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Some guiding questions
What are the origins of the Information Highway?
How do we access information on this ‘highway’?
What are issues of ownership?What are central concerns about
cyberspace and democracy?
Metaphors for new technologies
All territorial, spatial maps: ROAD SYSTEM
metaphors (superhighway)
FRONTIER metaphors (homesteading)
SPACE metaphors (cyberspace)
Predictions about social impact
Utopian global village, worldwide community
Too much information, much of it faultyFalse communities, less face-to-face
interactionUnequal access will create new class
distinction
THREE STAGES OF MEDIA INNOVATIONS
Novelty or development stage
Entrepreneurial stage
Commercial mass medium stage
Stage 1: Development of the Internet
U.S. military-government planning in 1950s: goal for national security
Late 1960s: Defense Department launched ARPAnet for military and research
Ironically, no central authorityDevelopment of email and bulletin
boards
Stage 2: Entrepreneurial Development
1982: National Science Foundation network
Late 1980s: end of military involvement (ARPAnet) at end of Cold War
1993: multimedia capability on Net
Rapid spread beyond government and academic worlds
Stage 3: Commercialization of Internet as a mass medium
By 1998, over 100,000 regional networks and 36 million servers (hosts)
Companies seek to turn Net users into consumers through ads and Web sites (e-commerce)
Government and nonprofit presence on Net: disseminating information, documents, services
How is the information highway different from
earlier forms of mass media?
Revolutionary ways that data are stored and retrieved
Increasing convergence of mass media (e.g., newspapers, music, books, and TV news now on Net)
Allows individuals to create and distribute their own messages
Three distinctive innovations
INTERACTIVE: receivers can respond to messages immediately
MULTIPLE CHANNELS OF DELIVERY OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA: users can read magazines & books or listen to CD’s online
INDIVIDUALS CAN BE PRODUCERS, not just consumers, of media content
E-COMMERCE: shopping online
Came of age in 1998 holiday shopping season
Online catalogs: software, books, CD’s, clothing
ADVANTAGES: 24-hours, discounts, no geographical barriers, convenience
DISADVANTAGES: fraud, technologies, lack of customer service
NEW CONVERGENCES: effects on traditional media
Blurred boundaries between (1) point-to-point forms of personal communication and (2) mass communication
Especially impacted telephone and personal computer
Three key developments
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY: digitizing traditional media forms
MICROTECHNOLOGY: smaller and lighter tools, such as laptops and palmtops
FIBER OPTIC CABLE: can carry more information much faster
MAPPING THE INTERNET:five major mapping
systems
WORLD WIDE WEBCOMMERICAL ISPsBROWSERSWEB SEARCH
ENGINESINSTANT MESSAGING
SERVICES
OWNERSHIP ISSUES
ON THE INTERNET
Increasing convergence of owners and players in mass media industries
Players and companies jockeying for position
Media megacorporations Computer hardware/software
companiesInternet access and service
providersPhone and cable TV companiesInternet search engines, portals,
and Web browsersTV networks
Despite a clash of values, the Internet so far has eluded centralized control.
Can it stay that way?
Should the Internet be governed?
If so, who should be in control?
Can the public interest be protected and maintained?
ALTERNATIVE VOICES
Is the Internet monopolized by big corporations like Microsoft?
Is there space on the Internet for alternative, non-commercial, inexpensive visions and products?
CITIZENS, CYBERSPACE,
AND DEMOCRACY
Can the Internet
provide a utopian space for democratic communication
?
Promises for democracy
Wide accessibility for all citizensDecentralized social networkDevelopment from “bottom-up”
rather than “top-down” Major involvement of amateursMassive sharing and storage of
useful information
Major problem areas regarding
cyberspace today
Suitability of online materialInternet security and privacy
Concerns about the Internet
Increased circulation of “cyberspace litter”
Lack of editorial control leads to proliferation of misinformation
Concerns about pornography, child protection, hate-mongering
Knowledge gap between users and those without access