The Internet, Digital Media, and Media Convergence

Chapter 2

The Birth of the Internet

• ARPAnet: begun by the Defense Department

• No central authority, therefore no way to shut down

• This effort gave birth to the Internet.

The Birth of the Internet

• Two key innovations:• E-mail• Bulletin boards

• As Internet use proliferated, entrepreneurs took notice.

The Net Widens• Microprocessors signaled the Net’s marketability.

• Allowed for the first personal computers

• By the mid-1980s, fiber-optic cables became the standard.

• By the late 1980s, a growing community set the stage for the Net’s emergence as a mass medium.

Web 1.0: The World Begins to Browse

• Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web at CERN in the late 1980s.

• With Web browsers, users can navigate the Web.

• What is the internet, anyway?

The Commercial Structure of the Web

• In the beginning, commercial entities seeking to capture business in four areas:• Internet Service• Web Browsing• E-mail• Web directories/search engines

Web 2.0• New methods of distributing information:

• Instant messaging

• Blogs

• Wiki Web sites

• Social media sites

Social Media

• Emphasis on user-generated content through an online platform

• Creates a dialogue and social experience between users

• Enables users to communicate to the masses

• A fundamental shift in how people discover, read and share

Web 3.0

• Semantic Web• Goal: Create a more organized, meaningful

Web • Freebase.com

Net Neutrality

• Principle that every website and user has the same internet network speed and access

• Open and Neutral Network

What’s at Stake Without Net Neutrality?

• Small business• Innovators• Political Groups• Nonprofits• iPod listeners

Media Convergence

• Media converges on our PC.• Users can access movies (Netflix), music (iTunes),

and much more.

• Smartphones and touchscreen devices can perform a variety of tasks using third-party applications.

Smartphones and Media Convergence

“Along with computers, digital music players, and

a new generation of touchscreen devices like the iPad, smartphones are part of the general

shift to media convergence in media devices over the past

decade.”

Ownership: Dividing Up the Web

• Four companies dominate Web 2.0:

• Google• Microsoft• Yahoo!• Facebook

What Google OwnsSearch• Google Web Search• Google Blog Search• Google News• Google Book Search• Google Scholar• Google Maps• Google Images• Google Video• Google Earth• Google Sky• Ganji (Chinese languagesearch)

Web Sites and Services• Blogger• Gmail• Google Chrome• Postini• iGoogle• YouTube• Knol• Picasa/Panoramio

Social Networking• Google Buzz• Google Wave• Google Knol• Orkut

Advertising• Adwords• Adsense• Doubleclick• Feedburner• AdMob

Software and Apps• Google Docs• Google Calendar• Google Checkout• Google Groups• Google Talk• Gapminder’s TrendalyzerSoftware (visualizationgraphics)

Mobile• Google Mobile• Google Android• Google SMS• Google Latitude• Google Voice• Zipdash (navigationassistance)

Radio• dMarc Broadcasting• Maestro

Video Games and Interactive Environments

• Online interaction with other players is now a part of video games.• Massively multiplayer online role-playing games

(MMPORGs) played with an avatar

• Consoles like the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony PS3 also act as DVD players, digital video recorders.

The Economics and Effects of Gaming

• By 2010, 60% of U.S. households had a videogame console.

• Video games are now a $10.5 billion industry.• Downsides include addiction to playing.

• Future of video games promises to be a more immersive, portable experience.

Targeted Advertising and Data Mining

• Advertising is part of social networking sites and e-mail.

• Modern marketing relies on data mining• E-commerce• Cookies• Spyware• Opt-in, opt-out policies

Internet Issues

• Ownership• Data Mining and Targeted Advertising• Security• Appropriateness• Access• Alternative Voices

Access: The Fight to Prevent a Digital Divide

• Digital divide• The growing contrast between “information haves”

and “information have-nots”

• Big gaps in access• In the United States• Between the U.S. and the rest of the world