Unit 1-Student Copy

8/8/2019 Unit 1-Student Copy

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UNIT 1: The Internet, Communication, and Contemporary Society

Communication is a basic tool of success in modern days. Communication means interactionbetween persons, or to a crowd. Interpersonal communication efficacy is considered as a skill sincethe bond of relationships relies on the power of it. The focus of the communication is to makesothers understand about what you want to make them know. The primary need of the

communication is that it must be clear and evident. The modern days are mentioned as thecommunication age since an evolution in the communication modes has been taking place. Thedevelopments in the communication have helped to shrink the world indeed into a global village.However, as the communication modes evolves, the necessity to streamline the communication alsoincreases.

While streamline your communication, you must be conscious to use words, which are sufficient toconvey your idea. The communication has to be molded considering various factors such as theoccasion, mode of communication, and the person to whom you are communicating.Communication includes all the means of interaction such as speaking, writing, gestures, andexpression. The basic protocol, which the person has to maintain in the communication, isconsidered as the etiquette of communication.

Streamlining of the communication has to be done according to the context of interaction. In case ofbusiness relationships, communication is extremely important. The special feature of businesscommunication is that it must be short, and precise to the matter. In public speaking,communication has to be interesting. You have to adopt a sort of demonstration in public speaking,to make it appreciable for the whole crowd. Context relevant examples and jokes will make it reallyattractive. The preference in the personal communication has to fix in accordance with the otherperson. However, prior preparation for communication is advisable, in common to all types ofcommunication.

The advent to new technologies has raised the necessity of streamlining the communication. Fromface to face interactions and mails, now, the horizon of communication has extended to telephone,

fax, mobile phone and internet. The etiquette of communication has to be readjusted, withaccordance with the peculiarities of the mode of communication such as for telephone speakingmanners is important and for internet quick reply is the requirement. However, in streamlining, thegeneral requirements for communication must be retained, such as it has to be interesting andpleasing. Any how, if you want the expected response, you definitely have to be an active listenertoo.

To add on, remember the saying, first impression is the best impression. An impressive start andinteractive gestures will certainly make your attempt remarkable, in direct communications.

An Introduction to Modern Day Communication

Communication technology has changed so radically in the past ten years that we no longer even

know what is ethical, let alone legal. The author shows why communication has changed, why it is

now impossible to think about communication the way we are accustomed to thinking, and

proposes a workable framework defining ethical communication in the Internet era.

The influence of the Internet has caused a change in the way we communicate, learn and shop.

The Internet is probably most famous for the ability to spread information, fact or fiction. We were

once limited to news editors of a local paper, then to national cable news. Now anyone can search

the globe, visit local papers in foreign countries, and see the views of all sides. This ease of

information has also brought with it a large amount of hoaxes, money schemes, and fallacies.


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There is no question that easy access to the Internet, like the introduction of mail service and the

invention of the telephone, has changed the nature of peoples connection to others in their social

world. Mail made possible connections among people without physical proximity, and the

telephone facilitated communication among distant people, making rapid connections possible

across long distances.

Internet users should closely examine their behavior, to ensure that excessive time online will notnegatively impact their personal well-being. We shouldn't throw our computers out the window,

but neither should we charge on blindly into complete dependence on the Internet. As with many

things in life, it seems that moderation and balance are key to maximizing the Internet's positive

effect.

Changed Communications

Communication is the act of transmitting thoughts, opinions, ideas, and information (the message)

from one person (the communicator) to another (the receiver). It is a process that requires a

medium.

Traditional communication medium

Traditionally, business management communicated with employees through written memoranda.

The boss would dictate or type the message, make copies of the memo and distribute the same to

the employees.

This day and age, however, a person reads, hears and sees so much that his mind is simply

incapable of retaining every piece of information that it has received. Among the information that a

human being receives, written messages have the least chance of being retained. This means that

written memos can be very ineffective communication media.

Memos, aside from the fact that the messages they contain do not usually get retained, are also

restrictive means of communication. It is so formal that it restricts spontaneous and honest

reactions. It also does not facilitate interaction; its mainly used for top-down communication.

This does not bode well for people in lower levels; such employees couldnt feel empowered and

efficacious if their ideas, thoughts and opinions cant even get heard in their business organisation.

The business also loses out since it couldnt benefit from its peoples unique talents, skills and

varying points of view; these could have been tapped had the business created a looping

communication and feedback channel.Internet and Communication

The Internet has fundamentally changed the way we communicate, touching many lives. Individuals

worldwide are taking classes, shopping for gifts, writing to their grandchildren, planning vacations,

and even buying their cars using the Internet. The Internet is driving an Internet Economy that

transcends any single group of people, companies, or countries.

The Internet has reached farther and faster than any previous communication technology. For

example, it took 35 years for radio to reach 50 million listeners. Television needed 13 years toreach

that same number of people. In comparison, it took the Internet only four years.

Today, the business, government, and educational sectors are using the Internet and changing the

way they work through increased investment in networking technology. For example, many


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businesses within the retail sector have transformed themselves by using Internet computing for

network commerce and customer care.

Digital assets are taking the place of physical assets, causing Internet companies to grow both in

presence and in revenue. Because operating costs are minimal, products and services can be

substantially less expensive. In addition, governments are using the

Internet to communicate with their citizens and streamline operations. Schools are linking to the

Internet for everything from distance learning for college students to providing access for pupils of

all ages.

The companies and countries that are successful in the Internet Economy are those that can create

a network with ease and respond instantly to changing market conditions and customer demands.

Customers, suppliers, employees, and business partners can all collaborate in ways that allow them

to be more productive, rapidly adapt to change, and make effective decisions. The network is the

essential engine of this new, Internet-enabled world.

21st Century Communication Tools

BloggingWhat is a "blog"?

"Blog" is an abbreviated version of "weblog," which is a term used to describe web sites that

maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. A blog is a frequently updated, personal

website featuring diary-type commentary and links to articles on other Web sites. Blogs

range from the personal to the political, and can focus on one narrow subject or a whole

range of subjects.

Many blogs focus on a particular topic, such as web design, home staging, sports, or mobile

technology. Some are more eclectic, presenting links to all types of other sites. And others

are more like personal journals, presenting the author's daily life and thoughts.

Generally speaking (although there are exceptions), blogs tend to have a few things in

common:

A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles

are organized into categories.

- An archive of older articles.- A way for people to leave comments about the articles.- A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a "blogroll".- One or more "feeds" like RSS, Atom or RDF files.The Blog Content

Content is the raison d'tre for any web site. Retail sites feature a catalog of products.

University sites contain information about their campuses, curriculum, and faculty. News

sites show the latest news stories. For a personal blog, you might have a bunch of


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observations, or reviews. Without some sort of updated content, there is little reason to visit

a web site more than once.

On a blog, the content consists of articles (also sometimes called "posts" or "entries") that

the author(s) writes. Yes, some blogs have multiple authors, each writing his/her own

articles. Typically, blog authors compose their articles in a web-based interface, built into

the blogging system itself. Some blogging systems also support the ability to use stand-alone

"weblog client" software, which allows authors to write articles offline and upload them at a

later time.

Comments

Want an interactive website? Wouldn't it be nice if the readers of a website could leave

comments, tips or impressions about the site or a specific article? With blogs, they can!

Posting comments is one of the most exciting features of blogs.

Most blogs have a method to allow visitors to leave comments. There are also nifty ways forauthors of other blogs to leave comments without even visiting the blog! Called "pingbacks"

or "trackbacks", they can inform other bloggers whenever they cite an article from another

site in their own articles. All this ensures that online conversations can be maintained

painlessly among various site users and websites.

The Difference Between a Blog and CMS?

