Home iSchool Social Networking Subscribe to our RSS Feeds

Convergence Center

Director(s) – Professor Milton L. Mueller
Location – 307 Hinds Hall
Phone number – 315-443-5616
 
Mission:
 
"Digital convergence" refers to the profound changes in the structure of media caused by the emergence of digital technologies as the dominant method for representing, storing, and communicating information. In the past, information and communication technologies were segmented into discrete economic and technical systems with minimal capabilities for interoperability. Digital convergence can be defined in terms of the following three developments
  • The coming together, into a single application or service, of information content from sound broadcasting, telephony, television, motion pictures, photography, printed text, and money;
  • A growing amount of overlap in the functions that can be performed by different physical telecommunication networks;
  • A growth in the interactivity, interoperability, and connectedness of different networks and information appliances in the home and the office.
Projects:
  • The Internet Governance Project Ongoing –
    • Research and policy papers contributing to the formation of a global Internet governance regime, in connection with the UN Internet Governance Forum, ICANN, WIPO, UNESCO and other international processes. Project sponsor: The Ford Foundation.
 
  • Civil Society, WSIS, and the Globalization of Information and Communication Policy
    • July 2002-2006. Research supported by the Ford Foundation to develop a deeper and more general understanding of citizen activism as a socio-economic and political phenomenon. Use of organizational ecology, data on U.S. Congressional hearings, and social network analysis to analyze civil society’s role and influence on domestic and global communication and information policy.
 
  • Broadcast-Telecom Convergence in the USA August 2007 - January 2008.
    • Project sponsor: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Republic of Korea. Principal Investigators: Milton Mueller, Martha Garcia-Murillo, Dave Molta. Research Assistants: Hesham Sayed, Manish Dhyani, M.S. candidates, School of Information Studies.
Convergence Center

This research center focuses on exploring “digital convergence,” which refers to the profound changes in the structure of media caused by the emergence of digital technologies as the dominant method for representing, storing, and communicating information. A major initiative is the Internet Governance Project.
Headlines