The Internet-New Media
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.

The 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
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.
Non-Linear?
Website Website architecture has a first page and last page... but that's not how people access it.

Non-Linear
• 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.
Huge Change..

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• 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.

Scope of Internet
• 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

History..

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Internet dates to 1969 and defense communication system called ARPAnet.
Father of the Internet..

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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).

Father of the Web...

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.
Tim Berners-Lee...
• 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)
Browsers
• 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.

Marketing Blunder
• 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 %)
Sending Data
• 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.
Internet Business
• 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
Credibility
• 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

The Future?
• 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