Software that provides a method of managing your website is commonly called a CMS or

"Content Management System". Many blogging software programs are considered a specific

type of CMS. They provide the features required to create and maintain a blog, and canmake publishing on the internet as simple as writing an article, giving it a title, and

organizing it under (one or more) categories. While some CMS programs offer vast and

sophisticated features, a basic blogging tool provides an interface where you can work in an

easy and, to some degree, intuitive manner while it handles the logistics involved in making

your composition presentable and publicly available. In other words, you get to focus on

what you want to write, and the blogging tool takes care of the rest of the site management.

WordPress is one such advanced blogging tool and it provides a rich set of features.

Through its Administration Panels, you can set options for the behavior and presentation of

your weblog. Via these Administration Panels, you can easily compose a blog post, push a

button, and be published on the internet, instantly! WordPress goes to great pains to see

that your blog posts look good, the text looks beautiful, and the html code it generates

conforms to web standards.

If you're just starting out, read Getting Started with WordPress, which contains information

on how to get WordPress set up quickly and effectively, as well as information on

performing basic tasks within WordPress, like creating new posts or editing existing ones.

FacebookThe advent of Facebook came about as a spin-off of a Harvard University version of Hot orNot called Facemash. Mark Zuckerberg, while attending Harvard as a sophomore, concocted

Facemash on October 28, 2003.According to The Harvard Crimson, Facemash used photos


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compiled from the online facebooks of nine Houses, placing two next to each other at a time

and asking users to choose the hotter person.

To accomplish this, Zuckerberg hacked into the protected areas of Harvards computer

network and copied the houses private dormitory ID images. Perhaps Harvard will squelch

it for legal reasons without realizing its value as a venture that could possibly be expanded

to other schools (maybe even ones with good-looking people ... ), Zuckerberg wrote in hispersonal blog. But one thing is certain, and its that Im a jerk for making this site. Oh well.

Someone had to do it eventually ...

The site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers but was shut down a

few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg was charged by the

administration with breach of security, violating copyrights and violating individual privacy

and faced expulsion, but ultimately the charges were dropped. The following semester,

Zuckerberg founded The Facebook, originally located at thefacebook.com, on February 4,

2004. Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College, and within the

first month, more than half the undergraduate population at Harvard was registered on the

service. Eduardo Saverin (business aspects), Dustin Moskovitz (programmer), Andrew

McCollum (graphic artist), and Chris Hughes soon joined Zuckerberg to help promote the

website.

FlickrFlickr is the worlds largest online forum for sharing digital photos on the Internet.

Beginning in 2008, the site also began offering the ability to upload digital video. Flickr

offers a suite of tools and services for managing and organizing digital content using tags or

metadata, which allow users to record information about each photo or video, such as

where it was taken, a description of the content, and keywords that are searchable by otherusers. Users have the ability to control who may view their uploaded content by setting the

status to either public or private.

In addition, Flickr provides an integrated social networking capability in the form of

blogging. The site allows users to manage a list of contacts, search for other users, and

invite friends to join. Additionally, users can create and search for groups, and can share

content privately within groups.

Creating a basic account in Flickr is free. With the basic account, users can upload up to 100

MB of photographs per month (with a maximum file size of 10MB per photo), upload two

videos per month (maximum 90 seconds in length, or maximum file size of 150 MB), and

post photos in up to ten groups.

Flickr professional accounts are available for a modest annual fee. Professional accounts

offer unlimited photo and video uploads, unlimited storage and bandwidth, archiving of

high-resolution photographs, and the ability to post photos in up to sixty groups.

In March, 2005, Flickr was acquired by Yahoo!, and all content was migrated to file servers

in the United States. As a result, all images and content are now subject to United States

federal law. Additionally, users are now required to create a Yahoo ID, which also serves as

their Flickr login ID.

Once you create your account, getting started is an easy three-step process: 1) create your

profile, 2) upload your photos, and 3) search for friends on Flickr. You can then upload one


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or many photos (up to the limits of your account) at a time. The sequence of uploaded

photos is referred to as your photostream. If you have a basic account, only the last 200

photos in your photostream will be visible.

Today, Flickr has grown to become the predominant online photo sharing forum globally,

and has become a popular vehicle for publishing and sharing digital photos online for

amateurs and professionals alike.

MySpaceMySpace is called a social networking site, however, a better description would be a social

multimedia site with networking capabilities. The founders, Chris DeWolfe and Tom

Anderson are still involved in the company in the CEO and president roles respectively,

even though it has been bought by News Corp. and was sold for a staggering $580 million in

2005.

MySpace has a reputation for being a pretty laid back, social platform that works well for

musicians, comedians, friend networks, and individuals alike. It was on the market a full

month before Facebook, its competitor.

The marketing capabilities of MySpace are being seen currently as well. Its thought that of

the $900 million that Fox Interactive Media earned for its revenue target for June of 2008,

the majority of the proceeds were from MySpace. (Fast Company, pg. 95) Thats pretty

unprecedented for a social networking platform. MySpace really depends on you, the user,

bouncing around on the site, exploring the nooks and crannies to find the marketing tools

that they employ. Its apparent that its working well too.

MySpace is always evolving and finding new ways to better exploit its marketing

capabilities. We will all continue to see it change and evolve with time.

PodcastBefore the advent of the World Wide Web, in the 1980s, RCS (Radio Computing Services),

provided music and talk-related software to radio stations in a digital format. Before online

music digital distribution, the midi format as well as the Mbone, Multicast Network was

used to distribute audio and video files. The MBone was a multicast network over the

Internet used primarily by educational and research institutes, but there were audio talk

programs.

Many other jukeboxes and websites in the mid 1990s provided a system for sorting and

selecting music or audio files, talk, segue announcements of different digital formats. There

were a few websites that provided audio subscription services.

The development of downloaded music did not reach a critical mass until the launch of

Napster, another system of aggregating music, but without the subscription services

provided by podcasting or video blogging aggregation client or system software.

Independent of the development of podcasting via RSS, a portable player and music

download system had been developed at Compaq Research as early as 1999 or 2000. Called

PocketDJ, it would have been launched as a service for the Personal Jukebox or a successor,

the first hard-disk based MP3 player.

A fully conceived precursor to podcasting came from another early MP3 player


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manufacturer. To supply content for its players the I2Go company, makers of the eGO

player, introduced a digital news service called MyAudio2Go.com that created daily audio

news feeds users could download eGo or any other MP3 player. The eGos file transfer

application could be programmed to pull down specific feeds to a users PC every evening.

Video CastingThe term Video podcast is used to describe the delivery of video to the internet via Atom or

RSS enclosures. Video podcasting was coined to differentiate between podcasts, which are

commonly audio files, and those that refer to the distribution of video with an RSS feed that

is used as a non-linear TV channel. Video cast consumers can subscribe by PC, TV, media

center, or mobile multimedia device. Once the video podcast is on the internet, it can be

distributed from the webs server as a file or a stream.

Both options, streaming and downloading, have their up and down sides. A file that is

downloaded can be watched multiple times on that single download. It also gives the

viewer the chance to watch it offline. An upside to streaming a video cast is the ability to

skip through portions of the file without downloading the entire cast. There are also lower

bandwidth costs for the internet servers, but users could possibly face pauses in playback

caused by low transfer speeds.

The history of Video-casting is relatively brief. In October of 2003, a Canadian film company

launched the serialized web-based video zombie comedy project called Dead End Days. The

project was referred to by the creators as a "web serial" After about a year, the films

makers added RSS features to the site, making it video cast by definition. A short time after,

on January 1st, 2004, Steve Garfield launched his video blog and declared it the year of the

video blog.

Video and podcasting became increasingly popular within the next couple years. In

December of 2006, Time magazine named its person of the year as "YOU," was referred to

the individual content creators on the web and more particularly, video casters.

