How are convergence and interactivity defined in new media studies Essay

How are convergence and interactivity defined in new media studies Using examples, critically evaluate these concepts in relation to those of remediation and intra-activity - Essay Example product of convergence between â€Å"old† and â€Å"new† media through â€Å"remediation,† which they examined in their book, Remediation: Understanding New Media. This essay aims to study how convergence and interactivity are defined in new media studies. Through several examples and definitions, it critically evaluates these concepts in relation to remediation and intra-activity. According to new media scholars, convergence is defined through technological convergence, the lens of consumer agency (Lister et al., 2009: 48; Suchman, 2007), cultural/system/corporate convergences (Jenkins, 2008; Murdoch, 2000), and remediation (Bolter and Grusin, 2000), while interactivity has been defined as a cause, enabler, and result of convergence (Murdoch, 2000; Manovich, 2001); however, the â€Å"myth of interactivity† (Manovich, 2001: 74) and the process of inter-activity (Barad, 2007) criticise the intuitive and interactive notions of new media interactivity and con vergence (Hay and Couldry, 2011). Before convergence is further understood, the meaning of new media must be explored first because it shapes the philosophical conceptualisation of convergence. One of the common definitions of new media is the interaction between old and modern media, especially computers, mobile information and telecommunication devices, and the Internet. New media is more complex and varied than the use of current web and mobile technology interfaces, nonetheless. In the article, â€Å"How Should We Read New Media and New Technologies?† Gà ¶kà §ek (2011) cautioned people in seeing new media as a single and homogenous object, when it is composed of a â€Å"...collection of objects which should be analysed economically, socially, culturally, politically, philosophically, theoretically and technologically† (71). He resisted separating new media from its social context, as well as bundling it into a simplistic view of networked and interactive modern technological systems. Manovich (20 01), in The Language