This book focuses largely on enabling technologies for network convergence. A principal aim is to show where parallel functions exist in fixed and mobile voice network architectures and to explain how these functions will be combined. The authors describe the components of a future converged architecture and consider the following key aspects: QoS Requirements, Proposed Solution Architectures, Protocol and Interface options, Underlying Network Issues and Security issues. The book also compares and describes initiatives from several standards bodies working to simplify to a clean architecture and a common set of protocols. The impact on a Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, the preferred method of transport for the core network, will be considered in detail.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th IFIP/IEEE International Conference on Management of Multimedia and Mobile Networks and Services, MMNS 2008, held on Samos Island, Greece, on September 22-26, 2008, as part of the 4th International Week on Management of Networks and Services, Manweek 2008. The 15 revised full papers and 1 revised short paper presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 46 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on wireless ad hoc and sensor networks; multimedia distribution; quality of experience; and QoS mechanisms and tools for multimedia.

This book discusses the development strategies of Chinese media convergence in the current, fast-changing communication environment. Drawing on both theoretical and empirical data and based on the author’s observations, focus groups, and in-depth analyses of selected Chinese radio and TV networks, it illustrates key lessons for the maintenance and future improvement of talents, advertisement, media organization management, business development, and coping strategies. Further, it outlines a framework that helps readers to consider how to use communication strategies for the construction of media convergence in the context of China by referring to theories of international communication and political communication. Presenting research on the development strategies of Chinese media convergence, it offers a systematic study of the processes through which the Chinese radio and television industries make use of proper communication strategies to have a profound global influence.

"With Media Convergence, Tim Dwyer has given us a bold restatement of the political economy approach for a 21st century media environment where traditional industry silos are collapsing, and where media users are increasingly engaged with the production and distribution of media and not simply its consumption. The book displays considerable attention to institutional detail and comparative analysis, and is well designed to provide a road map of current and future trends for policy makers and media activists, as well as students and future workers in the convergent media space." Professor Terry Flew, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Australia How will people access digital media content in the future? What combination of TV, computer or mobile device will be employed? Which kinds of content will become commonplace? Rapid changes in technology and the media industries have led to new modes of distributing and consuming information and entertainment across platforms and devices. It is now possible for newspapers to deliver breaking news by email alerts or RSS feeds, and for audiovisual content to be read, listened to or watched at a convenient time, often while on the move. This process of 'media convergence', in which new technologies are accommodated by existing media industries, has broader implications for ownership, media practices and regulation. Dwyer critically analyses the political, economic, cultural, social, and technological factors that are shaping these changing media practices. There are examples of media convergence in everyday life throughout, including IPTV, VoIP and Broadband networks. The impacts of major traditional media players moving into the online space is illustrated using case studies such as the acquisition of the social networking site MySpace by News Corporation, and copyright issues on Google's YouTube. This informative resource is key reading for media studies students, researchers, and anyone with an interest in media industries, policy and regulation.

The Media Convergence Handbook sheds new light on the complexity of media convergence and the related business challenges. Approaching the topic from a managerial, technological as well as end-consumer perspective, it acts as a reference book and educational resource in the field. Media convergence at business level may imply transforming business models and using multiplatform content production and distribution tools. However, it is shown that the implementation of convergence strategies can only succeed when expectations and aspirations of every actor involved are taken into account. Media consumers, content producers and managers face different challenges in the process of media convergence. Volume I of the Media Convergence Handbook encourages an active discourse on media convergence by introducing the concept through general perspective articles and addressing the real-world challenges of conversion in the publishing, broadcasting and social media sectors.

This book focuses on how everyday media such as Facebook, iTunes and Google can be understood in new ways for the 21st century through ideas of convergence. Key chapters explore the development of the internet, the rise of social media and the new opportunities for audiences to create, collaborate upon and share their own media.

This book offers fresh critical insights to the field of media convergence with a particular focus on the mainstream media of China. It begins with an exploration of the emerging change among the entire mediascape: the clear and distinct boundaries that used to demarcate media channels are gradually dissolved, and the widespread introduction and application of new communication technologies have brought both challenges and opportunities toward China. This is followed by a series of theoretical endeavor about the link between conventional media and new media. Drawing on President Xi Jinping’s guiding opinions regarding with media convergence, this book then analyzes the political task laid upon mainstream media in which challenges may be turned into opportunities. Given its conceptual focus and practical contribution, the book helps media professionals and related government agencies understand the wide variety of changes brought about by media convergence and the new direction for media development.

Convergence has gained an enormous amount of attention in media studies within the last several years. It is used to describe the merging of formerly distinct functions, markets and fields of application, which has changed the way companies operate and consumers perceive and process media content. These transformations have not only led business practices to change and required companies to adapt to new conditions, they also continue to have a lasting impact on research in this area. This book’s main purpose is to shed some light on crucial phenomena of media and convergence management, while also addressing more specific issues brought about by innovations related to media, technologies, industries, business models, consumer behavior and content management. This book gathers insights from renowned academic researchers and pursues a highly interdisciplinary approach. It will serve as a valuable reference guide for students, practitioners and researchers interested in media convergence processes.

The Media Convergence Handbook sheds new light on the complexity of media convergence and the related business challenges. Approaching the topic from a managerial, technological as well as end-consumer perspective, it acts as a reference book and educational resource in the field. Media convergence at business level may imply transforming business models and using multiplatform content production and distribution tools. However, it is shown that the implementation of convergence strategies can only succeed when expectations and aspirations of every actor involved are taken into account. Media consumers, content producers and managers face different challenges in the process of media convergence. Volume II of the Media Convergence Handbook tackles these challenges by discussing media business models, production, and users' experience and perspectives from a technological convergence viewpoint.

What purpose does the news media serve in contemporary North American society? In this collection of essays, experts from both the United States and Canada investigate this question, exploring the effects of media concentration in democratic systems. Specifically, the scholars collected here consider, from a range of vantage points, how corporate and technological convergence in the news industry in the United States and Canada impacts journalism's expressed role as a medium of democratic communication. More generally, and by necessity, Converging Media, Diverging Politics speaks to larger questions about the role that the production and circulation of news and information does, can, and should serve. The editors have gathered an impressive array of critical essays, featuring interesting and well-documented case studies that will prove useful to both students and researchers of communications and media studies.