TextingText messaging is the quick and easy communication that is done via cell phones. Text

messaging is also known as Short Messaging System (SMS).

Originally, texting started in the late 1980s as a method of communication for engineers

that were building the mobile network. However, the first commercial text was sent in 1991

from a computer to a handset. By the year 1995, SMS was launched commercially. By the

year 200, less than 20 billion text messages were sent worldwide. And by the year 2001,

over 250 billion text messages were sent worldwide. At the end of 2006, 72% of all mobile

phone users worldwide (roughly 1.9 billion out of 2.7 billion phone subscribers) became

active users of the SMS.

A reason why texting is so fast and easy is because of the shorthand language that

developed for a quicker way to send messages. For example, instead of typing out you, the

person can type out the letter u.

TwitterWhat is Twitter?


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According to the sites home page, Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to

communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one

simple question: What are you doing?

Twitter is a free social messaging tool that lets people stay in connected through brief text

messsage updates up to 140 characters in length. Twitter is based on you answering the

question What are doing? People then post their thoughts, observations, and goings-ontheir day. Then your update is posted on your Twitter profile page through SMS text

messaging, the Twitter website, instant messaging, RSS, e-mail, or other social applications

and sites, such as Facbook. (Source: Webopedia)

Why and how was Twitter created?

Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, March 2006, and has grown into a real-time short

messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices. Twitter is a privately

funded project in the SoMA neighborhood of San Francisco, CA.

Dorsey had an interest in knowing what his friends were doing. This would be anopportunity to build a network around this simple concept.

WebinarUsing a webinar is a great way of promoting a new product to clients, and prospective

clients as well. Its an easy, fast and cheap way to get your message out to a huge number of

people, without the hassle of travel. Webinars can be used to reach many groups of people,

all over the world, some that you would not normally be able to reach otherwise.

Webinars are a smart way to converse with many people over a large area, and any business

would do well to take advantage of such a helpful tool.

WordPressWordPress is a blogging website. Its free and easy to use and you can start a blog in seconds

without any technical knowledge. All you need is an email address. Youll get your own

WordPress.com address (like you.wordpress.com), a selection of great free and

customizable designs for your blog (called themes), 3 gigabytes of file storage (thats about

2,500 pictures!) and all the other great features listed here. You can blog as much as you

want for free, your blog can be public to the world or private for just your friends.

Dozens of gorgeous themes

You can change the look of your blog with over 60 attractive themes ranging from

professional to fun to crazy, and you can switch themes instantly with just a click of a

button. Each theme allows you to customize your sidebar using widgets, and several themes

let you upload your own photo or image for the header bar. WordPress adds themes

regularly based on user requests.

Pick up where you left off

If you already have a blog and would like to move it over to WordPress.com, you can import

your content from Blogger, LiveJournal, Movable Type, TypePad, or an existing WordPress

blog.


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Privacy options, including members-only blogs

WordPress.com allows you to have a completely public blog, which is public but not

included in search engines or our public listings, or a private blog, which only members can

access. If you want a public blog, but only occasionally post something private, WordPress

has a per-post password option, too!

No lock-in

You can leave WordPress.com any time you want and your content isnt locked in.

WordPress provides a complete XML export of all your posts and comments.

YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload and share videos. Users can

interact with one another by commenting, blogging, sharing favorites, creating channels and

subscribing to popular users. YouTube allows individuals, groups, businesses, clubs,organizations, political and educational groups to utilize their multimedia collaborative

tools to broadcast their messages to a potentially limitless audience.

From the YouTube website, Everyone can watch videos on YouTube. People can see first-

hand accounts of current events, find videos about their hobbies and interests, and discover

the quirky and unusual. As more people capture special moments on video, YouTube is

empowering them to become the broadcasters of tomorrow.

Set up an account and see how you can start enhancing your personal, educational and

business interests with this popular and ever-growing multimedia service.


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Understanding Internet communication and its social implications

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet

Internet has been perhaps the most outstanding innovation in the field of communication in the

history of mankind. As with every single innovation, internet has its own advantages and

disadvantages. But usually, greater magnitude of advantages outweighs its disadvantages.

During his evolution journey from Neanderthals to Homo erectus and then to Homo sapiens, man

has come long way. Because of his continuous quest for more and more amenities and facilities, the

nineties have seen a major turn around with the invention of computers. 10 years ago, the term

internet was practically anonymous to most of the people. And today internet has become the most

ever powerful tool for man throughout the world. The internet is a collection of various services

and resources.

Although, many people still think e-mail and World Wide Web as the principle constituents of

internet, there is lot more in store than e-mail, chat rooms, celebrity web sites and search engines. Italso became the best business tool of modern scenario. Today internet has brought a globe in a

single room. Right from news across the corner of the world, wealth of knowledge to shopping,

purchasing the tickets of your favorite movie-everything is at your finger tips. Internet has great

potential and lot to offer however, like every single innovation in science and technology, internet

has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

Communication:

The foremost target of internet has always been the communication. And internet has excelled

beyond the expectations .Still; innovations are going on to make it faster, more reliable. By theadvent of computers Internet, our earth has reduced and has attained the form of a global village.

Now we can communicate in a fraction of second with a person who is sitting in the other part of

the world. Today for better communication, we can avail the facilities of e-mail; we can chat for

hours with our loved ones. There are plenty messenger services in offering. With help of such

services, it has become very easy to establish a kind of global friendship where you can share your

thoughts, can explore other cultures of different ethnicity.

Information

Information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering. The Internet is a virtual treasure

trove of information. Any kind of information on any topic under the sun is available on the

Internet. The search engines like Google, yahoo is at your service on the Internet. You can almost

find any type of data on almost any kind of subject that you are looking for. There is a huge amount

of information available on the internet for just about every subject known to man, ranging from

government law and services, trade fairs and conferences, market information, new ideas and

technical support, the list is end less.

Students and children are among the top users who surf the Internet for research. Today, it is

almost required that students should use the Internet for research for the purpose of gathering

resources. Teachers have started giving assignments that require research on the Internet. Almostevery coming day, researches on medical issues become much easier to locate. Numerous web sites


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available on the net are offering loads of information for people to research diseases and talk to

doctors online at sites such as, Americas Doctor. During 1998 over 20 million people reported

going online to retrieve health information.

Entertainment

Entertainment is another popular raison d'tre why many people prefer to surf the Internet. In fact,media of internet has become quite successful in trapping multifaceted entertainment factor.

Downloading games, visiting chat rooms or just surfing the Web are some of the uses people have

discovered. There are numerous games that may be downloaded from the Internet for free. The

industry of online gaming has tasted dramatic and phenomenal attention by game lovers. Chat

rooms are popular because users can meet new and interesting people. In fact, the Internet has

been successfully used by people to find life long partners. When people surf the Web, there are

numerous things that can be found. Music, hobbies, news and more can be found and shared on the

Internet.

Services

Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking, purchasing

tickets for your favorite movies, guidance services on array of topics engulfing the every aspect of

life, and hotel reservations. Often these services are not available off-line and can cost you more.

E-Commerce

Ecommerce is the concept used for any type of commercial maneuvering, or business deals that

involves the transfer of information across the globe via Internet. It has become a phenomenon

associated with any kind of shopping, almost anything. You name it and Ecommerce with its giant

tentacles engulfing every single product and service will make you available at your door steps. Ithas got a real amazing and wide range of products from household needs, technology to

entertainment.

Disadvantages

Theft of Personal information:

If you use the Internet, you may be facing grave danger as your personal information such as name,

address, credit card number etc. can be accessed by other culprits to make your problems worse.

