The Internet: Mass Communication Gets Personal Chapter 10
Just Because You Can Post to Social Media Doesn’t Mean You Should Numerous threats have been posted to YikYak at range of campuses. “Anonymous” social media really aren’t anonymous. Online media are social, mobile, location based, and app-based.
What is the Internet? New mass medium incorporating elements of interpersonal, group, and mass communications. “A diverse set of independent networks, interlinked to provide its users with the appearance of a single, uniform network.”
Development of the Internet How do we make incompatible computers talk with each other? How do we share information? Can we maintain military communication after nuclear war? (But this system was never built!)
Packet Switching 1964: Paul Baran develops decentralized computer network for Air Force. Messages are broken into small data packets, which are sent independently across the network. Receiving computer reassembles message. Air Force chooses NOT to build this network. Donald Davies proposes similar civilian network for Britain. Also not built.
How Packet Switching Works
ARPAnet Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) Networking incompatible computers across the country Went online in 1969, same year as the moon landing Intended for primarily academic use
Connecting Incompatible Networks ARPAnet led to multiple packet-switching networks. How do you link these small networks together? Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf created rules for networks to communicate with each other, a protocol known as TCP/IP.
The Internet TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol How data are transmitted and how computers can locate each other Internet Internetworking of networks Data exchange follows specific rules
Online/Mobile Media Electronic mail (e-mail) A message sent from one computer user to another across a network Instant Messaging & SMS Electronic message systems that allow two or more users to communicate in real time World Wide Web
World Wide Web Hypertext The format of material containing links that allow the reader to move from one section to another and from one document to another Tim Berners-Lee, Enquire Within Upon Everything Wouldn't it be a good idea to be able to share documents located on computers anywhere in the world? Created the World Wide Web and gave the software away for free
Major Components of the Web Uniform resource locator (URL) The address of the content placed on the Web Hypertext transfer protocol (http) The standard set of rules for sending Web content over the Internet Hypertext markup language (HTML) The programming language used to describe the content on Web pages
Key Web Principles One address to take users to a document. Everything should be accessible/linkable. Any type of data should be available on any type of computer. The Web should be a tool for interaction, not just publication. No central control.
Accessing the Web Mosaic – The first graphical Web browser. Growth of high-speed continuous (broadband) access to the broadband Internet access Expansion of mobile access to Internet
Search as Medium Many countries put limits on search. Limits on Nazi materials in parts of Europe. Yahoo says Chinese better served by censored Internet than no Internet.
Mobile Apps Is the web dead? Apps are big part of how we interact online Mobile devices becoming dominant method of going online
Blogs Collection of links and commentary in hypertext Blog reports brought down former CBS anchor Dan Rather after he mishandled a story on President George W. Bush. Blogs let writers talk directly to readers, bypassing legacy media.
Podcasts & Streaming Media Online tools such as YouTube let non-journalists post video news stories online. Streaming media gets long-tail movies and video in front of a larger audience. Distributing audio and video programming no longer requires a broadcast network.
Social Media User-generated content Comments Tagging Social networking Customization
Video Games as Mass Communication Video game consoles: media content devices Mario, Sonic and Pikachu– Video game stars New venue for advertising Center for online community Profitable part of popular culture Protected form of speech
Video Games as Spectator Sport Through streaming services such as Twitch, video games are now a spectator sport. “eSports” championships occasionally broadcast on cable sports channels. Ability to stream via Twitch built into many top video game consoles.
Diversity and Representation in Video Games LGBT and Asian-American consumers slightly more likely than public at large to play video games. Same groups feel that they are underrepresented in video games. Most video games offer limited range of body type diversity.
The Hacker Ethic As Defined in Steven Levy’s book, “Hackers” “Access to computers should be unlimited and total.” “All information wants to be free.” “Mistrust authority – promote decentralization.” People should be judged by skills, not by “bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position.”
The Notion of Cyberspace Taken from word cybernetics – science of communication and control theory Originally used in 1982 magazine story by William Gibson Gibson also coined cyberpunk – a style of writing and movies that deal with the blurring of the lines between humans and computers.
Conflicts Over Digital Media Controlling online content Protecting intellectual property Privacy and the Web
Media Convergence Bringing together traditional legacy media with online media. Reverse synergy: When you get the worst of both by combining old and new media
Everything is Data More and more media being delivered digitally Mobile phones often have unlimited talk time and text messages, but definite limits on data use. Streaming services replacing satellite/cable for many subscribers. Cable companies experimenting with streaming apps to replace set-top cable boxes.