location. The Local Area Network was born. Sharing files and programs was now possible and coordination problems seemed solved.
The solution was using teleyhone lines: a modem connected the machines to the phone line and bulletin board software (BBS) made it possible to login at the other machine and send files. Journalists in the 1980s used this system to deliver files from home or other venues such as sporting grounds back to the newsroom.
ARPANET - Because it had no control centre, each packet of information could still travel in the direction of its final destination through any node still functioning, no matter which particular routes had been knocked out. Decentralisation is still the fundamental model of the Internet.
Convergence - Some Internet users employ Internet Relay Chat or IRC, which allows people to "talk" over the Internet via email. But as technology improved, more and more people .were trying Interphone and video conferencing. Netmeeting, integrating chat, whiteboard, sending
and receiving files together with a voice connection were also becoming popular.
To function as a machine that calculates, a computer needs information in a digitalised format, that is, in numbers. But because a computer calculates in a specific way; the numbers need to be in binary format: 0 or 1. A byte consists of 8 bits. This is sufficient to define one character. With 8 bits, 256 different combinations (2 to the 8th power) can be made, which is more than enough
for the various characters in use. This standard set of binary codes for various characters is called ascii.
Since the computer stores all information in digital bits, the computer can retrieve text, sound and pictures and doesn't really care which it is dealing with. Multimedia and the new possibilities of the Internet, sparked by digitalisation of information, have caused a merger flurry among publishing, broadcasting and computer companies.
Most time in Western societies is spent at work, but communication is the second largest activity. The Internet had to fight its way into traditional patterns of communication. How these patterns will change depends on whether the Internet becomes a new medium, comparable to TV. Much depends on technological development, such as the convergence of TV and computers and the availability of digitaltelevision. Web TV, which uses a TV set to display the Internet,
was to appear in Australia in 1999.
The transistor and the microchip and their use in various electronic circuits after the Second World War heralded the third wave, the Digital Revolution. The change from a production economy to a service economy is an important characteristic, along with the use of modern electronics and robotics in production. Post-industrial society is service-oriented because of autofnation. Production has less need for labour, so widespread unemployment has become a fact of modern life in many countries.
The French Revolution gave a second impetus to the development of the press and journalism. Democratic theory demanded that the political willbe based on the preferences of an informed and enlightened public. Only the press could play the vital role of informing the public, and
it became a bulwark against tyranny and oppression.
As well, radio could update it hourly, which left the once-a-day newspaper far behind. Newspapers continued to cover news, of course, but they also began providing context, background and analysis of the news - aspects that broadcasting could not cover. Collectively, the news and entertainment media became known as the mass media, and communication
through them became known as mass communication.
In other words, this new communication is highly interactive. Discussion and debate over all kinds of issues can be enhanced by the new digital media.
The traditional way of writing was based on linear storytelling. The classical news story has a summary lead and presents the details in order of decreasing importance. Hypertext makes it possible to write multi-dimensional stories.
Journalists may have to learn to write and appreciate this new grammar. One could defend the proposition that the change from linear to multi-dimensional story writing is related to another way of thinking as well. Linear writing is related to analytic reasoning and multi-dimensional writing is based more on association. Hypertext links are often build on this associative process.
More information does not equal more knowledge.
Although the information society is said to have blossomed because of the digital revolution, this society is not automatically asociety of better-informed people.
Data consist of a collection of unrelated facts. Facts without theory are of little use. Facts are important only if they are related to theories guiding behaviour and understanding. Although computers make searching for facts easy, these facts do not automatically enhance the level of knowledge.
In the Digital Age. then, information is abundant. Society is experiencing information overproduction. an information glut. Previously, information was scarce, and information was power. Well, information is still power, and because information is drifting away from governments into the hands of such people as journalists, power will drift in the same direction.
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