Spamming:

Spamming refers to sending unwanted e-mails in bulk, which provide no purpose and needlessly

obstruct the entire system. Such illegal activities can be very frustrating for you, and so instead of

just ignoring it, you should make an effort to try and stop these activities so that using the Internet

can become that much safer.

Virus threat:

Virus is nothing but a program which disrupts the normal functioning of your computer systems.

Computers attached to internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end up into crashing

your whole hard disk, causing you considerable headache.


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Pornography:

This is perhaps the biggest threat related to your childrens healthy mental life. A very serious issue

concerning the Internet. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the Internet that can be

easily found and can be a detrimental factor to letting children use the Internet.

Though, internet can also create havoc, destruction and its misuse can be very fatal, the advantages

of it outweigh its disadvantages.

Social Implications Of Information & Communication Technologies

At the turn of the second millennium of the Christian era, societies, everywhere around the world,are being fundamentally changed by the emergence of a new technological paradigm based oninformation & communication technologies (ICTs). To the convergence of microelectronics-basedinformation technologies (microprocessors, computers, telecommunications, optoelectronics), wemust add genetic engineering, which extends the manipulation of information codes to the realm ofthe living matter, thus ushering in the most fundamental biological revolution.

Social scientists know that technology per se does not determine social processes, and institutions.Technology is a mediating factor in a complex matrix of interaction between social structures, socialactors, and their socially constructed tools, including technology. But because information andcommunication are at the core of human action, the transformation of the technologicalinstruments of knowledge generation, information processing, and communication, has farreaching implications, which add specific social effects to the broader pattern of social causation.

This new technological paradigm emerged as a systemic feature in the 1970s, expanded throughout

the 1980s to the domains of military power, financial transactions, and high technology

manufacturing, diffused in the late 1980s in workplaces of all kind, and deeply penetrated homes

and culture in the 1990s, with the explosive diffusion of Internet, and multimedia. New informationtechnologies have diffused much faster than revolutionary innovations of the two industrial

revolutions. And yet, countries, cultures, and social groups, are extremely different in their degree

of absorption, and utilization of new technologies. But all countries, and all people, are directly or

indirectly, exposed to the structural transformation mediated by this technological revolution.

Because of the speed of change, and the radical novelty of these information technologies, social

sciences have been rather slow in their understanding of the precise role of technology, in spite of a

large amount of monographs that are quickly outdated by a new wave of technological innovation.

Taking advantage of the necessary caution exercised by social scientits, a flurry of futurologists, and

ideologues, have littered the world with simplistic predictions that usually combine technological

determinism with the marketing of consulting services. This is why social sciences must take up thechallenge to observe, and explain the interaction between technological change and social change

without yielding to pop futurology. In this report, I shall try to discuss some of the social issues

raised by new information technology, on the basis of available evidence. To remain within the

limits of this report, I take the liberty to refer the reader to the analyses, as well as to bibliographic

and statistical sources on this matter, presented in my recently published trilogy on the

Information Age (Castells, 1996, 1997, 1998). In this report, I shall cite only sources that have not

been utilized in my books, so to update current developments.

The network economy, work, and employment

Information technologies have been decisive tools in the emergence of a new economy in the lasttwo decades of the 20th century. This is certainly a capitalist economy indeed for the first time inhuman history, the entire planet is working along the lines of a capitalist economic system. But it is


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a new brand of capitalism. It is global, it is informational, and it is based on business networks. Aglobal economy is an economy whose core activities work as a unit in real time on a planetary scale.By core activities I mean financial markets, science and technology, information andcommunication, international trade, the upper tier of high-skill labored, and mutlinational firmsand networks of producers and distributors of high value added goods, and services. Our economyis informational because the capacity to generate relevant knowledge, and process information

efficiently, is the main source of productivity, and competitiveness for firms, regions, and countries.And it is a networked economy, that is an economy whose units of production, distribution, andmanagement are organized in networks. A network is a set of inter-related units that depend oneach other for the performance of their common task. The networked form of economic unitsprovides the necessary flexibility and adaptation to adjust to constant changes in demand, intechnology, in process, and product, in an increasingly globalized economic environment. Networksmake possible to bring together resources from different units, and focus these resources on oneparticular business project without losing flexibility, as it would be the case with gigantic firmsorganized along traditional standards of large-scale, vertical bureaucracies. The large corporationof the industrial era is no longer the operative economic unit. To be sure, large businessconglomerates, particularly multinational corporations, dominate the global economy, but they areinternally decentralized as networks, and they connect to a complex set of equally networked, small

and medium businesses . Furthermore, large corporations and their ancillary networks build ad hocstrategic alliances, thus forming networks of networks, in an economy characterized by variablegeometry. While the legal and financial unit of our economy continues to be the large corporation,the actual operation of economic activities is in the hands of a new economic actor: the networkenterprise, made out of different firms, and segments of firms, and constantly redefining itsstructure and its components (Harrison, 1997). While capital is still accumulated by thecorporation, the operating unit is the business project, and the business project is enacted by anetwork, constituted around this project, and ending its existence with the completion of theproject.

ICTs are an essential tool allowing in for the development of the three fundamental features I have

cited as characteristic of the new economy. A global economy as a planetary unit can only exist

because of the worldwide infrastructure in telecommunications, information systems, air

transportation, and fast transportation/delivery systems. The speed and the complexity of

transactions and communication is only possible because of microelectronics-based technologies.

This is why a global economy, in the sense I defined, is a new historical reality, distinct from

previous processes of internationalization of the economy. Information and knowledge have always

been an essential part of economic growth. But they become the dominant factors for productivity

and competitiveness only when new technologies diffuse knowledge-based information processing

throughout the entire system of economic activity (Mansell and When, 1998). Production and

management networks have existed since ancient times. But their flexibility was flawed by their

incapacity to concentrate resources, thus losing economies of scale, and of scope. New information

technologies allow simultaneously for the concentration of decision making, and for thedecentralization of execution, thus solving the traditional contradiction between size and flexibility.

Most dynamic economic units are made up of intra-nets linked to extra-nets via Internet. The

network is the real operating unit.

This new economic forms and processes, tooled by information technology, have deeplytransformed work and employment. But not in the simplistic ways which are proposed by theideologues of the end of work's thesis. Against widespread fears according to which newinformation technologies would induce mass unemployment, most empirical evidence points to theconclusion that the impact of technology on employment depends on firm's strategies, economicpolicies, and institutional environments (Freeman and Soete, 1994). Indeed, in the late 1990s, thetwo economies with the most advanced technological systems, both in production and diffusion oftechnology, the U.S. and Japan, had by far the lowest unemployment rate in the OECD, below 4.5%.Between 1975 and 1997, during the phase of expansion of the information technology revolution,United States created 42 million new jobs, and Japan 11 million new jobs, while job creation in the


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European Union (12 countries) was limited to 8 million, and most of these jobs were in the publicsector. Furthermore, in the U.S. the proportion of highly skilled new jobs substantially increasedover time, belying the interpretation of job creation at the low end of the scale. Indeed theproportion of managers and professionals in the US labor force increased from 27.3% in 1980 to31.9% in 1996. Martin Carnoy (1999) has analyzed the statistical relationship between job creationand various indicators of information technology for OECD countries between 1987 and 1994,

demonstrating that there is no relationship between technology and employment . Furthermore,while manufacturing employment has declined in the OECD, it has dramatically increased in theworld at large. There is certainly a major unemployment problem in many areas of the world,particularly in Western Europe, and in countries in economic crisis, from Africa to Latin America,and to Southeast Asia under the crisis. But it can be empirically demonstrated that newtechnologies are not the inducers of unemployment (Castells, 1996, chapter 4, and Carnoy, 1999). Ifanything, all other conditions being equal, firms of countries which do not use advanced technologyare less able to generate employment than those which are better technologically equipped.

