Media Platforms and
Industries I
=
example
, Week 1 – The Internet Industry
Turow, Chapter 6, p176-198
The rise of the Internet
Internet = a global system of interconnected private, public, academic, business, and
government computer networks that use a standard set of commands to link billions of users
worldwide
Phonecalls: every call takes up a wire connection until someone hangs up (even with silence)
The early internet system (ARPANet): a transmission line can carry more than one data
“conversation” at a time.
- it breaks down messages into segments (packets)
-> the packets are sent through different parts of the network
-> packets contain digital instructions. This is why they can regroup and form one
message again at their destination
- ARPANet can still function if parts of it are destroyed (e.g. military attack)
1989: introduction Hyperlinks (word or picture that lead to a particular file)
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) = computer language system. Used to define the
structure, content and layout of a web page by using tags.
1993: introduction of the Web Browser allowed graphical images
Mid-1990s: internet was not only for military and academic purposes anymore
Later on: connecting the internet to desktop, laptops, outdoor mobile devices
-> more and more commercial ->internet became a new mass medium.
- People who don’t use the internet: either too difficult, no interest, or too expensive
- Ability to use internet-connected devices may provide more social/economic opportunities
- Generally, all teens find the internet to be central parts of their lives
Production, Distribution, and Exhibition on the Internet
The firm that owns the site is not necessarily the firm that creates its content:
- User-generated content (UGC) = creative products (videos/music) generated by people on
websites and apps (YouTube)
, Websites in general fulfil the role of distributors (TheHuffingtonPost.com placing and
marketing The Huffington Post online. Also Amazon, NYTimes)
Who is the exhibitor? The site itself, or the
Internet service provider (ISP) = the firm that provides/sells the technology though which
you can access the internet (colleges, or cable companies (Comcast), packages or internet
services, or phone companies)
Most ISP’s provide this access via WiFi: a radio technology that provides secure, reliable,
fast wireless connectivity.
The Net Neutrality Controversy
- ISP’s have never stopped their customers from visiting a particular website (unless the
federal government prohibited the site)
- ISP executives want to be able to charge some sites for exhibition, because they use a lot of
bandwidth (because of providing video’s, for example)
Net neutrality = proposition that ISP’s should treat all traffic on the internet equally.
- argument: restriction could have unfortunate consequences for what people know and
what they can share with one another
- 2015: broadband internet was categorized as a telecommunications service -> it
would become a common carrier (like a railroad): no exclusion/discrimination allowed
- Trump reversed this (unnecessary infringement on media competition
Social Media Sites and Search Engines
3 different kinds of content businesses that exist online:
- firm from another industry that brought its business online (The New York Times)
- firm that started on the web, but is carrying out activities that resemble offline firms (The
Huffington Post and Amazon)
- businesses that don’t exist outside the internet environment (Google and Facebook)
Social media site = an online location where people can interact with others around
information, entertainment, and news of their own choosing/making (Twitter, Insta, FB)
Search engine = websites that allow users to find sites relevant to topics of interest to them
- work by using web crawlers: programs that automatically search the internet to
retrieve and catalog the content of websites
- when you search something, you activate an algorithm (the top results depend on
popularity, previous searches, location, etc.)
- natural or organic search results = sites that come up based on a search engine’s
algorithm without influence from advertisers
