard day’s work, wanting to vegetate. You will want to be broadcasted ‘at’. You will have no special interest in interacting unless something very unusual occurs. Because a great many of us watch ‘television’ to be entertained; to allow our minds to relax, not to tax our brains with interaction.

Let me let you in on a secret. There’s a lot of people in the world who really like being spectators, who really like being part of the audience, who would come out in a rash if they were told they had to ‘interact’ with strangers through their television.

Back to 2005. When you need to do some work you will most likely go to your study, call up a word processor, access some information, whatever. You might call it using the computer or accessing the Internet, but that will be because you got into the habit of using those terms.

Today, too many people who should get it don’t. Don’t get confused between the tool (television, computers, Internet) and the function (broadcasting entertainment and news, doing work, accessing information). Because it really doesn’t matter what you call it. What matters is how and why you use it.

Gerry McGovern

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It really doesn’t matter what you call it. What matters is how and why you use it.