The Internet is entirely different from television

The Internet and television are similar in many areas. They both provide vast amounts of information and entertainment to large audiences by the Mass Media and are two of the most used information mediums to this day. But many people say that the Internet is different than television. I do believe this is true and can prove this statement by illustrating 5 defining characteristics of the Internet.

Although the Internet and television provide a lot of information to it's users, the information by each medium is still delivered differently. The Internet relies heavily on the use of a text-based form, while television uses a visual mode. Although it can be argued that the Internet is very visual because of arising websites such as www.youtube.com, where it is basically a type of television, it still contains one key characteristic that separates these mediums. This characteristic is known as hypertextuality. After reading through Adams and Clark's chapter "What is it" I was able to obtain a good grasp of this definition. The chapter states that "Hypertextuality is the ability to link any type of content to any other type of content." This cannot be done while watching television. For example, If I was watching a news story on the CBS News via television, I would have to watch it all the way through in order to obtain all the information that was being said by the newscaster. But if I used the Internet, I could go to www.cbs.com, find the same news story, and click various hypertextual links that will bring me to the information that I want. The use of hypertextuality enables you to choose the information you want to read and navigate, rather than waiting for it on television.

Another defining characteristic of the Internet that television lacks, is the use of interpersonal communication. After browsing through many sites, I finally came across http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/interpersonal_communication, which provides very insightful information regarding this. This site states that "Communication channels are the medium chosen to convey the message from sender to receiver." Meaning the sender reveals information to a receiver through a specific channel. This can be done asynchronously or synchronously, which is another defining characteristic of the Internet. It is stated in Adams and Clark's chapter "What is it" that synchronous can be defined as "Something occurring immediately," such as a comment following another comment instantly. Asynchronous can be defined as "Not occurring at the same time." A specific interpersonal communication channel such as video conferencing can be labeled as a synchronous technology. You are able to exchange messages simultaneously, while actually seeing it occur over the web. This cannot be done while using television. Television is just a sender to a receiver type of communication. The television can only talk to you, you cannot talk to it.

One defining characteristic of the Internet that most definitely separates the Internet from television, is the means of how data is actually transmitted. This is done by the use of packet switching. Adams and Clark's reading "How did we get here" gives a very good example of this by using email. It states that "Whenever we send information such as email, it is sent in thousands of smaller email packets that will travel in different directions to its one destination." This is done because it is expected that some packets will get lost, but if the majority make the destination, then the overall message will be accepted. If email messages were to be sent in one huge bundle, then the overall message may not be accepted because of a certain server outage. Data transmission from sender to receiver on television is essentially different. I was able to prove this through the use of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/television. This site states that "Television broadcasts moving images accompanied by sound." The broadcasting acts as the sender and the moving images act as the receiver. This data transmission is obviously different and is just another proven fact on how the Internet differs from television.

The last defining characteristic of the Internet that television does not contain is multimedia. The Internet is a multimediated source which allows you to virtually do anything. Adams and Clark's reading makes a very interesting statement regarding this. It states that "The Internet may resemble a book, a television, or something out of a science fiction movie." This statement is very important because it describes the dominance the Internet has over television. The Internet is so much more evolved than television in the form of blending together text, audio, and video. The Internet basically has a television within itself along with many other medias. There are various websites that allow you television, such as www.mlb.com and www.youtube.com.

Overall, the Internet is entirely different from television. Although they do contain similarities in areas of providing information, the Internet is just so much more evolved than television. It contains so many ways to navigate for selected information, communicate with other people through asynchronous and synchronous technologies, operate with other systems, and provide mulitmediated sources to it's users.