TOPIC: Choose one specific recent new media technology and discuss how its place in the media market affects the content it delivers.

        Today, the term global village which was coined by McLuhan is mostly used as a metaphor to describe the Internet and World Wide Web. According to McLuhan modern communication technologies such as radio and television globalize communication by allowing users from all levels of society around the world to easily connect with each other and exchange ideas instantaneously. We are to a large extent dependent on regular contact with the new media for information, entertainment ,ideas ,opinions and many other things all of which are connected to our attempt to make sense of who and what we are. The growth in the technology sector is so high that it has made us addicted to it and does not let us function without its presence in our lives. As “McLuhan said that technologies are the extensions of the human body” hence the recent new media technology to be discussed here would be the Internet.

       Most people, when asked to describe new media, refer almost instantly to the Internet      (Lohr, 2003). Internet has made the world a very small and close place to live in where one can be updated with all the major happenings around the world in fraction of seconds. Internet provides us with lot of information on one particular topic and also saves time. No matter what the age or the circumstance would be it is very necessary for people to communicate with each other. Communication is a prerequisite for each activity. However, when considering newer automated communication systems, the factor of access to new media becomes very important. Recent work demonstrates that today’s generation of older adults lag far behind their younger counterparts, particularly with respect to the adoption of computer technology and the Internet. So the internet is considered to be the fastest and the easiest mode of communication from which one can email, make new friends all across the globe, download ,share views, pictures ,blogs, ideas and much more. The plethora of media channels - email, newspapers, magazines, books, Web logs, chat rooms, voice calling , video conferencing – are available with a computer, microphone, a Web camera, and a connection with the internet. One barrier access to price of technology (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1998) is no longer a significant factor for most Americans. Even the prices of the computers have been plummeting in these recent years. In 2003, low-end computer systems cost less than U.S$500, which is equivalent to a week’s wages of an American worker. With the increasing availability of  broadband access (compared to dial-up telephone line access), quick and efficient connections to the Internet are within reach of most Americans either at work, at home, or through public libraries. Probably the most frequently used one-way communication form of new- media is the Web page. In addition this technology have made it possible to ‘capture’ messages in a very physical form (photographs, film, tape recordings) which in turn has led to historical permanence or records and the sense of history is thus affected. Certain features on the internet such as the video conferencing are very much helpful for those who cannot afford studying abroad or have certain other commitments and at the same time can pursue their education without any major barriers. Distance learning has made lives much easier and even many universities have opted for this as they have good amount of students approaching them with a positive feedback. Video conferencing also helps at executive levels for presentations and seminars with a broader view to the situation and also get a good feedback to the whole project.

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       Computer users can just connect to the Internet, open a specialized piece of software called browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, Safari) and can easily access Websites and their corresponding billions of pages containing information on virtually any topic of human knowledge. Generally all the information provided is a free source except a few but at the end it makes our work easier and faster. There are huge numbers of search engines which specialise in indexing provide a huge amount of information on each and every topic and hence make’s the task of searching easier. Internet today ...

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