Weaving the Web of the Future:

The Internet

Metaphors for new technologies

ROAD SYSTEM metaphors (superhighway)

FRONTIER metaphors (homesteading)

SPACE metaphors (cyberspace)

B

The Internet Regulation Blues

Passing the Communications Decency Act of 1996, and then publishing the Starr Report in 1998 is “more than hypocritical. There’s a total disconnect here with many members of Congress. It’s predictable and sad that Congress would go ahead and publish the most popular piece of sexually explicit material ever published on the Internet. They themselves have become, in their terms, the most successful pornographers on the Internet.” --Barry Steinhardt, Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Diane Ravitch, Former Secretary of Education for George Bush

“In this new world of pedagogical plenty, children and adults will be able to dial up a program on their home television to learn whatever they want to know at their own convenience. If little Eva cannot sleep, she can learn algebra instead. At her home-learning station, she will tune in to a series of interesting problems that are presented in an interactive medium, much like video games. Young John may decide that he wants to learn the history of modern Japan, which he can do by dialing up the greatest authorities and teachers on the subject, who will not only use dazzling graphs and illustrations, but will narrate an historical video that excites his curiosity and imagination.”

Predictions about social impact: technological determinism in action

Utopian global village, worldwide community: but who’s wired?

Unequal access will create new class and race distinctions (digital divide)

Too much information, much of it faultyEasy access to pornography, hate speech,

racial bigotry, weapons constructionFalse communities, less face-to-face

interaction, impact on heavy usersPersonal privacy issues

Development stage of the Internet

U.S. military--government planning in 1957: Advanced Research Projects Agency—goal was national security

1969: Defense Department launched ARPAnet for military and research

decentralized to protect security1979: USENET for civilians--developed e-

mail and bulletin boards

Entrepreneurial Development

1982: National Science Foundation network launched

late 1980s: end of military involvement (ARPAnet) at end of Cold War (military bowed out in 1995)

1993: World Wide Web launched--multimedia capability a reality

rapid spread beyond government and academic worlds through increasingly computer literate households

Commercialization of the 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 non-profit presence on Net: disseminating information, documents, services, even sexually explicit transcripts

How is the internet different from earlier forms of mass media?

Revolutionary ways that data is stored and retrieved (digitalization)

Increasing convergence of mass media: newspapers books TV news magazines movies music interactive games

Distinctive Innovations:

INTERACTIVE receivers can respond to messages

immediately Individuals can be producers, not just

consumers, of media contentMULTIPLE CHANNELS OF DELIVERY

FOR TRADITIONAL MASS MEDIA users can read magazines & books, while

they listen to CD’s online

E-COMMERCE

Advantages 24-hour Discounts No geographical barriers (often no taxes) Convenience of online catalogues

Disadvantages Potential fraud Technology glitches Lack of customer service Too many service duplications--profit hard to achieve

COMPETING VISIONS

OF THE INTERNET

Free and Decentralized

For-profit and Hierarchical

WHO—IF ANYONE—WILL OWN THE INTERNET?

Media mega-corporations Computer hardware/software companiesInternet access and service providersPhone and cable TV companiesInternet search engines, portals, and

Web browsersTV networks

Possibilities for Democratic Dialogue

Wide accessibility for all citizens: cultural diversity

Decentralized social networkDevelopment from “bottom-up” rather than “top-

down” Major involvement of amateursMassive sharing and storage of useful

informationKnowledge gap between users and those

without access

Static in the Dialogue

The digital divideIncreased circulation of “cyberspace

litter”Lack of editorial control for accuracy –

leads to proliferation of misinformationConcerns about security, child

protection, hatemongering