city university london school of social sciences convergence of ...

Also, it is stated by ITU (2002) that „it should also be considered that convergenceimplies an evolution and a possible reduction of traditional jobs, while, at the sametime, imposes the development of new skills (and consequently the need forspecialized education and training)‟ (p.2). Although this is not a direct effect ofconvergence on citizens, anyhow this situation affects the people working atconverging industries.While mentioning the effects of convergence on citizens, it is worth to advert that allcitizens will not benefit from convergence because of the differences in internetpenetration and computer concentration per household. According to this issue, ITU(2002) states that convergence is not going to reach the same level everywhere at thesame time, and even in the most advanced economies, all citizens are not going tobenefit from convergence since the beginning (p.2).At this point, it is important to emphasize that the words „consumer‟ and „citizen‟ aredifferent from each other. Consumers buy or use goods and/or services in the market,however citizens participate in society that also includes the market. It can beinterpreted from the definitions that citizen interest already covers the consumerinterest and anything that is for the benefit of consumers is already for the benefit ofcitizens. The point that consumer interest and citizen interest are differentiated isexplained by UK government as follows: „The consumer interest referred to aneconomic focus on networks and services, for the benefit of individuals; by contrast,the citizen interest referred to a cultural focus on content, for the benefit of thecommunity‟ (Livingstone:2008 p.2).When referring to the impact of convergence on society, different words like „endusers‟, „customers‟, „viewers‟ or „citizens‟ are used in the literature, as it can be seenabove. It can be interpreted that economic issues such as availability andaffordability are more likely to meet the interests of consumers whereas socialbenefits of convergence as advanced information infrastructure and bettereducational opportunities are more likely to meet the interests of citizens.To wrap up, convergence has many benefits on consumers and citizens as it is stated23