Digital Media Analysis

One of the first sentences of Chapter 9 effectively summarizes today's digital media: "Within the last 30 years, the emergence of the Internet as a media delivery system has transformed the structure and the economics of the media business in the United States and throughout the world." That statement has proven to be completely true as digital media has completely transformed and improved the world's way of communication.

The invention of the Internet forever changed the media business. The Internet connected all the outlets of media and created new media products, as well as, competition. It was created by scientists with the simple motive of sharing more information. The Internet has "evolved in way no one planned or expected," says Roger Fidler. I do not think Fidler could be any more accurate. This idea is true for now and for the future. There is no way to tell what innovations will take place through digital media next.

I found it very interesting to learn how the Internet actually started. Tim Berners-Lee, an Oxford graduate, was the person most responsible for its invention. He created the HTML programming language, which led   to the sharing of information through "links." Berners-Lee is quoted saying, "The original goal was working together with others. The Web was supposed to be a creative tool, an expressive tool." He also created the first browser, which allows people to share documents. Berners-Lee's innovations led others to create search engines, domains, and home pages.

Although the Internet has brought a lot of positive change to communication, it still faces four major challenges: free access, storage capacity, compatible delivery, and consumer privacy. Free access at first sounds like more of a positive than a negative; however, it causes unnecessary spam and viruses to be sent out. It also allows for bad, or wrong, information to be posted on the web. Digital delivery also requires a lot of electronic storage space, which creates problem since there is so much floating around on servers now. However, researchers are working to fix this by developing a process of date compression. The issue of compatible delivery is occurring because of the fast pace of digital media. New ideas and products are created almost every day; therefore, there is no way for the world's population to stay up-to-date with technology due to finances and resources. Lastly, probably the biggest issue digital media users seem to face today is the lack of privacy. Today, there are so many ways to connect and contact each other, which leads to invasion of privacy. Even if one attempts to block off unwanted invaders, there are still people who have learned how to pirate the technology in order to get what they want.

In conclusion, digital media has completely and forever changed the world's way of communication. There are countless ideas being brought to life through new technology, which enables the entire world to connect and communicate more efficiently. However, the broadening of this communication also effects what we think is "private." With the rate things have changed over the past 30 years, it is exciting and almost scary to imagine what will come out next.