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

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:

A Brave New Net


The future of a medium in the making is difficult to predict.
Suffice it to mention the ridiculous prognoses which accompanied the
PC (it is nothing but a gaming gadget, it is a replacement for the
electric typewriter, will be used only by business). The telephone
also had its share of ludicrous statements: no one - claimed
the "experts" would like to avoid eye contact while talking. Or
television: only the Nazi regime seemed to have fully grasped its
potential (in the Berlin 1936 Olympics). And Bill Gates thought that
the internet has a very limited future as late as 1995!!!

Still, this medium has a few characteristics which differentiate it
from all its predecessors. Were these traits to be continuously and
creatively exploited - a few statements can be made about the future
of the Net with relative assurance.

Time and Space Independence

This is the first medium in history which does not require the
simultaneous presence of people in space-time in order to facilitate
the transfer of information. Television requires the existence of
studio technicians, narrators and others in the transmitting side -
and the availability of a viewer in the receiving side. The phone is
dependent on the existence of two or more parties simultaneously.

With time, tools to bridge the time gap between transmitter and
receiver were developed. The answering machine and the video
cassette recorder both accumulate information sent by a transmitter -
and release it to a receiver in a different space and time. But
they are discrete, their storage volume is limited and they do not
allow for interaction with the transmitter.

The Internet does not have these handicaps.

It facilitates the formation of "virtual organizations /
institutions / businesses/ communities". These are groups of users
that communicate in different points in space and time, united by a
common goal or interest.

A few examples:

The Virtual Advertising Agency

A budget executive from the USA will manage the account of a hi-tech
firm based in Sydney. He will work with technical experts from
Israel and with a French graphics office. They will all file their
work (through the intranet) in the Net, to be studied by the other
members of this virtual group. These will enter the right site after
clearing a firewall security software. They will all be engaged in
flexiwork (flexible working times) and work from their homes or
offices, as they please. Obviously, they will all abide by a general
schedule.

They will exchange audio files (the jingle, for instance), graphics,
video, colour photographs and text. They will comment on each
other's work and make suggestions using e-mail. The client will
witness the whole creative process and will be able to contribute to
it. There is no technological obstacle preventing the participation
of the client's clients, as well.

Virtual Rock'n'Roll

It is difficult to imagine that "virtual performances will replace
real life ones.

The mass rock concert has its own inimitable sounds, palette and
smells. But a virtual production of a record is on the cards and it
is tens of percents cheaper than a normal production. Again, the
participants will interact through the Intranet. They will swap
notes, play their own instruments, make comments by e-mail, play
together using an appropriate software. If one of them is grabbed by
inspiration in the middle of (his) night, he will be able to
preserve and pass on his ideas through the Net. The creative process
will be aided by novel applications which enable the simultaneous
transfer of sound over the Net. The processes which are already
digitized (the mix, for one) will pose no problem to a digitized
medium. Other applications will let the users listen to the final
versions and even ask the public for his preview opinion.

Thus, even creative processes which are perceived as demanding human
presence - will no longer do so with the advent of the Net.

Perhaps it is easier to understand a Virtual Law Firm or Virtual
Accountants Office.

In the extreme, such a firm will not have physical offices, at all.
The only address will be an e-mail address. Dozens of lawyers from
all over the world with hundreds of specialities will be partners in
such an office. Such an office will be truly multinational and
multidisciplinary. It will be fast and effective because its members
will electronically swap information (precedents, decrees, laws,
opinions, research and plain ideas or professional experience).

It will be able to service clients in every corner of the globe. It
will involve the transfer of audio files (NetPhones), text, graphics
and video (crucial in certain types of litigation). Today, such
information is sent by post and messenger services. Whenever
different types of information are to be analysed - a physical
meeting is a must. Otherwise, each type of information has to be
transferred separately, using unique equipment for each one.

Simultaneity and interactivity - this will be the name of the game
in the Internet. The professional term is "Coopetition" (cooperation
between potential competitors, using the Internet).

Other possibilities: a virtual production of a movie, a virtual
research and development team, a virtual sales force. The harbingers
of the virtual university, the virtual classroom and the virtual (or
distance) medical centre are here.


(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