Internet: 'New' media Q. Critically examine the argument that: 'New' media are merely new systems of delivery of the same kind of content (Howells, 2003).

Essay by nkewlUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, April 2005

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Imagine a tool that could be used to access data universally, research material beyond the capability of any library, create endless possibilities for innovative communication mediums, and allow the people to connect worldwide. This tool appears to be science fiction, but it is more of a reality because it is the Internet. This new media was created by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1960 as military tool then twenty-nine years later the web was developed to make it easier for physicists to use data on the Internet in one single system (Corner 2004). The Internet is relatively young and has already created as much impact as television. According to a survey compiled by Nua Ltd in 1999, the number of Internet users rose from 26 million in 1995 to 205 million in 1999, an increase of almost 700% (Nua 2001)! In some ways, the Internet is bringing the same stories on a new medium, but it is an entirely new system of communicating that creates possibilities that are opening up locked doors.

As pointed out by Mitchell Stephens, "New forms of communication are reduced primarily to imitating older forms of communication" (Stephens, 1998), the Internet can be seen as a new delivery of the same message. An example of this would be to read 'The Age' on the Internet would provide the same content as reading 'The Age' in the newspaper, news is still news. The fact that the medium has changed does not necessarily mean that that the meaning of the content changes, people are just tying to find new and faster ways of dispersing information, as we have done in the past for example writing gave way to books and newspapers and speech created radios and telephones.

Richard Howells acknowledges that new media are just "convenient...