However, there is a fundamental transformation taking place in the work process, and in the labor

market, and technology does play an important role in this transformation. This is the emergence of

flexible forms of work, and employment that characterize economies around the world.

Increasingly the model of stable, long term, employment under contract in the same, or similar, firmor administration, is being phased out. The network economy induces a great diversity of

emplyment status: part-time, temporary work, self-employment, subocontracting. These flexible

forms of work and employment represent already the majority of the labor force in the UK, the

Netherlands, and Italy, and are progressing rapidly in the rest of the industrialized world. In Silicon

Valley, the most dynamic region in the world, at least 50% of all new jobs created in the last 10

years, are in this category of flexible employment (Benner, 1999). These trends are taking place

across the whole spectrum of occupational structure, among business consultants, and engineers,

as well as among low-skill service workers. This flexibility is also the characteristic of most jobs of

the urban informal economy in developing countries, the main source of job creation in the largest

metropolitan areas in the world (Borja and Castells, 1997). Because of the growing feminization ofthe labor force, it may well be said that we have shifted from the organization man, which

symbolized the work career of the industrial era, to the flexible woman of the information age.

Information technology is a decisive factor in this development because it allows the formation of

production and management networks to which individuals can be connected or disconnected

according to the needs of the firm or market. Computer networks and telecommunications set up

the unity of the labor process via information processing in the network, while individual workers

come and go between different nodes of the production network. The implications of these trends

are profound for firms, for workers, and for the system of labor-management relations inherited

from the industrial society. For firms: they will have to manage the contradiction between, on the

one hand, the critical role of labor involvement in fostering productivity in the informational systemof production, and, on the other hand, the limits to labor's involvement because of the temporary

nature of workers' connection with the firm. For workers: their value will increasingly depend on

their capacity to store specialty knowledge, and to reprogram their skills according to changing

market demand, which, ultimately means education, and cultural development. For industrial

relations: with the link between firms and their workers becoming increasingly loose, labor unions

will have to reinvent their role, by increasingly becoming societal political actors, rather than firm-

based representatives of employees, since workers are now increasingly diversifed in the universe

of the network enterprise. Overall, while experts and politicians have been focusing on the

misleading, simplistic assumption of the reduction of working time, and jobs, as a consequence of

new technologies, the real issues are: the substantial increase of working time, and of workers

around the world, spurred by the massive entry of women, and of new rural migrants, into the

industrial, and urban labor force; the decomposition of the salaried employment status in endlessly


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changing structure of miscellaneous activities and working conditions; and the relative

deteroriation of pay, social benefits, and labor conditions in most countries, as it has been

repeteadly documented by the International Labour Office of the United Nations. The

individualization of work, in the networked production process, is substituting for the socialization

of work in the large scale organizations of the industrial revolution. The real issue for the 21st

century is the social sustainability of work flexibility (Carnoy, 1999).

Education, Information, and Information Technology

The centrality of information processing and knowledge creation in all spheres of society assignseducation a decisive role in tooling society, as well as individuals to be able to reap the benefits ofnew information technologies. But education itself is being deeply transformed by the informationtechnology revolution. In quantity, quality, organization, and purpose. In quantity, first. ICTs arerapidly diffusing in the education system, albeit at different speed, and with different effectivenessdepending upon countries, regions, and social classes. In comparative terms, the InternationalAssociation for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement conducts studies on the diffusion ofinformation technologies in schools and colleges of a variety of countries participating in itssurveys. Unfortunately, the last comprehensive study was conducted in 1989, and the next one isdue only in 1999. However, there are some valuable learnings from the 1989 study (Pelgrum andPlomp, eds, 1993). The US had the largest percentage (100%) of schools using computers both atthe elementary and secondary level, while Japan had the lowest percentage in elementary schools(12%). However, in elementary schools with computers, Japan has as well as the loweststudent:computer ratio (14:1), while in secondary schools with computers, the US had the lowestcomputer ratio. Which implies that Japan concentrated its computer in the best schools, while US,as well as most Western European societes, had a broader distribution of computer uses amongpupils. Using the US as the most advanced society in the diffusion of computers, and communicationtechnology in schools (together with Finland), we may pinpoint at some interesting observations,resulting from this study, as well as from more recent (National Science Foundation, 1998). In 1996,in the US, 98% of all schools have at least one PC, and 80% had 15 or more. 85% of schools had

access to multimedia computers, and 64% had Internet access. Furthermore, projections were for95% of schools to have Internet access by 2000 . While other countries, with the exception ofCanada, Luxembourg, Britain, and Scandinavia, had a lower of diffusion of ICT in schools, in the late1990s there was a rapid progression in both presence and use of ICTs in OECD countries, and,according to the World Ban's World Development Report 1998/99, in the most of the world, withAfrica lagging behind (World Bank, 1998).

But, how this diffusion affects children's, and student's learning? There is a raging debate on the

issue. On the one hand, most empirical studies point towards a positive effect on learning (National

Science Foundation, 1998; World Bank, 1998)). However, this positive effect seems to be

concentrated in elementary schools, and special learning programs for children with learning

disabilities. Furthermore, one study after another qualify the findings insisting that contextual

factors (such as the pedagogic quality of the school, the family background,. and teachers' technical

training) are powerful factors that, in the last resort, largely condition the potential benefits of

information technology. This is why, on the other hand, there is a growing stream of critics who

argue that mass diffusion of computers in the schools is happening to the expense of educational

quality, as special classes, music, performing arts, and face to face interaction with teachers, are

sharply reduced in favor of technology-led, computer mediated education (Oppenheimer, 1997).

The Internet Society

Internet is in its way to become an essential communication channel characterizing the world in the21st century. Estimates about Internet diffusion are not always reliable, and they become quicklyoutdated, given the speed of diffusion of Internet. With all due precautions, I think I can reportestimates from reliable industry sources, estimating that at the time of this writing, in the Fall of1998, Internet users numbered well above 100 million in the world (maybe 130 million), with 60%


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of them in the United States. More important is the growth rate, estimated at about 100% per year,thus reaching 500 million users in the early years of the 21st century. Earlier estimates of growth inInternet use, including my own, have been way off the mark, grossly underestimating its diffusionrate, so we should consider the reported figures as a lower limit of the projection. To be sure,Internet access is uneven, between countries, social classes, gender, and ethnic groups, with peoplein dominant categories vastly outnumbering those in unfavorable social conditions, in their

presence in Internet. As a result of this socially biased used, Internet content reflects thepreferences and values of the majority of its users. Furthermore, given the chaotic structure ofInternet, the wealth of information that it offers requires considerable cultural skills (not technical)to find, process, and use relevant information.

Yet, while Internet started as a communication system for educated elites, it has already gonebeyond this selective universe, and it has included a broad spectrum of people and activities aroundthe world. As diffusion will continue to broaden and divsersify the composition of Internet society,emphasis in assessing the social implications of Internet should shift from the dichotomy betweenaccess and exclusion to the actual uses and social processes in Internet.

Everything that is in society is in Internet. Internet is an expression of society. Thus, while child

pornography and hate messages widely use Internet, so does business, politics, social movements,and inter-personal communication of all kinds. Social movements, such as community networks,the Zapatistas Mexican revolutionaries, global environmental activists, or the women's movement,are in Internet, and have made Internet a key tool in fostering their causes. Thus, any reductionistview of the practice of Internet is simply belied by observation of current trends. Which are theimplications of this pervasiveness of Internet as a communication medium?The most important one is that Internet cannot be controlled, technically or politically, except bydisconnecting a communication system from the global network. And this is a high price for acountry, an organization, or an individual, to pay, when Internet becomes an unlimited source ofinformation and interaction. The Afghan Taliban, or other repressive states, may be ready to paythe price in order to be able to control information. But this is not the case in most of the world,thus ending the secular power of states to impose censorship on their subjects. They may punish

sources of information, but not control them. Furthermore, by linking up people among themselves,Internet bypasses the communication system established by mass media. While the media arethemselves fully present in Internet, people may opt for their own communication, or for selected,alternative sources of information and interaction, thus escaping from their dependence upon massmedia.

