is Internet a '"source" or a "medium"? - ignorant's question
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.
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 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/
-- Barry Saunders http://investigativeblog.net --------------------- PhD Candidate // sessional academic http://creativeindustries.qut.edu.au ph: 07 3138 0155 (CRICOS No. 00213J)
Some French researchers I met during a conference have suggested that Internet could be seen as an hypermedia, which is characterized by its ability to always create new media. I think it is a bit reductive but bring some intermediary position to this question Kind Regards, Jeremy 2007/4/9, Barry Saunders <b.saunders@qut.edu.au>:
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 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/
-- Barry Saunders http://investigativeblog.net --------------------- PhD Candidate // sessional academic 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 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/
-- Jeremy Depauw The Power of Knoweldge Sharing and Skills Synegism Journal de recherche: http://dev.ulb.ac.be/~jdepauw/dotclear/index.php
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.
In my humble opinion! X is the sum of all "technologies" that make up the Internet X is a medium Y is the sum of all activities conducted using X Y is not X Y is source Y has boundaries that begin at the edge of the human sensorium and is bounded by X Y is the sum of all domains that are socially derived and applied to the "use" of X For my usage: X is the Internet - a medium Y is social space, cyberspace, net space, as you will - a "source" of information and derived meaning Both represent an ontological commitment with sanctioned inferences, as this thread suggests. --------------------------------- 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with theYahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut.
What about a communicational environment (with men and machines (net)working "together" - or almost - in it)!? I´ve been trying to work with this concept since my PhD and I think that it still goes good in these "Web 2.0 times"! IMHO too! Adilson Cabral ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Whyte" <whyte.james@yahoo.com> To: <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 6:40 PM Subject: Re: [Air-l] is Internet a '"source" or a "medium"? - ignorant'squestion
In my humble opinion!
X is the sum of all "technologies" that make up the Internet X is a medium Y is the sum of all activities conducted using X Y is not X Y is source Y has boundaries that begin at the edge of the human sensorium and is bounded by X Y is the sum of all domains that are socially derived and applied to the "use" of X
For my usage:
X is the Internet - a medium Y is social space, cyberspace, net space, as you will - a "source" of information and derived meaning
Both represent an ontological commitment with sanctioned inferences, as this thread suggests.
--------------------------------- 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with theYahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut. _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers 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/
Y Adilson Cabral <acabral@comunicacao.pro.br> wrote: What about a communicational environment (with men and machines (net)working "together" - or almost - in it)!? I´ve been trying to work with this concept since my PhD and I think that it still goes good in these "Web 2.0 times"! IMHO too! Adilson Cabral ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Whyte" To: Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 6:40 PM Subject: Re: [Air-l] is Internet a '"source" or a "medium"? - ignorant'squestion
In my humble opinion!
X is the sum of all "technologies" that make up the Internet X is a medium Y is the sum of all activities conducted using X Y is not X Y is source Y has boundaries that begin at the edge of the human sensorium and is bounded by X Y is the sum of all domains that are socially derived and applied to the "use" of X
For my usage:
X is the Internet - a medium Y is social space, cyberspace, net space, as you will - a "source" of information and derived meaning
Both represent an ontological commitment with sanctioned inferences, as this thread suggests.
--------------------------------- 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with theYahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut. _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers 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/
_______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers 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/ --------------------------------- Don't be flakey. Get Yahoo! Mail for Mobile and always stay connected to friends.
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
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- 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/
Maciej, I thought that you might be interested in the article below: Merrill Morris, Christine Ogan (1996) The Internet as Mass Medium Journal of Communication 46 (1), 39–50. Hope you enjoy it. Seungahn -------------------- Assistant Professor in Community Communications University of Kentucky 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 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/
Hello Maciej, I would also add: "Internet itself is not one single medium but an agglomerate of different methods and technologies working to create what can be considered a hyper-media, or a channel used by many other media to transmit messages or simulated the most diverse communication processes... Internet can be considered the newspaper without the press and paper, the Television without the TV set, the radio without waves, and the face-to-face interaction without the real and physical encounter between two or more parts. Internet is its own thesis and antithesis, without fully presenting a synthesis, as the Hegelian dialectic would expect. The synthesis is only reached by the direct intervention of the social actor the audience and it will produce not just one final outcome but diverse results according to different inputs and stimulus. Take for instance the use of electronic mail (e-mail). It communicates something, what can be concretely represented by a written message between two or more people. The same message could also be transmitted by other method such as an online discussion board, however the e-mail and the discussion board methods would have totally different outputs for the same transmitted message, including privacy issues, response time, objectivity, context, etc." - Journal of International Cultural Studies N.13, Tohoku University, Japan (p.312 and 313) Aristides
From: "Maciej Kos" <kos@gnu.univ.gda.pl> Reply-To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] is Internet a '"source" or a "medium"? - ignorant's question Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 11:06:09 +0100
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 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/
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I think that the answer is "yes." It is both. On the one hand it is a medium when, for example, people are interacting via email. It is the medium through which they communicate. When you a looking something up, then it is a source. Rich Ling
participants (10)
-
Adilson Cabral -
Aristides Emmanuel Pereira -
Barry Saunders -
Constantine, Norman -
James Whyte -
Jeremy Depauw -
Jeremy Hunsinger -
Maciej Kos -
richard.ling＠telenor.com -
Seungahn Nah