Post-convergent
Encyclopedia
Post-convergent means, literally, “after convergence”. It is the period in the development of any given medium when, having converged all prior media within itself, it ceases to be used to solely recreate these prior media and starts to be used for creating work that is only possible in the new medium. Marshall McLuhan
famously said that any new medium contains all prior media within it. He later gives an example of instant replay
in television broadcasts of American football. Until the advent of the instant replay, televised football had served simply as a substitute for physically attending the football; the advent of the instant replay – which is possible only with the television – marks a post-convergent moment in the medium of television.
Realtime 3D Multi-User Virtual Environments (RT3D MUVE
s) are an example of an early 21st Century post-convergent medium. This is based on the premise that they exist after the McLuhanistic convergence of existing media into a new media, and therefore are a complex matrix of interdependent relationships between the range of media elements (for example, sound, vision, network, time, interactivity, social interaction, but this list can include all prior technologies) where no individual media-element, or user experience, or artist’s determination, exists without the other, and all affect each other but not necessarily equally, rather in a dynamically changing ebb and flow based on interaction between the artist, the user and other contingencies that characterise the medium (for example, lag, non-linear time relationships, but again the list can contain all prior technologies).
If we accept that this complex system contains all other media as content, it is nonetheless consistent for the practitioner to sometimes focus on one aspect if desired (for example, streaming an audio file, like a song in a juke box, inside a RT3D MUVE), however doing so often serves chiefly as a technical acculturation device. The practitioner is often better off approaching RT3D MUVEs as a matrix of multi-sited relationships in order to facilitate the establishment of an interactive affect cycle, and at the very least acknowledge Alain Badiou
’s criteria for art. The potential for a rich engagement within and between agents within a medium that is best characterized as Gilles Deleuze
’s network of relations between differential velocities that are not distinguished by form or functionality and Anna Munster’s differential relations between embodiment and technics, in which both artist/composer and user become nodes in this interdependent network, satisfying Luciano Floridi
’s test of successful observability and backward and forward presence at different Levels of Abstraction.
In the technical sense, RT3D MUVEs are post-convergent because they are capable of containing, displaying and reconstituting all forms of prior media, in other words they converge prior media as content. In the conceptual sense, these environments are post-convergent because they exist subsequent to the convergence of media that occurred from the late twentieth and early into the 21st Century, such as Web 2.0
and mobile culture, and characterised by Henry Jenkins
and others as convergence. This is not to say that this phase of pre- and post-convergence is unique to RT3D MUVEs, or even digital or networked media specifically, rather it is an ongoing cycle throughout the history and development of media. In this sense, the notion of post-convergence is simply a reference to artwork that occurs after such convergences and specifically seeks a virtuosic engagement with the medium itself. McLuhan calls these accelerations, which calls to mind Deleuze’s Spinozan kinetic relationships of differentials, as well as Munster’s dematerialized representation and digital embodiment, Hayles’ self-reinforcing cultural patterns, Haraway’s messy engagement, Matrix’ cyberpoetics, and J. David Bolter and Richard Grusin
’s remediation, all of which can (but is not required to) be usefully applied within Floridi’s formal telepresence model of successful observability and backward and forward presence.
Marshall McLuhan
Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist...
famously said that any new medium contains all prior media within it. He later gives an example of instant replay
Instant replay
Instant replay is the replaying of video footage of an event or incident very soon after it has occurred. In television broadcasting of sports events, instant replay is often used during live broadcast, to show a passage of play which was important or remarkable, or which was unclear on first...
in television broadcasts of American football. Until the advent of the instant replay, televised football had served simply as a substitute for physically attending the football; the advent of the instant replay – which is possible only with the television – marks a post-convergent moment in the medium of television.
