Internet - A Medium or a Message? (Part XIII )

By Sam Vaknin
Author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"

These essays were published by the Israeli (Hebrew) edition of PC
Magazine back in 1996, when the Internet was in its formative epoch.
I have left them essentially unchanged, except for a few minor
errata I corrected. I find time travel fascinating. It is
interesting to recall the mainstream view, ten years ago, about the
Internet, its goals, its role, and its future. So, here goes:

The Internet: Medium or Chaos?


There has never been a medium like the Internet. The way it has
formed, the way it was (not) managed, its hardware-software-
communications specifications - are all unique.

No Government

The Internet has no central (or even decentralized) structure. In
reality, it hardly has a structure at all. It is a collection of 16
million computers (end 1996) connected through thousands of
networks. There are organizations which purport to set Internet
standards (like the aforementioned ISOC, or the domain setting
ICANN) - but they are all voluntary organizations, with no binding
legal, enforcement, or adjudication powers. The result is often
mayhem.

Many erroneously call the Internet the first democratic medium. Yet,
it hardly qualifies as a medium and by no stretch of terminology is
it democratic. Democracy has institutions, hierarchies, order. The
Internet has none of these things. There are some vague
understandings as to what is and is not allowed. This is a "code of
honour" (more reminiscent of the Sicilian Mob than of the British
Parliament, let's say). Violations are punished by excommunication
(of the violating site or person).

The Internet has culture - but no education. Freedom of Speech is
entrenched. Members of this virtual community react adversely to
ideas of censorship, even when applied to hard core porno. In 1999,
hackers hacked major government sites following an FBI initiative
against hacking-related crimes. Government initiatives (in the USA,
in France, the lawsuit against the General Manager of AOL in
Germany) are acutely criticized. In the meantime, the spirit of the
Internet prevails: the small man's medium. What seems to be
emerging, though, is self censorship by content providers (such as
AOL and CompuServe).

Independence

The Internet is not dependent upon a given hardware or software.
True, it is accessible only through computers and there are dominant
browsers.

But the Internet accommodates any digital (bit transfer) platform.
Internet will be incorporated in the future into portable computers,
palmtops, PDAs, mobile phones, cable television, telephones (with
voice interface), home appliances and even wrist watches. It will be
accessible to all, regardless of hardware and software.

The situation is, obviously, different with other media. There is
standard hardware (the television set, the radio receiver, the
digital print equipment). Data transfer modes are standardized as
well. The only variable is the contents - and even this is
standardized in an age of American cultural imperialism. Today, one
can see the same television programs all over the globe, regardless
of cultural or geographical differences.

Here is a reasonable prognosis for the Internet:

It will "broadcast" (it is, of course, a PULL medium, not a PUSH
medium - see next chapter) to many kinds of hardware. Its functions
will be controlled by 2-5 very common software applications. But it
will differ from television in that contents will continue to be
decentralized: every point on the Net is a potential producer of
content at low cost. This is the equivalent of producing a talk show
using a single home video camera. And the contents will remain
varied.

Naturally, marketing content (sites) will remain an expensive art.
Sites will also be richer or poorer, in accordance with the
investment made in them.


(continued)


Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant
Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West
Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Global Politician,
Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a
United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and
the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in
The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government
of Macedonia.

Visit Sam's Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com