The transformation of space and time

We may consider that a process of historical transformation is taking place when social andtechnological trends profoundly affect the practice, and the social construction, of space and time.Thus, the industrial era ushered in widespread urbanization and communication linkages betweendistant places, to form cities and metropolises as the backbone of national economies. It also made

clock time the dominant pacer of our work and our lives. It can be empirically argued that atransformation of similar magnitude is taking place at the dawn of the Information Age, which ischaracterized by the emergence of the space of flows, and of timeless times, as the new frames ofour social practices.

New ICTs have made possible to link up, in real time, or programmable time, activities located at

great distance. The global economy is precisely constituted by processes of investment, production,

management, and distribution, that work as a unity, on a daily basis, across the country or across

the world. Financial markets are based on telecommunicated information systems that obliterate

boundaries. Media systems are interconnected, linking up global and local in the production and

distribution of information, sounds, and images. Internet functions as a global network of

horizontal communication, allowing interactive exchanges regardless of distance, albeit not oflocation (because access is commanded by location). Telecommunications, information systems,

fast air, land, and sea transportation, allow for reuniting activities overcoming geographic limits.


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However, as empirical observations has demonstrated the end of distance does not lead to

undifferentiated location patterns or to the end of cities (Castells, 1989; Graham and Marvin, 1996).

We are in fact witnessing the largest wave of urbanization in human history, particularly in Asia

and in Latin America, with the formation of megacities which concentrate an increasing proportion

of population, wealth, technology, information, and power. The space of flows is made of networks

that connect territories which are spatially distant. Thus, there is at the same time, spatial

concentration and decentralization of activities and human settlements. Yet,. the functional

connections do not follow the pattern of spatial proximity, but the logic of the dominant interests

circulating in these networks. Thus "the global city" is not one, or several, major cities in the world,

but a composite space made of bits and pieces of New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Frankfurt, but

also of Buenos Aires, Mexico, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and of locales harboring dominant

economic/information activities in any major urban center anywhere in the world. The space of

flows links up distant locales via telecommunications and transportation networks, enclosing them

in a global space, while segmenting these locales from other nearby territories in their metropolitan

areas. Inside metropolitan areas, there is considerable decentralization of population and activities

along transportation axes, so that the whole system is characterized by spatial sprawl, and

networked communications, in a sort of intra-metropollitan space of flows. This is precisely whatexplains the formation of metropolitan areas of unprecedented size, the metropolitan regions,

which concentrate an increasing proportion of population on the basis of the ability of

communication systems to link these areas internally, and to connect the whole area to other areas

around the world (Borja and Castells, 1997). The variable geometry of networked integration and

switched off exclusion of the network society translates into the juxtaposition between two spatial

forms/processes: the space of flows, on the one hand, the space of places, on the other hand. People

still live in places, and construct their experience, their meaning, and their political representation

around these places. But power, money, and information are primarily organized around flows

which link up distant locales, and unite them in a shared logic. The structural disjuntion between

space of flows and space of places seems to be a central feature of the Information Age.

A new form of time is emerging as well, induced by new ICTs: timeless time (Castells, 1996: 429-468). Chronological time of the industrial era was based on predictable sequencing. Electroniccommunication systems allow time compression to the limit, as in split second transactions inglobal financial markets. Yet, the current effort towards annihilation of time does not stop in theaccelerated circuit of financial flows. It can also be witnessed in the instantaneity of communication,in the global media network. Or else, in the practice of "instant wars", as technology allows todesign war making about short, devastating strikes that settle domination in a few days, hours,maybe minutes, thus circumventing public opinion's reluctance towards the violent exercise ofpower, and, even more, against personally suffering the consequences. One form of emergence oftimeless time is time compression. The other is de-sequence, breaking the ordering of predictable

patterns of events. This can be observed in the end of predictable work career patterns, as men, andparticularly women, go back and forth between work, home, and education, and between differentworking schedules, and between different roles in the work process. Or in the emerging process ofbreaking down of the biological reproductive cycle, as some women are set free to choose the timeand conditions of their reproduction, and as new technologies allow for the time and bodilyseparation between insemination, fertilization, and pregnancy. Furthermore, information andcultural representations are increasingly enclosed in an electronic hyper-text which integrates,through links, and interactive referrals, audiovisual media, Internet communication, printed media,and the whole range of digitized information. In this flat information landscape, sequencingdisappears, as the possibilities of recombining, and re-sequencing messages in a new text areendless (Croteau and Hoynes, 1997). Sequential time vanishes, inducing an eternal communicationpattern, since disappearance of time is tantamount to eternity.

As with the space of flows, timeless time does not exhaust temporal experience in our society. Infact, most people organize their practices around clock time and biological time. Yet, dominant


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activities, and dominant social groups, tend to evolve around timeless time, made from thecombination between time compression and de-sequencing of social practices. If this is counter-intuitive to the vision of the executive class constantly rushing against the clock, at a closer look thisobservation seems in fact to be coherent with this analysis: what can be more stressful than thepersonal effort to reject time limits in performing their lives?

The contradictions between space of flows and space of places, and between timeless time andchronological and biological time, signal a fundamental cleavage in our societies and in ourexperience.


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Historical, technical, relational, economic, legal, political, and social

dimensions

of Internet Communication

Legal dimensions

Today we are in the 21st century and things are changing for India. With the rapid growth of tradeand industry in the era of globalization, liberalization, increasing use of internet, e-commerce andconvergence of technologies have opened new vistas of opportunities for the people of India. Theinformation and communication revolution is taking place all over the world and it has left thecommon man bewildered to even comprehend what is happening. The social, economic, political,cultural and educational system is undergoing changes on an unprecedented scale. It is making thelife of an ordinary man difficult as he is unable to keep pace with the changing time and especiallywith regard to matters pertaining to knowledge sector.

Today technology is evolving fast as result of which the computers have found place in every home,every office and in all important departments. With the touch of a finger the whole world of

knowledge, information is available just like magical lamp of Allauddin where an individual wouldget any information which one desires. A person living in India can communicate with a person inU.S.A. or Australia thousands of miles away. This is done in Cyberspace.

The advancement of science and technology has made a tremendous impact and change almost inall walks of life. The paper highlights the impact of information technology on library science. Thelibraries are considered to be storehouse of knowledge and information which is acquired with thehelp of books. But now with the help of virtual world the scenario has changed. With the easyaccessibility to information and knowledge the students of library science will have to equipthemselves with information technology and they will be required to learn the cyber language. Theywill also have to be acquainted with the computer security system. As potential users ofinformation technology it will be imperative for library science professional to prepare themselves

to handle the new and exciting world of cyberspace.

Cyberspace is a world of virtual reality. It has netizens and not citizens. Cyber world is not likephysical world. The laws of physical world are different and they cannot be applied to Cyberspace.Physical laws have limitations and are defined. But laws of Cyber space are dynamic, undefined andlimitless and they have to keep pace with technological advancements.

Cyberspace is a space where entry is not bound by geographical boundaries. Today a person sittingin the Chennai can access the information through Internet anywhere in the world. In the light ofthis librarians and information scientist should know about:--

1) The right to information and right to freedom of speech and expression,2) Crimes related to internet, and3) Intellectual property rights.

