There are many things about the internet that make it extremely different than television. The internet continues to change and be more inventive on a daily basis. From the first time that I used the internet ten years ago until today millions of changes have been made. YouTube, Facebook, and programs to download music, definitely weren’t around at the beginning of the internet. As great as television is, it doesn’t provide hypertextuality, synchronous and asynchronous communication at the same time, multimediated information, or interactivity or the convenience of being all over the world. These are the 5 characteristics that I believe make the two completely different.
Aside from the six defining characteristic of the internet in Adams and Clark this is one that I feel is very important. You can do virtually anything on the internet, and the information on the internet is accessible anywhere. Whether it is paying bills online, ordering food, clothing, e-mailing or hanging out at social networking sites, you can do it anywhere. You have the ability of doing all of this from the comfort of your own home or if you are in a hotel conference room halfway around the world. The television does offer the ability of ordering movies, and clothing but only certain types. There is so much more that can be done on the internet verses ordeing movies off of On Demand or clothing off of QVC. The internet offeres something that everyone would like.
The second is that the internet is hyper textual. According to Adams and Clark Chapter 2, “hypertextuality means that all the mixed content on the web is easily navigated”. I know there isn’t one person who has gone on the internet and ended up in the same spot they started in. This is because of hypertextuality. For example if you are on someone’s blog and you see that they have just bought a new shirt and they have put a link to that specific shirt, that is hypertext. It makes it easier to navigate the internet instead of having to go out on your own and try to find that specific shirt. Television can’t even compare to hypertextuality. Of course you can flip channels, but the whole point of hypertext is to take you beyond and lead you to something that you would never have found if it weren’t for that specific link. It will help the reader dig deeper into the topic and gain more of an insight on the article, or piece of information.
The third characteristic is that the internet is very interactive. With television you have control of what you are watching, but there are only so many programs on to flip between. Instead, with the internet you are able to interact with other people via e-mail, chat rooms, AIM and etc. You choose to be an active part of the internet when logging on, whether it be creating your own website or just putting your own input in to someone else’s website. Another example in Adams and Clark chapter 1 they talk about EBay and leaving the feedback on someone’s auction. This is just another example of interactivity on the internet.
Adams and Clark talk about the internet being mulitmediated in Chapter 2. This means that when you visit a website most of the time you won’t just be viewing a webpage with all text. On one webpage you could see anything from pictures, to videos, hear music, or any type of sound. When watching television it is impossible to be watching two shows at the exact same time and comprehend both of them. With the internet it is possible to have 7 screens open at the same time. At this very moment I have ITunes, AIM, three webpage’s open, and this word document open.
The fifth characteristic of the internet is that the internet is synchronous and asynchronous. Adams and Clarke describe asynchchronous as, when communication is not being done at the same time. For example an e-mail in which you don’t respond immediately would be an example of asynchrounous communication. Synchrounous communication is when you are communicating at the same time, or within a few seconds. An example of this is being in a chat room, or being online and having a conversation with someone. The television does not give us the option to be synchronous or asynchronous as it is only sending information our way, and it is obviously not receptive to our input.
These are five defining characteristics of the internet that put the internet in a different realm. Each of these characteristics proves that the internet is capable of doing so much more for everyone than television.
Bibliography
Adams, Clark. (Chapter 2) What Is It? Characteristics Of The Medium.
http://mcc101.wikispaces.com/message/view/home/830041
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