Ambivalence Towards Convergence offers a practical assessment of various theories about convergence. Convergence as a field of interest is a very broad topic, ranging from network convergence to software convergence, along with hardware convergence, media convergence, regulatory convergence, and market convergence, among other types of convergence. For example, the software installed on a cell phone permits the user to use the device as a phone, as a personal assistant complete with notes and a calendar, listen to MP3s, record video, shoot pictures, and much more. Instead of the software being designed for one function, as it was originally developed, it is now capable of a variety of tasks, having adopted software features from other applications and having integrated them. This is an example of software convergence. Additionally, the physical design of the cell phone (a piece of hardware) has changed to better facilitate these additional tasks, featuring larger screens and QWERTY keyboards. The computer's keyboard has been in many instances miniaturized and integrated into a mobile device, an example of hardware convergence.
Ambivalence Towards Convergence takes its place among the literature on the subject, including, but not limited to, works by Henry Jenkins (Jenkins, 2006), Nicholas Negroponte (Negroponte, 1995), and Thomas F. Baldwin, D. Stevens McVoy, and Charles Steinfeld (Baldwin et al., 1996). The contributions by these authors have greatly increased our understanding of convergence concepts, especially as they are emerging or foreseen. In an attempt to bring perspective to various convergence theories proposed by scholars and theorists, Ambivalence examines individual instances of convergence (if they exist) and, by applying the scientific method (in a fashion), the essays in Ambivalence test the validity of some convergence hypotheses. This is a welcome evaluation of the various concepts of convergence in society, especially technological convergence.
The clear introduction presents a useful outline of the book's objectives, by describing how it will proceed to realize those objectives, briefly summarizing how the essays have been organized, and what each essay accomplishes in its allotted space. The book's editors, Tanja Storsul and Dagny Stuedahl, have compiled thirteen essays by fifteen European academics, all of whom are established or maturing scholars. Most of the authors are Scandinavians attached to Scandinavian universities (the University of Oslo is heavily represented), with the exception of one scholar who teaches at the Sorbonne in Paris. Unsurprisingly, Ambivalence is Eurocentric, but for North American and other non-European readers, this is an opportunity for a fresh perspective. The European perspective on technology and convergence provides a useful paradigm for non-European users and adopters since Europe, especially in mobile (cell phone) applications, has been far ahead of the United States and other countries in adopting and utilizing technology.
Unfortunately, however, since Ambivalence was published in late 2007, most of the research that went into the essays was completed earlier in that year, or, based on textual examples and citations, more often 2006 or earlier. Therefore, in terms of technological advancements and the adoption of technology, some information may seem self-evident to anyone, including non-Europeans, invested in technological issues in 2008. This, of course, would be less of an issue if not