There used to be a time when text was for the Net, sound for Walkmans and video for TV. Now the boundaries between the three are merging. The occurrence of two or more things coming together is called convergence. In information technology, convergence is a term for the combining of personal computers, telecommunication, and television into a user experience that is accessible to everyone. Thus convergence is the coming together of the telecommunication infrastructure to provide services such as cable television, basic telephone services and Internet access services through a single infrastructure. In the USA, an estimated 30 per cent of homes have computers with modems. Virtually, 100 per cent of homes have a TV set. Studies show a large number of TV users who would embrace the Internet, video-on-demand, and greater interaction with content, are not confident about buying and using a personal computer because of a certain intimidation factor in using it. Now, both the computer and the television industries are trying to take digital TV and the Internet to a larger market. India is not far behind the West, especially in terms of connectivity, as least in the metros. An increasing number of people are exercising the option to get the cable connection for their Net, which gives them the bandwidth to handle convergence. And it does not cost too much, Rs 1,500 per month, and declining; in certain areas of Delhi it is as low as Rs 800. And the speed is 10 to 12 times that obtainable through regular modems. However, convergence is not simply an issue of technology, but also of culture and lifestyle. Generally speaking, TV is visual and it is not interactive-unless you count channel surfing. It is oriented primarily toward entertainment and news. Nowadays, many TVs have large screens and are easy to operate. On the other hand, personal computers, in spite of their graphical user interfaces (GUI), tend to be more text-oriented, highly interactive, oriented in terms of purpose and content toward business and education uses. In most cases, computer screens are smaller and using them does take more intelligence than using a TV set. One of the ways in which convergence is already seen is WebTV, which pipes the World Wide Web to a slightly-modified TV set with a set-top box from an ordinary phone line and provides a degree of interactivity. Then there are a number of interactive games designed for the TV environment that can also be played over the Internet. Broadcasting companies such as NBC have partnered with computer companies such as Microsoft for TV content. A major barrier to more rapid convergence is the large investment required to bring such cable TVs to households, both by cable access providers and individual households. Thus it is limited to areas in which there is high degree of demand, and as such it is only available in pockets. This is certainly a limitation, but one that time and rising demand can solve quite easily. Basically, bandwidth charges are decreasing all over the world and this means that more and more people will be able to make full use of convergence. What does this mean to you and me? In short, better services, more service-oriented functions rather than gadget-oriented ones. Thus, if you need a service, you would have a device perform it for you. In a way, this is a sweeping change since for many years users have been almost subconsciously operating in a gadget-centric mode-the device dictates the service parameters. At one level, convergence between computing and telephony can be seen in VoIP. Most computer users are now familiar with VoIP, using which people are making long distance calls inexpensively through the Internet. When bandwidth permits, Webcams are also used to convey rudimentary video images over the Web. A major cellular service provider in the region has its unified messaging system (UMS), which lets all its subscribers read, hear, send and manage their e-mails and voice messages from their mobile phones. They have text-to-speech converters that read out your e-mails to you. For a fax, they are intimated about its arrival and can retrieve it from the nearest convenient fax machine. Also, you can send a voice attachment to any e-mail address in the world, so that people can hear your message on their multimedia computers. All new computers, and most of the old ones, are multimedia machines. To get back to Jyoti, the lady in Delhi, the other day she watched her mother in Bangalore over Webcam make halva to demonstrate how it was done to her other daughter in San Francisco. The mother was guiding the cooking process from India while the daughter was learning to make the halva in the USA! The time spent on the Net was not an issue as it was a 24-hour connection. But this kind of innovation is at the end of the users. In real terms, vendors will provide more rich content that will be available anytime, anywhere. Let's think in terms of the informative programmes that we see on TV. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could access such programs when we want, what we want, rather than waiting? It would also be much better if we were to move to precisely the information/segment that we want. The keywords here are interactivity and immediacy of content vs static content that is available at pre-determined times. On a number of Websites, including www.tribuneindia.com, you can see video content. This is another use, and the next stage would be to have streaming video that would allow live broadcasts. However, this is just one aspect. The aim is to combine entertainment, information and network home shopping/e-commerce services. The last is the most problematic, since even in western countries, people have been surprisingly slow in taking to shopping over the Net. However, the usage is increasing. Thought the recent telecom reforms have brought increasing amount of bandwidth at an affordable level we are not quite geared for convergence-much more needs to be done. Content has to be created and adapted for multimedia applications that would enrich the convergence material. In this many Indian companies are gearing up to provide training to creative individuals. They would make such multimedia presentations combining, text, video and sound, and a healthy dose of interactivity, as would make full use of the convergence. A major advantage that India has in
convergence is the newness of telecommunications infrastructure and the
adaptability of people. Computer usage has increased exponentially in
the past few years and bandwidth is greater and cheaper. This helps the
users and planners envision a richer fare for those who are connected on
the information superhighway.
|