Preface

Today, television convergence is a particularly difficult process to address and identify clearly because technologies, content, and users evolve simultaneously, consuming content from all technologies and platforms at the same time. Hence, to the inexperienced observer the future of television seems unclear because we use both old and new media in our everyday lives. This book addresses exactly this issue and attempts an interdisciplinary approach to examine the problem in hand. By reading through the chapters it becomes apparent that the Internet as a broadcasting and interaction medium provides far more capabilities than television, which despite its smart functionality does not provide the user with the ability to process, reproduce, and publish content that can trigger further interaction. As a medium, television remains static with little or no functionality over content control. This clearly indicates that the transformation of television is imminent and it is also a recurring phenomenon. The book focuses both on the technological side of developments, particularly on the advances that enable highly efficient broadcasting to be implemented, while it also examines the social characteristics of the convergence process. This interactive evolution cycle that can be explored only be taking into consideration the dynamics imposed both from technological and social developments.

I would like to thank all the colleagues from the Interactive Arts Research Laboratory at Ionian University for their support in the reviewing process. https:// inarts.eu/en/lab/staff/

> **Dr. Ioannis Deliyannis** Assistant Professor, Department of Audio and Visual Arts, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece

**1**

Section 1

Historical and

Technological Aspects of

Convergence

Section 1

Historical and Technological Aspects of Convergence

**3**

**Chapter 1**

Interaction

*Ioannis Deliyannis*

**1. Introduction**

changes.

Introductory Chapter:

Convergence of Content and

Convergence is a transient and multifaceted process that can be examined from various perspectives and timescales [1, 2]. Studying convergence allows us to appreciate changes that occur in our proximity and how our reality is influenced by changes that occur globally [3]. Examining the phenomenon of convergence is a process that usually requires observance of global changes in order to interpret local

The process of convergence is based on a transient mechanism that creates chain

reactions affecting a wide variety of domains [4]. If we examine television as a closed system, we can see how those extend from technological to cultural, educational, and social. Take for example the case where advances in technology were significant and able to trigger change: the adoption of HD, 4K, and 8K resolution by the technological manufacturers. This change in resolution significantly affects the transmission process as more information needs to be transferred, the hardware has to be upgraded in order to process more information, and the software has also to be altered in order to support the new resolutions and enable viewers to access the content. The content production perspective has to adapt as well in order to utilize the higher-resolution imaging of the medium, a process that includes an upgrade across the complete content production workflow. The availability of new ultra-sharp content affects consumers who upgrade their viewing and content storing equipment. Other sections that have to adapt include the gaming industry, which needs to offer gaming experiences that support the new resolution, a chain reaction that pushes upward the processing requirements of video cards used in gaming consoles that traditionally use the television as a gaming monitor. Also, Internet-based streaming of content such as IPTV needs to be updated to support the new resolution, while the networks have to be able to sustain the increased data rate [5]. Following this discussion, one may now appreciate that changes that occur at other domains with no apparent direct connection to the domain of television such as a phenomenally simple change of broadcasted image resolution may affect the domain itself. However, this evolutionary process is not new and is certainly not limited to television, as in the past, the simultaneous introduction of new media technologies enabled a lower-quality standard to evolve instead of the clearly superior one, for marketing reasons [1]. After the introduction of the VHS and BETACAM systems in the market, the lower-end VHS systems won the competition and infiltrated the market as consumers chose to adopt VHS technology due to the wider content

Technology - The Role of

#### **Chapter 1**
