COMM 3353: Communication Web Technologies I

1
COMM 3353Communication Web Technologies I

• Chapter 1a
• Introduction to the Internet and the World Wide
  Web

www.class.uh.edu/comm/classes/comm3353/ppt/_Pres1.
html
2
The Internet and theWorld Wide Web

• What is the Internet?
• Who Uses the Internet?
• Models of Communication and the WWW
• World Wide Web and Mass Media
• Practical Applications

3
What is the Internet?
..

• Network of networks
• Brilliantly structured to facilitate global
  communication
• Mass Communication Potential
• Message Sender, Message Provider
• Changes the way people receive and transmit
  information
• E.g. News, TV, Radio, Personal Websites

4
What is the Internet? /cont./
.

• Internet responsible for the change of media news
  patterns
• Lifestyle changes of millions of people
• physiology
• Social interaction
• Habitual and attitudinal changes
• Technophobia and Cyberphobia (going, going,
  gone)

5
What is the Internet? /cont./

• So, What is the Internet?
• Network consisting of over millions of
  interconnected sub-networks worldwide
• No single owner
• Comprised of various text-only and
  multimedia-based resources
• Major Components of the Internet
• eMail (Electronic Mail)
• Developed in early days of internet
• Currently most popular and widely used
  application
• World Wide Web
• Software Application used on the internet to
  manage output
• Presents information in text, audio, video,
  graphic format

6
What is the Internet? /cont./
..

• Gopher
• Early Internet tool
• Text only interface
• Developed at Univ. of Minnesota
• Mascot named Golden Gopher
• Primarily organizes files for text-only retrieval
• WAIS (Wide Area Information Service)
• Text Only Index of Internet Databases
• Acts as Search Instrument
• System looks for docs that contain keywords
  entered by users, returns list of docs to user

7
What is the Internet? /cont./
.

• Listservs
• Similar to email
• Messages sent to electronic mailbox for later
  retrieval
• Subscription required
• Generally used in group-mailing information
  settings
• Usenet Newsgroups
• Conferencing bulletin board system

8
What is the Internet? /cont./

• Chat Forums
• Set apart from Listservs and Usenet by allowing
  the exchange of live, real-time messages
• IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
• Instant Messaging
• MUDS, MOOS, MUSHES
• MUD Multi-user domain
• MOO Multi-user domain, object oriented
• MUSH Multi-user shared hallucination
• Very popular interactions and on-line games where
  users interact in virtual games they help create

9
Web Users and Profiles
.

• July 1995
• Estimated 4 million documents available on the
  web
• October 1995
• Number had grown to 8.5 million pages
• July 1996
• Estimated to contain between 16 - 50 million
  pieces of information
• By 1998, the number of internet pages toped 150
  million

10
Web Users and Profiles /cont./

• Recent data shows US consumption at gt 200
  million users (China at 87 Million)
• 3 in every 4 adults gets online
• 27 of working adults use the internet at home
• 2 Million new users each month
• 600 Million users worldwide
• Source InformationWeek

11
Web Users and Profiles /cont./
..

• Mass media and Critical Mass of Adopters
• Media to be considered Mass requires attainment
  of Critical Mass Status
• Critical Mass is achieved when 16 (approx. 50
  million) of the population has adopted an
  innovation

12
Web Users and Profiles /cont./
.

• Media Comparison of Critical Mass Attainment
• WWW 51 mil. non-regular users in 2 years
• It took Radio 38 years to reach CM
• TV achieved CM in 13 years
• Cable TV, 10 years
• Normal statistical progression near 65 million
  regular users
• 1999 14 2004 23

13
Web Users and Profiles /cont./

• Surfers gt 10 hours per week
• Increased from 29 in 95 to 62 by 04
• Average users spend 13.9 hours per week cruising
  sites
• Nearly 1/2 of all users visit at least one web
  site daily
• 8 out of 10 users access eMail daily

14
Web Users and Profiles /cont./
..

• Male users dominate the web
• Although female user-share has increased
  dramatically (31 - 40)
• Women users tend to be slightly younger than male
  counter parts
• Average User Age Demographics
• Women 31.9 y/o
• Men 33.4 y/o

15
Web Users and Profiles /cont./
.

• Retirees and older Americans have surpassed
  students as the fastest growing group of online
  users.
• 1.6 Billion spent this past year alone,
  accounting for the largest spending group on the
  internet.

16
Web Users and Profiles /cont./

• Average Annual Income
• 58,000
• Remains high, but has fallen slightly as more
  students go online

17
Communication Models and the World Wide Web
..

• Traditional mass media
• 1M communication model
• One source speaks at one time to many people
• Differs from interpersonal 11 model of
  communication that occurs when 1 person talks to
  another
• Marriage of computer systems and internet has
  given rise to Hybrid model of communication, M1
  Model

18
Communication Models and the World Wide Web
/cont./
.

• M1 model of mass communication
• Cross between mass broadcasting and interpersonal
  communication
• Large amounts of info entered by many different
  sources and are stored until retrieved by
  individuals

19
Communication Models and the World Wide Web
/cont./

• Internet crosses traditional boundaries of three
  modes of mass communication (11, 1M, M1)
• Internet architecture allows for all three types
  of communication, with a fourth type (MN)
  emerging
• On the internet everyone can be a producer,
  receiver personal or en-mass
• Information can be provided / accessed by many

20
World Wide Web andMass Media
..

• WWW a revolutionary creation
• Technologically unique
• Traditional-medium properties
• Radio can be heard and is portable
• TV is visual and captivating
• Print is absorbing and can be read anytime
• Now the Web offers many of these same advantages

21
World Wide Web andMass Media /cont./
.

• Disadvantages of the WWW
• Not portable
• This rule excludes laptop technology
• Video/Audio delivery can be less-than-desirable
  or even poor in quality
• Takes longer (in some cases) to download an ePage
  than to turn a printed one.

22
World Wide Web andMass Media /cont./

• Content
• WWW blurs distinction among normal media
  distribution channels
• WWW takes everything and disseminates it equally
• Traditional methods are visibly different
• Cyber-news is limited only by bandwidth
• Bandwidth amount of data that can be sent all at
  once through a communication path

23
Characteristics of Traditional Mass Media

• Audience
• RTV Reaches Large Audiences simultaneously
• Telephone is intended for one person at a time
• Thousands of web users can look at the same page
  at the same time
• Email is intended for one or several people at a
  time

24
Characteristics of Traditional Mass Media /cont./
..

• Time
• Asynchronous
• Variable time delay between print / receipt
• Synchronous
• No perceptible delay

25
Characteristics of Traditional Mass Media /cont./
.

• Display and Distribution
• Display
• Technological means used to present information
  (audio, visual, text)
• Distribution
• Method used to carry information (wire, cable)
• Distance
• Some media better suited for different distances

26
Characteristics of Traditional Mass Media /cont./

• Storage
• Limited to those media that have electronic means
  of housing large amounts of information
• CD, HD, Tape
• Virtually unlimited storage space
• Newspaper houses, Print shops
• Limited space for back-issue storage

27
The Internet and theWorld Wide Web

• End Chapter I Part I