Why is the Internet different from other computer
and network technologies?
Computers and
networks are nothing new. Business applications such as LAN and EDI were
well-established long before the World Wide Web took over. Then why the sudden
talk of the Digital Age and the advance of electronic business?
Two things make the Internet quite
different from any other existing communications media. Unlike broadcasting
media, the Internet (1) allows two-way communications and (2) is built around
open standards. A two-way communication means targeting an audience and allowing
feedback. Broadcasting sends out messages to "no one in particular" and the
sender never quite knows who has gotten the message. (What do Nielson and a
horde of market research firms do for their living?) An open standard (e.g.
TCP/IP) means interoperability and the advantage of a large market and the
possibility of integrating one product or process with another.
Both of these characteristics are
being challenged.(1) To the WebTV generation, the digital future looks like
another version of the passive one-way broadcasting. The "new media" sums up how
publishers and media companies view the digital medium. We are so accustomed to
"receiving random messages" that we often forget the fact that broadcasting was
a 20th-Century phenomenon. Even "interactive television" envisioned by today's
media is a way of providing more lively entertainment, offering more information
"related to existing contents" (e.g. detailed information about characters,
plots, and commercials shown on TV). Multi-channel, digital TV broadcasting may
be a model for future entertainment, but it needs to be remembered that it is
only one application of the digital communications network. (2) The
commercialization of the Internet is forcing businesses to differentiate their
products from others by making products incompatible. Unlike the public Internet
where standards were open, firms attempt to capture and dominate the market with
their proprietary products. In such an environment, TCP/IP would have had a very
slim chance of becoming a standard and opening up the digital, networked
economy. Whether markets driven by private interests can bring about a better
result (e.g., more efficient, technologically superior, etc. system) is still a
concern left for argument.
Perhaps telephone networks are quite
similar to the Internet (and indeed most Internet traffic goes through telephone
networks). But unlike telephones, the Internet's user interface (computers) is
much more sophisticated and flexible. Because of its beginning as a public
research network, the Internet lacks the pricing regime of telephone companies.
The worldwide connection, then, may be considered to have been an accident. When
usage-based, long-distance charges are implemented, the Internet may look quite
similar to the telephone network
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