This week we explore the topic of the network, specifically about the internet. Our lives are almost seamlessly integrated with the internet and being online, we rarely think about the network that exists behind the scenes. The key learnings this week are:

The Internet is not the web

We often refer to the internet and the web as the same thing; however, they are distinctively different. The internet is shorthand for internetworking, it describes the infrastructure of interconnected computers through which information is shared.

The web decentralised information.

The way the web distributes the information is highly networked, with information stored across many points, allowing people to have access from multiple points. This can increase the accessibility and allow for a wider audience, as well as reducing the risk of information being destroyed or lost completely.
Compared to a centralised model of information that uses one central point to distribute information, which could be one copy or artefact of information, limiting the ability to share and access and increasing the risk of loss or destruction.

The network is a communication paradigm

To make the best use of the internet and the web, we need to use them together. The internet is the infrastructure used to connect and share information, the web is specific pathways, information bites and endpoints.
To access what we need and to use a particular pathway, we need to use them together.

This combination of the internet and web allows us to use the internet effectively, but we can also generate and share our content. Websites like Facebook and YouTube allow the user to create and share their content. Therefore, this has changed the way we use technology and the way we create media.
Jenkins (2002, p.222) notes, ‘It is clear that new media technologies have profoundly altered the relations between media producers and consumers. Jenkins comments on the commercial potential as another benefit of this communication paradigm and user-generated content,

‘The affordances of the web to fans and DIY culture enthusiasts all coincide with the era of ‘transmediality’, ‘economic trends encouraging the flow of images, ideas, and narratives across multiple media channels and demanding more audiences and revenue by repurposing texts across as many platforms as possible.’ (Jenkins 2002, p.222).

Reference:

Lister, M et al 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, New York.