Mass Comm 7

The latest, the eighth, mass medium is the first to be non-linear...there is no clear-cut start, middle and end. All the other media are basically linear. Books, Newspapers, Magazines, Recordings, Film, Radio, TV .

.. Internet.

• Internet emerged in the mid-1990s • It is the eighth mass medium (books, newspapers, magazines, sound recordings, film, radio, television) • Network of telephone and cable lines and satellite links that connect computers • It is non-linear

• Books? Linear: beginning, middle, end. • Magazines? Mostly linear: cover, inside • Sound recordings? Linear: beginning, end • Newspapers? Mostly linear: cover, inside • Movies? Linear • TV Shows?: Linear (except maybe MTV) • Radio? Shows are linear, songs within music radio are linear, etc.

Website Website architecture has a first page and last page... but that's not how people access it.

• People might get to your site from a link that takes them to what was "Page 12" when you designed the site. • You might have wanted them to read material on previous pages. • They may never see that material. They may see "Page 12" and click to go elsewhere and see no other pages on your site.

• Linear: Messages go Point A to Point B... book, newspaper story, television program. Sender controls message.

• Mass Communication: messages go from centralized Point A to a number of Points B. Sender controls message. • Internet Communication: Every point in net can send, receive messages. Receiver has the control.

• Every major mass media company today has a web product • So have most businesses... and millions of individuals • U.

S. Internet users: 200 million + • Billions in advertising dollars each year. • Millions are leaving the other media

Internet dates to 1969 and defense communication system called ARPAnet.

Vint Cerf created the coding that allowed computers to "talk" to each other over phone lines. 1974 article; 1982 reality. Leonard Kleinrock, UCLA Prof, invented packet-switching: chunks of data from multiple sources travel via lines (phone)..

. Oversaw transmission of the first Internet message from UCLA to Stanford (312 miles).

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 system for scientists to tap into each others' computers, to connect information with all other information on the network; 1992 reality.

• Devised an addressing system using universal resource locators (URLs) • Invented the language for displaying and accessing information on sites on the Internet (HTML) • Invented the protocol that allows computers to connect to read Internet files (HTTP)

• Geeks understood the early Web and used it, but in 1993 Marc Andreessen developed Mosaic..

. the first "browser" to enable average folks to navigate the Internet • Then he developed Netscape to connect MS Windows, Apple OS and Unix. • Today: Internet Explorer Safari, Firefox • Other browser software: Chrome, Opera, OmniWeb, SeaMonkey, Flock, Camino, etc.

• Steve Jobs begins Apple, invents the Apple operating system • Bill Gates begins Microsoft, invents Windows operating system • Jobs says Apple OS only available to those who buy Apple computers • Gates makes Windows available to any computer-maker for a licensing fee • in 2005 Microsoft computers: 95.8% of the computer market worldwide (now around 77 %)

• Bandwidth: capacity required to transmit information (data) • Bandwidth requirements have been increasing dramatically in a limited system • Fiber-optic cable: 1960s, speed of light• Multiplexing: messages broken into bits for transmission quickest way and reassembled • Compression: screening non-essential parts of messages to use less bandwidth • Streaming: segments stored on your computer for replay even before the rest of the message is received.

• Started out advertising-free • Like other media, soon learned where the money is • Dot-Com folly of the '90s • Lack of good internet tracking, a ratings system • Media melding means uncertain future

• Accuracy and credibility questionable • Users absolutely have to be discerning • Availability of "new media" has increased public's access to information alternatives • Three networks, handful of big newspapers don't control the public agendas any longer • Blogs: Drudge Report, Huffington Post, etc.

• Aggregator versus original content

• Who knows? You will determine that as mass communication professionals and consumers • Media melding (or replacement) • Technological convergence • Privacy/security a continuing concern • Cyberpornography is a small part of the Internet (one half of one percent of online files). Child protection remains an issue, however • Access remains an issue - The Digital Divide