The Internet — more specifically, the ‘Web’ — is still in its infancy.

What it will mean to the world and the way it works — the way we work — is still a moving target.

However, one aspect of the Net is becoming very clear. The buzzword that early adopters, think-tankers and geeks alike used to throw around in the ‘old days’ — convergence — is finally here. But not in the the way many would have predicted.

Convergence used to be defined as the combination of both television and the Internet - the idea that some day one device would serve both masters. You’d be able to change channels with either a remote control or a keyboard, and the results would pop up on your multi-purpose screen. If you received an e-mail or IM while watching that classic episode of “Seinfeld” on your ‘converged box’ (TV/computer), a little mail icon would flash in the corner. You could pause Kramer coming through the door, read and respond to the e-mail, and return to the laughtrack without missing a beat.

The questions about convergence back then were many, but chief among them was this: one box, maybe… Seinfeld, probably… but would that episode come from NBC, or AOL, or Google, or your buddy Bob…?

Slowly that question is being answered. It’s why broadcasters around the world are choosing to stream some of their programs, and it’s why Apple’s iTunes has become the mother of all repositories of repurposed product (torrents notwithstanding!)

But the way convergence has always been envisioned — one ring to rule them all, if you will — hasn’t really materialized. At least not where technology is concerned. Not yet, anyway. Content, however, is another matter.

With the American mid-term elections only 26 days away, the so-called ‘blogosphere’ (I hate that term) has not only kidnapped political discourse, but built an electronic fence around it. And they’re not holding it for ransom - it’s gone and they’re not giving it back.

All the major news outlets, in all media, appear to have given in. Pick any television news program at random and you’ll find the commentators discussing political issues and floating opinions with those who write the web blogs, just as much as with those who write the newspaper columns. Radio call-in hosts, from the left and the right, have their favourite online sources. Newspapers are now running polls, political and otherwise, conducted solely online by independent sources. True, most of the traditional media now have their own online presence, but I don’t think I’ve seen a single TV news program that didn’t contain third-party online input.

The times they are a changin’ may be our only constant.

One online site has taken this ‘convergence of content’ to a whole new level. Paul Henry has created a new form of serialized online FLASH documentary. His subject matter is about the impact online communities have had on the American political direction of the past four years.

The documentary, The War of the Words, is quite fascinating - for its content, for its storytelling ability and for its unique use of the medium. It’s worth a look.

And so it goes.