Media Convergence and the Network Society: Media Logic(s), Polymedia and the Transition of the Public Sphere

Abstract

In this chapter it is argued that the phenomena which used to be described as convergence have started to reach a level of complexity which can no longer be embraced by the convergence concepts alone. For one, convergence as a term implies a transition process, which for many new social media platforms does not seem to be applicable anymore: they are already polymediated by nature. Consequently, the chapter links the idea of media convergence to a concept, which specifically focuses on the role of technology and its embeddedness in interpersonal and institutional contexts: the concept of “media logic.” To offer an applicable approach for media logic, which opens up the field for empirical research, the concept of “media grammar” is introduced. To demonstrate how media logic and the connected concept of media grammar play out in society, the notion of the digital public sphere is discussed.