Yesterday Oliver Westmancott and myself found ourselves in Liverpool to join the Government’s Convergence Think Tank, taking place at the Maritime Museum. The theme was “Convergence and the public: building a media literate society.” Well, that was the title, but we did seem to spend much of the day on the regulation debate.

Anna Bradley Chairman of the Ofcom Consumer Panel delivered the first keynote “New risks and challenges for the public,” and immediately highlighted the opportunities for both consumers and industry – more choice, greater mobility and commercial expansion. Anna pointed out the benefits (cheaper) of bundling as well as indicating the pitfalls when trying to disaggregate as a choice offering. And whatever pipes for delivery were being used, then in the mobile arena at least, porting and switching remains an issue (although Julie Minns  from 3 was quick to point out their success in this area).

Tom Brookes (Director of Government Affairs, Europe – Apple) came on for the second keynote, “Maximising the opportunities offered by convergence for consumers and citizens.” Tom drew upon some interesting demographics  illustrating the changing patterns of media consumption. Oh dear, and one of his indicators demonstrated perceived trust in news sources – with blogging taking a poor 25% compared to TV’s 92%. Well, if you still believe me (and even if you don’t), read on.

Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport delivered an almost closing speech (Alex Graham – CEO of  Wall to Wall and chair of the Media Literacy Task Force had that unexpected honour, and a fine job he did too!).  It was very easy to warm to Andy, particularly as he encouraged genuinely open debate and actually answering questions directly in a way that politicians are often accused of not doing – so thank-you for that Secretary of State.

The day was structured to allow panel responses and presentations, as well as some dialogue with the wider group. Of particular note I was delighted to hear Joanna Newman  (Head of Higher Education Strategic Partnerships at the British Library) genuinely seeking opportunities for convergent technologies to open up their assets beyond the Dewy system and web 1.0(?) worlds. Robin Blake (Ofcom) neatly summarised the issues in regulation of media in a convergent world. Becky Hogge, another panellist (Executive Director of the  Open Rights  Group) was also a most eloquent questioner and I’m sure was responsible for pulling together the thoughts of many around her – thank you Becky.

When the proceedings from the day are published you’ll find them linked from here http://www.culture.gov.uk/Convergence/seminars.html

A personal and lasting thought – why on a day with a theme of literacy did so many choose to push open the door clearly wedged tight and with a prominent sign of “Use other door!” Well, it made me smile.