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@listserv.aoir.org on behalf of Barry Saunders Sent: Mon 4/9/2007 7:42 AM To: air-l@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@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. _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org <http://aoir.org/> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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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) _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org <http://aoir.org/> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/