The Indian people are governed by the Constitution of India which gives the fundamental rights tothe people. The Constitution of India does not specifically guarantee the right to information, butsince long it has been recognized by our Supreme Court as fundamental right necessary fordemocratic functioning of our country. Our Supreme Court has specifically recognized the right toinformation as an integral part of the right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed underArticle 19(1) (a) of constitution and it can also be read within the purview of Article 21. The right toinformation is not an absolute right some information can be held back where giving of theinformation would harm the interests which need to be protected.

Article 19(1) (a) gives the right of freedom of speech and expression including the freedom of pressto the citizens of India and the same article 19 sub clause (2) gives the reasonable restrictions


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which can be imposed by the government on the grounds of sovereignty and integrity of India,security of state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or inrelation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence. But today the informationwhich is available on the internet, the access is unlimited and person is free to get the informationwhich under the law is prohibited. To give an example the viewing of pornographic and obscenematerial or any matter which affect the unity and integrity of the nation can be accessed by the

people easily. The question to be answered here is what happens to the reasonable restrictionsgiven in article 19(2)? What control does the government have to restrict the right to information?These are questions which will have to be considered and determined by the government as well asthe people of India while making laws for cyber space.

The advent of technology has brought with it unknown dangers and threats and in the hands ofunscrupulous people it could mean a weapon mightier than any other weapon known to mankindso far. Internet crimes can be committed with considerable ease against anyone in the world fromany part of the world and even from within the comfort of ones home. There is likelihood for morecrimes to be committed in future in India.

Anonymity makes Internet a preferred weapon of choice for committing crimes. Technological

perfection makes it very easy for these crimes to be committed. India has adopted a legislation tofacilitate and safeguard electronic transactions and computer related crimes and it is theInformation Technology Act 2000 which is applicable to the users of technology. This law is basedon the Model Law on Electronic Commerce prepared by the United Nations Commission onInternational Trade Law (UNCITRAL) which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 30thJanuary 1997. The aims and objectives of the Act include enabling or facilitating the use ofelectronic commerce and providing equal treatments to users of paper-based documentation and tousers of computer-based information. It is to promote efficient delivery of government services bymeans of reliable electronic records. It also covers some computer related crimes andcontravention which are as follows:-

tempering with computer source documents (section 65 which provides for punishment with

imprisonment upto 3 years and fine extend upto 2 lakh) Hacking with computer system (section 66 under which punishment is imprisonment upto 3years, fine which extend upto Rs. 2 lakh) Publishing of information which is obscene in electronic form (section 67 which provides forpunishment of imprisonment {first conviction- which extend upto five years, fine extend upto Rs. 1lakh}, {imprisonment second or subsequent conviction extend upto 10 years, fine extend upto Rs 2lakh}. Securing access to protected system notified by the government (section 70 punishment ofimprisonment extend upto 10 years, and fine but it is silent about the fine which is to be imposed. Breach of confidentiality and privacy by disclosing any electronic information to any otherperson without consent of the concerned person (section 72 which provides punishment ofimprisonment upto 2 years, fine upto 1 lakh.)

In addition to the crimes given above there are few more crimes which are given below:- (1) Unauthorized reproduction (2) Software piracy (3) Miscellaneous computer crimes (4) Theft of data and information

The next important aspect to be considered here is the issue of intellectual property rights. Anintellectual property right is a general term which covers copyright, patents, registered designs.The intellectual property rights provide an incentive for the creation of an investment of a newwork (literary work, music, film, print media, software performances etc.) and their exploitation.

Copyright protects original work of authorship that is in tangible (definite) form of expression. Thework coming under the purview of copyright includes the following categories:-


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(1). Literary works.(2). Musical works.(3). Dramatic works(4). Choreographic works(5). Pictorial, graphic, sculptural works(6). Motion picture and other audiovisual works

(7). Sound recording and architectural works

The categories given above should be viewed broadly. To give an example computer programmesand most compilation may be registered as literary works. Maps and architectural plans may beregistered as pictorial graphics and sculptural works.

The main objective of the copyright law is to promote the access and the use of information and forprotecting the works from the infringement and for encouraging the author in pursuit ofknowledge. The technological developments, the increasing number of electronic publication anddigital libraries pose challenge to the right holder as well as law enforcing agencies.

Section 14 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 enumerates certain activities which are exclusive

rights for the author of the work who can do or authorize someone to do all or a part of thoseactivities. These, when done by unauthorized person or without the explicit permission of thecopyright holders, amounts to a breach or infringement of copyright. These include:-

1) To reproduce the work in any material form including the storing of it in any medium byelectronic means2) To perform the work in or communicate to public3) To issue the copies of (publish) the work to public not being in circulation.4) To produce and publish any translation of the work5) To make any translation or adaptation of the work.6) To make any cinematography film, or a sound recording and7) To do in relation to a translation or adaptation of the work any of the above

specified acts.

In the case of computer programmes in addition to what is given above the Act also mean to do orauthorize:-8) To sell or give on hire or offer for sale or hire any copy of the computer program regardless ofwhether such copy has been sold or given on hire on earlier occasions.

There are certain exceptions to copyright infringement. In section 52 of the Indian Copyright Actenumerate 5 categories of acts which when performed do not fall under the infringement of thecopyright, they are:- Reproduction in the course of fair dealing that is, for private use, research, criticism, review,

reporting, broadcast, etc. Reproduction for educational purposes Reproduction for official purposes that is for judicial, legislative, etc. Reproduction where there is remote relation to the original which does not cause and loss to thecopyright holder. Reproduction for private entertainment

There is no such thing as an international copyright that will automatically protect an authorswritings throughout the entire world. Protection against unauthorized use in a particular countrydepends, basically, on the national laws of that country. However, most countries do offerprotection to foreign works under certain conditions and these conditions have been greatlysimplified by International Copyright Treaties and Conventions.

In the words of Vakul Sharma, copyright infringement is the courtesy of technology. According tohim: Technology support Copycat- you brows, you select and you copy. Copying has become a


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dynamic 24/7 activity. The law has to differentiate between memory and copying. Computers havebeen programmed in such way that they save data automatically, whereas copying is a command,which is deliberate and intentional and may infringe a copyright law

There is word of caution for the young users of information technology. Do not adopt the method ofcut, copy and paste.

Technology is boon for mankind and new developments are taking place everyday. Computer is atthe core of information technology activities. These activities are no doubt is regulated by law butthe prevailing laws are not sufficient to control the unscrupulous activities. If this technology isused for negative things in life it can prove to be disastrous and if it is used for enriching onespersonality, for getting information and for gaining knowledge it will benefit the humanity.

The Internets Impact on Mainstream Politics

At a time when political engagement appears to be waning, hope is emerging that democraticparticipation may be revived and enhanced through the use of Internet technology. E-democracyseems to be transforming socio-political behavior and influencing political agendas and debate.

Change is occurring on several political fronts. Political candidates are adapting their campaigns totake advantage of Internet technology such as weblogs. Social software embedded in sites such asMeetUp.com, have helped some candidates ride a wave of grassroots support. Direct democracy,facilitated by deliberative polling sites, is amplifying public opinion in policy discussions and mediacoverage.

Some continue to doubt the democratic impact of such emerging technologies, even as reports ofnew applications grow. For example, online grassroots campaigns have been credited with shapingthe course of two political conflicts in the U.S. In the fall of 2003, the Senate passed a jointresolution of disapproval in an effort to overturn the FCCs relaxed media ownership rules, and the

House and Senate voted on language disapproving the Bush administrations proposed changes toovertime rules. Online grassroots organization MoveOn.org was a key player in the FCC campaign,while organized labors grassroots campaign on the overtime vote was aided by a system in which aunion member only had to hit a button to send an e-mail opposing the Bush administrationsproposed changes. In South Korea, online campaigns have affected a presidential election andshifted government policy on the nuclear standoff. In a town in the Netherlands, a website wascredited with helping to shut down a soy factory that had been expanding and polluting theneighborhood for years.

