|
|
This is a limited free preview of this book. Please buy full access.
Foreword
It is clear that the Internet is turning out to be something other than many believed just a short time ago. At the dawning of easy-to-use browsers, the thought was that this new medium would herald the advent of one-to-one communication and essentially do away with the notion of mass media. Some thought the old mass media such as television and newspapers would disappear at some point.
Of course, none of this has come to pass. Old media, history teaches, do not disappear when a new medium comes along. They change. Often, as has been the case with the Internet, the new medium first borrows methods and techniques of communication from the traditional media such as radio and telephony. Later, new means are invented to suit the special characteristics of the new medium. And, of course, these new methods invented for the new medium eventually find their way into the traditional media as these media change and adapt to the new media environment.