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

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 Solitary Medium

The Internet is NOT a popular medium. It is the medium of affluent
executives who fully master the English language, as part of a wider
general education.

Alternatively, it is the medium of academia (students, lecturers),
or of children of the former, well-to-do group. In any case, it is
not the medium of the "wide public". It is also a highly
individualistic medium.

The Internet was an initiative of the DOD (Department of Defence in
the USA). It was later "requisitioned" by the National science Fund
(NSF) in the USA. This continuous involvement of the administration
came to an end in 1995 when the medium was "privatized".

This "privatization" was a recognition of the civilian roots of the
Internet. It was - and is still being - formed by millions of
information-intoxicated users. They formed networks to exchange bits
and pieces of mutual interest. Thus, as opposed to all other media,
the Internet was not invented, nor was its market. The inventors of
the telephone, the telegraph, the radio, the television and the
compact disc - all invented previously non-existent markets for
their products. It took time, effort and money to convince consumers
that they needed these "gadgets".

By contrast, the Internet was invented by its own consumers and so
was the market for it. Only when the latter was fully forged did
producers and businessmen join in. Microsoft began to hesitantly
test the internet waters only in 1995!

On Line Memories

The Internet is the only medium with online memory, very much like
the human brain. The memories of these two - the Net and the Brain -
are immediately accessible. In both, it is stored in sites and in
both, it does not grow old or is eliminated. It is possible to find
sites which commemorate events the same way that the human mind
registers them. This is Net Memory. The history of a site can be
reviewed. The Library of Congress stores the consecutive development
phases of sites. The Internet is an amazing combination of data
processing software, data, a record of all the activities which took
place in connection with the data and the memory of these records.
Only the human brain is recalled by these capacities: one language
serves all these functions, the language of the neurones.

There is a much clearer distinction even in computers (not to
mention more conventional media, such as television).

Raw English - the Language of Raw Materials

The following - apparently trivial - observation is critical:

All the other media provide us with processed, censored, "clean"
content.

The Internet is a medium of raw materials, partly well organized
(the rough equivalent of a newspaper) - and partly still in raw
form, yesterday's supper.

This is a result of the immediate and absolute access afforded each
user: access to programming and site publishing tools - as well as
access to computer space on servers. This leads to varying degrees
of quality of contents and content providers and this, in turn,
prevents monopolization and cartelization of the information supply
channels.

The users of the Internet are still undecided: do they prefer drafts
or newspapers. They frequent well designed sites. There are even
design competitions and awards. But they display a preference for
sites that are constantly updated (i.e. closer in their nature to a
raw material - rather than to a finished product). They prefer sites
from which they can download material to quietly process at home,
alone, on their PCs, at their leisure.

Even the concept of "interactivity" points at a preference for raw
materials with which one can interact. For what is interactivity if
not the active involvement of the user in the creation of content?

The Internet users love to be involved, to feel the power in their
fingertips, they are all addicted to one form of power or another.

Similarly, a car completely automatically driven and navigated is
not likely to sell well. Part of the experience of driving - the
sensation of power ("power stirring") - is critical to the purchase
decision.

It is not in vain that the metaphor for using the Internet
is "surfing" (and not, let's say, browsing).

The problem is that the Internet is still predominantly an English
language medium (though it is fast changing). It discriminates
against those whose mother tongue is different. All software
applications work best in English. Otherwise they have to be adapted
and fitted with special fonts (Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Russian and
Chinese - each present a different set of problems to overcome).
This situation might change with the attainment of a critical mass
of users (some say, 2 million per non-Anglophone country).

Comprehensive (Virtual) Reality

This is the first (though, probably, not the last) medium which
allows the user to conduct his whole life within its boundaries.

Television presents a clear division: there is a passive viewer. His
task is to absorb information and subject it to minimal processing.
The Internet embodies a complete and comprehensive (virtual)
reality, a full fledged alternative to real life.

The illusion is still in its infancy - and yet already powerful.

The user can talk to others, see them, listen to music, see video,
purchase goods and services, play games (alone or with others
scattered around the globe), converse with colleagues, or with users
with the same hobbies and areas of interest, to play music together
(separated by time and space).

And all this is very primitive. In ten years time, the Internet will
offer its users the option of video conferencing (possibly, three
dimensional, holographic). The participants' figures will be
projected on big screens. Documents will be exchanged, personal
notes, spreadsheets, secret counteroffers.

Virtual Reality games will become reality in less time. Special end-
user equipment will make the player believe that he, actually, is
part of the game (while still in his room). The player will be able
to select an image borrowed from a database and it will represent
him, seen by all the other players. Everyone will, thus, end up
invading everyone else's private space - without encroaching on his
privacy!

The Internet will be the medium of choice for phone and videophone
communication (including conferencing).

Many mundane activities will be done through Internet: banking,
shopping for standard items, etc.

The above are examples to the Internet's power and ability to
replace our reality in due time. A world out there will continue to
exist - but, more and more we will interact with it through the
enchanted interface of the Net.


(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