Computer Networks
Computers by themselves are useful tools. But once they are interconnected, they surge in usefulness and suddenly become media. One computer is connected into a network which is then patched into a network of networks. Computer networks have the potential to break the monopolies of media institutions. With networks, there is a shift from centralized, one-way media to dispersed, infinite-way communication. Every audience member in the world can at the same time be an information provider. Channels of information creation and distribution become cheaper and broader until we have limitless bandwidth and storage capacity. This technology comes with a cautionary note. Every emergent media technology has been hailed as the harbinger of popular expression. Yet each new media is used for commercial ends by those in control of power. Newspapers, radios, and television have become institutionalized and continue to institutionalize as they are purchased by larger and larger......
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Approximate Word Count: 1431
Approximate Pages: 6 (260 words per double-spaced page) |