Blurring the Boundaries: Connectivity, Convergence and Communication in the New Media Ecology

Over the past decade the introduction of networked and digital media has dramatically altered the media ecologies of young people. In North America, Western Europe and East Asia, mobile phones, instant messaging, social network sites and other media now constitute part of the everyday landscape of youth. Even in the developing world the availability of mobile phones, telecentres, internet cafes and a variety of programs designed to facilitate access to a variety of new media and technologies have dramatically altered the media ecologies of youth in a variety of contexts (see OLPC; Castells, 2006; Horst and Miller, 2006; Pertierra et al, 2004; Librero, 2006). While the infrastructures of access and broader societal structures of inequality, such as class, income, gender and other power differentials, continue to shape the possibilities and parameters of participation in the new media ecology, there remains clear evidence that the availability of new and other new media has started to dramatically influence the ways in which young people view, understand, access, share and create knowledge.