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

[Constantine, Norman]

Users create sources of information and make them available on the Internet. Hypertext and packet switching have no sense of what they transmit but how they transmit it affects how the users perceive the information. In Marshal McCluens terms..."the medium is the message." The novel Moby Dick, and the movie Moby Dick tell the same story in very different ways that affect how the user perceives it. Anoterh example that makes sense to me is an audio file as opposed to a text file. Simply receiving the text as  audio affects the message that the user recieves.
 
My two cents....

________________________________

From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org on behalf of Barry Saunders
Sent: Mon 4/9/2007 7:42 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-l] is Internet a '"source" or a "medium"? - ignorant'squestion



I'd say it's a medium, that stores numerous sources of information.


Barry



On 4/9/07, Maciej Kos <kos at gnu.univ.gda.pl> wrote:
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> Please excuse my ignorant question about the difference in meanings
> between a
> "source" and a "medium". Even though I would really like to study
> Information
> science or Communications [and with God's help I will], I haven't yet had
> any
> opportunity to do so and what I know is based on papers freely available
> online as well as in Elsevier's database. My background is Economics. To
> make
> things worst, I am not a native speaker.
>
> I was reading a paper written by a colleague of mine and noticed that she
> uses
> two words: a "medium" and a "source" as synonyms. For her the Internet is
> both
> a source and a medium of information.
>
> According to the Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science a
> "medium" is
>
> "information storage and retrieval, the physical substance or material on
> which data is recorded (parchment, paper, film, magnetic tape or disk,
> optical
> disk, etc.) or through which data is transmitted (optical fiber, coaxial
> cable, twisted pair, etc.). In a more general sense, the material or
> technical
> means by which any creative work is expressed or communicated, in print or
> nonprint format (...)".
> http://lu.com/odlis/odlis_m.cfm
>
> while a "source" is
>
> "Any document that provides information sought by a writer, researcher,
> library user, or person searching an online catalog or bibliographic
> database.
> Also refers to a document that provides information copied or reproduced
> in
> another document, for example, a quotation or excerpt."
> http://lu.com/odlis/odlis_s.cfm
>
> The same dictionary states that the "Internet" is a
> "The high-speed fiber-optic network of networks"; so it is not a "document
> that provides information (...)"
>
> However, I came across a lot of publications where the authors seem not to
> distinguish between "medium" and "source".
>
> As I said, I am not a native speaker - could you tell, if these two
> meanings
> have merged and I am simply pedantic or shall I follow the above
> definitions?
> Or perhaps there is a reason for using these to words as synonyms? Could
> you
> explain it to me, please ?
>
> Kind regards,
> Maciej
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________
> I am looking for an academic mentor.
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--
Barry Saunders
http://investigativeblog.net <http://investigativeblog.net/> 
---------------------
PhD Candidate // sessional academic
http://creativeindustries.qut.edu.au <http://creativeindustries.qut.edu.au/> 
ph: 07 3138 0155
(CRICOS No. 00213J)
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