The Internet in the 2004 Presidential Campaign

Over the past few months, news of the Internet in the 2004 democratic presidential primary

campaigns found its way into the headlines of the mainstream media. Some news stories creditedthe very existence of the Dean and Clark campaigns to online organizing and fundraising andpredicted that Howard Deans decentralized and highly networked campaign had forever changedthe face of politics. While the full effect of new communication technologies on campaigningremains unknown, the internet strategies have emerged as powerful organizing, networking, andfundraising tools.

Internet and Economy

The Internet has, in a short space of time, become fundamental to the global economy. More than a

billion people worldwide use it, both at work and in their social lives. Over the past three decades it

has grown from an experimental research network and now underpins a range of new economic

activities as well as activities and infrastructures that support our economies, from financial

markets and health services to energy and transport.


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The Internet offers access to a host of activities through both wired and wireless technologies. It

provides a platform for innovation, for new communication technologies, the provision of new

products and services and access to an unparalleled wealth of information. But this also raises

concerns, notably in the area of reliability, scalability, security and openness of access. If global

supply-chain management depends on the Internet, then a breakdown or security breach could

cause major economic damage. If peoples personal data are compromised online, it may breach

their privacy or affect many other aspects of their lives.

Looking forward, the Internet is poised to connect an ever-greater number of users, objects and

information infrastructures. This means that the policy framework governing its use and

development also needs to be adaptable, carefully crafted and co-ordinated across policy domains,

borders and multiple stakeholder communities.

The Internet is making economic activity more efficient, faster, and cheaper, and extending social

interaction in unparalleled ways. Increasingly, the largest productivity gains for businesses come

from using online networks in some form. The multinational food giant Nestl, for example, now

receives all of its orders directly from supermarkets over the Internet. The shipping company UPS

used online networks to optimise its delivery routes, saving 12 million litres of fuel in 2006 from

nearly 100 000 trucks.

The Internet has also brought unprecedented user and consumer empowerment as well as

opportunities for new innovative and social activities. Individuals have greater access to

information, which facilitates comparisons and creates downward pressure on prices. Internet

users are extremely active, creating new content themselves and interacting in new ways.

The Internet is quickly permeating all economic and social domains, and most public policy areas.

For instance, e-government has become the prime tool for supporting government functions and

interaction with citizens and businesses. Healthcare systems are increasingly making use of the

Internet and online networks to increase affordability, quality and efficiency, through electronic

patient record systems, remote patient monitoring and healthcare delivery, along with improved

diagnostics and imaging technologies. Educational performance is found to be correlated with

home access to, and use of, computers all other things being equal. Moreover, environmentally-

friendly technologies based on the Internet in buildings and transport systems and alternative

power generating systems can help address climate change and improve energy efficiency.

The influence of the network of networks is inherently global; helping to forge closer integration

of our economies and societies. Moreover, as the Internet expands even further it can help the

economic and social development of people of all countries. While there have been remarkable

developments in recent years, much remains to be done: about 20% of the worlds population usethe Internet, but over 5 billion people still lack access to it.


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Basic terms, concepts, and contexts of Internet Communication

Basic terms of Internet Communication

At one time you had to be a rocket scientist to use the Internet but now almost anyone with a

computer, or Internet appliance, has access to it. The difficulty associated with connecting may have

changed but the difficulty of understanding the language hasnt.

Here are some of the basic terms that you will encounter when discussing the Internet.

Browser

An application that displays a Web page. Also known as a Web browser.

Byte

Equal to either 7 or 8 bits, depending on whether it requires an extra bit, called a parity bit, for

error correction. A byte stores a single character of information such as the letter A.

Chat

Live communication over the Internet Relay Chat service or an online service. As one person enterstext it appears on the other persons screen in real time, or almost instantly.

Client/Server

A relationship between programs running on separate machine in a computer network. The server

is the provider of services, while the client is the consumer of the services.

Data Encryption

A process that transforms information into random streams of bits to create a secret code for data

security.

Domain Name

Denotes the name of a specific Internet area controlled by a company, school, or organization.

Email

Electronic Mail. Text messages sent through a network to specified individual or group. Email

messages can also carry attached files.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions. A FAQ is generally a list of questions and answers about a specific

subject. Most news groups have FAQs, which should be read before you post any message to them.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol. The Internet protocol that allow the viewing, downloading, and uploading of

files on remote computers.

Firewall

Software or hardware that limits certain kinds of access to a computer from a network or other

outside source.

Flame

An argumentative Newsgroups posting or email message in response to another posting or

message.

GIF

Graphic Interchange Format. A bit-mapped color graphics file format that is the preferred one to

use if you want to put a graphic (as opposed to a photo) on a Web page.


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Gig

Approximately one billion bytes, or one thousand megabytes.

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language. The standard for adding tags to a text file, so that the file is able to be

interpreted by a Web browser.

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol. The Internet protocol that the Web uses to send information to the

client, so the client browser can view Web pages.

Icon

A small abstract graphic representation of an object or idea.

Image Map

A graphic image thats used on a Web site as a navigational tool. Its made up of two elements: The

graphic that you see on the page through your browser, and a text file that contains the link

information.

IP Address

The number that identifies your machine as unique on the Internet. Without it, you can not use any

Internet protocols.

IRC

Internet Relay Chat. The Internets version of a CB radio, IRC lets you join a channel and converse in

real-time with other people who are on the same channel, through text-based typing.

ISP

Internet Service Provider. A company that provides direct access to the Internet.

JavaAn object-oriented, cross-platform programming language, similar to C++, that is designed for

building applications for the Internet.

JPEG

Joint Photographic Expert Group. A file format using a compression technique to reduce the size of

a graphics file by as much as 96 percent. JPEG is the preferred file format to use if you want to put a

photograph on a Web page.

LAN

Local-Area Network. A group of computers, usually in one building, that are physically connected in

a way that lets them communicate and interact with each other.

Link

A word or phrase emphasized in a hypertext document that acts as a pointer to related information.

Links in a Web browser are usually underlined and are a different color than the rest of the text.

Lurking

Reading online messages or chat room conversations without taking part in the discussion. Users

are encouraged to lurk in the Newsgroups or chat rooms until they have some idea what the

discussion is about an the style is like.

Mailing List

Discussion groups over the Internet that link a group of people together with common interests. Ifyou belong to a mailing list, you receive every message posted to that list via email.


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Mail Server

A computer that holds email messages for clients on a network.

MIME

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. MIME types are extensions to files that tell your computer

what kind of program to use to view the file.

Modem

A device that translates computer signals to analog signals suitable for send across cable or phone

lines.

Netiquette

Slang for the unwritten rules of Internet courtesy.

Newsgroups

An area on the Internet reserved for discussion of a certain topic. Messages are posted in the

Newsgroups and replies are encouraged.

News ServerA remote computer that controls access to a Newsgroups in a group of interconnected computers.

Packets

A block of data that can be transmitted from one computer to another on a network like the

Internet. A packet contains data to be transmitted, data to guide the packet, and data that corrects

errors along the way.

PDF

Portable Document Format. A standard used by Adobe Acrobat to display any sort of document on

any computer. The Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded as freeware.

PICTThe default graphics format on Macintoshes.

Portal

A fancy name for the start-up page of a Web browser. This is an entry point for the Web.

RealAudio

A helper app that allows you to download sound files over Web pages in real-time. The player can

be downloaded as freeware.

Router

A specialized machine that runs various protocols to direct network packets from one segment to

another.

Search Engine

A utility that locates resources via searches for keywords and phrases. Click here for a large list of

search e

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