Media in the online age: The Internet

On the theory side of media, we have moved on to looking at media in the online age, specifically media associated with the internet. We have covered very important issues such as the history and then what is available at the moment.

In this current age, the world relies on the internet to carry out the basic tasks needed such as communicating and banking. The most amazing thing about the internet is that it’s still fairly knew, with it only being initially developed in 1957. It was created by Tim Bernes-Lee who had the aim to distribute it completely free of charge. At that time it could only work on one item at a time using batch processing. This was overall ineffective as it took too long to process anything. As time went on however more connections were developed, such as the Arpanet network in 1966. This added a selection of different networks designed for specific purposes, which were commercial, scientific and military. These were set up so that gateways didn’t have as much traffic as they did previously. It then slowly developed from phones servers to an integrated net of connection in 1990, otherwise known as the internet. As mentioned, the internet was intended to be free for all users however there were people out there who saw this as a huge investment opportunity, such as Bill Gates. Gates is the founder of Windows and essentially made it for a computer to operate, windows would have to be installed, thus creating a massive income.  

As mentioned, the internet is an essential pillar of society as nearly all aspects of life are associated with it. One of these aspects is TV. Before the internet became so big, programmes could only be watched as it was happening on TV with some being able to record a limited amount. However the internet has changed this as it now provided on demand features. This allows users to choose to watch programmes on catch up websites such as iPlayer and 4OD. There are also subscription based websites that provide a wide variety of films and TV shows, some of which are exclusive to that streaming service. Similar to this YouTube has revolutionised how digital media can be distributed and consumed. YouTube lets users upload their own videos as well as allowing people to follow channels. It has around 1 billion viewers a month. An important aspect of this is citizen journalism. Before this was available, the media was dominated by news channels who could miss out key features and censor things their viewers would not like. However with pictures and video being available anywhere through the use of mobiles, things can be seen as they really are with nobody trying to censor it.  Another key aspect of Web 2.0 is social media. There are many social media websites available, the leading ones being Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Twitter arguably contributes the most innovation to the internet as it provides many things that were never available. It lets uses live talk about whatever they’d like wit a character limit of 250. This live feed means that if an event or a news story is dominating the media you can hear people’s opinions about it. It also breaks the barrier between celebrities and their fans. The fans can easily contact the celebrity and vice versa which introduces a more three dimensional take on fame.

A way in which we have learnt about the impact the web has had is through a documentary called 'The Virtual Revolution.' This documentary investigates how far the world has developed in the few years that the internet has been widely available and looks at the positives and negatives that it has had on culture society.