COMM 3353: Communication Web Technologies I

1. COMM 3353:Communication Web Technologies I • Chapter 12b: • Career Opportunities and Future Directions, Continued… www.class.uh.edu/comm/classes/comm3353/ppt/_Pres12b.html

2. Career Opportunities and Future Directions, Continued... • As The World Wide Web Turns

3. As The World Wide Web Turns • The Future of Internet Technology and Mass Media • A prediction that’s virtually impossible • Nobody knows for certain what the future brings. • The most difficult task in Mass Communication is “forecasting” and “keeping-up.”

4. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Vinton Cerf has mixed feelings: • Optimistically: • “The Internet will exceed the scale and capacity of the telephone network sometime in the latter half of the next decade. Ultimately there will be more devices on the Internet than there are people in the world.” • Pessimistically: • “We won’t figure out how to handle the growth in demand for capacity on the Net, the vendors won’t be able to supply us with routers and switches that will go at gigabyte speeds, and the whole shootin’ match runs out of gas sometime in the next two years.”

5. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Trends • We know that the Internet has changed how today’s society regards Mass Media. • An alternative to traditional, classical media sources. • A major source for News. • A supplement to entertainment. • A major source of financial information. • Streaming technology and other stuff just over the horizon: • What’s going to happen as the technology increases?

6. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • The future will bring Sociological changes as well: • More “mouse-potatoes,” less active people. • The Internet has changed the relationships between audience and media sources. • The flow of information is changing as well. • More interactive and provides for instantaneous feedback. • Traditional / Classical media information flow required rebuttal and feedback after-the-fact.

7. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Trends, Cont. • Opening the market to more avenues of information dissemination. • The Internet breaks-up the “monopoly” currently in place by traditional media sources. • News forum open to anyone with a computer, anywhere in the world, at any time of the day, and from any source available. • Developing and establishing standardization of Internet media practices. • As the technology grows, so does the need for governance.

8. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Trends, Cont. . . • News delivery methods are changing. • Less rigid in format. • Are not bound by size and space requirements. • Can be “pushed” or surfed at any time the user desires. • Mass Media Model is changing. • Formats, styles, and perceptions of credibility are being redefined. • The more the technology changes, the more the model of mass media will be changed.

9. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Speed • We have learned that the Internet is a network of interconnected networks that enables information to move from point to point. • No pre-defined source (endless source possibilities). • Online news, radio, and television are just beginning to take form.

10. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Speed, Cont. • Bandwidth: • The amount of data that can be transferred all at once through a communication path. • The limiting factor in the development of the client / server transfer of information. • You can only go as fast as the technology lets you. • Home • 28.8 kbps, 33.6 kbps, 56 Kbps (telephone) • UH: • 10 Mbps • Fiber Optic LAN / WAN • 50 Mbps to 10 Gbps.

11. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Speed, Cont. . . • There is a constant push in society to make everything move faster. • Media Fusion promises unlimited bandwidth. • Increased compression and streaming technology reduces downloading times.

12. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Realism • More and more web sites are appearing “real” or are accurate in their representations of reality. • High-res graphics that incorporate depth (third dimension). . .

13. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Realism, Continued… • The demand for more “realistic” 3D and Animation graphics is on the rise. • People don’t want to see garbage.

14. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) • Web Programming language developed in 1994. • VRML is a language designed to create a third dimension from two-dimensional data. • Gives the Web a more “realistic” appearance. • Creates space that viewers can navigate through as if navigating through real space. • VRML allows the Internet to virtually bring stores and products into homes everywhere. • VRML is slow in acceptance.

15. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Ease of Use • Computers have long been for the technically proficient. • Requires a “comfort level” above current levels realized in today’s society. • People have only recently become accustomed to purchasing things out of mail-order catalogs. • SEARS, etc. • How long will it take for the Web to catch on? • True growth and ease of use will be determined when the majority of the average citizenship embrace--and are comfortable with--the Internet and all its functionality.

16. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Other Useful Applications • The Internet will grow as its usefulness to society grows. • Voting, driving tests, online college coursework, income tax reporting, etc. . . • In the near future, more and more routine activities will be accomplished through use of the Internet.

17. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Problems • Many scientists and avid users have predicted the web’s demise: • Many predict that the Internet will simply “crash” or black-out because of saturation. • WWW really stands for World Wide Waiting. • All these are achieved because the technology is growing too fast for itself. • Will the Internet “Crash?” • Taking steps to prevent disaster; • Internet2 (20 times faster) • Next Generation Internet

18. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • HTML and DHTML • HTML is a markup language and not a page-layout language. • This could be problematic as web layout and imaging become more realistic. • HTML limits control over elements of a page. • Limited to intrinsic HTML functions and elements.

19. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • DHTML (Dynamic HTML) • An extension to HTML that allows control over each individual element on a web page with precision. • DHTML allows for controlling animation through scripting. • JavaScript, VBScript, JScript, etc. • DHTML is the immediate answer to better web abilities: • More control, more realistic, quicker downloads for surfers, etc. . .

20. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Collaborative Filtering • The Method of sending information to an individual based on the similarities of that individual’s interests. • “Automatic” push technology. • “My PetSmart.Com” • Sends everyone with Dogs the same Dog Crap. • Correlates individual preferences based on systematic ratings and associates them with people of similar interests. • Allows selection among documents based on specified dimensions.

21. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Be Part of the Future • The Web is where it’s at. . . • A great place for a first job, right out of college. • Provides key elements to quicker, more reliable communication. • Be a positive influence on the way the Internet is changing society. • Because you will be the lawmakers of the future, know and understand the technology and its potential for ALL of society, not just special interest groups.

22. As The World Wide Web Turns, Continued… • Finally. . . • Know and understand the LOGIC behind why things work the way they work online. • You don’t have to be a specialist to understand basic transmission of communication. It’s all the same: • Sender, Interference, Receiver, etc. . . • Now. . .apply electricity and technology and you still have. . .Sender, Interference, Receiver, etc. . .

23. The Internet and theWorld Wide Web • End Chapter 12, Part II.