[Air-l] is Internet a '"source" or a "medium"? - ignorant's question

[Jeremy Hunsinger]

This is what i think of as a problem of the study of the whole and  
its parts.  In the form of a system that transmits information via  
packets, the internet must be a medium.  In the form of the screen  
that the user sees, it is a series of mediated documents and  
hypermedia, or more and more frequently just lexia wrapped in  
figurative images that compose mutagenic documents that are  
experienced as individuals.  The internet does have sources in  
though, some are fixed.  The key idea for a source... it seems to me  
is it's authority, which is usually associated its provenance.  So  
even in today's climate, paper derived documents seem to be preferred  
to fixed form digital originals, which are usually preferred to  
mutable texts.  So is the internet comprised of sources?  yes, but  
they are not always the same kind of sources, and some people might  
not consider them sources at all, depending on how they view  
sources.   The information that is transmitted does come from  
somewhere though, that is true.  However, the information that is  
received might only be a permutation of the original.

so the answer is 'yes'  it is a source and medium depending on  
definition.