Realtime 3D Multi-User Virtual Environments (RT3D MUVE
MUVE
MUVE refers to online, multi-user virtual environments, sometimes called virtual worlds. While this term has been used previously to refer to a generational change in MUDs, MOOs, and MMORPGs, it is most widely used to describe MMOGs that are not necessarily game-specific. The term was first used...
s) are an example of an early 21st Century post-convergent medium. This is based on the premise that they exist after the McLuhanistic convergence of existing media into a new media, and therefore are a complex matrix of interdependent relationships between the range of media elements (for example, sound, vision, network, time, interactivity, social interaction, but this list can include all prior technologies) where no individual media-element, or user experience, or artist’s determination, exists without the other, and all affect each other but not necessarily equally, rather in a dynamically changing ebb and flow based on interaction between the artist, the user and other contingencies that characterise the medium (for example, lag, non-linear time relationships, but again the list can contain all prior technologies).
If we accept that this complex system contains all other media as content, it is nonetheless consistent for the practitioner to sometimes focus on one aspect if desired (for example, streaming an audio file, like a song in a juke box, inside a RT3D MUVE), however doing so often serves chiefly as a technical acculturation device. The practitioner is often better off approaching RT3D MUVEs as a matrix of multi-sited relationships in order to facilitate the establishment of an interactive affect cycle, and at the very least acknowledge Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou is a French philosopher, professor at European Graduate School, formerly chair of Philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure . Along with Giorgio Agamben and Slavoj Žižek, Badiou is a prominent figure in an anti-postmodern strand of continental philosophy...
’s criteria for art. The potential for a rich engagement within and between agents within a medium that is best characterized as Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix...
’s network of relations between differential velocities that are not distinguished by form or functionality and Anna Munster’s differential relations between embodiment and technics, in which both artist/composer and user become nodes in this interdependent network, satisfying Luciano Floridi
Luciano Floridi
Luciano Floridi currently holds the Research Chair in philosophy of information and the UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics, both at the University of Hertfordshire, Department of Philosophy...
’s test of successful observability and backward and forward presence at different Levels of Abstraction.
In the technical sense, RT3D MUVEs are post-convergent because they are capable of containing, displaying and reconstituting all forms of prior media, in other words they converge prior media as content. In the conceptual sense, these environments are post-convergent because they exist subsequent to the convergence of media that occurred from the late twentieth and early into the 21st Century, such as Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
and mobile culture, and characterised by Henry Jenkins
Henry Jenkins
Henry Jenkins III is an American media scholar and currently a Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, a joint professorship at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the USC School of Cinematic Arts...
and others as convergence. This is not to say that this phase of pre- and post-convergence is unique to RT3D MUVEs, or even digital or networked media specifically, rather it is an ongoing cycle throughout the history and development of media. In this sense, the notion of post-convergence is simply a reference to artwork that occurs after such convergences and specifically seeks a virtuosic engagement with the medium itself. McLuhan calls these accelerations, which calls to mind Deleuze’s Spinozan kinetic relationships of differentials, as well as Munster’s dematerialized representation and digital embodiment, Hayles’ self-reinforcing cultural patterns, Haraway’s messy engagement, Matrix’ cyberpoetics, and J. David Bolter and Richard Grusin
Richard Grusin
Richard Grusin is an American new media scholar and author who currently serves as both Professor of English and Director of the Center for 21st Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.-Education:...
’s remediation, all of which can (but is not required to) be usefully applied within Floridi’s formal telepresence model of successful observability and backward and forward presence.
External links
- http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1367975 Adam Nash, 2007. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series; Vol. 305. Proceedings of the 4th Australasian conference on Interactive entertainment.
- http://www.acva.net.au/blog/detail/seven_theses_on_the_concept_of_post-convergence Justin ClemensJustin ClemensJustin Clemens is an Australian philosopher, translator, social critic, and poet. He is primarily known today for his work on Alain Badiou as an editor, translator, and scholar writing, speaking, and lecturing on the impact of Badiou's thought in this contemporary juncture.A former instructor in...
and Adam Nash, 2010. Seven Theses on the Concept of Post Convergence.