computer networks
Computers by themselves are useful tools. But once they are interconnected, they surge in usefulness and suddenly become media. One computer is connected into a network which is then patched into a network of networks. Computer networks have the potential to break the monopolies of media institutions. With networks, there is a shift from centralized, one-way media to dispersed, infinite-way communication. Every audience member in the world can at the same time be an information provider. Channels of information creation and distribution become cheaper and broader until we have limitless bandwidth and storage capacity. This technology comes with a cautionary note. Every emergent media technology has been hailed as the harbinger of popular expression. Yet each new media is used for commercial ends by those in control of power. Newspapers, radios, and television have become institutionalized and continue to institutionalize as they are purchased by larger and larger conglomerates. Advertiser-supported media has become a top-down business. The audience is, after all, not the consumer in television. That role lies with the sponsor. The sponsor purchases advertising time and decides what it is they want to support. Te
It is not the writer of a newspaper article who is sued but the editor who chose it to be published, and even more so, the newspaper agency employing the editor. In one fell swoop, government decision-makers may have destroyed the freest established network forum. The entire system is held together by the backbone of the NSFnet (National Science Foundation). In a recent case, Prodigy was sued by a law firm for public postings by a member critical of the firm. That private videomaker can not distribute his video independently unless he is very wealthy. Commercial interests will be overwhelming as we are bombarded by information. essentially make time stand still" (Sproull et al. Unlike a corporation, it has no vested interest in the vast majority of what is communicated via its network. Computer networks are prone to some of the same problems as traditional media. A corporation or other wholly private entity has a legitimate interest in mandating what is published on intra-corporate message bases, particularly one with a limited number of published on-line documents. The television program needs to be watched at that moment. Computer networks provide a new paradigm of media distribution. The NSFnet will then shift its energies to creating a smaller network linking scientists.
Common topics in this essay:
Online CompuServe,
Wide Web,
Networks Computers,
Foundation NSFnet,
Internet Worse,
computer networks,
on-line services,
traditional media,
forum computer,
forum computer networks,
distribution limitless,
network model,
television radio,
increased bandwidth,
conduits information,
computer network,
|
Acceptance Essays
