PowerPoint-Pr

1

• Session 9 - April 25
• Case Study The PBS News Hour vs. ABC News U.S.
  arms trade to Taiwan
• The technology of the Internet
• BREAK
• Virtual communities Impact of the WWW on social
  structure utopia or dystopia?
• Virtual wastelands Information elite and
  exclusion

2
Case StudyThe PBS News Hour vs. ABC News U.S.
arms trade to Taiwan

• ABC
• Length Ca. 3 minutes
• Two Taiwanese spokesmen
• Limited account of actual arms trade
• Almost exclusive use of archival footage
• Use of highly symbolic visuals (American and
  Taiwanese flag)

• PBS
• Over 10 minutes
• Taiwanese spokesman, Chinese spokeswoman, U.S.
  spokesman plus panel discussion
• More complete account of arms trade
• Provides historical context
• Slightly longer shots during archival footage
• Slow editing and static camera during discussion
  (no zoom, no camera movement)

3
The technology of the Internet

• Channels of Communication
• Military origin (nuclear proof communication
  system)
• Microprocessors
• Phone lines, TV cable, fiber-optic cable
• 36 million servers linked together in a
  distributed network
• Communication Codes
• Digital communication
• Communication throughuniversal languages IP
  Internet Protocol, HTML, Java

4
BREAK
5
Virtual Communities Impact of the WWW on
social structure utopia or dystopia?
How do the virtual communities differ from real
communities?
How has the internet impacted your own social
life?
6
Virtual wastelands Information elite and
exclusion
Who is excluded from the new technology? Where
and why? What are the opportunities of the
internet? What are the dangers of the internet?