I first got excited about the possibilities of convergence in the early 1990s when someone showed me the Trojan Room Coffee Pot. (For a history lesson, go here.)Using the network, these guys at the University of Cambridge could publish a near-real-time photo of a coffee pot located on another floor. And, since it was the Internet, anyone in the world could see that coffee pot.
Most of my friends in technology thought I was crazy, but I realized that this would revolutionize the world of broadcasting and publishing. It put the power to broadcast and publish content into the hands of the people, at least the people who could understand the technology. And now, look where we are: YouTube and MySpace allow anyone, from grade schoolers to grandparents, to publish and broadcast their own content.
