Integrating Media for Broadband
By Adam Birnbaum
We've all heard a lot of buzz about media convergence. And now that broadband is becoming available to millions of consumers, we're all wondering how we can use the increase in bandwidth to bring the interface of the Web to the next level. Everyone wants to answer the Million-Dollar Convergence Question: How do you make a Web site with feature film production values and computer game immersiveness? And if we can create it, what kind of execution platform and network is it going to require?
The most important answer to the first question has nothing to do with technology. It has to do with people. If you want to achieve the production values of film or television, you need to get film and television people on your production team. If you want to achieve the immersiveness of computer games, you need people on your team who can work with the complex mix of media and technologies used in today's video games. No one knows exactly what the real capabilities of a futuristic broadband Web site may be, or the extent to which it will be similar to today's Web or television or computer games or other media. But teams with a strong balance of Web designers, film effects artists, and graphics programmers will be able to produce content that allows broadband to look and feel fundamentally different from the Web of today.
Which brings up the second question: What is the technology going to be like? This is a tricky question, because it leads to a circular dependency. The complexity of the content depends on the execution platform and available bandwidth, while the requirements for the platform depend on the complexity of the content.
