The Past, Present, and Future of the Web

The Web Today

The world wide web is such a popular mass media because it offers access to a vast amount of knowledge at your fingertips. This information can be accessed quickly and easily in most cases, providing convenience for the people wishing to access it.

Today, people enjoy the web not only for the information availble, but also for shopping without the hassle of going to a crowded mall, enjoying various forms of entertainment, for social networking purposes, for storing and submitting information, and even for paying bills.

Thus, the internet is developing more and more functions, and access to the internet is becoming easier and proving to be more vital for everyday life. For instance, the number of internet devices in 1984 was a mere 1,000, in 1992 it increased to 1 million, and in 2008, there were 1 billion. This number is still growing and will contine to grow at an extremely rapid pace.

The web is a much different mass media than other forms of media existent in the past. There is a lot of freedom given when using the internet, much more so than other mass medias, which many people find appealing. For instance, AM/FM and HD radio are all regulated by the FCC, however there is no regulation by the FCC on the internet.

In addition, it took radio 58 years to reach a market audience of 50 million, whereas it took internet only 4 years. With radio, certain radio stations can only be accessed at certain places at certain times, the same internet is open to people all over the world for access at virtually anytime.

What site you visit, what you listen to, and what you watch is up to the discretion of the user when on the internet. When listening to basic AM/FM radio, you can pick only what station you listen to, but not what music or programs are played on that station (although innovations such as HD Radio and Satellite radio are currently changing the way we listen to radio).

Imagining the web

We consider the web to be very “new” mass medium however, the concept of the web began in the 1960’s. Check out this video I found from 1969, explaining a very early interpretation of the ideology of the internet:

While this primitive portrayal seems almost comical, it did touch on some of the functions that our current internet carries out on a day to day basis. Most notably, these include online shopping and electronically storing account information and paying bills.

The Future of the Web
As time goes on, the internet will continue to grow vaster, more efficient, and more prominent in everyday life. For instance, in the next 3-5 years, the internet will be made faster and easier to access than ever. I believe technology will be developed that will allow access to the internet in devices other than just computers, phones, and cars, such as watches and showers. Check out this fascinating video, on the statistics of the internet, it’s growth, and predictions of the future: 

I believe that as time goes on, the need for paper will be less and less. All bill paying will be online, other media such as books and newspapers will be published online, and papers in schools will all be submitted online.

Some credible sources, such as CNN, take it a step further, and predict that the internet available on devices such as smart phones will allow people to carry out variety of roles that we consider only human beings to be able to do. These include parking a car, doing one’s laundry, cooking dinner, and many other chores that most dislike having to do themselves.

Years from now, the web will be more advanced and innovative than we could possibly imagine today. I am almost certain that 43 years from today we will be able to access this post and chuckle at the predictions and relatively “primitive” ideas about the future, much like we did with the video from 1969.

But until that time, we simply will have to remember our humble roots, and continue to be amazed by the advancement in modern technology.

Banned Books: Have You Read One?

  Usually when someone thinks of “print media”, the first image that comes to mind is books. Books originally came about in the time of antiquity, when the Ancient Egyptians wrote on papyrus, a plant grown along the Nile River, over 5000 years ago. In the 5th century A.D., manuscripts were being written, and in the 15th century, Gutenberg invented the printing press, allowing books to be published more quickly and effectively. Books have traditionally held a lot of power, in that they have the ability to reveal information to a reader, influence one’s opinions, and can encourage one to take action on a particular issue. For these reasons, certain books have historically been banned in the United States, in an effort to prevent the ideas that the book could potentially instill in an audience from making its way to the reader.

 Some of the books that have been banned might be surprising to you. Some of these books might have been on your high school curriculum and others you might have read at leisure, not knowing that reading this certain book was at one time against the rules. Of these, include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, which has been banned from multiple school and local libraries due to the themes of lesbianism, premarital cohabitation, pornography, and violence, and also for a supposed “anti-white” message which many believed would spread hatred and encourage action against the white race. Also, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck was banned for being “too profane”, and To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee for it's negative portrayal of the white race.
   Another book banned in American history was The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck in 1939, which was banned months after it’s publication in Kansas City and in Oklahoma because of the language that was present in the book. In St. Louis, Missouri, a library ordered its 3 copies to be burned for the vulgar words used by its characters. In addition, Uncle Tom's Cabin published in 1852, was immediately banned in the South as abolitionist propaganda. Throughout the 20th century and even within the recent years, people of all backgrounds continue to challenge the book's inclusion on school reading lists, citing objectionable language and the condemnation of Christianity practiced by white preachers and congregations as prime reasons.
.

 

     The banning of books because of the potential for information to alter or influence knowledge and understanding is obviously not something new, and surprisingly also not that complicated to bring about. In the United States, when someone reads a book they consider questionable, they have the power to insist that the book be considered to be banned. Groups in power, spanning from a local school, a state government, or a censor board such as the Anti-Defamation League, all the way to the Supreme Court, then have the ability to meet and discuss whether the value of the book itself exceeds the objection against it. If it is found that the book causes more harm than good, an order can be made for the banning of the book.
    After reflecting on the concepts of “information overload” and “filter failure”, it is important to remember these cases where pieces of information were not available to everyone in the public. The internet, which provides us today with an expansive amount of information, and which we often take for granted, was not around during the time most of these books that were banned. This means that when a book was banned from the local libraries and book stores, one could not simply go online to download an e-version of a book, or simply click a button and order one to be delivered from a different location. More often than not, that book and the information it contained simply just could not be made available to them. It is important to both appreciate the information we have access to today, and fight to prevent the banning of books and the subsequent information these books have to offer.

Filter Failure in Society

I found Clay Shirky’s speech, “It’s Not Information Overload. It’s Filter Failure” extremely interesting and informative. One of the most interesting points that Shirky made in his speech is his assertion that “information overload” has existed for centuries, starting with Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in the 15^th century. The introduction of this printing press resulted in increased publication of printed work, allowing information to be available to those who previously were not capable of acquiring it. Even during this time, more books were being printed than a single person could read in a lifetime. (More information about the issue of information overload in the 15^th century can be found in this short article by Cory Doctorow entitled, “Complaining About Information Overload in the Time of Ecclesiastes” http://boingboing.net/2010/11/28/complaining-about-in.html). As Shirky points out, because publishers take an economic risk when they print a text, the information which is published is strictly filtered. The introduction of the internet resulted in the ability for people to publish information with little to no interference, and as a result, without much of a filter. The fact that “information overload” has been around for centuries, and that today much of the information in the public eye is not strictly filtered, this leads me to believe that the problem current day society is facing concerning information is more of a result of filter failure rather than information overload. It seems that there will always be more information in circulation than one single person can possible absorb. This must be accepted as a fact. However, it is imperative that society focuses on filtering information in order to keep the most important pieces at the forefront, while making an effort to regulate the pieces of information that are not significant. That is not to say that I am hoping for an “information police force” to delete and destroy anything that may not be considered important in society, as this would blatantly go against a person’s right to freedom of speech, however, everyone would benefit from a certain level of filtering on mediums such as the internet, where almost anything and everything has the ability to be put in the public eye.