Mediamorphosis/ understanding new media Fidler, Roger

foreword • xiii
preface • xv
chapter one
principles of mediamorphosis • 1
Coping with change • 1
The influence of personal computers • 2
Yesterday's future, today's past • 3
Visions of future media • 5
Missing the future • 5
Information superhighways and teleputers • 6
The 30-year rule • 8
Stages of development • 9
Restating the rule • W
The dangers of technomyopia • 10
Criteria for adopting new technologies • 12
The example of cellular telephones • 12
The importance of early adopters • 14
Bridges of familiarity • 15
The power of metaphors • 17
Technological accelerators and brakes 'IS
Supervening social necessities • 19
The law of suppression of radical potential • 20
The mediamorphic process • 22
Coevolution • 23
Convergence • 25
Complexity *27
Principles of mediamorphosis in perspective • 29
chapter two
domains of communication
media • 31
Categorizing the forms of communication • 31
The interpersonal domain • 33
Immediate and delayed forms of interpersonal communication • 35
Twentieth-century forms of interpersonal communication • 35
Cyber media • 36
The broadcast domain • 37
Linear and landscape structures of the broadcast domain • 38
Problems with preservation of broadcast information • 38
Electronic broadcast media • 39
The document domain • 40
Reader control of documents • 40
Abstract representations of document information • 47
Portrait orientation of documents • 4 7
Print media • 43
Hypertext and hypermedia documents • 43
Inherited media traits • 44
Flow and control of communication • 45
Presentation and format of communication • 46
Reception and constraints of communication • 48
Domains of communication media in perspective • 49
chapter three
the mediamorphic role of
language • 53
Expressive language and communication tools • 53
Spoken language and the first great mediamorphosis • 56
The advantages of speech • 56
The emergence of the broadcast domain • 57
The differentiation of audiences and performers • 58
Staged performances and the broadcast domain • 59
The limitations of oral communication • 60
Written language and the second great mediamorphosis • 61
The development of light, portable documents • 62
The typographic age • 63
Literacy for the masses • 66
The end of print predominance • 69
Digital language and the third great mediamorphosis • 71
The shift from analog to digital technologies • 72
The development of digital technologies • 74
The cyberspace frontier • 78
The mediamorphic role of language in perspective • 79
chapter four
technologies of the third
mediamorphosis • 81
A crisis of control • 81
The application of electricity and digital language • 83
The prototype of modern computers • 85
The first information highways • 85
What hath Bell wrought? *87 ^
Wireless communication • 88
The electronic age • 89
The development of commercial radio • 90
The development of television • 93
McLuhan's global village • 98
The computer age • 100
Computers on a chip • WO
The network of computer networks 'Wl
Mediamorphic principles and the future of cyber media • 105
Technologies of the third mediamorphosis in perspective • 107
chapter five
the cultural context of the third
mediamorphosis • 109
Social forces *109
The television generations • 1W
The growth of media choices *112
Competition for time and attention • 714
The decline of literacy *115
Image versus content *117
Future media environments • 120
Political forces • 121
The indirect control of print media • 122
The regulation of electronic broadcast media • 123
The common carrier role of telephony • 124
Regulatory policies and the new media • 125
Economic forces • 127
Competition for audiences and advertisers • 129
New media and the relative constant • 133
Cultural context of the third mediamorphosis in
perspective *136
chapter six
lessons from failure • 139
The troubled birth of consumer online services • 140
The development of teletext • 140
The development of videotex *141
Technologies looking for markets • 142
The Viewtron experience • 143
The secret mission • 143
The market trial at Coral Gables • 146
What you want—when you want it • 148
What went wrong? *151
The second stage of consumer online services • 158
The trials of interactive TV • 159
Warner-Amex's Qube system • 160
The Cerritos experience • / 62
Lessons from failure in perspective *163
Opportunity and need • 163
Delayed adoption • 164
The true nature of cyber media • 165
Hypotheses for the next mediamorphosis stage • 166
chapter seven
mediamorphosis within the
interpersonal domain • 167
Scenario for 2010. The cyber dwellers *168
Living in virtual worlds • 175
Star Trek technologies • 176
Bill Gates's vision • 177
Building virtual communities • 178
Next-generation cyber technologies *179
Personal agents and databases • 180
Immersive virtual reality systems • 183
Virtual environments and avatars • 185
Light-wave communication • 186
Future control and social issues *188
Trust and privacy in cyberspace • 189
Censorship versus the free flow of information *191
Mediamorphosis within the interpersonal domain in
perspective *193
chapter eight
mediamorphosis within the broadcast
domain • 195 ^
Scenario for 2010. The interactive video family • 196
Harbingers of the future • 200
Hidden intelligence • 202
Death of the medium? • 202
Next-generation television technology • 203
High-definition television • 204
500-channel TV • 207
Broadcasting on the Web *210
Intimate home theaters *211
Commercial video and holographic theaters *212 ^
Future control and social issues • 212
Manipulation of visual and audio content *213
Parental control and censorship *214
Zapping commercials *214
Isolating tendencies *215
Mediamorphosis within the broadcast domain in
perspective *216
chapter nine
mediamorphosis within the document
domain • 219
Scenario for 2010. The mobile digital document reader • 220
Gutenberg's legacy • 225
Taking the first steps • 226
Incentives and disincentives • 227
Next-generation digital print technologies • 229
Printing presses in the home • 229
Printing custom publications • 233
Publishing on the Web • 234
Digital print media and portable tablets • 236
Flat-panel technology • 239
Memory cards and offline publishing • 242
Future control and social issues • 244
The daily me or the daily us? • 245
Preserving the social function of newspapers *247
Providing answers to readers' questions • 248
Maintaining personal privacy • 249
Extending brand-name identities • 249
Mediamorphosis within the document domain in
perspective *251
chapter ten
hype and reality • 253
The great cyber stampede • 254
The future of mass communication • 256
Print media and the business of publishing • 257
Broadcast media and the business of broadcasting • 259
Schools of journalism and mass communication • 260
Advertising and the business of mass marketing • 261
Audiences, customers, and users • 262
Keeping the future in perspective • 263
acronyms/abbreviations • 267
glossary/index • 271