Week zero - Understanding key terms

CONVERGENCE, GLOBALIZATION, POSTMODERNITY and SIMULATION. 

Convergence:

        This term is defined as the tendency of diverse media to share a common and integrated platform. This phenomenon has only recently become extremely popular, and our modern society wouldn’t be able to sustain itself without it. In older times there was dial-up which was used to connect to the internet, for example, and most people had a landline telephone which they used to call people, and so on. Nowadays most of these things can be done through a simple mobile phone. When it comes to media, today we have tabloids and online news articles where you can even view videos, instead of buying a newspaper and watching the news on TV seperately.

Globalization:

        Simply put, globalization is the process in which big organizations develop their influence on a worldwide, international scale. In mass media, corporations have a chance to expand their market to other countries, raising their own cultural influence in them as well.

Postmodernity (a.k.a. the network era, the digital age, the third wave...):

        In literal terms, it signifies the era which comes after the period of modernity. This is the part when society moved out of its post‐industrial era to the next stage of development, bringing with it new social conditions and phenomena. It is characterized by the production of custom goods which are created to satisfy the needs of every consumer. Practicality is implied while leisure and distinction are what is being strived for.

Simulation:

        The word comes from the Latin word similis, which means similar, resembling, like and so on... It is the imitation of something that is real. Nowadays there is a lot of talk about VR (Virtual reality) being the “next big thing”. The word itself includes the terms virtual, so something that is not real, and what simulates some part of reality and on the other hand we have the word real, which denotes reality itself. These two words can even be considered opposites, but virtual reality is exactly what brings these terms together in synergy. Virtual reality is a perfect replica (simulation) of reality itself